Tools and Tips for Teaching Online

Getting a Sakai site set up

Credit classes

All credit sections already have a Sakai site for Spring 2020. About 90% of these sites are active and in use. For the remaining 10%...

• If an instructor cannot access their Sakai site, it is likely because they have not completed the required Intro to Sakai online workshop.
• These instructors should visit training.durhamtech.edu and register for BOTH Intro to Sakai and Intermediate Sakai. Info on how to start the online training will be emailed to them within 24-48 hours.
• Upon completion of Intro to Sakai, they will get access to their Sakai sites.

Non-credit classes

For non-credit classes, to get a Sakai site set up requires two things (in any order; both can get started concurrently):

• The instructor’s supervisor or program specialist must submit the Sakai Course Site Request Form for Non-Credit Courses to get a site created.
  • The Sakai site should be created within 24-48 hours upon submission of the form.
  • The instructor will get access to the Sakai site when they complete Intro to Sakai.
• The instructor must register for and complete the Intro to Sakai online workshop. They should visit training.durhamtech.edu and register for BOTH Intro to Sakai and Intermediate Sakai. Info on how to start the online training will be emailed to them within 24-48 hours.

Training for online instruction

Sakai contains many tools to support online instruction, including discussion forums, online tests/quizzes, assignment submission tool, gradebook, and a “Lessons” tool for organizing and presenting content.

The Intermediate Sakai online workshop covers all of these tools as well as best practices for using them in online instruction.

All instructors without online teaching experience should register for Intermediate Sakai at training.durhamtech.edu.

Convert PowerPoint lectures to videos

PowerPoint contains tools for adding voice narrations to your slides. You can then export your narrated PowerPoint to a video and upload it to Sakai using a special tool in Sakai called Warpwire.

For instructions, see:
Narrating PowerPoints & Sharing Them on Warpwire (PDF)

Hold an online meeting (webinar) with your class

Meetings (BigBlueButton) is a webinar tool available in Sakai that allows instructors to hold live, online meetings with students.

• You can display presentations, use a white board, use audio and/or a webcam, chat with your students, share your desktop, record the meeting, and more.
• Meetings is a synchronous tool, which means users have to be online at the same time to interact. You can record your Meetings, and students can view the recordings in Sakai.

For details and handouts, visit:
Sakai Meetings (BigBlueButton)

Create videos, audio recordings, and screencasts

Sakai contains a tool called Warpwire for creating videos or audio recordings and sharing them with students. With Warpwire, instructors can…

• use a webcam to record a video of themselves talking
• create an audio-only recording
• record a “screencast” demonstrating something on their computer screen
• record a video on a phone or tablet and share with students in Sakai

For details and step-by-step handouts, visit:
go.durhamtech.edu/warpwire

Support resources

For students

Contact Sakai Support - lists support options available, including how to contact the 24/7 Sakai Help Desk.

Sakai Help for Students has videos and FAQs to help students log in, post in a forum, take an online test, submit an assignment, and more.

For instructors

Sakai Resources for Instructors includes pretty much everything there is to know about Sakai and has links to detailed help for every tool in Sakai.

Email sakaihelp@durhamtech.edu with questions or problems.

• BE SPECIFIC. Tell us your course & section number, the name of the specific test/quiz/forum/assignment, and the name of a specific student affected (if applicable).

More tips and resources

• Durham Tech’s Curriculum Online Course Guidelines
  The college's expectations for teaching online are laid out in 20 succinct guidelines. Click "Expand" to the right of a guideline to see specific ideas and resources.

• Indiana University: Keep Teaching
  Lots of great strategies for communication, delivering lectures, running labs, assessing learning, etc.

• UNC-CH: Preparation for Teaching Online and Strategies
  Note that UNC uses Zoom for online meetings. Durham Tech uses a different but similar tool called Meetings

• Vanderbilt University: Putting some of your course content online in a hurry
  Good suggestions for a variety teaching scenarios. (Note that Vanderbilt uses different tools than Durham Tech, but similar tools are available here.)

• How to Be a Better Online Teacher: Advice Guide
  An online teaching guru shares great advice in this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education