Tools and Tips for Teaching Online

Note: More resources will be added to this page as we move forward. Check back for updates.

Sakai

Your Sakai site is your "hub" for all class activities.

• For credit classes, Sakai sites are created automatically.
• For non-credit classes, the Sakai Course Site Request Form for Non-Credit Courses must be submitted in order to get a site created.

Sakai Training

• Instructors must complete the Intro to Sakai online workshop before they can get access to their Sakai sites.
• Intermediate Sakai - All instructors who do not have online teaching experience should register for and complete this workshop!
• Both workshops are online and self-paced. For more details see Sakai Training.
• TO REGISTER: Visit training.durhamtech.edu

More tools for online instruction

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)

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 and Sharing Them on Warpwire

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

Teaching and managing your online class

Attendance Rules for Online, Hybrid, and Blended Classes (PDF)
Important info on planning course "entry" activities and maintaining attendance records to meet regulatory requirements.

How Do I Do That Online? (PDF)
Practical strategies for creating online activities in Sakai to replace common face-to-face class activities.

Opportunities for Social Interaction with Your Online Students (PDF)
Ideas for creating instructor presence in your online class.

Online Testing: Tips to Minimize Technical Problems and Deter Cheating (PDF)
Specific advice on the best settings to choose before publishing your test. Page 2 explains how to randomize test questions/answers.

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

Webinar trainings for faculty

Instructional Technologies is presenting webinars to keep faculty informed and to share tips and strategies for teaching online.

Visit the Instructional Technologies Webinars page for recordings and materials from past sessions.

Support and self-help

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).

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.

More tips and resources

• ACUE's Online Teaching Toolkit
  Numerous videos and tip sheets for developing and managing an online course.

• Indiana University: Keep Teaching
  Lots of great strategies for communication, delivering lectures, running labs, assessing learning, etc. (Note that IU uses Canvas and Zoom. Comparable tools at Durham Tech are Sakai and 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.)

• Quality Matters: Emergency Remote Instruction Checklist and Video Explanation
  This detailed handout can help you make sure you have your bases covered.

• Digital Accessibility
  Tutorials, instructions, and checklists to help you create online content that is usable by all students.

• 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.