Winter 2021 FAQs

Can I conduct my remote class completely asynchronously? 

According to OSU’s Winter 2021 Guidance for OSU Course Delivery, “Remote and Blended courses require a synchronous component. If technical issues occur, faculty must work with IT immediately to ensure students receive timely access to their instructors.”  The form and frequency of your synchronous component depends upon the type of class you are teaching and your pedagogical approach.  Your synchronous component could take the form of class discussion, lecture, student presentations, informal check-ins with students.   Although students enjoy the flexibility thta remote classes allow, most of them also desire regular, synchronous contact with their instructors. 

When can/should I conduct my office hours? 

According to OSU’s Winter 2021 Guidance for OSU Course Delivery, “All courses must include office hours outside of the scheduled class time, though instructors may also use some scheduled class time for this purpose. Office hours must be posted either in the syllabus and/or Canvas should be readily available to students, and must be posted prior to the start of the quarter. Providing multiple times/days each week will help ensure students have access. See tips on setting up office hours in Zoom.”  The takeaway here seems to be that office hours during class time are not a suitable replacement for a synchronous class activity, although they may supplement a synchronous learning activity.

How can I ensure the academic integrity of my midterm and final exams (summative assessments) when they are conducted remotely, through Canvas?   

You may want to consider using Proctorio, an automated proctoring service that is integrated within Canvas and supported by OSU.  Proctorio services are available for high-stakes assessments that have been created--or converted to--a Canvas Quiz (please note that Canvas Quizzes can accommodate essay questions).  Please review the Proctorio Limitations and Services to determine if Proctorio is right for your exams.  Please be aware:  Requests to use Proctorio must be submitted two weeks prior to the date of the exam.

Where can I access the Canvas Remote Teaching Template?  How do I migrate the template into my Canvas Course?  Will the template disrupt any pre- existing Canvas course materials? 

The Canvas Remote Teaching Template is available here. While in your Spring term Canvas course, click on the "Import from Commons" button.  Next, you'll need to enter the Commons (you'll receive a prompt to verify your email).  Next search for Oregon State University Remote Teaching Canvas Template.  Click on it.  Select to "Import to Course."  You can then select the course you want to add the template info into.  It takes a few minutes, but the template modules will be added to the bottom of your existing course content (your pre-existing content will not be deleted).

How can I tell how many students attended my Zoom class meeting?  

You can run a User report to measure the attendance for your Zoom class meeting after it has concluded.  The User report provides a complete list of your meeting’s participants, as well as the length of time that they attended the Zoom session.  To run your report, visit zoom.oregonstate.edu and click "Login to Zoom."Click "Reports" from the left menu options.  Click "Usage." Set the From and To date range to correspond to your course meeting date by clicking the calendar icons.  Click "Search.”  Find your desired class meeting in the list of meetings, click the number listed under the Participants column, for the desired meeting.  A pop-up will appear with the various participant's information.  From here you can select the option to Export the data, or simply copy/paste the information.  We recommend clicking on the box “Show unique users” before exporting or copying your data.

What should I do if my course meeting was “Zoombombed”? 

You should submit a report to the Office of Information security.  In addition, you can reach out to a Zoom Expert at the Faculty Media Center to review and update your Zoom settings to prevent a repeat occurrence.

How do I share my recorded Zoom class sessions with my students?

In order for students to see recordings of your Zoom sessions (saved automatically in Canvas in the My Media section), you will need to publish them to your course.  (See below).

 

How do I publish my recorded Zoom class sessions in my Canvas site? 

You have a few different options in Canvas for where to add the media file for your Zoom meeting recording.

  1. EMBED Media File within Canvas page.  You can choose to embed the media file into a page within your Canvas site (many faculty elect to embed their recorded class sessions on the “Learning Materials” page within the appropriate weekly module).  If you would like to pursue this option, just head to the Canvas page in which you would like to embed your recorded class session and click Edit.  When editing a Canvas page, you’ll just need to click on the “embed media” icon (which looks like a strip of film) and wait a minute while Canvas pulls up your MyMedia options.  This guide provides an overview of the process with screen captures.
     
  2. PUBLISH lecture to course Media Gallery.  You also have the option of making your recorded class session available to your students through your course Media Gallery, which serves as a nice, one-stop shop for all of your course’s media.   You can publish your recorded class session to your Media Gallery two different ways.  The simplest way is to start within the appropriate course’s Media Gallery and add content directly.  The second option is to go through MyMedia to make your recorded class session available in your course’s Media Gallery.  (The second option can be a bit tricky if you have access to multiple Canvas courses since you may have to scroll through dozens of Canvas course names to find the appropriate section.)

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Rev. 12/16/2020