The following set of tools and links will help you to ensure academic continuity by moving your class online during University closures. Canvas, the University’s Learning Management System, offers many features that facilitate online teaching and learning in an online environment. Additional academic tools, such as Google Drive and Panopto, are also shared below.
Post Announcements
Announcements are a tool commonly used by instructors as a way to quickly communicate course activities such as a change in a homework assignment, class cancellation, campus events, etc. By default, students have the opportunity to comment on a course announcement. Once you post the announcement as an instructor, Canvas sends a notification to the students. Learn more about how to post announcements.
Message Your Students through Canvas
The Canvas Inbox is an email service built into Canvas that allows instructors and students to communicate with each other without leaving the Canvas environment. You can easily send messages to individual students, groups of students, sections of a course, or the entire course roster. Learn more about how to message students.
Email Your Students through Gmail
Download your class roster so that you have a list of all of your students and their NetIDs. This will enable you to email them in case Canvas is not available. Learn more about how to export grades and a list of students.
Zoom
Zoom is a platform for video and audio conferencing. All members of the campus community have access to Zoom “Licensed” which does not restrict the length of meetings. You will be able to access Zoom and use your Montclair Google Credentials.
Please visit the following pages for more information:
Online Discussions
Canvas discussions provide an easy way for instructors to create and facilitate asynchronous interaction amongst students. Online discussions encourage active participation from students and help replicate discourse that may occur in a face-to-face classroom. Discussions can be created as an assignment for grading purposes (which is integrated with Canvas Gradebook), or simply serve as a Q & A to answer students’ questions, or a forum for students to share information. Group discussions may be set up so that small groups of students may converse. Learn more about how to create a Discussion.
Assignments
Assignments in Canvas can be for submissions by the students in Canvas that include files, images, text, URLs, etc. Assignments can be assigned to everyone in the course or differentiated by student, section, or student groups. Learn more about how to create an Assignment.
Quizzes
The Quiz tool is used to create and administer Online Quizzes and Surveys. You can also use Quizzes to conduct exams and assessments that students will take Online. This will create a column in the grade book where you can manually enter a grade for quizzes or exams taken on paper. Learn more about how to create a Quiz.
Panopto is an all-in-one video platform that not only provides faculty with desktop lecture recording and automatic captioning services, but also offers pedagogical features to add learning interactions within a video. It is also seamlessly integrated within Canvas. Take a look at our documentation for both the PC (Windows) and Mac (Apple) or attend a training workshop. Students can also create Panopto recordings in their Canvas courses. For more details, please review our documentation for student use of Panopto: Panopto Recordings for Students and Panopto Assignments for Students.
Canvas Groups
Canvas groups are a small version of a course and used as a collaborative tool where students can work together on group projects and assignments. Effective group work and collaboration are important to facilitate a social learning environment. Working in groups assists students in developing problem-solving, communication and critical thinking skills, and provides them opportunities to work and learn from their peers. Learn more about setting up student groups/teams.
Google Drive
Google Apps (G Suite) for Education is a suite of communication and collaboration tools for learning anywhere, anytime, on any device. All faculty and staff have access to this suite of tools by logging into google.com using your MSU email address (netid@montclair.edu). Google Docs, Slides and Sheets are useful in extending the classroom to an online environment. Collaboration features include: sharing, editing, commenting, suggesting, and chatting on documents online. These may occur in real-time, during a scheduled work session, or asynchronously, at different times. Learn more about Google Applications.
Canvas Training & Support with ITDS (Instructional Technology & Design Services)
In order to support faculty with this online transformation, Instructional Technology & Design Services (ITDS) has prepared a series of online training workshops and web-based resources, listed below.
- ITDS Online Training Workshops
- Teaching Online for Academic Continuity
- Canvas Web Conferencing
- Using Panopto for Teaching Online
- Introduction to Canvas
- Leading Effective Discussions, Teamwork and Collaboration in Canvas
- Designing Assignments, Quizzes & Tests in Canvas
- Creating Your Back-Up Teaching Plan (Created by the Office for Faculty Advancement)
- In Addition, we have a self-paced Canvas course with resources and how-to guides:
MSU Canvas Faculty Orientation - Our ITDS resource page can refer you to Instructional Design Services, Technology Training Services, and the Student Guide to Online Learning.
Online Self-Help Documents
You can also reach out to the University Service Desk at x7971 for support or set up a one-on-one appointment with one of our Instructional Designers using the ITDS Appointment Scheduler.