Remote Teaching and Resources

The purpose of this page is to assist professors, lecturers, and TAs with instruction online using the platforms of ELMS, Canvas, Zoom, and Webex. 

The University has a very useful Keep Teaching web page which is frequently updated. Of special note is the Keep Teaching Support page, with information about webinars and getting one-on-one help.

Here is a link to some Department Guidelines on Remote Teaching for instructors and TAs.

Notes from Meetings

Department Meeting, March 25, 2020:

• Notes from the chair (Doron Levy)
• Remote Teaching (Antoine Mellet)
• Remote Teaching Technology (Jeffrey Adams)

Departmental Discussion Groups

The department has an online  Slack Discussion Board for discussing online teaching issues. Visit this page to get help from other department members and share tips.

Video Tutorials

• Getting started using Zoom and Canvas - watch this video first if you want to teach classes using Zoom
• Scanning and uploading documents to Canvas - the most basic way to get your class online: scan documents and upload them to Canvas, and optionally present them using Zoom
• Getting started using the Canvas Gradebook - this is an old video (slightly out of date) showing how to use the Canvas Gradebook alone, independent of other features of Canvas
• Using Zoom I - More tips on how to use Zoom to teach a class
• Using Zoom II -More tips on how to use Zoom to teach a class
• Workaround for a Zoom/Canvas bug - Sometimes when you make a Zoom video within Canvas it is not accessible to the students. This short video gives a workaround.  
• Using the quiz feature on Canvas - basics of assessments on Canvas
• Assignments in Canvas - using the assignment tool to assign homework, quizzes, exams, etc.
• Using a Document Camera - specifically the Lumens DC193 cameras provided by the department
• Making assessments where students upload a file
• An Instructor's Guide to Using Quizzes within ELMS (see also A Student's Guide to Using Quizzes within ELMS )
• Protecting Student Privacy and Personally Identifiable Information in UMD Audiovisual Recording Systems (University policy)
• Using Zoom effectively - LinkedIn Learning video on how to use zoom, including some more advanced features

Zoom Waiting Room Requirement as of Sunday, September 20 at 8 p.m.

Beginning Sunday, September 20 at 8 p.m., all Zoom sessions will have a required waiting room. Participants who log into a UMD-hosted Zoom session using a UMD Zoom account will bypass the waiting room. Individuals who do not use a UMD account will be placed in the waiting room and will only have access to the session after being admitted by the host. Students are expected to sign in with their UMD account for all classes. Instructors are strongly discouraged from admitting attendees from the waiting room (even if a name looks like a student in your class), since this can result in Zoombombing. This change is intended to decrease disruption of virtual classes and campus events.  More information is provided at this DivIT KB article: https://umd.service-now.com/itsupport?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0015799