Remote Teaching & Learning: Quick Guide
This page offers suggestions for instructors at Delft University of Technology looking to continue offering a student-centered learning experience in an online learning environment. We aim to provide some practical solutions for moving your teaching online due to the current situation. Please be aware that these guidelines are not intended to support you in developing a complete state-of-the-art online course.
Table of contents
Moving your class online
Moving classes online
Tip 1: Keep it simple
A first choice is whether you’d like to teach in real time (synchronously) or not (asynchronously). The latter often works better, so consider whether synchronous activities are really necessary.
Tip 2: Think of your students
You are mostly only teaching one or two courses; your students are taking more than just your course! They need your support and they need clarity: what you expect of them and how they can achieve that expectation.
- Provide clear instructions to guide students in what to do and when.
- You can use announcements in Brightspace and/or use the Brightspace classlist for email.
Tip 3: Break your teaching into manageable chunks
Online does not necessarily mean synchronous and it is not always a lecture. Your lessons can consist of various activities that can be done online by your students at different times. You can instruct you students to do a combination, e.g.:
- Watch a video or listen to a podcast.
- Read an article.
- Complete an assignment with interactive tools.
- Discuss / ask questions / give feedback on the discussion board in Brightspace. Use specific, structured questions, and let students know expectations for their responses.
- If really needed you can add a chat or short online live video conference for office hours.
- Stuck for ideas? Check out: https://www.gillysalmon.com/e-tivities.html
Tip 4: Reuse content
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. If content is already available, then reuse it! Share it via your Brightspace course. Some websites you can consult:
- Collegerama,
- TU Delft Open Courseware, MIT Open CourseWare, OpenLearn
- MOOCs (edX; Coursera)
- Library for articles and ebooks
- Openly Available Sources Integrated Search (OASIS)
Tip 5: Record your own video.
- Keep videos short (8 minutes maximum). It is better to create several short videos than one long video. Consider what type of video suits your course best. See Tools to create and upload video.
- Audio is important: test the audio first and consider using a headset with external microphone.
- Upload the video to a streaming server (at TU Delft we use Kaltura) so your students don’t have to download very large files. You can share the link or embed it in Brightspace. More info
- Add interaction with a quiz, discussion forum, chat.
- See Support – factsheets about video
Tip 6: Host an online lecture or short live video conference
This flowchart gives some guidelines for converting your lecture to an online teaching session:
- For classes larger than 80 students, review this advice. For smaller classes, click here.
- If you don’t have time to prepare anything before your next lecture, then you could replace it with a live video conference, using the chat for questions
Tip 7: Use Brightspace functionalities
- Visit our Quick start guide to Brightspace.
- You can also use more advance Brightspace options, such as: quizzes, assignments, checklists, discussion forums, or self assessments.
- If you need more functionalities, please take a look at the TU Delft tool overview.
Tip 8: Don’t do it alone!
- Get your colleagues and/or TAs to help you out when trying out a new tool (e.g. get together in YouSeeU and try out all its functionalities from a student’s perspective).
- Trust your students to help you out: ask what they prefer.
- Ask all questions you have (see Support below).
TU Delft tools
At TU Delft, there are tools available to help you create online content. These tools are available TU-wide, are GDPR-compliant, and are fully supported by Brightspace Support and by ICT-FM’s technical support staff.
Tools to capture and/or upload videos
- Kaltura: Do-it-yourself video tool for recording from webcam / screen casting (i.e. ppt or screen) & video repository for videos created with Kaltura tool or other video tool. From the repository videos can be integrated and re-used in Brightspace course content.
Not supported video tools
These are not supported by TU Delft. You are on your own if anything goes wrong!
- Camtasia: Camtasia is a screen recording program, fully equipped with its own editing component for post-production. It includes a PowerPoint plugin for you to easily incorporate your presentations into your videos.
- VideoScribe: VideoScribe is a whiteboard video animation software that allows users to create highly dynamic and interactive animation videos on a virtual whiteboard interface.
- TouchCast: TouchCast Studio is an iPad app that allows users to record videos and annotate them directly from their iPad. The app has plenty of basic editing features, including TouchCast’s “vApps”, which can be used to insert web pages, polls, maps, and more into your video.
- FinalCut Pro / iMovie: FinalCut Pro and iMovie are video editing software applications for the MAC and iOS.
- Screencast-o-matic, Snagit, and Quicktime: Tools to record your screen while you teach, and is also useful to screenshot record tutorials.
- Your phone! Phones these days come with very good cameras that allow you to record and edit your videos.
Support
How to get assistance if necessary:
- Brightspace support on Brightspace functionalities and features. Email: Brightspace@tudelft.nl
- Training and workshops for instructors. If you are interested in a (virtual) workshop, but the date does not suit you; contact tls@tudelft.nl
- For live-streaming and recording of your lectures, please contact: https://collegeramacolleges.tudelft.nl/new/
FAQ
On campus, courses often have labs or objects students need to physically see or touch. We are aware that this is not easy to do remotely. Try to think of what is possible. For instance:
- Record a short video (touring spaces or zooming in on objects) and take pictures of on campus objects.
- Add assignments where you show specific situations. For example:
- Ask students what the right order of actions is,
- Show the results of a measurement and ask students to interpret.
- Show lab equipment and ask students how they can use it
- Add the video’s and assignments on Brightspace
- Add a forum for questions and discussion.
Further tips to Run Lab Activities by Stanford University.
- Ask students to record a video of themselves using a web camera or mobile phone and if possible to capture both their faces as well as the slides on the screen.
- Organize a session in YouSeeU and ask students to give a live presentation to their peers.
- Provide opportunities for active learning
- Encourage peer collaboration
- Make yourself available for feedback
- Send them reminders
- Make online engagement part of the grade but only after approval of the exam board
Helpful links
Here are some helpful links from our colleagues in the higher education sector:
- SURF: Online onderwijs vraagbaak
- http://teachremote.mit.edu/
- https://teachremotely.harvard.edu/
- https://www.chronicle.com/article/Going-Online-in-a-Hurry-What/248207
- https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/03/10/prepare-move-online-continuity-planning-coronavirus-and-beyond-opinion
- http://www.moseswrites.org/onlineeducation.html
Factsheets about video
- Didactic use of videos (pdf)
- Scripting tips for videos (pdf)
- Copyrights summary (pdf)
- Using visuals in presentations (pdf)
- Presenting on camera tips (pdf)
- DIY video recording tips (pdf)
- Editing video factsheet (pdf)
Copyright and Creative Commons Licenses in Online Education (pdf)
Thanks to Teaching Effectively During Times of Disruption, for SIS and PWR by Jenae Cohn and Beth Seltzer, Stanford Edu. CC-BY-NC-SA
This guide is licensed under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License.