Fall 2020 Resilience Newsletter 1

The goal of the Smeal Academy is to equip everyone with best practices and strategies for teaching, learning, and technology to ensure the Smeal community is prepared to respond to the unique challenges in teaching during this time. Throughout the semester, we will be sending emails with practical tips and information, providing live sessions, and holding virtual consultations.

Summer 2020 Smeal Academy Session Recordings

More than 100 Smeal faculty and staff attended our Summer 2020 Smeal Academy sessions. Here is a list of topics covered with links to curated recordings and resources:

Canvas Basics – June 24
New O365 Features – July 8
Strategies and Tools for Live and Pre-Recorded Videos – July 15
Using iPads as Whiteboards in Remote Learning – July 22
Student Engagement and Connection Strategies – July 29
Assessment Strategies – August 5
You Got This: Prepping Your Course for the New Normal – August 12
Engaging Students Through Assessment – August 19
Engaging Students Synchronously – August 27

Current News

Kaltura and Zoom
Penn State’s media management platform, Kaltura, has had intermittent issues the past week due to increased demand on resources related to Fall remote instruction. Recent infrastructure updates will hopefully minimize recording errors and delays. However, if issues persist recordings can be manually downloaded from Zoom and uploaded to Kaltura, or shared directly from Zoom using the “Share recordings with viewers” link in the confirmation email sent from Zoom when recordings have finished processing.Also, any Zoom recordings made between August 26 at 10 a.m. ET through August 27 at 7 p.m. and August 31 at 10 a.m. through August 31 at 1:30 p.m. may not have been migrated to Kaltura. In this case, recordings should be manually downloaded from Zoom and uploaded to Kaltura.

Upcoming Live Sessions

Faculty Panel – Group Projects in Online, Remote, and Hybrid Courses
Are you trying to figure out strategies for group work in your online/remote and hybrid classes? Come to hear how some of our faculty are integrating group work in their classes. We will discuss best practices and lessons learned as well as have Q & A time to discuss your course concerns and needs. Join us Wednesday, September 9 from 9 to 10 a.m. via Zoom. NOTE:  Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our eLDIG  Website.

Tips of the Week

- Tip #1: Course Announcements
  Consider using announcements for course communication to inform the entire class about something. It is easier to use than course mail for sharing global information – but you have to tell students at the beginning of the course to check announcements frequently!
- Tip #2: Smeal iPads
  iPads will soon be distributed to faculty who requested them. eLDIG has created two videos to assist you in using your iPad or android tablet when you wish to use the whiteboard feature.

Fall 2020 Resilience Newsletter 1