eLearning: Recommended Teaching Resources and Tools

The following are recommended tools for a variety of instruction scenarios.

Engineering IT offers assistance to instructors with various instructional tools. Please email engrit-help-elearning@illinois.edu for consultation.

Course Setup & Management

Learning Management Systems
Recommended
Solution
Function Collaborative online space for delivering course content, course materials One stop landing page for course content and links to other tools
Features
  • Communication Tools
  • Assessment Tools
  • Interactive Tools
  • Analytics
  • Website directories along with term subfolders are automatically created for each course being taught as soon as they appear in the course catalog
Notes/Resources

Assessment Tools

Assessment Tools
Solution
Function Assessment creation within Canvas Supports variable-length assignments and fixed-template like worksheets, quizzes, or exams Offers a wide range of built-in widgets to accelerate question writing development
Features
  • Utilizes built in tools for tests and surveys
  • Automatic grading of single-answer choices
  • High quality feedback may reduce the burden on students to seek help
  • Score adaptively based on student mastery and question difficulty
  • Automate the submission and grading process
  • Analyze assessment quality and student outcomes
Notes/Resources

Proctoring Tools

Proctoring
Solution
Function
 Computer based, proctored assessments for Grainger College of Engineering Students
Features
  • Utilizes PrairieLearn
  • Online Zoom-based proctoring
  • Facility for in-person testing
  • Reservation-based scheduling

Engagement & Interactivity

Live Discussion
Solution
Function
  • Video conferencing for live class sessions
  • Group discussions
  • Office hours
 Single platform for Q&A, discussions, and active learning
  • Video conferencing
  • Threaded chat
  • Instant messaging

Collaborative channels for communicating via threaded chat
Features
  • Course communication in one place
  • Polling
  • Breakout rooms
  • Queuing
  • Screen sharing
  • Organize conversations
  • Search
  • Share files
Notes/Resources

Asynchronous Online Discussion
Solution
Function
 Post discussion questions or topics publicly Single platform for Q&A, discussions, and active learning
  • Public or private Q&A
  • Provides structure to interactions
 Threaded discussions Collaborative channels for communicating via threaded chat
Features
  • Multiple discussion boards in one course
  • No need for students to be logged in at the same time
  • Class feed for discussion
  • Can be anonymous
  • Both students and instructors can respond
  • Chat
  • File sharing
  • Discussion threads
  • Organize conversations
  • Search
  • Share files
Notes/Resources

Office Hours

Office Hours Tools
Solutions
 Canvas Scheduler
Function
 One on one discussions with waiting room option Custom virtual spaces for people to gather Scheduled discussions with chat option Create a block of time where students can meet with you
Features
  • Hold small group discussions or use breakout rooms
  • Waiting room
  • Recurring meetings
  • Virtual spaces that lets multiple people hold separate conversations in parallel and walk in, out and around the conversations
  • Hold small group discussions or use breakout rooms
  • Recurring meetings
  • Appointments display in your calendar after a student or group has reserved a time slot
  • Appointment details are also included when you export the calendar using the Calendar feed
  • Can include Zoom link
Notes/Resources
  

Recording Lecture Tools

Recording Lecture Tools
Personal & Online Class Recording
 Classroom Recording
Solution
 Zoom Kaltura Room Capture
Function
  • Video conferencing for live class sessions
  • Live interaction between instructor and peers
 Dual capture of room camera video with projected presentation content from multiple sources: e.g. resident computer, laptop, document camera (where available)
Features
    • Whiteboard option
    • Accessible from many different OS platforms including mobile
    • Canvas & Moodle integration
    • Breakout rooms
    • Polling
    • In-meeting notes
    • Pre-schedule a semesters worth of course recordings in advance
    • Remotely steerable camera can be set to capture in-room blackboard or whiteboard
    • Canvas & Moodle integration
    • Flexible media sharing options (to specific individuals, course sections, or off-campus audiences)
    • Basic video editing capabilities
    • Variable speed video playback
    • Auto-captioning, with ability to edit captions
    Notes/Resources

    Transcription Tools

    Transcription Tools
    Solution
    Function
    		 Automatic speech recognition tool Open-source, web-based platform that leverages crowd sourcing to address the problem of accurate, reliable, and fast transcriptions of college lectures. Automatically transcribe audio of a meeting or webinar that you record to the cloud
    Features
    		 Captions are automatically added to media in Kaltura using ASR (automatic speech recognition)
    • Student reviewed transcribing
    • Searchable by captioning
    • Option to display the transcript text within the video itself
    • Similar to closed caption display
    Notes/Resources

    Remote Engineering Software Access

    For instructional needs that require access to software typically found in our Engineering WorkStation (EWS) labs, these are the recommended connection solutions. Support is available by submitted a help request at https://go.illinois.edu/ewshelp.

    Remote Software
    Solution
    Function
    		 Remote Windows-based application access Remote Linux-based application access
    Features
    Notes/Resources


    Keywords:
    instruction TA teaching tools course management lecture capture communication assessment asynchronous synchronous faculty instructor canvas courses gradescope PrairieLearn CBTF Zoom 
    Doc ID:
    103824
    Owned by:
    Anya K. in Engineering IT
    Shared Services
    Created:
    2020-07-09
    Updated:
    2024-07-30
    Sites:
    University of Illinois Engineering IT