Transitioning to Online FAQ

Narrating your PowerPoint slideshow and embedding it in your Blackboard or Canvas course

First, Narrate your PowerPoint slideshow:

1) Click on Slideshow, Record Slideshow. This documentation might help:

https://support.office.com/client/0b9502c6-5f6c-40ae-b1e7-e47d8741161c?redirectSourcePath=%252fclient%252fRecord-and-add-narration-and-timings-to-a-slide-show-9d136e4a-9717-49ad-876e-77aeca9c17eb#OfficeVersion=Windows (you might need to click on Older Windows versions to find the right layout)

2) After you have completed the narration, Click on Save As and change the File Type to .mp4 and Save.

Second: Upload to Youtube

1) Log into Youtube as with your Mary Baldwin email address. If you can see your initial and when you click on it you can see your Mary Baldwin email address, then you are logged in.
2) Verify your account so you can upload videos longer than 15 minutes. By default, you can upload videos that are up to 15 minutes long. Verified accounts can upload videos longer than 15 minutes. You only need to do this once. To verify your Google Account:

On a computer, go to https://www.youtube.com/verify.
Follow the steps to verify your Google Account. Create a channel and agree to the terms. You may be sent a verification code, and if so you can choose to get a verification code through a text message on a mobile device or an automated voice call.

3) Make sure you’re using an up-to-date version of your browser to upload files greater than 20GB.
4) At the upper right of your youtube screen, click on your initials or photo and choose Youtube Studio

5) At the left, click on Video. Click on Create and Upload Video

6) Browse for the .mp4 file you want to upload.
7) You need to keep clicking on Next. You will want to say that the video is not created for children and set the Visibility to Unlisted (which means people need to have the exact url address to find the video).
8) Once the video is uploaded to youtube and processed, from the Video Details screen, click on the three little dots next to Save and choose Share Privately. Click on “Let everyone at marybaldwin.edu view” or, for even more privacy, type or paste in the email addresses of the students or faculty member who need to be able to view this video.

Third: Post this youtube video to your Blackboard course. (skip this to see instructions for Canvas course)

1) Click on the youtube address to watch it, and while you are watching it, right click and choose “Copy Embed Code”

2) In your Course, go to where you want this video to be. For example, if you are a faculty member posting a lecture, you might put it in Module 10 or in a Content Area labeled “Lectures”. Navigate there and click on Build Content and Item. Fill in the Name of the lecture and then click on the HTML icon.

(If you are a student posting a presentation to a Discussion Board, you would navigate to the Discussion Board Forum and click on Create a Thread. Name your Thread and click on the HTML icon.)

3) When the HTML window comes up, CTRL-V to paste the Embed Code you copied and click on Update.

4) Click on Submit.

Post your youtube video to your Canvas Course

1) Click on the youtube address to watch it, and while you are watching it, right click and choose “Copy Embed Code”

2) From Modules, click on the + to add a New Page in the appropriate module

3) Edit that page

4) Click on the Insert/Edit media icon and Embed. Ctrl-V to paste the embed code that you copied from youtube and click on OK and then Save.

Using your Blackboard Collaborate Virtual Office to Record your Powerpoint Slides or your Desktop

Each Blackboard and Canvas shell comes with its own link to Blackboard Collaborate. Blackboard Collaborate is a virtual meeting room/classroom with recording capability. Your faculty members can ‘meet’ with students in their courses or record a video of themselves, their desktop and/or their slides using Blackboard Collaborate.

To enable your students to access the Blackboard Collaborate Virtual Classroom from your Blackboard Course, make sure they can see the link:

You don’t need to create a specific session, you can just click on the Course Room and Join Course Room.

To enable your students to access the Blackboard Collaborate Virtual Classroom from your Canvas Course, click on Settings, Navigation and drag the Blackboard Collaborate link to the top section. Then click on Save.

When you are using Blackboard Collaborate to record your slides or desktop, you’ll get the best results from Chrome and you will be prompted to download the Chrome extension.

Blackboard has excellent documentation about Collaborate:

https://help.blackboard.com/Collaborate/Ultra/Moderator/Get_Started

https://help.blackboard.com/Collaborate/Ultra/Moderator/Join_Sessions

https://help.blackboard.com/Collaborate/Ultra/Moderator/Moderate_Sessions/Share_Content

https://help.blackboard.com/Collaborate/Ultra/Moderator/Moderate_Sessions/Recordings

The Blackboard Collaborate Session link may be hidden from students. To show it in Blackboard, hover over the link on the left hand menu, click on the little circle with arrow that shows up and choose “Show Link”.

To show the link in Canvas, click on Settings and Navigation, drag the Blackboard Collaborate Navigation item to the top list and then click on Save

Your students can access the recordings by clicking on Blackboard Collaborate, then the three horizontal lines Menu and then Recordings.

If you or your students have trouble with Blackboard Collaborate, the built-in chatbot may be helpful.

Meeting with your students or advisees online

Each Blackboard and Canvas course has a Blackboard Collaborate virtual meeting space, but you may want to be able to hold office hours where any of your students can meet with you, or to be able to meet with your advisees who may not be your students this semester.

To be allocated an online meeting room, please raise a ticket with IT using this link:

https://k1100s.marybaldwin.edu/userui/ticket.php?QUEUE_ID=7&TICKET_TEMPLATE_ID=10

Make the title of the ticket “Blackboard Collaborate Meeting Room Request“.

You will receive an email from Blackboard Collaborate that looks something like this:

To log in as the moderator, click on the Join the Blackboard Collaborate Session link. DO NOT SEND this link to anyone else. Only one person can use this personalized Join link at a time and if someone else is using it, it will lock you out.

Copy the Guest link and Session Dial-in information and put that information in the email or your Blackboard course. Also, add this link, which has some simple documentation, including how your students can access the session via an App.

Accessing Blackboard Collaborate as a Guest

Your guests (students) will be prompted to fill in their name when they click on their guest link. Because your students might be joining by telephone, also send them the Session Dial In telephone number and PIN, and let them know that there is a Blackboard Collab app.

When you first enter the Blackboard Collaborate session, you should be prompted to Allow the browser to use your camera and microphone. In the session, in order to be seen and heard, you will also need to click on the Microphone and Camera Icons at the bottom of the Blackboard Collaborate screen.

To “Share” your desktop or applications you will have the best results if you use the Chrome browser and install a Chrome Extension. When you click on the Purple Collaborate Panel icon and the Share Content icon, you will be prompted to install the extension if you do not have it already installed. If you are NOT prompted to install the Chrome extension, go here to install it.

Your guests (students) will by default be Presenters in the session, depending on the session configuration. Presenters can share their desktops and applications.

You can have multiple recordings during one session. If you decide to continue recording a session after you have stopped, a new recording is saved and added to the list of recordings for that session. To record your session, open the Session menu, which is the three horizontal lines at the upper left, and select Start Recording. The recording camera appears on with a red dot while recording is in progress.

To finish recording, open the Session menu and select Stop Recording.

If you are sharing a file, allow 8 seconds for the recording to include the shared file before moving on.

After you Stop the recording and exit the session, you will receive an email with a link to the recording.

Participating as a Guest – forward this to your advisees:

Full documentation from Blackboard is here:

Shortcut to Participating via Mobile Device App

If you are using a computer to access the session, please use Chrome. When you click on the link to the session, you will be prompted to enter your name.

When you first enter the Blackboard Collaborate session, you should be prompted to Allow the browser to use your camera and microphone.

If you cannot get the popup to appear, you may need to go into settings on your browser to Allow this site to access your camera and microphone: https://us.bbcollab.com

When you first Join the Blackboard Collaborate session, your camera and your microphone are muted by default. You will need to un-mute them by clicking on the microphone and camera (looks like a movie camera) icons at the bottom of the page.

if you have more than one camera or microphone, you can change your microphone or camera if you click on Set up your camera and microphone. Click on little purple tab at the bottom right of your screen to open the Control Panel. The Settings Icon (looks like a little gear) will show you your Audio and Video settings:

Blackboard has supplied documentation for various browsers here: BBCollab Microphone Steps

This website will allow you to test your webcam, speakers and microphone before entering the session. Don’t download anything from this site, just click on the Test Buttons at the top of the page. To test the volume of your microphone, from your PC you can use Sound Recorder to make a little .wma file that you can play back. If you need to change the defaults for your camera, microphone or volume levels, you would use the Control Panel (usually a gear icon) on your device.

More technical information about Blackboard Collaborate is here

How do I report a problem?

You can find out if the Blackboard Collaborate service is having issues, by checking their status page here.

There is a chatbot in Blackboard Collaborate that can help if you have issues.

Recording yourself lecturing from a Staunton Campus Classroom

There are several spaces on the Staunton campus where a professor can record a lecture to post online for their students. Please call IT at 540-887-7075. The staff will make appointments in lecture capture classrooms and meet you there to make sure you are successful with the recording technology.

Final Assessments Online

If your usual final assessment is a closed book time limited test, then you will probably need to rethink it for this semester. Although we have access to technology for online proctoring of exams, most of us cannot be assured that our undergraduate population has access to the computer, webcam, and high quality internet service that would make this a possible solution.

Another option might include changing your final assessment to a paper instead of a test.

If you prefer to use a timed test for your final assessment, assume that the students have all resources at their disposal. What kinds of questions can you ask in an open-book, open-resource, internet-available environment that test the learning objectives of your course? You may be replacing correct answer multiple choice questions with reflective essay questions that will take you longer to grade.

If you decide to use an online test, here are some considerations.

If the students ‘know’ the correct answer, then they can get through the timed test fairly quickly. If they have to look up answers to questions, they may not be able to finish in time.

You will want to use these test options

Set the timer for the test
Do NOT set Force Completion.
Present the questions one at a time. This prevents the student from seeing all the questions and then claiming an internet outage so they can take the test again.
If you have students that require extra time, set the Test Availability Exceptions for them.

If you need help with this process, please see the Documentation for Blackboard, the Documentation for Canvas, or make an appointment.

Moving folders from your U: Drive to your Google Drive

On your office computer, you can upload folders to drive.google.com. You can upload files into private or shared folders.

On your computer, go to drive.google.com. If you have more than one google account, make sure that you are pointing to your Mary Baldwin Google drive and not your personal drive. If you need to switch accounts, click on the upper right icon.
At the top left, click New Folder Upload.
Choose the folder you want to upload, by browsing for the folder on your My Documents or U: Drive, click on the folder and click Upload.

What other resources are available?

Internet Providers, some offering free extra data: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3532817/which-internet-providers-are-lifting-data-caps-during-the-coronavirus-and-which-arent.html

Blackboard: For more information about what Blackboard is doing to support their clients – including accessible course content tips, complimentary Learn and Collaborate training and a series of “how to” resources, please go to: https://www.blackboard.com/go/scale-teaching-and-learning-online.

Educause: https://library.educause.edu/topics/information-technology-management-and-leadership/covid-19

OLC (Online Learning Consortium) has made these resources available:

Upcoming & On Demand Webinars

April 3^rd at 1PM ET (12PM CT; 10AM PT): Addressing the Social-Emotional Needs of Remote Learners
Just Posted! How to Survive Your (Hurried) Switch to Online Delivery Using UDL
Available: Keeping Students Engaged in a Transition to Online Learning

Continuity Planning and Emergency Preparedness: A collection of resources and initiatives to support your efforts in moving courses to an online format when emergency situations arise.

Audience: Faculty | Admins | K-12 Educators
Available: Resource List | Academic Continuity Padlet

Recording lecture content for your students

Meeting with your students online

Other helpful resources