Happy Holidays!
The ETO wishes you a restful and relaxing end-of-term and holiday break! Reflecting the University closure over the holiday break, the FASE EdTech Office will be closed beginning Wednesday, December 21, 2022, and re-opening on Monday, January 02, 2023. Any inquiries submitted during this time will be responded to as quickly as possible when the office re-opens in January.
Support during the Holiday Break
While we are closed (in addition to wearing your comfiest pants and watching Netflix holiday movies), we recommend:
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Searching for a solution via the ETO's Technical Help Guides
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Checking to see if someone else has asked a similar question via the Faculty Question of the Week
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Booking a consultation for the first week back (classes don't start until January 09, 2023 but we'll be back in the office on January 02, 2023)
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ETO's December EdTech Tips
You can jump to the topic of interest or just keeping reading/scrolling:
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Effectively conclude your Quercus course (for your students and to save time next term) using the Quercus End-of-term checklist
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Launch your second semester Quercus course using the Quercus Start-of-term checklist
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Choose your lecture capture strategy (including our last call for the FASE Lecture Capture Program; requests are due December 09, 2022)
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Listen (or read the transcript) of Episode 06 of the MADE Podcast (featuring Christy Tucker)
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Check out our new and/or updated guides, including new information on implementing MathMatize in your course
And don't forget about our regular features including the monthly Tech Tip, your weekly Quercus questions, the best clicks from around the web, and how to contact the ETO for support.
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1. Effectively conclude your Quercus course
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Can't see your Winter 2023 Quercus course? Instructor enrollments are pulled directly from ROSI. If you are still not able to see you course, contact your departmental ROSI administrator. |
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2. Launch your second semester Quercus course
The Quercus Start-of-term checklist takes you through administering and publishing your Quercus course. It does take a bit more time to get up and running (than does wrapping up), which is why we encourage you to start now. Ideally, you have a course that you can copy from the last time you taught the course, which will hep, but you'll still have some annual tasks to complete before you're ready to publish.
Use this 11-step Quercus Start-of-term checklist to launch your course with minimal turbulence:
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Access Quercus
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Organize your courses (customize the list of courses that appear on your dashboard)
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Import content (or course template into your course)
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Organize course content with modules (see what are Quercus modules?)
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Create a course homepage (choose from lay outs)
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Use learner-centered checklists
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Customize your course navigation (hide those unnecessary menu links)
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Set up assessments and Gradebook
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Add Course Staff (e.g., teaching assistants)
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Publish your course
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Send a welcome announcement
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3. Choose your lecture capture strategy
If you are considering recording your in-person teaching activities, there are a few options to consider that are based on the style of teaching you do in your class. Based on your circumstances, we present four different solution scenarios.
To help you make this decision, the flow chart below asks you:
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Do you primarily teach with digital projection?
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Are you teaching in an LSM classroom? (Use the LSM Instructor Look up to find out)
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Do you have someone to help with filming?
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Do you use your own lap top?
*UDL = Universal design for learning
Use the flow chart (or read the scenarios below it) to decide which solution works for you:
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Here are four lecture capture solutions:
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Scenario 01: If you teach in an LSM-classroom (with a full teaching podium) and use digital projection, use the built-in lecture capture solution OpenCast (OCCS).
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Scenario 02: If your assigned classroom does not have OCCS, and you have someone to help you film, we'd recommend assisted self-recording (with phone and USB mic).
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Scenario 03: If your assigned classroom does not have OCCS and you do NOT have someone to help you, we'd recommend self-capture using SnagIt (or other screen capture software, as you prefer).
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Scenario 04: If you teach primarily using non-digital teaching modalities and/or one of the other solutions does not work for you, consider joining the FASE Lecture Capture Program.
Last call for Winter 2023 lecture capture! If you fall into scenario 04, we've extended the deadline for lecture capture program requests until Friday, December 09, 2022 at 5:00 pm EST.
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4. Check out Episode 06 of the MADE Podcast (featuring Christy Tucker)
In the sixth episode of MADE for U of T (you can listen, read the transcript or see all episodes), we hear from Christy Tucker, a Learning Experience Design (LXD) Consultant who specializes in scenario-based learning and has over 20 years of experience helping people learn. She has been blogging about e-learning for over 15 years. We talked about her experience with scenario based-learning, and more specifically branching scenarios. You can read more tips and tricks from Christy on her website Christy Tucker Learning.
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5. Check out our new and/or updated tech and tool guides
We are constantly adding and updating our technical documentation. Often, this is in response to an inquiry or a system change. Here are the guides we've added (or made major changes to) since the last Tip Sheet:
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Have some fun with Games for Work (a new MS Teams app)
Choose from a selection of favorite casual games including Microsoft IceBreakers, Wordament, Minesweeper, and Solitaire—all easy to play in quick, interactive, and multi-player versions (from 2 to 250 players). Visit the Microsoft announcement for more details!
As always, we'd recommend a test run before you launch one of the games in a meeting.
How to get the Games for Work (MS Teams app)
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Get the Games for Work App
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November's Faculty Question(s)
Each week we answer a real question that we've received about Quercus and other Academic Toolbox tools, keeping the questions timely and relevant to you. You can select on the question to read the full inquiry and response or see all previous faculty questions of the week.
Read last month's Faculty Questions of the Week
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 Why can't I see all my students in SpeedGrader? (November 24, 2022) | The Quiz Analysis shows the distribution of the student responses but the Speedgrader only gives me access to 3 student responses. What could be the reason I can't see all my students in SpeedGrader? How do I fix this? |
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 Can I download a list of student appointments from my Quercus Calendar? (November 17, 2022) | I’m using my Quercus Calendar to schedule over 200 office hour appointment slots for students in my class. I know we can click on each individual slot in the Quercus Calendar—and that’s our fall-back plan—but it would be really helpful to be able to download a list. |
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 How can I download lecture videos that were uploaded to MS Stream by a former TA? (November 10, 2022) | She also did not keep any local copies of the videos. Is there a way I can access the videos on Stream and download them myself? I need to make them available to students for an upcoming class. |
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 Can I bulk submit assignments to Ouriginal on behalf of students? (November 03, 2022) | I created an assignment in Quercus and forgot to turn on Ouriginal. I have included the information on my syllabus. Can I turn on Ouriginal retroactively for this assignment? |
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December's "just trust us" Clicks
This month's articles from across U of T and the web that we think you should read:
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Crisis and catalyst: The impact of COVID-19 on global practice in engineering education (MIT) | From the article: Informed by the perspectives and experiences of the global engineering education community, the Crisis and Catalyst report takes stock of the sector-wide impact of COVID-19 emergency teaching. It addresses two central questions: 1. What were the experiences of the engineering education community during emergency teaching? 2. How will this systemic shock impact the direction of travel for the global sector beyond emergency teaching?
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Five Things to Do During the Grumpy Time of the Semester (Faculty Focus) | From the article: We believe there is value in acknowledging this eventuality, naming it, and then proactively and intentionally devising plans for what to do when we get into the grumpy time of the semester.
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Good delivery, not technology, ‘saved teaching during pandemic’ (Times Higher Education) | ‘If you are worried about the quality of online teaching, worry about the teaching part,’ says Clay Shirky.
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Do Online Degrees Lead to Jobs as Reliably as Traditional Ones? (EdSurge) | From the article: For online students, the jury is out on which theory forecasts their future. Will they be set free to overturn barriers imposed by their social and economic status? Or will they be constrained—as Bourdieu’s theory holds—captives in class confinement?
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How can the EdTech Office help?
Check out our service catalogue to get started:
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Book a consultation - We're happy to meet with you to discuss any element of your course (related to technology, of course!). We can help with your Quercus course, planning your online assessments, setting up your home recording station and more!
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Request a new Quercus course - We can create courses for both academic and administrative purposes (though for the latter you might also consider a Microsoft Team). If you're running a program, committee, group (especially one that has students), this might be a great hub for your work.
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Request guest Quercus Accounts - These temporary accounts (up to 300 days) can be used to provide access to external guests or be used in testing (for more complex course configurations and features).
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Participate in the Remote Editing Process - We've designed a remote editing process that begins with support as you to record your own content (from wherever) and ends with the Education Technology Office to provide editing services and posting to your Quercus course. This is ideal for trimming and cutting webinar recordings. Due to demand, we've decided to continue this service as a regular offering from the ETO.
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Looking for 1:1 support? We're happy to schedule individual (or teaching team) consultation(s) to review your course and current stage of design. You can also email us to get started! |
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Wondering about those photos in the banner?
Each month, in the Tip Sheet Banner, we feature photos from the ETO's outside-of-work adventures. |
 
Photo by Inga Breede (left; Santa Claus Parade) and Allison Van Beek (right; first snowfall)
 
Photo by Marisa Curmi (left; white christmas tree) and Irina Belaya (Right; TESS Conference Speaker)
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