Virtual Teaching Tools
The Centre for Academic Technology: Tools to Teach Anywhere
Health concerns, natural disasters or other unforeseen circumstances may lead to a temporary suspension of on-campus classes and necessitate the move to online methods of course delivery.
The University of Winnipeg offers a variety of technologies to assist instructors in remote teaching. Faculty may choose the best option(s) for their specific course needs and technology comfort level. These solutions may be used alone or combined.
These options include:
1. UWinnipeg E-mail
- Communicate with and e-mail course materials to students
- There is a size limit to UW e-mail attachments (150MB)
- Video files not recommended to be e-mailed
Contact: Technology Service Desk
2. NEXUS (D2L Brightspace Online Learning Management System)
- The University's Learning Management platform for course communications, content, and/or activities.
- Variety of tools for online teaching
For Current Nexus instructors
Info Page: Instructors considering Nexus use
Contact: The "Support Portal - Live Chat" link from either the Nexus "Help" navbar menu or the "Find Answers Here" link in the "Nexus End User Support" widget on a course home page
When: For issues involving the Nexus LMS platform itself, such as Nexus tools and/or functions
Hours of Operation: 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, 365 days/year
or
Contact: Nexus Support
When: For non-LMS related issues or questions (e.g. accounts, passwords, course site changes/additions, enrollment of users to Nexus)
Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
3. Studio 1L10 and 1L11
- The Studio is available to the University community for video recording sessions for teaching and research purposes during free time slots.
- 1L10 features a three camera set-up while 1L11 has a one camera set-up. Both offer a variety of input sources including a document camera, smart board and computer.
- Operation is supported by a crew of dedicated staff.
- Changes in course delivery due to social distancing needs can be managed by pre-recording lecture content ahead of schedule and uploading to Nexus for viewing immediately or later.
Contact: For details on booking either studio, please contact Warren McNeil
4. Zoom
We have a page that contains all the information you require to request and use the video conferencing tool Zoom. Please click Zoom.
5. Creating and Delivering On-line Courses
The Manitoba Flexible Learning Hub (of which The University of Winnipeg is a partner) has created several asynchronous courses and support materials to aide in preparing post-secondary instructors to teach online. In addition to those provided on their website, the following are now available to instructors on the Nexus Learning Management System (LMS). Instructors needing access to these materials should contact nexus@uwinnipeg.ca
Teaching Online Courses
Audience: Instructors
Recommended time to complete: 3 Hours
How to Access: Faculty/course content creators to be enrolled upon request sent to nexus@uwinnipeg.ca
Location: Online, asynchronous course within Nexus
This three-hour course will prepare instructors to teach learners in the online environment. The primary audience for this online self-study module is teaching staff. The module will cover the delivery aspect of teaching online. Average time to complete is three hours.
Framework Courses (Science, Humanities, Other)
Audience: Instructors
Recommended time to complete: N/A
How to Access: Faculty/course content creators to be enrolled upon request sent to nexus@uwinnipeg.ca
Location: 3 separate Nexus course sites
A Framework Course is the starting place for your course development. It contains examples in each of the basic LMS tools (Grades, Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, Content, Announcements) that can be edited to quickly get your course up and running. Three versions of the Framework course are available for Nexus, which contain examples that align to several disciplines.
How to use a Framework Course – a Video Series
Audience: Instructor
Recommended time to complete: 1 hour
How to Access: Automatically provided to Faculty/course content creators who are enrolled upon request to the above Framework courses
Location: Multipart video series found under the course Announcement/News section on the main page of each of the above Framework courses
This video series, which can be completed in under 60 minutes, will guide an instructor through using a Framework Course on their institution’s LMS. Briefly covering each of the core LMS tools, the instructor can edit the Framework Course to build their own remote learning course.
Development and Delivery of Online Courses
The following series of documents are excellent resources to assist instructors in their development and delivery of online courses. There are also two documents to support our students as well. We would like to acknowledge and thank PACE for developing and sharing these documents.
For Instructors
Basics of Teaching Online
Course Structure Guidelines
Principles of Online Learning Assessments
Motivation and Engagement
For Students
Student Online Learning Guide
Adjusting Study Habits for Students