Ensure your teaching materials are saved to your own computer/cloud account.
Make asynchronicity your friend – using asynchronous tools such as emails, Moodle, dropboxes, or discussion boards are often the simplest and most easily accessible tools for ensuring that all students are able to participate.
Ensure that any content you share is easily accessible to all students. - Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Accommodations
Accommodated Learning Centre
Providing equitable access to the post-secondary environment
https://www.uleth.ca/ross/accommodated-learning-centre
Accommodated students will require recordings and/or transcripts of video and audio lectures so that they can be successful in an on-line environment. We may later add captioning. Fortunately, many platforms have settings to do this automatically, including Zoom, and require minimal work for the user. See: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115004794983-Automatically-Transcribe-Cloud-Recordings-
Accessibility
Accessibility of Education - Tool Kit for Educators
When you choose or create teaching materials for your courses, you might want to ensure that all your students can easily access and use those resources. Accessible content meets the requirements of the Alberta Human Rights Act, which "has as its objective the amelioration of the conditions of disadvantaged persons or classes of disadvantaged persons, including those who are disadvantaged because of their race, religious beliefs, colour, gender, gender identity, gender expression, physical disability, mental disability, age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, source of income, family status or sexual orientation".
Creating Accessible Content
Ensuring that the content that we create for online learning is accessible to all is a vital part of presenting material online. There are a few simple steps that can be followed to help ensure that all of your students are able to access/view the material that you are creating for them. Here are a few resources to help you get started:
- Creating Accessible Documents
- Tips for Delivering an Accessible Lecture/ Presentation
- Tips for Teaching an Accessible Online Course
- Making Accessible Media: Accessible Design in Digital Media (online modules)
Universal Design for Learning
Universal design for learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.
Tools for Delivering Content
Moodle Learning Management System (LMS)
Moodle Answers
Tutorials for using Moodle at the University of Lethbridge.
Microsoft Office Suite
A collection of office applications including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Microsoft Outlook can be used to mail content to students if you prefer mail as a distribution method. Be aware that Publisher and Access have no direct counterparts on Macs or with Google Apps so accessing those file types may create problems for some students.
Tools for Creating Presentations and Other Content
Adobe Creative Suite
A collection of cloud applications including Illustrator and Photoshop. These tools offer increased flexibility for creativity when creating content.
Given the challenges of accessing Adobe Creative Cloud software in labs and classrooms at this time, Adobe has provided temporary at-home access for impacted students and faculty so that they can continue their work remotely. Please follow the instructions in this link to enable access to Creative Cloud Desktop Apps on your device.
Flipgrid
Flipgrid is a simple, free, and accessible video discussion experience for PreK to PhD educators, learners and families. Create a Topic and engage your community...together!
Microsoft Sway
Powerpoint
It is important to note that if you are recording or delivering lecture live, many of our students have accommodations due to visual or auditory issues. Turning on transcription for your PowerPoint presentation is quite easy to do and allows for a live transcription of your lecture (which is accessible to all of your students) and is then captured in the recording as well.
Media Delivery
YuJa
The University has purchased a cloud-based product called YuJa to facilitate the recording of presentations and video from your desktop, allow for simple editing of that video, and then deliver that video to your students either from within Moodle or directly from YuJa. Video is automatically captioned (for accessibility) and you can even turn your video content into a video-based quiz. Get started today by checking out our support resources:
- Getting Started with YuJa
- Recording Your First PowerPoint Lecture in YuJa
- Editing Your Video with YuJa (YuJa Resource)
- Displaying Your YuJa Content Within Your Moodle Course
Microsoft Stream
Youtube
Moodle does not handle large videos very well (and if everyone uploads large videos to the system it compromises the entire system). To prevent creating issues (and to create a better playback experience for students) we are currently recommending that you send a direct weblink to your Zoom video within Moodle or that videos be uploaded to YouTube as private videos and then embedded into Moodle.
- Inserting a YouTube video into Moodle.
- Set up a Youtube account, upload videos and embed your YouTube videos in Moodle [PDF]
Zoom
The University has secured licenses of Zoom to help with both synchronous delivery of classes as well as recording lectures for asynchronous delivery. Faculty can access their Zoom space by going to https://uleth.zoom.us and clicking on the Sign In button (login with your U of L credentials).
Students do not require a Zoom account to join a session. ONLY the meeting host needs a license of Zoom. Please be respectful of this fact as the University has a limited number of licenses available.
- How to use Zoom - Faculty
- How to use Zoom - Students
- Zoom resources for moving to alternative delivery
Podcasts
PDF OCR
Somtimes PDFs get created by simply scanning the text as a picture. No characters or words can be found.
This tool allows you to drag and drop a PDF and it uses Optical Character Recognition to convert the document so that it is readable text.
Campus Teaching Spaces
E519
Two teaching spaces have been set up in E519 on campus. These spaces are isolated, clean and have the essential equipment to help you teach with alternative delivery methods.
Lightboard
The Teaching Centre has a Lightboard set up in L1050 on campus. Our Lightboard is a 4’ x 8’ clear glass board, framed with LED lights. The instructor stands behind the glass and uses fluorescent markers to write on it the same way you would on a whiteboard.