We will update this page with new communications throughout the semester.
Table of Contents
Past Updates
AUGUST 4, 2020
It's Getting Real
With the calendar turning to August and the first students already on campus, the fall semester is only 20 days away. We hope you have been able to enjoy the summer while also planning for the fall semester.
Please know that the faculty support team, which comprises representatives from Information Technology Services (ITS), the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence and the Center for Online and Digital Learning, is here to support you at every step from your course planning to your last class of the semester. You can contact help@syr.edu for any questions about teaching or teaching with technology.
In addition to one-on-one support, here are some resources available to help you prepare for success this fall:
Fall 2020 Course Checklist — After working through this checklist, instructors will have thought through the design for their mixed delivery fall course(s) and aligned their course outcomes with their activities, assignments and assessments.
Resources for Teaching Remotely — ITS has provided this page to help you work and teach remotely.
Classroom Technology Instructions — Watch an overview of the standard instructional classroom technology in our training video.
Blackboard Course Transition Services — Through Syracuse University’s partnership with Blackboard Academic Services, you can request support with instructional design, content production, video recording, customization of your Blackboard course space and more.
Online Success Toolkit — This collection of resources is designed to promote successful online teaching for new and returning faculty alike.
Web Conferencing Tools — To learn more about the tools available to you, as well as their respective teaching considerations and technical information, read this web conferencing comparison.
Kaltura at Syracuse University — New for this semester, this cloud-based video management system helps instructors store and share video course content to create engaging and accessible learning experiences for their students.
PlayPosit — This tool for adding rich content and dynamic interactions to video is currently configured for instructors to overlay video content hosted in YouTube, Vimeo, Ensemble and Kaltura.
You can learn more about teaching with technology by listening to “Behind the Monitor,” the official ITS podcast, on Apple Podcasts. The new episode focuses on the recent launch of Kaltura.
Please also remember these online coaching and consultation opportunities:
- Teaching and Technology Tuesdays (Tuesdays at noon ET)
- Course Development: Open Q and A (Tuesdays at 6 p.m. ET and Thursdays at 10 a.m. ET)
- Zoom Training: Teaching with Zoom (multiple times available)
- Kaltura Training Sessions (multiple times available)
- Faculty Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access Workshop Series (asynchronous):
- Identifying and Reducing Implicit Bias in Pedagogical Decision-Making
- Establishing Civility and Positive Climate in Your Teaching Environment
- Problematizing Identity and Intersectionality on the College Campus
- Transparent Teaching: An Evidence-Based Inclusive Practice
- Navigating Challenges of Diversity in the Classroom
We look forward to working with you.
JULY 30, 2020
Aligning Your Course for a Smooth Transition
Aligning your course can make a big difference for students’ learning and for your experience as an instructor. Using the Fall 2020 Course Checklist, you can ensure that your course outcomes align with your assessments, assignments and activities, just like peas align in a pod.Aligned courses:
- Support students from underrepresented backgrounds.
- Require fewer explanations for why students must complete particular assignments—you can cite specific, pre-established outcomes.
- Foster an atmosphere that encourages learning.
Another advantage of an aligned course: It can pivot easily from format to format. To reach out for assistance in building your course, we encourage you to complete the Fall Course Development Form, which will help you get started with the Fall Course Transition Services available through Syracuse University’s partnership with Blackboard Academic Services. You can read these frequently asked questions to learn more about the Fall Course Transition Services.
As always, if you have questions about any aspect of teaching and/or teaching with technology, please contact the faculty support team (help@syr.edu). You can learn more about teaching with technology by listening to “Behind the Monitor,” the official ITS podcast, on Apple Podcasts. The new episode focuses on the recent launch of Kaltura at Syracuse University.
Please also remember these online coaching and consultation opportunities:
- Teaching and Technology Tuesdays (Tuesdays at noon ET)
- Course Development: Open Q and A (Tuesdays at 6 p.m. ET and Thursdays at 10 a.m. ET)
- Zoom Training: Teaching with Zoom (multiple times available)
- Kaltura Training Sessions (multiple times available)
- Faculty Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access Workshop Series (asynchronous):
- Identifying and Reducing Implicit Bias in Pedagogical Decision-Making
- Establishing Civility and Positive Climate in Your Teaching Environment
- Problematizing Identity and Intersectionality on the College Campus
- Transparent Teaching: An Evidence-Based Inclusive Practice
- Navigating Challenges of Diversity in the Classroom
We look forward to working with you.
JULY 28, 2020
Accessible Online Content
As you prepare for the fall semester, it’s important to consider the accessibility of your online content. We have included some tips below.
Accessible Blackboard Content
Syracuse University uses Blackboard Ally to enhance the usability and accessibility of course documents in the Blackboard learning management system. Ally provides students with multiple accessible formats of the original document so they can select the one that fits their unique needs. Currently, Ally offers accessible versions of Portable Document Format (PDF) files, Microsoft Office files (Word and PowerPoint), images and uploaded HTML files. Students will see a dropdown menu to the right of each document. From this dropdown menu, they can select one or more accessible versions to download and use.
Captioning Online Synchronous and Asynchronous Content
Syracuse University offers both Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and Zoom for online synchronous course meetings, whether from a University facility or off-campus location. Both web-conferencing services enable students to log in from their Blackboard course and also offer the option to have live-captioning functionality as required by the Center for Disability Resources.
Syracuse University recently adopted Kaltura, which also is integrated with Blackboard, for video creation and hosting in support of teaching and learning. Both Zoom and Kaltura include post-recording automatic speech recognition captioning for content, which not only helps to improve comprehension but also allows the individual to remediate text errors before making the pre-recorded content available. Also, the automatic captioning in Kaltura makes it possible to ask all students to add and then remediate the captions of their videos. A captioned video could be a requirement of their video submissions.
To learn more about creating inclusive online content, visit our Accessible Technology Toolkit on Answers and Blackboard’s free Accessibility Checklist.
If you have questions about teaching and/or teaching with technology—including Fall Course Transition Services—you can contact the faculty support team (help@syr.edu). For more tech tips and tricks, follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Please also remember these online coaching and consultation opportunities:
- Teaching and Technology Tuesdays (Tuesdays at noon ET)
- Overview of Blackboard Course Transition Services (Tuesdays at 6 p.m. ET)
- Course Development in Blackboard: Open Q and A (Thursdays at 10 a.m. ET)
- Zoom Training: Teaching with Zoom (multiple times available)
- Kaltura Training Sessions (multiple times available)
- Faculty Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access Workshop Series (asynchronous):
- Identifying and Reducing Implicit Bias in Pedagogical Decision-Making
- Establishing Civility and Positive Climate in Your Teaching Environment
- Problematizing Identity and Intersectionality on the College Campus
- Transparent Teaching: An Evidence-Based Inclusive Practice
- Navigating Challenges of Diversity in the Classroom
We look forward to working with you.
JULY 23, 2020
Trending Topics for Fall Semester Preparation
In recent weeks, we have shared information about a number of new resources and opportunities available to instructors to strengthen their online teaching. Here is a quick summary of tools you can use to make the most of the time remaining before classes begin on Aug. 24.
Kaltura
Kaltura at Syracuse University is a cloud-based video management system that helps instructors to create and share engaging learning experiences for their students. Although Ensemble will continue to be available through the Fall 2020 semester, any new content should be created in Kaltura.
Kaltura:
- enables instructors and students to create video content through Blackboard;
- provides instructors the ability to edit and combine videos while making them more interactive; and
- empowers instructors and students to use webcams and mobile devices to create content.
You can access Kaltura by logging in to Blackboard or video.syr.edu. You also can choose to use the Kaltura mobile app. We encourage you to register for online training sessions.
Fall Course Transition Services
Fall Course Transition Services are available until Aug. 3 through Syracuse University’s partnership with Blackboard. To preview the Syracuse University-specific Fall 2020 Blackboard course template, email help@syr.edu with either Course Name: Syracuse University Course Template—Fall 2020 or Course ID: sutemplate.fall2020 in the subject line. Remember: You don’t need to have a semester’s worth of content ready—only the course alignment (from syllabus through assessments, assignments and activities) and the first two weeks of materials. Once you finalize your syllabus and prepare your initial content, contact Blackboard Transition Services using the Course Is Ready for Transition Form.
Online Success Toolkit
The Online Success Toolkit also is available to support online teaching and learning. Available materials for faculty include course preparation guides, resources for supporting students and information regarding upcoming training and consultation opportunities. We will continue to update the toolkit throughout the summer and during the semester as appropriate.
As always, if you have questions about teaching with technology, you can contact the faculty support team (help@syr.edu). For more tech tips and tricks, follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Please also remember these online coaching and consultation opportunities:
- Teaching and Technology Tuesdays (Tuesdays at noon ET)
- Overview of Blackboard Course Transition Services (Tuesdays at 6 p.m. ET)
- Course Development in Blackboard: Open Q and A (Thursdays at 10 a.m. ET)
- Zoom Training: Teaching with Zoom (multiple times available)
- Kaltura Training Sessions (multiple times available)
- Faculty Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access Workshop Series (asynchronous):
- Identifying and Reducing Implicit Bias in Pedagogical Decision-Making
- Establishing Civility and Positive Climate in Your Teaching Environment
- Problematizing Identity and Intersectionality on the College Campus
- Transparent Teaching: An Evidence-Based Inclusive Practice
- Navigating Challenges of Diversity in the Classroom
We look forward to working with you.
JULY 21, 2020
There Is Still Time to Sign Up for Fall Course Transition Services
With the semester a month away, we encourage you to take advantage of the Fall Course Transition Services available until Aug. 3 through Syracuse University’s partnership with Blackboard. As a refresher:
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We look forward to working with you.
JULY 9, 2020
Four Steps to Jump-Starting Your Fall Course Transition
With the start of the fall semester less than seven weeks away, we wanted to share four steps to getting started with the Fall Course Transition Services available through Syracuse University’s partnership with Blackboard:
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This is not the semester that anyone envisioned. We realize that everyone’s situation is slightly different in terms of family, resources and more. Even so, please remember that you are not alone—we are all in this together. We look forward to helping you make the best of a challenging situation.
March 12, 2020
To support the transition to online course delivery effective at the end of the academic day on Friday, March 13, we will continue to send regular communications to ensure you have the most up-to-date information related to online teaching and learning. If you haven’t already, please bookmark the Academic Continuity Resources toolkit available at at Syracuse.edu/coronavirus/academic-continuity.
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