Much of your virtual course facilitation will happen inside of ICON or via Zoom. Whether a face-to-face or virtual classroom, being engaged is an important indicator of student success. Take advantage of technology to automate repetitive tasks, enabling you to focus on key assignments and activities that will benefit from individualized attention. The following resources provide course facilitation strategies for virtual courses.
- How to Be a Better Online Teacher. This guide published in The Chronicle of Higher Education provides advice on how to make your online pedagogy as effective and satisfying as the face-to-face version.
Promoting Instructor Presence in Online Courses - Virtual Course Management and Facilitation
- Considerations for Synchronous or Asynchronous Course Delivery
Logistical Considerations for Preparing to Teach
Find quick tips, support links, and other basic information for setting up your course and preparing to teach.
Class Sessions in Zoom
- Zoom is a web conferencing solution.
- Consider whether you need to record Zoom sessions. Departments may have different policies on recording courses with students.
- No HIPAA information can be recorded.
Record Your Lectures
Before selecting one of the available recording tools, review these tips on Recording Content at Home.
Record with UICapture
- UI Capture allows you to record your voice, face, and screen from a laptop or tablet and post the recordings to ICON.
- UICapture Guides
Record with Zoom
- Zoom allows you to record a/synchronous lectures. If you select Record to Cloud, your recordings will automatically transfer to UICapture after you leave the session.
- Media Capture Kits and Green Screen Kits are available to assist with lecture recording.
Grade Online
- ICON SpeedGrader allows instructors and other graders to provide feedback via annotations, comments, and media, including English voice-to-text.
- You can export grades and download them as a CSV file.
- At the end of the term, you can import final grades into MAUI from a CSV file or use the ICON/MAUI integration to automatically send your grades from ICON to MAUI.
Virtual Office Hours
- Zoom is a web conferencing tool.
- The Waiting Room feature prevents other students from inadvertently interrupting or overhearing private concerns.
- Canvas Appointment Groups can help students sign up for times within a given period to meet with you.
- You can also use email/Office 365 to connect with students asynchronously.
Communicate with Teaching Assistants
- Communicate expectations about teaching separate discussion sections or holding office hours.
- Note that TAs have different levels of access than Teachers in an ICON course site. For example, TAs can't enter grades in MAUI at the end of the semester.
- Teaching Assistant Resources from the UI Graduate College
Tools for Remote Access to On-campus Resources
- Remote Desktop allows you to remotely access another computer through the internet. For department-managed computers, contact your local IT support provider to discuss remote desktop access.
- Virtual Desktop Service provides remote access to many university-licensed Windows applications from anywhere, without installing the software on your own computer.
- Research Remote Desktop Service provides a Windows virtual desktop environment through which users can access research data (Level 1, 2, and 3) and pre-installed analysis software. Email research-computing@uiowa.edu with questions regarding the service or what types of data can be accessed.
Technology Solutions
Not sure which tool will best fit your needs? Get help using technology for your classes. Contact the ITS Help Desk or the Office of Teaching, Learning & Technology.
