Staying Connected this Fall - You vs. the Flu

Connectivity Applications

Staying connected to your students during this year's flu season can be challenging. ECIT's staff and graduate student assistants are available to help provide possible alternate pathways to communicate with your class. Should the flu impact you or your students, there are ECIT supported applications that can be used to foster different types of communications and extend the classroom. We have created a quick reference document (in .PDF format) that shows the technologies available at Emory to help you stay connected with your students.

ECIT can provide one-on-one consultations around these topics, workshops, as well as the additional information below. Please contact ECIT and schedule an appointment to discuss your individual needs and what options are available or sign up for an informational session at http://ect.emory.edu/schedule.

Planning ahead

Have a communication strategy; tell your students where to find course information.
Plan how you will stay in touch with your TAs and other instructional staff.
Post your syllabus online and update it with course changes frequently.
Have a clearly-stated course policy regarding make-ups and absences.

Check Emory's H1N1 web page for updates on preventative measures and health care resources.

Keeping the class going when you can't go -

Lecture-based classes

Post documents and assignments to iTunes U in place of lectures.
Record the class lecture for students to listen to/review later via iTunes U.
Narrate a slide show from home for students to watch later.

Please see itunes.emory.edu for more information or contact ECIT and schedule an appointment to discuss your individual needs and what options are available.

Seminar class/discussion

With Blackboard, use discussion boards or blog tools to supplement missed class sessions, or hold online chat sessions using Blackboard's chat tool.
Substitute LearnLink's discussion board or chat tool for class sessions.
View history statistics and view real time who's online in your LearnLink conference space.
Use web conferencing applications, such as Skype or ooVoo, to hold online real-time meetings.
Use telephone audio conferences for small classes.

Please contact ECIT and schedule an appointment to discuss your individual needs and what options are available.

Lab class

Locate virtual labs/experiments online for students to complete.
Video a lab experiment and place it online for your students to view.
Create a virtual lab manual with Blackboard's blog tool.

Distributing, collecting and grading assignments

Post assignment instructions and grades on the course website.
Use the Blackboard Assignment feature to collect assignments electronically.
Use online tools to comment, grade and return assignments.
Use Wimba Voice tools or VoiceThread to comment orally on student work.
Offer online quizzes, questionnaires or tests where appropriate via Blackboard's assessment tools.

Please contact ECIT and schedule an appointment to discuss your individual needs and what options are available.

Managing student meetings and group work

Offer students online tools for group work, such as the Blackboard groups tool, wiki tool, Google Docs, or Google Groups.
Use instant messenger or video chat to communicate one-on-one (GoogleTalk, iChat, Skype, ooVoo).
Use the announcements page on Blackboard to tell students when you'll be available online, how to contact you.

Please contact ECIT and schedule an appointment to discuss your individual needs and what options are available.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.