Preparing Your Courses for Collaborative Experiences You might have a lot of questions about how to move forward as you plan for collaborative activities and continue to engage in teaching best practices while navigating COVID classroom protocols. The OTL has created resources to help you apply these policies to classroom: 

Review the Classroom Guideline Summary prepared by Rachel Walsh and Tracy Debellevue.  Visit the OTL Sample Syllabus Statements web page for language around the new fall policies you can copy, adapt, and edit.

You can also review the Guide to DU Alert Levels and Masking in the Classroom. Read our new OTL blog Group Work with Contact Tracing, Quarantine, Social Distancing, and Masks in Mind, written by Megan Haskins, OTL's Faculty Developer of Integrative Learning and High Impact Practices.

The OTL will be available for drop-ins starting next week, but we highly recommend you schedule an appointment. Contact us directly or book 1:1 time with the OTL Instructional Designers.

Faculty Q&A Sessions The COVID Response Team is hosting several Faculty Q&A sessions over the next few weeks. You can join these sessions using the links below. Wednesday, September 8, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, September 15, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, September 22, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, September 29, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 6, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Canvas Support The OTL is also here to support you as you prepare your Canvas courses. One of the new policies for fall involves the required use of DU's primary learning management system, Canvas, regardless of modality to provide important course materials such as syllabi and assignments. The OTL created a Canvas template that you can import to help you get started. You can also visit our OTL Canvas web page for tips and resources, our Canvas Knowledge Base and the Canvas Help guides for step-by-step instructions, and contact Canvas Help for 24/7 support.

Upcoming OTL Events Accessibility Series: Open Educational Resources Thursday, September 2, 11:00 - 11:30 a.m. Online Canvas Basics Webinar Wednesday, September 8, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. Online Canvas Coaching: Minimum Requirements for Fall Monday, September 13, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. OTL Conference Room (Anderson Academic Commons 345) Respondus is also hosting several training webinars throughout the month. Visit our OTL events calendar to discover other events coming up!

Tech Tips As the fall quarter nears, IT and OTL have some friendly reminders with the software we provide you for teaching.    Zoom: Please update your Zoom client software to the latest version 5.7.6 or higher.  Make ensure that you and your students sign into Zoom using Single Sign On (SSO). As the host, please enable Live Transcript and Closed Captions to make the meeting more accessible for all participants. IT is hoping to turn on Zoom auto-captioning automatically. Stay tuned for more info! Review the Zoom accessibility checklist before you start teaching with Zoom.    Canvas: Access your fall courses and add them to your Canvas Dashboard. To promote a standardized look across all Canvas courses, please import the OTL Canvas template or a template approved by your department.  Ensure that all Canvas course materials are accessible.  Kaltura:  Upload video content into Kaltura (DU MediaSpace or Canvas) in order for video content to have closed captions and transcripts. Please note, the default Canvas video player does not generate closed captions and is not Section 508 compliant.  Videos uploaded into Kaltura MyMedia will not use up valuable Canvas storage.  Apply a good naming convention to all media content. For example, Course Code - Week Number – Title – Sequence Number (Date) When producing your own instructional video, ensure you incorporate techniques to improve the accessibility of video.     New and Updated Technology: The Adobe Cloud Suite will be available for all students in the fall quarter.  VPN - Campus-wide Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Using Duo Kurzweil - Assistive technology which provides a reading, writing and study platform.  There are two DU campus WiFi networks users can connect to - Eduroam is secure and requires a login ([email protected]), and DU Guest WiFi which is open and available for campus visitors.

Reminder: CourseMedia is being replaced by ARTstor! As of this fall quarter, CourseMedia will no longer be available, but we now have access to ARTstor! ARTstor is a database that contains over a million high-quality images that you can access and curate for your courses. Visit our OTL blog Database Spotlight: The Art of Using ARTstor as well as the Knowledge Base article How to use ARTstor to incorporate images into your course for more information about the features of this database. University Libraries will also be hosting workshops to help you learn more. Find upcoming workshops on the ARTstor Library Guide, including information about their next workshop: ARTstor - Using Images and Managing Collections at DU Friday, September 3, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Online

The OTL is Hiring! The OTL is looking to expand our team! Please share these positions with your networks. Student Assistant We are looking to hire work study students to help provide support for projects, events, and administrative tasks. Only students will be able to log-in using the link above, and they may have to search for Office of Teaching and Learning to access the job description. Director of Academic Assessment The Director of Academic Assessment will provide leadership, direction, and advice for building and sustaining a robust culture of continuous improvement that supports processes for curricular renewal, academic innovation, and organizational transformation. Director for Inclusive Teaching Practices The Director for Inclusive Teaching Practices will provide proactive and responsive leadership, direction, and programming that advances the University of Denver's commitment to Inclusive Excellence and Inclusive Pedagogy. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.

Teaching Resources Roadmap to the Term Build your course in 4 weeks while considering the rhythm of the term with this helpful resources guide. Teaching Tool Kit This tool kit provides practical steps for readying your courses, no matter the modality. From Canvas basics to hyflex considerations, and complete with worksheets to guide you, this toolkit is a great starting point for course planning. Resources for Teaching From a Distance Visit this OTL web page for helpful links to resources such as Canvas guides and Knowledge Base articles organized by task, as well as a video walking you through setting up your Canvas course. These resources can be helpful no matter how you offer your courses this term. Creating Instructional Videos This Knowledge Base article provides helpful tips and tricks you can use as you create pre-recorded videos, lectures, and demonstrations to enhance the asynchronous components of your course. You can also learn more about the various tools you can use to create your videos, such as Zoom and Kaltura. Library Resources for Faculty This web page provides access to the robust virtual services and resources that the Libraries provide along with a host of online services and resources.

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