Getting Started – Where to Begin
All UCI courses will be remote for spring quarter. To help BioSci faculty transition and succeed in an online environment, we’ve created this page as a resource that will be updated continually throughout the quarter as new information is available. There are a variety of ways to make the remote learning environment successful for both you and your students, and we have included information on the technology needed, as well suggestions and resources.
Remote teaching resources:
Moving forward, https://sites.uci.edu/teachanywhere/ will be the main web page for technical support, provided by DTEI and OIT. Please use this as a starting point for setting up key technology needed for remote teaching.
Questions?
The following website indicates the best contact point for various types of questions: https://sites.uci.edu/teachanywhere/get-help-support/
If you have additional questions on setting up key technology, please contact the EEE Support Team at eee-support@uci.edu, and they will direct you to the appropriate point of contact.
Tools for Successful Remote Teaching
UCI Canvas
UCI Canvas is an online platform for UCI courses. It’s your and your students one-stop shop for readings, lectures, discussions, assignments, exams, and grades.
- Visit the UCI Canvas main page
- Online writing instruction resources for Canvas, provided by UCI Campus Writing and Communication Coordinator
- Video Tutorial on setting up Canvas, provided by Michael Dennin, PhD
- Canvas Cheat Sheet: Quick steps on organizing your Canvas course, courtesy of Kassia Wosick, Sociology
Zoom
Zoom is a video teleconference service available to the entire UC Irvine community, capable of hosting up to 300 participants. Log in to get an account. You can use Zoom for office hours, meetings with students and TA, synchronous discussion sections or seminars as long as all of your students are in an accessible time zone.
You can also use Zoom to record lectures. Just create a “Meeting” with just yourself, and press record!
Yuja
You can also record videos using YuJa. However, think of YuJa as a place to store your video lectures, no matter how you made them. It provides a digital media library in which you can store everything online. Then, it makes it easy to link to videos via Canvas. You can upload videos created in Zoom to YuJa, too.
Research Continuity – Latest Information
Vice Chancellor for Research, Pramod Khargonekar, Ph.D., sent a communication on March 20, 2020 regarding how Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-33-20 (EO) affects research activity.
To conduct critical research during EO effective period, Principal Investigators (PIs) and Lead Researchers (LRs) must obtain approval for critical research from their cognizant dean or research unit director. BioSci is setting up a review process, and will communicate the this information as soon as possible.
Additional Resources and Information
Tips and Advice
- Asynchronous versus synchronous: Michael Dennin, Vice Provost of Teaching and Learning and Dean of Division of Undergraduate Education, offered the following advice: “For consistency, when it comes to asynchronous versus synchronous, it is truly a balancing act in terms of access versus engagement. We will be providing multiple levels of advice and suggestions in this space as we move forward. The short answer is that it is best to leverage both modes where possible but not have grades rely on synchronous, where possible, because of all the issues with access and stable tech.”
- Virtual office hours: Use a shared Google Doc to create virtual office hours. The Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation is providing this as an option for faculty who need assistance with technology. Click here to view the document.
- Stay up to date on the latest information: Online Education’s Faculty Focus Blog provides great and current information on online teaching. In addition, Elizabeth Pollard from San Diego State University created the following chart to offer ideas for how you might deploy educational technologies to transfer face-to-face teaching strategies into an online modality: Pedagogy in the Time of COVID-19.
- The UCI School of Social Sciences created a fantastic list of tips and tricks from social sciences faculty and beyond:
- Tips on Remote Instruction: Slide deck courtesy of Bill Branch, Economics
- Online Course Checklist courtesy of Kassia Wosick, Sociology
- Video: What Makes a Good Teacher Great? | Azul Terronez | TEDxSantoDomingo, shared by Jeanett Castellanos, Social Sciences
- 10 Tips for First Time Online Faculty – Medium, by Andrew Vanden Heuvel, 2010 Michigan Online Teacher of the Year
- Increasing Student Engagement in Online Courses, Journal of Educators Online, shared by Jeanett Castellanos
- Moving Online Now, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Additional Resources and Links
Questions and/or suggestions for this page? Share with us!
Contact: nasami@uci.edu.