CITL Faculty Workshops on Making a Rapid Transition to Online Teaching

We have received many requests for additional help creating lectures that capture hand-written or hand-drawn work (i.e., what you might write or draw on a whiteboard or blackboard during class).  

To meet this need, we are offering a few new forms of support:  

1. Come to campus for on-site support.  Complete this request  (form no longer live) (by noon on Monday 3/16/2020). Be sure to indicate your availability and describe your need.  CITL staff will review all requests Monday afternoon. Depending on the response we receive, we are prepared to have on-site support available next week Tuesday through Friday. We are preparing private rooms where you can record using various formats, depending on your needs, all set up to respect social distancing protocols.
2. Request to signout a document camera that you can plug into your computer to capture your handwritten work as you Zoom or pre-record video thru Panopto. The Digital Media Studio has a limited number of portable document cameras (with USB connection) available for checkout. If you are interested, please this form (form no longer live). .  Limited availability. 
3. If you would like to purchase your own USB document camera and are looking for recommendations on what to purchase, Complete the form  (form no longer live). indicate what you are looking for and hoping to accomplish.

Other improvised options:

• You could use one of these camera-equipped classrooms.  IMPORTANT NOTE: Unfortunately, LTS is not able to provide on-site support for instructors using these rooms and does not manage the scheduling for their use. You can try to reserve the room following these instructions but there is no guarantee on a quick turnaround reponse time. We list this not as a recommended solution but because faculy have asked which rooms have this equipment. Quick instructions: When you log into Course Site on the classroom computer and launch Panopto, it should automatically detect and access the camera in the room.  These rooms have podium microphones but do NOT have clip-on mics, so your audio will not be ideal if you wander from the podium.  Also, we recommend you do a few test runs since boardwalk does not always show up crisply in these situations and you may need to adjust the camera (or your boardwork). Again, you can do this but LTS is not staffed to support this approach.
• If you have smartphone and a flexible mount, you can record video of yourself writing out your 'boardwork' by hand on a sheet of paper. Then, making sure you have first provisioned Panopto for your Course Site, upload that video using Panopto's mobile app.
• Set aside your computer and phone. Write/draw by hand on a sheet of paper or on a whiteboard or blackboard. Now, using your phone, take a picture. Move that picture to your computer. Then, open it and refer to it while you are recording a video through Panopto or during a live Zoom session.  Or, if you want to avoid video altogether, just add the image to your written Lecture Notes page or document, then contextualize it with your written commentary. Although this approach loses the ’gradually unfolding boardwork' that can be pedagogically important in some contexts, it is a lower-tech solution that some instructors may prefer.

Please continue to refer to the Academic Continuity Guide for additional guidance and links to support for the various software and approaches listed here.