TCNJ has a variety of tools to help you teach online. Many of these tools can be found within Canvas, which makes them easy for students to access. As always, the Office of Instructional Design is here to assist you. Full time staff are available from 8 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday and as schedules allow, student staff are available from 9 am to 8 pm, Monday through Thursday and until 4 pm on Friday.
How to Get Help
Have a specific question? Contact Canvas Help at canvashelp@tcnj.edu, use the live chat feature on this page (top right), or schedule a one-on-one meeting with an instructional designer.
Self-paced Learning Pathways
The Instructional Design Pathways are designed to connect TCNJ faculty with the resources and support they need to integrate digital tools for teaching and learning. Three pathways (beginner, intermediate, advanced) are available to meet the needs of a range of learners and feature:
- Self-paced tutorials and online classes.
- Recordings of previous live workshops.
- Learning Communities.
- A curated Best Practices Repository.
- Real-time coaching from the Instructional Design team.
- Sample course tours.
- Templates to import to your own Canvas courses.
Quality Matters Emergency Remote Teaching Rubric
TCNJ is a member of Quality Matters, a non-profit organization with almost two decades of experience in guiding faculty and institutions in the creation of quality online learning. The Emergency Remote Teaching Rubric is a scaffolded approach designed to assist with unexpected pivots to online course delivery. The “Start Here” section covers basic considerations for setting your students up for success in the remote learning environment in the initial phase of the course. The next two sections (“Next Steps” and “Longer Term Considerations”) offer strategies for more extended approaches that can facilitate an equitable and high-quality online experience.
Each recommendation is paired with a rationale as well as details on how it connects to the more formal Quality Matters Rubric that is employed in the development of TCNJ’s official blended and online course offerings.
Department Sessions
Instructional Design is happy to schedule sessions with academic departments as needed. Please contact canvashelp@tcnj.edu
Canvas Announcements
The Announcements tool is an important vehicle for communicating to your class. When you use the Announcements tool, students receive a push notification to their TCNJ email that lets them know the announcement has been posted. All announcements will appear in one cohesive list, so students can return to review previous messages that might otherwise get lost in their inbox. You can also turn comments on for announcements should you want to engage in conversation around a particular topic. The Canvas Guide on Announcements offers step-by-step advice on creating and managing course announcements.
Video Conferencing
Connect with your students in real-time to answer questions, engage in discussions and group work, provide demonstrations, host guest speakers, share screen content, conduct polls, hold office hours. Contact the Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) for assistance with students who qualify for an accommodation plan that requires captioning.
Kaltura Streaming Media
Kaltura is a video streaming service that integrates with Canvas to allow you to create, store, organize and share media with your classes. We have a resource page on Kaltura to introduce the options. If any of your students have an accommodation plan that requires captioning, be sure to request captioning through Kaltura. For assistance, contact canvashelp@tcnj.edu.
Collecting Assignments Online
Instructors can implement the Canvas Assignments tool for submitting assignments online and returning feedback to students. Learn how to set up an assignment and give feedback using SpeedGrader.
Canvas Discussion Boards
Online discussions can provide an opportunity for your students to engage with each other, ask questions, and discuss course content. Learn how to create a discussion in this Canvas Guide.
Distributing Files in Canvas
There are many ways to share PDF and other documents with your students. Best practice is to attach documents to Announcements or embed them on Pages using the Rich Content Editor. Or, you can add them directly to Modules. Alternatively, using the Files tool, you can control what students see and have access to in your course. Please make sure any files you share are accessible and can be read with a screen reader. Here are some resources:
- Make Your Word Documents Accessible (from Microsoft)
- Make Your PowerPoint Documents Accessible (from Microsoft)
- Create Accessible PDFs (from Microsoft)
- Fixing Inaccessible PDFs with Adobe Acrobat Pro (from Washington University)
Additional Campus Resources
Virtual Apps – Software from the labs
Available from today.tcnj.edu, the Virtual App portal allows TCNJ faculty and students to access computer lab applications, network drives, and files anywhere, anytime, on any device, on or off-campus. IT has added multi-factor login authentication for added security in the virtual lab. Instructions and a video are available for help on accessing and using the virtual lab. If you need any assistance with this service, please contact the HelpDesk at x2660 or online.