Improving Online Classes

Introduction

This page presents you a wide range of information and tips that helps you to utilize when you conduct online classes, such as the use of various information systems and practical cases. In addition to the articles posted on this portal site, there are faculty members who help share information with us.

Additionally, more contents will be uploaded soon such as a good use of online classes and case studies drawn from the online classes in 2020AY. We will keep it up to date so please check this page regularly.

For those who have not prepared for using the information system, firstly access Getting Ready for Online Classes (For Staff).

Sharing Good Practices

Sharing of Good Practices

Here is a web page for sharing good practices of online classes conducted in our university. It includes interviews with professors who received many positive comments from the student questionnaires about online classes.

Online Class Information Exchange Meeting

Online Class Information Exchange

This is a luncheon seminar held once a week for the purpose of sharing useful information on online classes, such as practical examples (good practices) and how to use various tools. Videos recorded in the past and materials are also available for reference.

How to use tools

We are currently working on a new article based on the online classes in 2020. We will update it as needed, so please keep checking regularly.

• How to create learning environment
  • How to use ITC-LMS
  • How to use Google Classroom (external site) classroomno-shii-fang)
• How to create your teaching materials
  • Online Basic Course "How to create on-demand online classes using video, textbooks (non-live streaming)"
  • How to use Google speech recognition for quick text input (external site)
  • How to make a video using PowerPoint (external site)
  • How to create a video with Zoom (external site)
  • How to make board handwriting online
• How to share a video file
  • How to upload and share video files to Google Drive
  • How to record and share to the Zoom cloud
• How to use web conferencing systems
  • Zoom
  • Webex
  • Google Meet

Resources shared with us

Here are the resources shared by faculty members. Your kindness is greatly appreciated. If you would like to share new materials, please contact us at utelecon-inquiries@googlegroups.com. Or, if you are familiar with Github, please fork the utelecon Github, add information in the new information area below, and send us a pull request. We will organize the information in the new information section accordingly.

What’s New

If you like to send us new information, please contact us here.

Comprehensive resources for conducting online classes

• This is all you need to teach a class! Self-study package for teachers [PowerPoint (Google Drive)] (Prof. Tanoi and Prof. Nakashima, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences):"Set Up ECCS cloud mail," "Set Up ZOOM," "ZOOM usage," "ITC-LMS usage," "Information sharing between faculty members before taking classes," and "Omnibus lecture," each of which are explained in a compact and easy-to-understand slide presentation.

• Faculty of Agriculture/Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences_Learning Seminar on Online Teaching for Lecturers [Video List] (Prof. Tanoi, Prof. Nakashima, Prof. Sasabe and Prof. Nakanishi, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences):This is a list of four videos of the workshop held at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences. The course covers a wide range of topics, such as explanations of the basic forms of online classes and the requirements for a class.

• Department of Urban Engineering - Online Lecture Manual [[PDF](/faculty_members/materials/online_lecture_20200331_2.pdf) (Department of Urban Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering) : This is an online lecture manual compiled by the Department of Urban Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering. The manual includes a series of slides showing the process of conducting online classes, from setting up a university account to giving a lecture by using Zoom.

• Zoom User’s Guide 0.3 [[PDF](/faculty_members/materials/zoom_v03.pdf) (Prof. Aida, Graduate School of Engineering): This is a comprehensive instructional document (40 pages) that explains carefully how to use Zoom, from installation to operation in the classroom, with many screenshots of a Mac.

• Online Teaching and Learning in Psychology Profession[Website](Prof. Shimoyama and Prof. Kitahara, Graduate School of Education) This feature article in iNEXT, a clinical psychology magazine published by Shimoyama Laboratory, explains how to use Zoom and, in particular, how to teach online classes in the field of clinical psychology.

• Guide to Online Lectures Using Educational Campuswide Computing Research Division[Website] (Information Technology Center, Campus-wide Computing Research Division) This is a compilation of useful information for those who want to switch their lectures from the training rooms of the Educational Campus Wide Computing System to online lectures using Zoom.

Considerations for online classes

• Accessible Online Lectures for Students with Visual Impairments[Website] [Website] / (Prof. Kato, Graduate School of Medicine) This is a website for the purpose of collecting and publishing information for students with visual impairments, especially for new students, by the Association to Support Online Classes for Students with Visual Impairments.

Board and handwriting in online classes

• Whiteboard tool for handwriting board [hmtl] (Prof. Igarashi, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology): This article introduces the use of tablet laptops and other display tablets as a tool (software) InkLecture (an infinitely scrollable electronic white paper) for online lectures.

• How to give a handwritten lecture by laptop with a smartphone and a document camera [PDF] (Prof. Furuseki, Department of Engineering): This article explains how to capture and deliver an A4 piece of paper with a document camera as a substitute for real-time board writing. It includes an inquiry about the specific tool and a video of the actual recording.

• How to give a lecture as if you were writing on a blackboard with a PC and a tablet [[PDF](/faculty_members/materials/pc+ipad.pdf) (Prof. Kumada and Prof. Suzuki, Department of Engineering): A method to write on a tablet (iPad) like a whiteboard, and switch the tablet screen to slides or PDF documents as needed is introduced.

• Practical example of online board writing with a tablet or electronic whiteboard[Website](Dr. Shagawa, Graduate School of Engineering) This article summarizes the disadvantages and advantages of using tablets and electronic whiteboards in the classroom.

• Online lecture with a laptop [Powerpoint] [[Movie(MPEG4)]](/faculty_members/materials/online_example_1pc.mp4) (Prof. Kawahara, Graduate School of Engineering): This tutorial explains how to conduct a board lecture online with a video.

How to enrich your online classes

• How to use a Windows tablet (e.g. Surface, etc.) with pen touch capability to handwrite on materials [Video (YouTube)] (Sasatani-san, PhD candidate, Kawahara Laboratory, Graduate School of Information and Technology): It introduces how to write to a shared pdf file and how to write directly to a shared file such as OneNote.

• Example of a group work class using Google Meet [PDF] (Prof. Yanagisawa, Department of Engineering): This is an example of how to do group work online. Zoom breakouts do not allow the teacher’s voice to be heard, but this is an innovative method to overcome this problem.

• A simple way to hold a VR conference with cluster [Website] (Prof. Aizawa, Virtual Reality Educational Research Center): This is not for serious meetings or classes, but it’s a fun way to have a different kind of fun than Zoom. Cluster is a free tool. This page was used in the VR graduation ceremony organized by student volunteers in March this year.

• Environment preparation for computer training [Website] (Department of Physics, Faculty of Science): Information on preparation of the environment necessary for conducting simulations and other practical training at home.

• Pre-registration in Zoom [PDF] (Prof. Aida, School of Engineering): This is an introduction to the pre-registration function for those who want to strictly manage participants in Zoom meetings.

Example of online academic conferences

• Record of organizing an online academic conference [PDF](Prof. Shintomi, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences/Life Science Network): This is an introduction for implementing the "Hybrid Lecture Meeting", a ‘New Normal’ conference style in which participants can attend both "online" and "at the lecture hall". He describes more details, such as what kinds of equipment and systems were used to manage a lecture meeting with 700 participants, including online lectures, online poster sessions, and poster judging. He also shared a demo video of the hybrid lecture. mp4 file (requires ECCS Cloud Mail) (It is necessary to sign in with ECCS Cloud Mail, click here. If you haven’t done the initial setup yet, here (How to set up ECCS Cloud Mail)

How to make your work more efficient

• How to automatically create multiple files in a Google spreadsheet with sequential numbers and get a list of "shareable links" URLs [pdf file, script] (Prof. Saito, Graduate School and College of Arts and Sciences)

Reference information for online classes

• Data traffic of online lectures [Website](Prof. Omukai, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology):This page provides the data traffic of online lectures categorized by situations, such as lectures using screen sharing, chatting using camera video, audio-only lecture, and when participants are allowed to speak.

Examples of online classes

• An example of the Zoom lecture at Eindhoven University of Technology [PDF] (Prof. Onishi, Graduate School of Engineering): Read Prof. Onishi’s impression of the Zoom lecture at Eindhoven University of Technology which he actually took. The flow, the management system, and the concerns of the lecture are described on this page.

Links

• Online Lectures, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences