Welcome to the Faculty Toolkit. The Toolkit is a repository of user-friendly tips, ed-tech tools, training and resources. The goal is to identify, explain, develop, implement and support innovative technology for the enrichment of academic experiences.
Canvas is our Learning Management System at Albright. Do you have a Canvas question? Start with the Faculty Canvas Help Center or Faculty Canvas Guides for 24/7 help for all your LMS related questions. Not finding what you are looking for? Contact Client Services to put in a ticket to get additional help.
Do you have questions about Kaltura, SimCheck, ZOOM or H5P? Do you want to record content for your course and and post as narrated screen casts? Would you like to use polling in your classes? Do you want to add an online, interactive module to your curriculum? Do you have a tech idea and need help getting started?
Use the links on the left to browse through the pages resources. Can’t find what you are looking for? Schedule an appointment and let’s meet! The Instructional Design team looks forward to helping you be successful.
Meet with Brian Gall – Assistant Dean for Online and Digital Learning
Meet with Dorothy Hoerr – Instructional Designer
Meet with Karen Rodgers – Instructional Designer
The traditional meaning of lecture capture means recording classroom-based activities in digital format and making them available outside of class for
download or streaming over the web. For many years this meant setting up cameras and microphones in a classroom and making a traditional lecture available
for students after class, something that was expensive and time consuming to do and required a lot of expertise to make a quality recording. This definition has
changed with the availability of software and hardware on devices we use every day. The definition now includes recording content outside of class and making
it available online. Since all kinds of things can be recorded, we now refer to this as content casting.
Screencasting is a video recording of the actions on a user’s computer screen, typically with accompanying audio. Screencasts provide a simple means to
extend course content to anyone who might benefit from the material outside of class. Screencasts are a great way to provide quick explanations or tutorials to
students in an online format. Think of “how to” video tutorials.
Lecture Capture refers to recordings of classroom-based activities that are made available for review after the class. Think of a “talking head” video of you
delivering content or narrated PowerPoint screens.
Both can be done for a flipped, hybrid, online, or even as supplemental material for a traditional class that meets face-to-face.
Recordings can be done on your own computer, tablet or phone in your office, home, or anywhere you can find a quiet place.
I want to record videos and upload to Kaltura
Kaltura’s Video Package for Canvas enables anyone with a Canvas course/page to view, record, upload, publish, search, and share video directly from the Canvas environment. There is also a new feature called Kaltura Video Assignment that allows faculty to require students to upload video as an assignment rather than the traditional document upload that is used most of the time.
The following resources can help you get started.
For more training and individual help on creating narrated lectures and videos, contact a member of the Instructional Design Team.
I want to record videos with Screencast-O-Matic and upload to Kaltura
You can use any screen recording tools which may be found online or come installed on your computer. You can even record lectures right on your tablet or mobile device. Albright has has a accounts with a tool called Screencastomatic. These accounts are loaned to faculty on an as-needed basis. If you would like a copy of this software on your computer (Mac or PC), contact Client Services.
The following resources can help you get started.
After you create your video, upload to Kaltura for your course!
For more training and individual help on creating narrated lectures and videos, contact a member of the Instructional Design Team.
I want to borrow equipment to create videos
Many users have all the equipment they need for creating lectures. Most laptops have a built-in camera and microphone. iPhones, iPads, and tablets also come with these built in tools. But sometimes other equipment is needed to produce a higher quality video to meet instructional needs.
Digital Learning and Innovation has built a lending library just for faculty. This library contains equipment that faculty can borrow to assist in creating lectures or help in meeting other instructional needs.
The library is small but growing. Don’t see something you need? Just email a suggestion and we will do our best to help with your project.
Digital Learning and Innovation still has a media library where anyone can still reserve and borrow laptops, cameras, etc. This faculty lending library items are loaned only to faculty for instructional design purposes.
For more training and individual help on creating narrated lectures and videos, contact a member of the Instructional Design Team.
I want to create screencasts with my iPad, mobile device, or tablet that mimics work on a whiteboard
If you want to use your iPad or tablet to create screencasts that resemble Khan Academy style videos consider using the Explain Everything app. It is available on iTunes and Google Play for under $10. Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost anything to and from almost anywhere.
Professor Janice Rodriguez has used Explain Everything to flip her Spanish courses. Her goal was to increase the amount of time learners spend in class engaging with content.
Making Flipped Classroom Videos with Explain Everything
For more training and individual help on creating narrated lectures and videos, contact a member of the Instructional Design Team.
I want to caption my videos to make them accessible
Why should you caption videos that you create? If you use videos in your classes, adding captions is consistent with best practice to meet ADA Guidelines (see below) as well as creating a universal-designed classroom (UDL) experience for your students that engages their diverse learning styles.
If a student has a specific disability accommodation, you may be required to provide captions or a transcript to meet a specific accommodation in your course. Consult with the office of Student Accessibility & Advocacy if you have further questions.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) spells out requirements for accessibility and Section 508 (http://www.section508.gov/section508-laws) is an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act that requires federal agencies and programs that receive federal funding (including colleges and universities) to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.
If you do caption your videos, the following are best practices for creating ADA compliant captions:
All Kaltura videos are machine captioned at 80% accuracy by default. If ADA complaint captioning is needed for student accommodation, contact the office of Student Accessibility and Advocacy.
For more training and individual help on creating narrated lectures and videos, contact a member of the Instructional Design Team.
I want to use images and music in my recordings
When you are narrating a PowerPoint, using Microsoft clip-art in your online presentations is legal. Using pictures that you take and music that you write and record is legal too. However, if you do not own the images or music, you need to make sure you have permission to use the resources for anything that you will be posting online. Ask for permission or consider using only content that is Creative Commons-licensed or is in the public domain. Read more about Creative Commons to keep you and your students informed on copyright issues.
For more training and individual help on creating narrated lectures and videos, contact a member of the Instructional Design Team.
I want tips on recording videos
As with all tips and trick lists, this list isn’t comprehensive. It is more of a best practice from those who are frequent users. Some items apply more to one item than the other but most tips are helpful with any type of recording
Check out the 7 Things you should know about lecture capture published by EDUCAUSE.
For more training and individual help on creating narrated lectures and videos, contact a member of the Instructional Design Team.
Digital Toolbox for Teaching and Learning
I want to use Canvas to deliver my classes face-to-face, online and in a hybrid format
Canvas is Albright College’s Learning Management System. Canvas LMS is an open and reliable web-based software that allows institutions to manage digital learning, educators to create and present online learning materials and assess student learning, and students to engage in courses and receive feedback about skill development and learning achievement. Canvas includes a variety of built-in course construction and management tools that can be customized to create unique and accessible teaching and learning experiences such as:
In addition, Canvas offers many integrations that aid you in the teaching of your course including:
The following resources will help you get started:
We offer a variety of workshops, self-paced courses and 1X1/small group assistance. Click on the Training and Events section for more information.
I want to use Kaltura for my video storage/streaming needs
Kaltura’s Video Package for Canvas enables anyone with a Canvas course/page to view, record, upload, publish, search, and share video directly from the Canvas environment. There is also a new feature called Kaltura Video Assignment that allows faculty to require students to upload video as an assignment rather than the traditional document upload that is used most of the time.
The following resources can help you get started.
For more training and individual help on creating narrated lectures and videos, contact a member of the Instructional Design Team.
I want to use ZOOM to meet with my class or conduct office hours
ZOOM-based conferencing system allows you to add a virtual meeting room to any of your Camvas courses. You can use this to meet with your students virtually for a formal class, a one-on-one meeting, or for small group work. This stable link will be available to you and your students throughout your course for as many meetings as you want to have. The instructor is automatically the meeting host and can meet and optionally record the meeting for up to 40 minutes at a time with a basic account. If a meeting is recorded, that recording is stored locally on your computer but can then be uploaded to Kaltura and a link to the recording can be placed in your Canvas course.
Important: All faculty must register their account at Albright.zoom.us prior to using this service for the first time. Use your Albright login credentials to create the account. Below are resource documents to help you use ZOOM.
I want to use SimCheck to check my students papers for plagiarism
SimCheck is a web-based system that allows student papers to be submitted and checked for plagiarism.
The system compares student papers with sources available on the Internet, select commercial article databases, and papers submitted at Albright College. The system compares student papers with sources at other colleges as well. Generates a Similarity Report that provides text matches and an indicative similarity score that will help you to understand the origin of student work. Integration with Canvas allows you to grade within the Speedgrader.
I want to use H5P to create interactive activities for my students
H5P makes it easy to create, share and reuse HTML5 content and applications. H5P empowers everyone to create rich and interactive web experiences more efficiently – all you need is a web browser and a web site with an H5P plugin.
H5P content is responsive and mobile friendly, which means that users will experience the same rich, interactive content on computers, smartphones and tablets alike.
H5P enables Canvas to create richer content. With H5P, authors may create and edit interactive videos, presentations, games, advertisements and more. Content may be imported and exported. All that is needed to view or edit H5P content is a web browser.
I want to integrate the use of my textbook and other resources in my course
FlatWorld textbooks come complete with a full range of instructor supplements, included homework system, and an easy-to-use customization platform, all at no extra cost. Students pay a reduced rate for the textbook and it is integrated into the Canvas LMS. FlatWorld comes with the textbook, homework system, test banks, instructors manual, PowerPoint lectures and more.
Also, McGraw Hill, Pearson, Cengage, Wiley and many others offer integrations within the Canvas LMS that make it very easy for the instructors and students to interact with the content.
Contact a member of the Digital Learning and Innovation Team for more information.
The tools in the faculty toolbox are not exhaustive. If you are aware of or want to use other tools in the teaching of your courses, reach out to a member of the Digital Learning and Innovation team for more information.