Faculty: Beginning of Semester Tech Checks

Good morning Faculty:

This edition is targeted at our Faculty and adjuncts who will be leading and stewarding courses this fall. Contents include ways to be ready to enter the classroom this fall!

• How to create a picture directory of students in your classroom
• Classroom tech checks and how to get help
• Using the early alert system
• Using Moodle to facilitate classroom communication
• Zoom and Google Meet access
• Calendaring, appointment slots, and Office hours in your Malone calendar

How to create a picture directory of students in your classroom

It is already done! All you need to do is open and print/save them from the Phiz. The Phiz is Malone University's picture and contact directory. It can be found in Malone Xpress using this icon:

In the Quicklinks portals. Once the Phiz is open, click the "My Groups" link in the top righthand corner. For more details instructions on how to use the Phiz and how to use the Phiz to get your automatically generated classroom picture rosters, click through to FAQ241.

Classroom tech checks and how to get help

Prior to the first day of class, we recommend that you check out your classroom and review the technical capabilities of your room. Nobody wants to be surprised in front of their class on the first day.

Whenever you encounter issues in the classroom there are a few ways to get the help you need. The preferred method during office hours (Fall Semester 2021 we are staffed Monday through Thursday 8am-7pm and Friday 8am-5pm) would be to press the button labeled "Help" on your classroom controller.

 

Pressing the Help button will text Malone's Information Technologies personnel that help is needed in your classroom. The panel will blink to indicate that a tech is on their way. Pressing the button again will send a second text to the group to notify them that the help request has been cancelled.

A secondary method of obtaining help for your class would be to call the helpdesk at 330.471.8428 and talk to one of our IT techs who will either solve your problem or be sure to get help sent your way.

 

The IT helpdesk is open from 8am - 5pm, Monday through Friday, This year the helpdesk phone support hours will be extended 5pm - 7pm on Monday through Thursday to better support evening classes.

 

If you require help outside of the normal 8am - 7pm hours, please call the helpdesk 330.471.8428 and select the option for emergency technological help to be connected to our on-call support staff.

Using the early alert system

We want ALL of our students to be successful. The early alert system allows us to intercede with a student before they get too far behind to catch up. Submitting an Early Alert allows the CSS and others who have a connection with a student to reach out to him or her and offer assistance and resources so that they can be successful!

When to submit student Early Alerts

• Have unexplained/excessive absences
• Multiple missed assignments
• Failure of test or quiz
• They share any hardships with you (i.e. financial, personal, health, spiritual, academic, etc)
• Plans to transfer
• Seems disengaged in the classroom
• Other concerns

How to submit an Early Alert

1. Open Malone Xpress and log into it
2. Click on Early Alert Messages on the left hand side of the page
3. Click on Add Student (this will open a pop up box) you can choose from all students or select the specific class the student is in.
4. Once you find the student’s name, click on it ( you can add multiple students if you would like) and when done Click add 1(or more) selected student(s) at bottom of box
5. Select your connection to the student
6. Select the type of concern you have
7. Select the Severity of the issue
8. Please share any details regarding the alert in the text box listed Details about this concern.
9. Select where you have interacted with the student regarding the alert. Yes or No
10. If yes is select you will then be asked add an intervention to the early alert
11. First choose what sort of interaction you attempted and then share any details that maybe related to the interaction
12. Finally when all is filled out click Submit Early Alert

Jenzabar has published a short video walking you through the process 

Using Moodle to facilitate classroom communication

Take the training in the Moodle Basics Course which all instructors at Malone have been enrolled. Per the Provost's communication you should - at minimum - use your Moodle course shell for:

• Posting and sharing of your syllabus
• A News Forum (a regularly updated, one-stop shop for general announcements to the class)
• Student Question Forum (a threaded discussion where students can ask questions of the instructor and of each other)
• Course Calendar (listing all assignment and evaluation due dates)
• Moodle Gradebook (grades entered and updated regularly so that students can track their course progress in real time)

If we are required to pivot to all-remote instruction at any point, having these elements in place will ease the transition for as long as it should last..

Zoom or Google Meet

Remember that you have access to full-featured (recording, quizes, Q&A, etc.) licensed accounts in both Google Meet and Zoom. 

Calendaring, appointment slots, and Office hours in your Malone calendar

Your personal University calendar is a powerful tool for collaboration. We recommend that you at minimum:

• Set your office hours
• Load your course schedule

This will allow others to see when you might be available. It will allow admissions to schedule prospective student visits, and will help your peers find open times to meet with you.

But you can do much more than that with your calendar. You can also:

• View the free/busy information for your peers to facilitate scheduling of meetings
• Create appointment slots and send that appointment slot calendar to your students so they can sign up for time with you.
• Schedule shared resources such as meeting rooms RH305, MH201, CC110, or FH39 for use.
• Schedule Google Meet meetings 

Here are a few guidelines to help you take full advantage of the features in calendaring...

Altering free/busy settings and scheduling availability to others without unnecessary details:

• A detailed guide can be found here, in FAQ 349.

Viewing your Malone calendar can be extremely helpful and convenient. A step-by-step process can be found in the links below:

• For Android phone users: FAQ 179
• For Apple phone users: FAQ 305

Virtual Reality Education:

• The Virtual Reality (VR) Lab is readily available to be scheduled for classes that offer an immersive, hands-on experience with virtual technology for students. An IT technician will be present at the reserved time to facilitate the entire VR appointment. For reservations or more information, please email Jacob Garwood (jgarwood@malone.edu) with your class name, the program you are interested in, date, and time.