Good morning

Yes 100%

But if the university is not adapted it is a big problem

It is tuition methods

Ingrid Garcia

I think Zoom tool is a good choice.

This is a fundamental and timely question. Thank you for your question. I recommend using the Learning Management System, such as Blackboard. You will need to place recorded lectures (possible from archives of last year) or the slides and resources on the Blackboard. Also, you could release the PBL cases, or other resources in the course on time, as per the course schedule and on a day-by-day basis. Train the teachers on how to interact with students via the management system or any system for live interactions. These sessions should follow the schedule and the time allocated for each session. Teachers and facilitators should be in their office, ready on time to interact with the students. There could be time for further questions in the afternoon.

The teams responsible for assessment should review the assessment methods and come with new ways to accommodate these changes and help students.

We do not know how long this issue related to coronavirus will continue. Therefore I recommend that your plan should go as far as the end of the academic year (in the Middle East, and Europe), and end of the semester (as in Australia and New Zealand and South-East Asia).

Regular planning and training of tutors and facilitators is needed. I think this is a great learning opportunity. I would like to hear what others have as plan B.

The easiest and most affordable way to create video lectures is Screencast-o-Matic. You can take existing PowerPoint presentations and add the video of the instructor and synchronize them in minutes. This application lets you save all your videos in your account, and share them using the emdeb code (HTML), that you can insert in any LMS platform (Moodle, Blackboard, Canvas, etc.) or just send them out in an e-mail message. Try it: https://screencast-o-matic.com/

What about videoconference option?

Zoom is a great tool for live web conferences. My university use it for Virtual office and the students like use this app. And, for video presentations, if you cannot afford Camtasia there are a variety of screen recording applications/software that can be use for video recording, including the version of Microsoft Power Point that have the tool for recording your presentation. And for any document you need to send to the students, use their institution email accounts. Hope this link help: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/record-your-screen-in-powerpoint-0b4c3f65-534c-4cf1-9c59-402b6e9d79d0

In this particular situation, where short notice is given, I'd recommend using a tool like Zoom. Unless faculty have been given proper training to teach online and their course has been converted to an online format, faculty will be more successful using something like Zoom because it's closer to the classroom experience.

for some insights...

Maor, D. (2006). Using reflective diagrams in professional development with university lecturers: A developmental tool in online teaching. The Internet and Higher Education, 9(2), 133-145.

Aksal, F. A. (2011). Developing Evaluative Tool for Online Learning and Teaching Process. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET, 10(3), 69-75.

Augar, N., Raitman, R., & Zhou, W. (2004, January). Teaching and learning online with wikis. In Beyond the comfort zone: proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference, Perth, 5-8 December (pp. 95-104). ASCILITE.

Dawley, L. (2007). The tools for successful online teaching. Information Science Pub..

Parker, K., & Chao, J. (2007). Wiki as a teaching tool. Interdisciplinary Journal of e-learning and Learning Objects, 3(1), 57-72.

This is indeed an important issue. It also seems to me that LMSs in schools can be used (in France mostly moodle) but also telepresence tools such as "rendez-vos" or WhatsApp (Skype is not recommended in France of the university premises) that allow to keep contact and motivation of learners.

It can also be useful to use synchronous working tools such as "google doc" or framapad (if you prefer free software), why not also Prezi which allows synchronous group work and even Pinterest. I'm in charge of a distance learning master diploma and I use all these tools to vary the devices and keep the students' attention. For example, for a work on a reading, we decide to meet on framapad at 9:00 am, the students read the text and analyse it in a collaborative way (by writing in the pad together) and the teacher can intervene live...

For better understanding, one may go through the attached book.

Thank you everyone for your enlightening ideas and useful information. Some of the ideas presented here are more suited for my university than others, but all ideas and information will hopefully benefit instructors at different places.

Currently our low vision/blind independent living consumers/students are being asked to explore their environments online using programs such as JAWS and other devices/Websites/Apps. to stay informed and connected. We are focusing on providing a Directory of these tools which will be available to our community.

Currently, there are some travel restrictions in place, but we stress communication and safety. We will continue to evolve and react as the situation warrants.

In on-line classes, discussion boards are your friend. By posing thoughtful and relevant discussion questions, the professor is engaging in Socratic method. By have the students reply to other student's answers, you are developing critical thinking and causing interaction.

Yes, there are various reasons which called for the adoption of Distances learning like procedures but the most recent common is the Pandemic Coronavirus outbreak. I think utilising certain Digital Educational Tools like Edmodo, Tended, Socrates etc could immensely help in this emergency period.

Yes, I think for online classes ZOOM : {https://zoom.us/?zcid=1383&creative=359525193779&keyword=%2Bzoom%20video%20webinar&matchtype=b&network=g&device=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIq9_vleSe6AIVjDgrCh0i4w0REAAYASAAEgIWKfD_BwE} is one of the best choice for online classes, meeting, interviews, conferences etc.

Hi,

I agree with Gregg that consider the pedagogical side of online courses.

Here you are some other considerations :

https://mediatice.uclouvain.be/rechercher-des-medias-sur-le-web/

The best,

The easiest way to create video presentations for students is Screencast-o-Matic. You can never go wrong using it. Also very affordable: https://screencast-o-matic.com/

What tools are good for creating video lectures? Someone already mentioned Zoom, I will add Google Meet, but recording feature is available with the G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education editions.

What tools are good for creating video lectures?

Learn how to create your own screen recordings and screencasts by using a free tool called Screencast-o-Matic. Great for creating tutorials, this tool can also be used along with Microsoft Word, Pages, or Google Docs to help you teach anything. You can use those word processors as your "whiteboard" or "chalkboard" and use Screencast-o-Matic to record your lesson.

Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1jIPo1bWCo

Instead of imediately turning to a tool that might do the job of converting off line learning processes to online ones I would very much like to emphasize the need to rethink the course. With Covid-19 students will be stuck at home for about 10 weeks. A redesign of your course might be well worth the effort. If you had been asked to provide this course online from the start, what would you have done different? Given the online possibilities which learning activities would you choose for your students to do? How can your learning goals be met in an online environment? Can students still acquire the same learning outcomes? From here, redesign your course. There might be no need to change the learning goals, but there is a large need to rethink the activities students will do to obtain them.

What tools are good for creating video lectures? A friend of mine is having FlashBack Pro and I can say it is an excellent product/tool! Next, there is available Express version: https://www.flashbackrecorder.com/

Dear Prof. Ayman M. Abdalla

I find very useful Khan Academy self-paced VLE

https://www.khanacademy.org/