Engagement, Communication and Community

Guiding Questions

When reviewing the materials below, we recommend taking notes based on guided questions to solidify your learning and make concrete connections with your teaching. Download a copy of the CTSI Course Planning Mini Guide (doc) to organize your responses:

• Why did you choose this item? What challenge or situation in your teaching are you hoping to address?
• What did you learn that was new or surprising? What made it stand out?
• What’s one new strategy you could take back to your teaching? What might you recommend to a peer?
• What’s something you still want to learn more about? Where might you find more information?

Communicate with Students

Explore Video Content

(Includes pre-recorded workshops, videos, etc.)

• Connecting and Interacting with your Students Online (57m)
  Tips and strategies for communicating with your students and for providing opportunities for connection and interaction online. Techniques and examples to create a sense of community online and how to sustain it throughout the course.

Explore Text Content

(Includes webpages, slide decks, CTSI guides, etc.)

• First Class Strategies (webpage; for IN-PERSON considerations for the first day and classroom community)
• Classroom Management (webpage)
• Inclusive Teaching (webpage)
• Supporting Student-Faculty Interaction (webpage)
• Connect + Learn on Breakout Rooms (webpage)

Delivering Content

Explore Video Content

• Active Learning Strategies for Online Teaching (44m)
  Tips and strategies for incorporating active learning into your online/remote teaching. This webinar highlights how you can use Quercus and the Academic Toolbox to support the implementation of these active learning strategies.
• Making Accessible Course Documents (57m)
  Learn the fundamentals to make the documents you share with students as accessible as possible. With an emphasis on Microsoft products, common formatting pitfalls and their repercussions will be examined.
• Exploring Captioning and Transcription Tools (46m)
  In this webinar, we will explore the various options for generating captions and transcripts for rich media-based content (Audio/Video).

Bonus video:

• Until We Can All Get Back to The Lab (58m)
  Tips, strategies and solutions for active learning in STEM disciplines until all our students can get back in the lab.

Explore Text Content

• Classroom Management: Active Learning Classroom (webpage)
• Active Learning and Adapting Teaching Techniques (webpage)
• Captions in Zoom (PDF)
• Captions in MS Stream (PDF)
• Best Practices for Recording and Captioning Videos (PDF)

Creating Community in the Classroom

Explore Video Content

• Teaching with Quercus: Managing Online Discussions of Difficult Topics (57m)
  Discussing difficult subjects is challenging in both face-to-face and online/remote teaching contexts. Strategies for managing these conversations online through asynchronous and synchronous modalities.
• Student Wellness and Online Remote Teaching – Part 1: Course Design for Empathy and Flexibility (54m)
  Strategies for online course design that promote student wellness through flexibility for differing student needs, normalized use of support resources, and more.

Explore Text Content

• Access Checks (PDF)
• Community Building (webpage)
• Inclusive Teaching (webpage)
• Meetings and Office Hours (webpage)
• Community agreements (webpage)
• Connect + Learn on Breakout Rooms (webpage)

Reflect, Practice, & Implement

Explore Tools and technologies

(Include testing out technology, drafting a syllabus/assignment/rubric/policy)

• Quercus Scavenger Hunt: Getting Started (word doc)
  We have designed a scavenger hunt to help you experience many of the tools available in Quercus. While we encourage you to complete the entire Scavenger Hunt, focus on sections (3) Connecting and Communicating with Students for this syllabus.
  Note: this document is read-only. Please save a local copy to your computer to mark that you have completed the tasks and to make your notes. To access the most up-to-date version of this document, visit https://uoft.me/qscavengerhunt.
• Managing Online Discussions of Difficult Topics (PDF)
  This document is a companion to the webinar “Teaching with Quercus: Managing Online Discussions of Difficult Topics”
• Sample Rubric Online Discussion Participation (PDF)

Learn More & Next Steps

External links, book/article citations, and support

• Library Resources:
  • Faculty liaison librarians
  • Teaching Support
  • Course readings and reserves support
• Writing resources for faculty and TAs: Writing at the U of T
• U of T’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)
• Discussion Teaching (PDF) Prepared by Professor David Dunne, Rotman School of Management
• Setting the Tone
• Request a consultation with CTSI
• Request a Quercus Course Review with CTSI (Note: to request a Quercus Course review, the course must be in a nearly student-ready state.)
• Divisional support for Quercus
• CTSI webinar recordings and resources