Teaching tools
The tools listed below are available for you to use in your teaching. Several of them will be familiar with you.
Tools for online lectures
This overview shows the tools you can use in your online classes.
This tool is suitable for online classes of both smaller and larger groups of students (max. 350). For groups between 200-350 students, a Large Live Room can be requested by sending an email to ecole@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
Useful links
- Teaching support
- Tips for Kaltura Live Room
- Live Room Tech Check: check to see if your device has been set up correctly to host a Kaltura Live Room.
- Kaltura Live Room troubleshooting: An over view of problems you might encounter in Kaltura Live Room and how to solve them.
MS Teams is a versatile program. You can use Teams for online meetings with coworkers or weekly online lectures with your students. Teams is mainly useful to hold meetings in smaller groups or with individual students. This will allow you to keep in contact with your students in a less formal manner. Teams is also a useful tool for students to work together, for example in sub-channels in your team.
Useful links
Are you looking to host an online event with a high number of participants? Teams Live Events may be an option. This tool within Teams gives you the possibility to organise webinars for up to 10,000 people. Here you can give your presentation while participants can ask questions in the chat. For Live Events you will always need a moderator to keep an eye on what to display on screen.
Useful links
Zoom is another tool for online teaching. Note: You are not allowed to use Zoom for anything other than educational purposes. Also don't use Zoom when sharing sensitive information in your lectures. Zoom can be used for groups of up to 1,000 participants.
Useful links
Would you like to schedule one-on-one appointments with students, for example for a thesis consultation or a review moment, but are you tired of all the back and forth needed to organize these meetings? Make use of Microsoft Bookings! It is a useful program for scheduling appointments.
Students can choose a time slot from a clear menu that is tailored to your availability. The tool synchronizes with your Outlook/Teams calendar so that the appointments immediately appear in your Outlook calendar. You can also schedule the appointment online and create an MS Teams meeting.
Furthermore you can add short questions to the appointment. The students must answer these questions while booking the appointment. This helps the student prepare for the meeting and gives you the information needed during the appointment.
It is possible to create one booking agenda with a number of colleagues. Here too, the program takes everyone's availability into account. The student can choose a specific lecturer, you can also turn this off.
More information
This YouTube video provides a step-by-step explanation of Microsoft Bookings
Getting started
Go to https://outlook.office.com/bookings/homepage and log in with <ULCN username>@vuw.leidenuniv.nl and your usual password on the Office portal.
Video & Audio tools
Use the programs below to make sure that your students engage with course materials outside of class. Tips for making your own videos can be found in the video toolkit. Tips for creating your own podcast can be found here.
Kaltura Capture can be used to record (short) weblectures. This can be done either to replace a lecture or as an addition to your lectures. Record short videos that students are to watch to prepare for a lecture, for example. See weblectures and knowledge clips for more information. Kaltura Capture allows you to record your screen, webcam footage, and audio all at the same time. Note that editing options for these recordings are limited to cutting and trimming only.
Useful links
Videos made or uploaded in the Kaltura Video Portal can be converted to interactive video quizzes. It is up to you at which point in a video you want to stop and have the students answer a question on the discussed materials.
Useful links
Audacity is a free audio-editing software tool you can use to record podcasts. Through podcasts you can communicate information with students in an accessible way. Audacity offers more options to edit your podcast than Kaltura Captura and allows you to remove any background noise if needed.
Useful links
Through SonoBus you can host an online audio meeting and record it with high audio quality. This is ideal for synchronous podcasts with multiple speakers without them having to be in the same location. It is also possible to use the application alongside Teams or Zoom so you can see each other. The application is free but the network connection is not encrypted. Make sure to set up a password for audio meetings and do not share sensitive information during a meeting through speech or the SonoBus chat. We highly recommend using headphones to prevent any echoing voices.
Interactive education
Take a look at the collection of active learning methods that you can use during lectures in order to encourage active participation in your classes.
Give interactive presentations where students actively engage with the material by answering questions or polls on the spot using their phones with Wooclap.
Useful links
The Presenterswall license expires at the end of this year. Wooclap will replace the software. Make sure to migrate your Presenterswall questions to Wooclap in time.
FeedbackFruits is a tool you can use to have students discuss texts online. You can also add questions to a text which students are required to answer before they can continue reading. This tool can be useful as preparation for lectures. FeedbackFruits is accessible through Brightspace.
Useful links
Self-study
How do you motivate students to actively engage with the course materials outside of class? There are several online tools available to encourage self-study.
Ellips was created for use in speech, listening and writing skills education. Through Ellips you can develop semi-adaptive modules to have students engage with the course materials in an interactive way. Explain materials and then provide assignments: multiple choice (where one or more answers are correct), fill-in the blanks, transcription practice, and voice-recording assignments. Students are automatically given more assignments on topics that they have not yet mastered.
Useful links
Rise allows you to set up an e-learning module. The program offers a plethora of possibilities to showcase your course materials in an inviting and organised design, and also allows you to add interactive assignments, such as quizzes, flashcards, infographics and more.
Example: This module for active learning methods was made in Rise.
Contact ECOLe if you want to use Rise
With formative examinations, students take (small) tests or assignments to either test their knowledge or prepare them for lectures. These tests can be offered through Brightspace (Quizzes, Turnitin, Pitch2peer) or Remindo. Want to know more about these tools? Look at the page on digital examination tools.