Class Cancellation / Weather Emergency Preparation
If classes are cancelled and/or there is a weather emergency that prevents access to campus, there are a number of tools and resources available to engage students using Moodle!
Here are some available approaches to engage your students when classes are cancelled / weather emergency is declared:
VoiceThread
Asynchronous delivery of lecture content, meaning students don’t all have to be online at the same time, VoiceThreads are like narrated slide presentations, and can be added as activities in any week or topic in your Moodle course. Directions are at the Moodle Beyond Basics VoiceThread guide.
Embedded Videos
You can embed YouTube videos (such as TED Talks or Khan Academy lectures) into your Moodle courses using the directions here: http://purchase.libguides.com/moodlebasics/embedvideos.
You can upload your own video lectures to YouTube as unlisted videos, so they aren’t findable in YouTube searches, and still embed them in your Moodle course pages using the directions above.
Live Classroom Sessions
Campus Technology Services (CTS) has purchased Zoom Pro accounts, and have them available for faculty to use to schedule online live sessions for their classes. With access to one of the Zoom Pro accounts, you can schedule your live class sessions, and provide the resulting links to your students through your Moodle course. It won’t be as tightly integrated into Moodle as the Collaborate Ultra solution, but it will be much more cost effective.
If you would like to use Zoom Pro for your classes, please submit a work order to the CTS Work Order Tracking system describing your planned usage.
If you have a Google account, you can set up a Google+ Hangout.
Course Discussions
The Forum activity in Moodle will allow your class to hold an asynchronous discussion of course topics. Moodle supports a variety of discussion forum formats, depending on your instructional goals. Directions are at: http://purchase.libguides.com/moodlebasics/forums.
Streaming Library Resources
Purchase College Library subscribes to a variety of streaming video services including Digital Campus - Swank and VAST: Academic Video Online, which are both great sources of licensed video material geared toward academic use. Check out the Multimedia guide for more information.
If you were planning to show a film in class, it may be available for students to stream from Amazon Video, iTunes, Google Play, Netflix, or Hulu.
Please contact us at TLTC@purchase.edu with any questions or concerns.