Loma Linda University Department of Psychiatry Presents

The Ninja’s Guide to

Virtual Learning

Remote Education Pedagogy:

How to Maximize the Virtual Learning Experience

 ✨SPARKING JOY✨
So, this is not a traditional Ninja Guide. However: this guide is written for residents preparing to do a
non-boring ground rounds, for those who want to build lectures which actually engage medical
students, and for faculty who want to step it up to the next level while teaching during a pandemic.
Honestly, for the past decade, I have been looking to change the way I conceptualize teaching and
education. And yet, COVID-19 has forced my hand in a powerful way. A few months ago, I reached out
to the AADPRT listserv for tips and advice from some of the most elite training institutions in the nation.
My question: How can I make lectures over Zoom more engaging? Their overwhelming response: "Don’t
lecture!" 

My knee jerk response was to argue that flipped classroom education (residents learn content on their
own time, allowing for didactics time to be used for group learning) is impossible to execute with
residents who work 60+ hrs/week. Despite this, I quieted my internal protest, kept an open mind and
began the search for new ways to educate our residents. It's taken me 2 months to formulate a 3 step
path, which I want to share with the community. I'm excited to hear what you all think.

 ✨Lesson 1 ✨ We overestimate how much our residents actually learn from traditional lectures.
The usual lecture/PowerPoint slides/talking instructor in front of listening residents doesn't
work as well as we think it does. We assume they are passively soaking up the content we are
sharing. Most of them don’t. Many of them shift focus in and out, with
reddit/slack/instagram/texts competing for their attention. Even for those who do pay close
attention, there is NO way they can memorize 4 hours of PPT slides. I imagine their minds like a
teacup with a finite amount of space; they're beyond overflowing right now. Without doubt,
that was the case before Zoom came into the picture. Zoom is forcing us to adapt. It’s about
time. Even when we try to spice things up with quizzes or class discussion, a lot of our format is
still lectured materials, which are not being retained. My hope with this guide is to help move us
away from "lectures" as we traditionally think of them. Let’s adapt the word “Lesson.” 

 ✨Lesson 2 ✨ It’s time to Mari Kondo our lectures. A couple years ago, my mom told me about a
Japanese organizing consultant named Marie Kondo on YouTube. Basically, this lady comes to
people's homes and helps them organize their stuff. While initially skeptical about the show, I
also really love getting rid of clutter, so I quickly became a fan. Educators Mehta and Peeples
from the Harvard Graduate School of Education propose applying Marie Kondo's philosophy to
education. It's short and simple: only keep lecture material which “sparks joy." The KonMari
method is not about throwing stuff away. It’s about finding and valuing the things we want our
learners to keep. For example, every one of my DSM5 lectures has one PPT slide on differential
diagnoses. Each lecture also has one slide on disease prevalence/epidemiology. The ddx slide
could easily be taught as a fun group exercise. The prevalence slide is so boring that I literally
couldn’t tell you those percentages to save my life. It’s pretty clear to me which material sparks
joy.
 There will always be go-getter residents who want
the lecture slides ahead of time and ask a myriad of
So…how do we decide what to detailed questions every week. I have very detailed
keep and what to toss? lecture slides and recorded lectures for those
materials available online. For the actual live lesson
✨Here’s an idea✨
on Zoom, the instructor should identify 3-4 main
points they want every learner to take home by the
end of the hour. I can imagine someone asking me,
“At the end of your 1 hour DSM5 Bipolar Disorder
lesson, would you be happy if each learner could clearly discuss 1) Time course/illness
architecture; 2) DIGFAST; 3) DDX?” My response for an entry level PGY1 class? “Yep. I would be
thrilled. That's WAY better than what I currently have. Thank you, Mari Kondo. This IS better.”
Lesson 2 encourages us to choose material that we absolutely want to impart to our learners
within the hour. It’s an exciting time to be an educator AND discomfort is one of the hallmarks
of change. Sign me up!

 ✨Lesson 3 ✨ Get Creative. Ok, in Lesson 1, I was able to accept that the way I’m teaching
lectures is not as effective as I thought it was. In Lesson 2, I got on board with identifying 3-4
core take-home points from each of my lessons that every learner must know by the end of the
hour. Additional online resources, including recorded lectures, will be available to supplement
lessons. The hope is that residents will, on their own time, be excited about studying and
learning from the online resources. So, here is the Lesson 3 creative bit: What on earth do I do
for an hour with 11 residents on Zoom to ensure they all come away with joy-sparking
knowledge?

Here comes the fun part

For the past 2 months, I have been working with the largest Ninja Guide team EVER assembled. We
hope to introduce to all things cool, new, shiny, and useful for instructors teaching over Zoom. Scroll
down to learn how to turn an already AMAZING NNCI card deck into a virtual deck. This is just one
example of how to use technology to augment the learning modules presented on the NNCI website. 

The attached guide is a Mary Poppins bag of tricks, if you will. This includes: 
 Catalogue of online apps to enhance teaching capabilities
 Video tutorials for each app, to walk instructors through the process and show how to best
utilize these apps in psychiatric training
 Examples of 1 hour active learning lesson formats, modeled from medical curriculum around the
US. Includes ideas for lesson structure, reading/article assignments, group activities, class
discussion, pre/post tests
  Tutorials to max out your own abilities on Zoom, including using break out rooms, the
whiteboard feature and more

As an educator, I am a work in progress. I am grateful to be a part of this incredible team who is

passionate about teaching and education. The next few months will bring new challenges, and new
opportunities for immense growth. I look forward to growing alongside each of you. For further reading:
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/agonizing-over-school-reopening-plans-think-marie-
kondo/

Melissa Pereau
Associate Psychiatry Residency Training Director
WHO WE ARE
Welcome to the thirteenth edition of the Ninja’s Guide to PRITE! Loma Linda University Medical
Center is located in sunny Southern California. about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. A part of the
Adventist Health System, we provide patient care in one of the largest non-profit health
systems in the nation. Loma Linda's mission is to excel in medical education, global healthcare,
and community outreach, all under a central tenant: "To Make Man Whole." At the Loma Linda
Department of Psychiatry, our residents are trained in many diverse patient care settings. As an
official World Health Organization Collaboration Center, our department funds resident
electives in Global Mental Health at locations around the world. Additionally, our residents can
participate in national and international disaster relief on the LLU Behavioral Health Trauma
Team. We were proud to welcome our first group of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellows in
the Summer of 2019 and work collaboratively with 3 other residency programs within the
region. Our residency didactic education is constantly evolving based upon resident feedback,
and our residents have the opportunity to aid in course development. More than anything, our
residency fosters an environment where residents and faculty treat each other like family. Our
faculty are dedicated to resident education and professional development. We believe in
"taking 'No' off the table", encouraging innovative change, and passionately supporting our
residents to achieve anything they set their minds to. For over a decade our residents have
volunteered their time to create The Ninja's Guide to PRITE at our Annual Ninja PRITE
Workshop. We are excited to present this 13th edition with new content contributed directly by
our residents.

Dr Melissa Pereau
Associate Residency Training Director

Created The Ninja’s Guide to PRITE in 2007 on her

kitchen table, when residents converted 6 years of
PRITE exams to a Q&A format. She spent her Chief
Resident Year writing and organizing the original
guide and for the past decade has continued to edit
and update the guide.

Dr Ariana Martinez
Psychiatry PGY3

Designer and Project Manager for The Ninja’s Guide

to Virtual Learning. She organized and led multiple
groups of residents and students, building this guide in record time. Capable of leaping tall
buildings in a single bound…
 Contributors
Ariana Martinez, M.D.
Mamdouh Hannah, M.D.
Gretchen Ascher, M.D.
Christian Bernardo, M.D.
Raveena Toor, M.D.
Max Schauermann, M.D.
Tori Burghart, M.D.

Julie Pham, Medical Student

Sarah Kim, Medical Student
Alec Zane, Medical Student
Alexis Carnduff, Medical Student
Matthew Hagele, Medical Student
 Table of contents:
*click on the titles (hyperlinks) to be directed to the topic sections

INTRODUCTION 11
RECOMMENDED READING 12
HOW TO CHOOSE 15
EXAMPLE LESSON PLANS 23

INTERACTIVE LEARNING ACTIVITIES 27

KAHOOT (Game Based Learning) 28
POLL EVERYWHERE (Interactive Question/Response) 31
QUIZLET LIVE (Team Based Competition Quizzes) 37
QUIZIZZ (Student Paced Quiz Competitions) 40
GIMKIT (Expanded Student Paced Quiz Competitions) 44
SOCRATIVE (Interactive Groups/Individual Quizzes) 48
EDPUZZLE (Interactive Video Production App) 54
AHA-SLIDES (Live, Interactive Slideshows) 58
PLAYINGCARDS.IO (Free Website to Make Custom Card Decks) 60

TEAM BASED VISUAL ORGANIZATION 67

PADLET (Virtual Bulletin Board & More) 67
CONCEPTBOARD (Collaborative Virtual Whiteboard, Advanced Sharing Features) 71
ONE NOTE (Note Taking & Multi-Format Information Management) 74
GOOGLE DRAWINGS (Free, Simple Interactive Virtual Whiteboard) 77
DOCERI (sophisticated virtual whiteboard & screencast recorder) 80
EDUCREATIONS (Simplified Virtual Whiteboard & Screencast Recorder) 84
DEBATE GRAPH (Sophisticated Collaborative Concept Maps) 88
COGGLE (Collaborative Mind Mapping) 91
POPPLET (Simplified Mind Mapping Tool) 93

PRESENTATION TOOLS 96
GOOGLE SLIDES (Free Web Based Collaborative Presentation Tool) 97
KEYNOTE (Mac Exclusive Application Based Presentation Tool) 105
 POWERPOINT (Subscription Fee Application Based Presentation Tool) 109
SWAY (Free Microsoft Presentation Software) 115
VOICETHREAD (Asynchronous Collaborative Multimedia Slideshow with Voiceover) 118

VIDEOCONFERENCING APPLICATIONS 124

CISCO WEBEX (video & conferencing software) 124
SKYPE / MICROSOFT TEAMS (Audio/Video Conferences & File Sharing) 129
ZOOM - (Reliable Platform for Video/Audio Conferencing and Webinars) 137
SCHEDULE/HOST A MEETING 138
INVITING OTHERS TO MEETING 139
MUTING & UNMUTING 140
SCREEN SHARING 141
WHITEBOARD TOOL 143
ANNOTATION TOOLS 144
POLLING TOOL 145
BREAKOUT ROOMS 149

ASYNCHRONOUS LEARNING TOOLS 152

LECTURE RECORDING 153
FLASHBACK RECORDER (Subscription PC Compatible Screen Recorder & Video Editor) 153
CAMTASIA (Subscription PC/MAC Compatible Recorder & Video Editor) 157
OPEN BROADCASTER SOFTWARE (Free PC/MAC Compatible Streaming & Screen Recorder) 161
SHIFT-COMMAND-5 (Inbuilt Screen Recording for MAC Desktops) 166
GOOGLE SLIDES, POWERPOINT, SWAY, KEYNOTE, SWAY, PANOPTO, DOCERI, EDUCREATIONS
168

COMMUNICATION,ORGANIZATION & FILE STORAGE PLATFORMS 169

G SUITE, GOOGLE CLASSROOM & DRIVE (Platform for Assignments, Grades & Communication) 169
MICROSOFT 365, MICROSOFT TEAMS & ONE DRIVE (Platform for Assignments, Grades &
Communication) 174
CANVAS/PANOPTO (Web-Based Learning Management System & Lecture Recording, Storage &
Streaming Application) 179
SLACK (Channel-Based Messaging Platform) 181

QUICK LINK TO ALL TUTORIALS 186

HUMOR 191
 INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the LLU Psychiatry Virtual Learning Guide! The purpose of this document is to serve as a
preparatory tool for lecturers and a resource when encountering difficulties utilizing Zoom and other
remote education tools to their full capacity. There are also a few extra programs we included in this
guide (such as Padlet, Sway, Educreations, and Poll Everywhere etc) which we think could significantly
enhance your teaching experience! In the table of contents above click on any topic to be directed to
read an overview of the tool along with a step-by step guide and links to further helpful resources. The
‘Quick Link…’ section has links to video tutorials and official help pages, ‘Recommended reading’ has
some of the best articles we found about virtual education, the ‘How to Choose’ section does a
comparative overview of our recommended applications, while the ‘Recommended lesson plans’ section
provides some examples of how these could be incorporated into your virtual education curriculum!

Throughout the guide direct links will be blue and embedded in the text while pink will indicate buttons
or keystrokes. There are many hyperlinks embedded throughout to help you navigate the document
quickly. To help further with navigation the sections are color coded by topic; Interactive Learning
Activities, Team Based Visual Organization, Presentation Tools, Videoconferencing Applications, Lecture
Recording, and Communication Platforms & File Storage. Because it is a lot of material, we suggest you
read the first few sections of the guide before diving into the application overview portion.

Please be kind to yourself throughout this teaching process! COVID-19 has forcibly transitioned
education to remote instruction. Social cues are difficult to read on videoconferencing which causes
disruption to the flow and environment; technical difficulties are nearly inevitable, but we are all
adjusting to a new normal. There will always be hiccups, but times of disruption are, by their nature,
disruptive, and everyone expects that. Best of success and know that we are here to support you!

“Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient,
continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.”
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

In “The New Learning is Ancient”, Kathi Inman Berens writes, “It doesn’t matter to me if my
classroom is a little rectangle in a building or a little rectangle above my keyboard. Doors are
rectangles; rectangles are portals. We walk through.” When we learn online, our feet are usually
still quite literally on ground. When we interact with a group of students via streaming video,
the interaction is nevertheless face-to-face. The web is asking us to reimagine how we think
about space, how and where we engage, and upon which platforms the bulk of our learning
happens.” Critical Digital Pedagogy: a Definition; JESSE STOMMEL
 RECOMMENDED READING
Recommended articles to further your remote teaching experience
● A Blueprint for Creating Virtual Learning Experiences - Hall and Soro (2019)
○ The above link is a table highlighting how to organize and plan for a didactic on an
online format. Particularly important are the core concepts of interacting with a topic,
connecting through a tangible application, and engaging individually, within small
groups, or within the large group. In addition, there is a table highlighting possible tools
to utilize within the online format, including chat, polling, raising of “hands”, screen
sharing, and whiteboards.
● Digital Active Learning - Hall (2017)
○ A collaborative effort of multiple resources for online learning. This website offers
resources for brainstorming, communication and information sharing, mind mapping,
discussions, whiteboards, survey techniques, ect. For example, there are links available
for multiple survey techniques including blackboard quizzes, google forms, flashcard
apps, Poll Everywhere, Kahoot, VoiceThread, and FlipGrid. Once a hyperlink is clicked,
the user is led directly to the resource for downloading and use.
● Schultz, K., McEwen, L., & Griffiths, J. (2016)
○ The use of Kolb’s learning cycle is implemented to improve residency education. The
cycle consists of vital quadrants that are grown to form a cohesive learning experience.
First, a concrete experience is used to engage the learner in a new experience. This can
be introduced via patient encounters related to a recently discussed issue, such as how
to distinguish delirium from delirium tremens. Next, reflection and observation identify
areas for further improvement related to the presented issue. It will be important
during this phase to ask probing questions, organize cluster information, discuss
relationships among similar concepts, and deconstruct reasoning as a model for the
learner. Lastly, the lecture should provide active experimentation of new
understandings in practice.
● Armstrong, E. & Parsa - Parsi, R. (2005)
○ In regards to continuing medical education programs, ample evidence exists that CME
supports the implementation of more active and self-directed learning strategies to
promote the desired change in behaviors. The authors of this article propose applying
an experiential learning model to overall curriculum design work. Promoting all learning
styles in an education encounter is the most desirable approach. A more succinct Kolb’s
learning cycle is highlighted: 1. Activate prior knowledge 2. What is the new knowledge?
3. Try it out 4. Just do it!
● Medical Education Article about Small Groups - Steinert, Y (2004)
○ The goal of this study was to assess student perceptions of effective small group
teaching during preclinical training in medical school. Students identified tutor
characteristics, non-threatening group atmosphere, clinical relevance and integration,
and pedagogical materials encouraging independent thinking and problem solving as the
most important characteristics of effective small groups.
● Zoom article on Running Engaging Events
○ This is an ebook published by Zoom highlighting the importance of informative,
interactive, and engaging events. It is important to prepare for the event by determining
a timeline, adding a buffer to account for inconvenience, and keeping tech support
within reach. Next, build an interactive experience by enabling topic discussions within
Zoom Chat, simplifying the agenda, enabling Q&A, and creating polls. There are detailed
instructions as to how to format these functions within Zoom. After the event is over,
gather attendee satisfaction and make sure your next event is even better by
performing the following activities: send out a post-event survey, review recorded
content for preventable mistakes, make recordings available, and assess event
performance, engagement statistics, and polls.
● Zoom Tips and Tricks for Teachers Educating on Zoom
○ This is a short article highlighting tips and tricks for virtual lessons. For the first session
with students, it is important to introduce students to Zoom and ensure they are able to
connect audio and video. Give an agenda or plan for each class by Screen Sharing a
document or slide at the beginning of class. This gives a clear idea of how the class will
progress. Take time to promote questions, comments, and reactions from the class. In
addition, there are great tools built into Zoom for engagement that are highlighted
within the end of the handout, including polling, breakout rooms, virtual backgrounds,
whiteboard, and chat.
● Team Based Learning online blog
○ This is a 10 part guide on how to make the transition from a team based learning class
to an online or remote modality. The major areas of adjustment fell upon making sure
there was a planned agenda, facilitation of breakout rooms, debriefing with teaching
teams, using feedback surveys, and avoiding common pitfalls. A few things to watch out
for include issues transitioning to breakout rooms, using real name vs. numerical value
for participant identification, and lack of structure for the allotted time frame.
● Mayo Clinic: Strategies to successfully facilitate virtual meetings
○ A handout with succinct steps to ensuring a successful virtual meeting. Steps include
incorporating functional audio with use of headsets, microphones, or earbuds. In
addition, reinforcing the value of visual presence with turned on video in order to assess
non verbal cues and eye contact. It is important to send an agenda with hyperlinks well
in advance of the meeting. Conduct a verbal check-in at the start of the meeting by
asking an introductory question to prompt all to respond. Lastly, be transparent about
the level of expected involvement of attendees and adhere to agenda timelines.
● ‘Marie Kondo the curriculum’ - Mehta (2020)
○ This is a fabulous article asking us to reflect on the intended purpose of our teaching
and identify the types of content we are presenting. Classifications of types of teaching
topics include spiral, nice to haves, sequential, essential, and skills. The author asks the
teacher to reflect and refine content to the essential topics and further asking ‘How can
your students use what you’re teaching them to understand the world and respond to its
problems?’
● ‘Why We’re Exhausted by Zoom’ - Blum (2020)
○ This is a talk piece highlighting possible causes of “Zoom Fatigue”. In interactive
classrooms when the aim is for democratic non authoritarian conversation, rather than
orchestrated teacher-centered pedagogy, all the tools of human interaction are
recruited. In addition, it is depleting to adjust to new non verbal communication. Where
are the attendee’s eyes? How do we know someone wishes to speak? When have they
finished their thought? Humans are delicately attuned to each other’s complete
presence. When we are constantly interpreting others’ movements, timing, breaths,
gazes, and encouragement, online conversations can become awkward, clunky, and
interrupted. This is the crux of fatigue.
 HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORM
Connecting with your students is important, and there are numerous tools at your
disposal to facilitate an interactive e-learning environment, which generally falls into the
categories of synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous learning tools occur in real time and
can be helpful in making the student feel more connected to the teacher and classroom (even if
that experience is online); thus helping to reduce feelings of isolation. The best target audience
for synchronous tools are smaller groups to maximize the amount of potential individual
participation. On the flip side, the main benefit of asynchronous learning is that it facilitates
flexibility - students can engage with content at various times and/or at their own pace without
having to worry about scheduling conflicts.

There are an overwhelming number of resources that exist, all touting themselves as the
best choice! But what is the right choice for you and your class? In this section, we provide side
by side comparisons between different applications to help you choose. We also recommend
perusing the rest of the guide to get a more indepth look at the various available options.

INTERACTIVE LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Comparing Kahoot vs. Poll Everywhere vs. Quizlet vs Quizizz vs. Gimkit vs. Socrative.
Other unique integrative learning activities include AHA Slides, Playingcards.IO, and ED
Puzzle.

When it comes to interactive learning activities, there are multiple programs varying in
function and price point. Kahoot, Poll Everywhere, Socrative, Gimkit, Quizlet, and Quizizz are
just a few of our highlighted applications that focus on facilitating live questions that can be used
prior to lectures (to test knowledge) or during lecture (to test retainment). Most of these
applications have group/team competition features which can help create an interactive
environment. Other integrative learning programs such as AHA Slides, Playincards.IO, and ED
Puzzle are more “stand alone” in their unique capabilities. The differences are compared in the
descriptive table below.

KAHOOT is a game based learning platform that can be used to create live “games” which
are essentially quizzes. The questions will be displayed to the class on the instructor’s screen
(via zoom, etc) and learners will answer the questions on their own device. Some unique
things about Kahoot: questions can be answered in teams or individually, and player’s don’t
need an account to play the learning games. Free to use.
POLL EVERYWHERE is similar to Kahoot in that it allows students to answer questions live
during a lecture, however its focus is more on polling a group rather than a quiz based game.
Generated polls can be created as multiple choice questions, True/False, or even open
ended questions. Students can respond to open ended questions by texting in answers on
their own device. Free to use.

QUIZLET LIVE has the ability for teachers to create flashcards that students can use to
study, but the unique feature that we are highlighting is its ability to generate live games.
These games are played in teams where multiple choice questions are generated, with
different answer choices distributed among members of the team. The team must then work
together to select the right answer as only one teammate has the correct answer on their
device. Unique things about Quizlet are that students don’t need to create an account, they
just use a code to join the game. Unlike Kahoot and Poll Everywhere, it is subscription based
at $3.99 per month for the instructor. However, there is a free first month trial.

QUIZIZZ is another competitive quiz-based learning tool providing instructors with data which
they can use to go over the quiz or change the lesson plan. Instructors may also create
slides with Quizizz and integrate polls or questions within the presentation to make it more
interactive! For more features like creating explanations to questions, ad-free content,
embedding audio, video onto Quizizz slides, teachers can subscribe to Quizizz Super which
is $5/month.

GIMKIT is another web game-based learning tool, similar to Quizlet and Kahoot; some of it’s
main distinguishing features include a deeper, “dollar” based reward system allowing players
to buy power-ups in game and a KitCollab feature which allows students to work together to
create their own quiz questions. The fee for instructors is $59.98 billed annually
(approximately $4.99 per month), but also includes a 30 day, no obligation free trial period.

SOCRATIVE is an online software designed for teachers to create online quizzes, poll
questions, and team quizzes for students, providing real time feedback and learning
assessments during lectures. There is both a free version, and a “Pro” version with expanded
functions.

EDPUZZLE is a free, simple to use video editing tool that allows you to embed questions and
notes into videos as well as track students’ progress in watching the videos in order to hold
your students accountable. Edpuzzle can link with Google Classroom to transfer any classes
that you’ve made with Google Classroom, or you can create new classes. A notable feature
of this application is its ability to use premade videos from sites such as YouTube, Khan
Academy, TEDTalks, Crash Course, and more to embed in your presentation.

AHA-SLIDES allows for creation of live, interactive slideshows. You can upload your pre-
made powerpoint presentations and improve them by incorporating numerous features
including live polls, quizzes, question/answer sessions, word clouds, and free response
which encourages active audience participation with live feedback. There is a 14-day trial
period with limited features and there are multiple subscription plans billed monthly or
annually.

PLAYINGCARDS.IO is a free website that allows you to create custom flashcard games
based on the curriculum you’d like. For example, you can create trivia games or your own
version of digital charades for multiple teams to play against each other and keep score.
 TEAM BASED VISUAL ORGANIZATION

Padlet vs ConceptBoard vs Google Drawings vs Doceri vs Educreations vs OneNote vs

Debate Graph vs Coggle vs Popplet

Every educator knows the importance of visual aids. These can be helpful for some
learners who are better able to grasp concepts through this format, but in these times of
virtual/remote education can also provide collaborative spaces for student engagement during a
lecture or while working on group projects. Padlet and ConceptBoard function best for those
collaborative spaces, with OneNote following closely behind, with the capacity to allow students
to collect and share multimedia items. Debate Graph, Coggle, and Popplet are the best for
creating mind maps (also called concept maps) which can lend to a more organized schema in
these visual collaborations/discussions. Google Drawings can be used as a simple virtual
whiteboard to use while teaching , while Doceri, and Educreations are virtual whiteboards of
varying sophistication that also have screencasting capability.

PADLET is a virtual bulletin board and much much more. It is also a collaboration tool that
allows you to express your thoughts or present your material in a virtual bulletin board -
this program allows collaborators (your class) to simultaneously organize/create
texts/documents/images/videos/links etc. Students can respond to questions or prompts in
this manner. While it is free to sign up, you can only make three Padlets before you need
to upgrade to a monthly or yearly subscription. Teachers can get a 30-day free trial before
upgrading to the monthly or annual plan.

CONCEPTBOARD is a collaborative space & virtual whiteboard w/ advanced sharing

features. It provides an online workspace designed for collaboration with your group/class
in a digital whiteboard-like space. Potential uses for Conceptboard could include: creating
and presenting information from concept maps, a group workspace for project
collaboration, interactive lectures, and any function for which you could use a low-tech
whiteboard. A limited version of the platform's features are available for free, while a more
advanced version that includes video chat and presentation features is available by
subscription. New plans start at 6$ per month/per user for yearly subscriptions.

ONE NOTE is a tool for capturing ideas/information in different digital formats. The format
is organization of work in notebooks, further subdivided into sections and pages. Users
can share the notebook pages, ideas, and can collaborate with team members, eliminating
the need to consolidate or “compare notes”. OneNote is pre-installed in Windows 10 and
included with Microsoft Office. OneNote is also available for free as an app on Mac, iOS,
Android, and web. Free OneNote users get 5GB of space.

GOOGLE DRAWINGS can function as a simple interactive virtual whiteboard. This

Google program allows you to create diagrams, shapes, or free drawings which you can
use in any other Google applications (such as Docs or Slides). Another potential use is to
use this as a collaborative white board during a class or to visually map out a concept
while sharing your screen. To clarify, this is not a photo editing program (like photoshop)
but does have some basic image-editing-features built in. Completely free to use.
 DOCERI is a more sophisticated interactive whiteboard and screencast recorder. It has
tools for creating hand-drawn graphics along with a built-in remote desktop control.
Lessons can be pre-recorded using the screen recording mode within the application or
the whiteboard tool can be engaged synchronously with a live lesson. Compared to other
whiteboard applications Doceri has the greatest breadth of tools and configurability. Doceri
for iPad is free on the Apple store and can be used to recreate a whiteboard board
experience in the virtual setting either from your Mac or in conjunction with iPad.

EDUCREATIONS is a simplified interactive whiteboard & screencasting tool that allows for
teachers to engage with lessons from their desktop or turn their ipad into an interactive
whiteboard. Lessons can be pre-recorded using the screen recording mode within the
application or the whiteboard tool can be engaged synchronously with a live lesson. This
tool is best used for simple/short presentations. Compared to Doceri, Educreations is more
simple to use and humble in its functionalities (only 10 colors for annotation, 4
backgrounds, you cannot layer images etc). The application is free from the iTunes store.

DEBATE GRAPH is a sophisticated collaborative concept maps for discussions/lectures. It

is a free cloud based service which allows groups (of unlimited numbers) to collaboratively
discuss ideas visually. This facilitates collaborative learning and dialogue in an organized
fashion via a color coding system to represent the type of responses. Any changes made
by members are visible to all, and there are further chat/comment features to expand the
discussion with your group with capacity to add images/videos/links etc. Compared to
Coggle this application is more sophisticated and less intuitive. Free to use.

COGGLE is a collaborative mind mapping application. It functions as a visual aid for

organizing and sharing information/ideas with others through collaborative mind-mapping.
This application is more intuitive than Debate Graph to navigate and in appearance more
visually appealing. There are both free and subscription versions available, with pricing
starting at 50$ per year.

POPPLET is a visual graphic organizer that allows you to create “mind-maps”, timelines,
and many other forms of visual organizers that can be shared. It is a great brainstorming
tool, but can also be used for presentations. You can use words, pictures, or even imbed
videos into the mind maps to spice things up! You can also get creative and use Popplet to
make multiple-choice matching games.

PRESENTATION TOOLS

KeyNote vs Google Slides vs Powerpoint vs Sway vs VoiceThread

In the world of virtual learning a lecture can be a slideshow, but it can be so much more.
The most common applications for creating lecture presentations are Microsoft’s PowerPoint
and Google’s Slides, with Mac’s Keynote application following closely after. If you are already
comfortable with one of these tools we would recommend your read the outline section for it in
the guide to learn how to maximize its functionalities (many new updates and additional features
have been implemented over the last few years). If you are familiar with Powerpoint already
please take a deeper look at Sway, another Microsoft presentation application that facilitates a
larger range of interactive features. If you are distributing lecture videos for asynchronous
education we would also strongly recommend that look at the application VoiceThread, which
along with creating presentations from scratch, has the capacity to upload pre existing
Powerpoints slides or pdfs and add a myriad of interactive components such as audio/video
commentary.

KEYNOTE is a slideshow presentation software designed by Apple with lots of features

packed into a fairly user friendly platform. In comparison with Google slides, Keynote has a
wider range of visual aid effects and photo/slide editing, but it is restricted to Mac users and
Apple products in terms of collaboration with others. Furthermore, you cannot as easily
embed youtube videos into a slide, as is possible with Google slides. In comparison to
Powerpoint, Keynote is similar in many of its features but arguably hosts a more eye
catching design and collection of themes, animations etc.

GOOGLE SLIDES is part of the G suite family apps and is similar to Powerpoint, except this
is a free application which runs within your web browser, sidestepping the need to convert
formats for presentation on Mac or PC computers. Google Slides has a great Q&A tool to
make presentations more interactive by posting a link through which your audience can
submit live questions. In comparison with Keynote, Google slides has the benefit of being
more universally compatible in terms of both presentation and collaboration (not limited to
Mac users and Apple devices). Furthermore, it has the capacity to embed/edit youtube
videos, whereas Keynote requires first downloading the video to a secondary application.

POWERPOINT is a popular app for presentations developed by Microsoft Office suite.

There are more limitations to collaboration compared with Google Slides as other
collaborators need to have the application. Another primary difference from its competitors
Google Slides and Keynote is that access to PowerPoint requires purchasing a subscription
through Microsoft.

SWAY is a Microsoft Office app which functions as a presentation software with a built in
design engine and many interactive features. In comparison to Powerpoint, it has more
formatting/design potential which can be automatic (allowing users to focus more on
content). It is also fully responsive and thus changes according to the size/shape of the
screen it is being used on. Another benefit is that the application can be accessed for free,
whereas Powerpoint requires a subscription. Sway is best suited for less data heavy and
more visual presentations.

VOICETHREAD is a collaborative multimedia slideshow that can hold

videos/documents/images, instructor audio/video/text commentary along with annotation,
and facilitates a high level of interaction as it also allows students to leave audio/video/text
feedback if being used for asynchronous education. This really can take presentations to a
whole new level, for example you can upload a preexisting powerpoint or pdf and use
VoiceThread to upgrade the presentation and make it more interactive. VoiceThread is
technically a subscription based application, but they do allow you a certain number of free
presentations.
 COMMUNICATION, ORGANIZATION & FILE STORAGE
PLATFORMS

Office 365 vs G suite vs Canvas vs Slack

When it comes to team organization there are many components to consider. The two
most common applications are Office 365 and G suite.The popularity of these applications
comes from their functioning as suites, or in other words, they are umbrella applications which
encompass many commonly used tools. Canvas is another similar application, categorized as a
learning management system, which is commonly used by higher education institutions,
including LLU School of Medicine. Slack is the odd man out in this list, because compared to the
capacity of storage and diversity of tools these other programs have, Slack is essentially a
messaging application to augment, but cannot function as a primary organization &
management service like Office 365, G Suite, or Canvas can. For those reasons, if you already
have familiarity with one over the other, or your institution has pre-existing subscriptions it may
be wise to follow that direction.

MICROSOFT 365 is an umbrella suite which encompasses the most commonly

used Microsoft Office tools/applications/communication forums. This has the
same general capabilities as G Suite for education; create presentations,
documents, spreadsheets, record lectures, etc. It allows for collaboration, but
more limited in this regard than G Suite. Higher level storage requires
subscription fees which correlates to the tier you choose. Office 365 ranges from
5$ to 35$ per month. These different price points will purchase various amounts
of storage. For example, Office 365 E3 and E5 plans starting at 20$/mo provide
unlimited storage.

G SUITE for education is an umbrella suite which encompasses the most

commonly used Google tools/applications/communication forums. This has the
same general capabilities as Microsoft 365, but has notably more flexibility when
it comes to collaboration as most platforms are accessible for free, and thus
others dont need to purchase anything to collaborate. Higher level storage
requires subscription fees which correlates to the tier you choose. G suite
ranging from 6$ to 25$ per month. These different price points will purchase
various amounts of storage. For example, G Suite business plan priced at 12$
provides unlimited storage and archiving.
- For a detailed comparison between this & Microsoft 365 check out this article.

CANVAS is a web-based learning management system used predominantly by

higher education facilities. It functions similarly to Office 365 and G Suite in that it
facilitates online teaching through a myriad of features including course
creation/management tools; providing one site for assignments, grades, storage,
and lectures to be distributed while assessing student learning. This program is
what LLUSM primarily uses for assignments, files, and uploading recorded
lectures. This is definitely a must learn for faculty members wanting to learn more
about recording lectures via PANOPTO and uploading your recorded lectures.
 SLACK is essentially just a channel based messaging platform. It has the
capacity to facilitate multiple small group messages which adds to
connectedness during virtual education, along with polling and scheduling with a
class but does not have the same breadth of functionality or storage capacity as
Office 365, GSuite, or Canvas.

LECTURE RECORDING

Flashback vs Camtasia vs Open Broadcaster vs Shift-Command-5 vs inbuilt capacities of

Keynote, Google Slides, Powerpoint, Sway & Voicethread

There are multiple ways to approach lecture recordings. It can be accomplished either
prior to the virtual classroom (to be distributed to students to watch) or you can record during a
live lecture to be stored for future use or distribution to people who missed the lecture time slot.
Such pre-recordings can occur within presentation applications (such as Powerpoint, Google
Slides, Keynote). Another method for pre-recording is through screen-recording applications
which will capture video as you navigate through your educational material on your screen (such
as Flashback recorder, Camtasia, Open Broadcaster, or by using in-built feature on MAC
desktops via CMND+SHIFT+5 ). If you are wanting to record your lectures live with
student/audience participation you can do so most easily through the secondary video
conferencing application your class is using (such as zoom, Cisco Webex, or skype).

FLASHBACK RECORDER is a program that allows you to record your screen to make
more engaging demos and training videos with simultaneous audio capture through
recording desktop, sounds and/or webcam video. You can add features such as text
annotation, image embedding, effects, and audio narration. These fantastic features do
come with a price, with lifetime price ranging from $49 to $74, depending on the plan
you choose, with current academic discounts.

CAMTASIA functions as a screen recorder and video editor with multiple features such
as animation along with capacity to integrate interactive elements such as quizzes.
This program is similar to Flashback recording in terms of features but is considerably
more expensive, it does however have a free trial available to try along with various
education discounts.

OPEN BROADCASTER SOFTWARE is a free open sourced streaming and recording

program that allows you to control the details, and creates good quality products. There
is a learning curve to mastering this tool however, as it is slightly less intuitive than the
other screen recording tools reviewed in this guideline.. One notable limitation to this
program is that if you use a macOS you will need to download an additional application
in order to capture desktop audio during screen capture
 SHIFT-COMMAND-5 is an inbuilt feature on MAC desktops to record your screen and
desktop audio. This is completely free and incredibly easy to use. The only downside is
that it is only going to do that singular function of screen recording. You will need to
find a separate program if you need to do any editing.

GOOGLE SLIDES, POWERPOINT, SWAY, KEYNOTE, SWAY, PANOPTO, DOCERI : These presentation
applications have the capacity to record a video of the presentation with audio narration within their own
program. These can be used to create pre-lecture recordings to be distributed for students to watch on their
own time.

Zoom, Cisco Webex, skype: If you are wanting to record your lecture live with student/audience participation,
we recommend using the inbuilt recording tool of whatever secondary video conferencing applications your
class/meeting is using.

EXAMPLE LESSON PLANS

The goal of this section is to identify how the tools discussed in this guideline can be
implemented to engage learners and increase the level of interaction during remote education.
These are suggestions, but of course the realm of possibilities are nearly endless. We
encourage you to explore and get creative!

GENERAL IDEAS FOR LESSON PLANS

● Incorporate group or individual quizzes (either in competitive or game formats) before
the lecture to assess knowledge on the topic and consider a post-lecture quiz to assess
what was learned. You can also use these interactive question/response applications
intermittently throughout the lecture to keep students engaged.
○ Apps to use: Kahoot, Popplet, Poll Everywhere, Quizlet Live, Quizizz, Gimkit,
Socrative, etc
● Visual displays such as whiteboards or mind maps can be implemented in many
ways. You could make one prior to lecture to be displayed to help visual learners
understand the big picture, or you could ask students to engage with the creation of a
white board/mind-map type of platform during the course of lecture/discussion for
 increased interactive collaboration. If your teaching is comprised of multiple lectures, this
could be a helpful way to remind students of prior discussions and to provide a way for
them to work on projects together
○ Apps to use: Padlet, Conceptboard, Debate Graph, OneNote, etc
● Include video of lectures, instructional how-to’s, or movies clips that serve as examples
for your topic. Certain tools allow for you to increase the level of film interaction by
incorporating questions/notes.
○ Apps to use: Edpuzzle (allows you to embed questions, audio, & notes into
videos, including youtube and allows you to track student’s progress in the
videos). Any of the lecture recording apps.

EXAMPLE 50 MIN LESSON PLANS

In this section we will outline a few example lesson plans based on NNCI (National
Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative) content. We list suggestions for specific tools and timelines,
but would recommend you customize these to suit your preferences.

*If you wish to look at the site to find more teaching resources we recommend going to the
NNCI website and using their ‘Search Our Resources’ tool.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXAMPLE 1: ‘Effects of Marijuana on the Developing Brain’ from NNCI

● Links: Weblink, pdf summary of learning module, pdf class worksheet

● Goal: teach trainees about the impact of marijuana on the developing brain.
● Interactive components: Poll Everywhere, zoom breakout groups for discussion
● Articles to review: (1) ‘This Is Your Brain on Drugs’ by A.Moor, Published by New York
Times. (2) ‘Cannabis Use Is Quantitatively Associated with Nucleus Accumbens and
Amygdala Abnormalities in Young Adult Recreational Users’ by J.Gilman, Published by
Journal of Neuroscience

TIMELINE
● 00:00 - Survey class for their current understanding of the effects of Marijuana on the
developing brain and/or public perception of the potential effects using Poll Everywhere
 ● 00:10 - Assign students to zoom breakout groups to review the first article ‘This Is
Your Brain on Drugs’ and answer the questions in ‘Part 2: Critique of Media Coverage’ of
the pdf class worksheet
○ During this time instructor may join a few of the breakout groups briefly to check
on progress or add to discussion
● 00:20 - Return all breakout groups to the main meeting to review answers which can be
done verbally or using Poll Everywhere application
● 00:30 - Return students to breakout groups to review the second article and answer
questions in ‘Part 3’ of the pdf class worksheet
○ During this time instructor may join a few of the breakout groups briefly to check
on progress or add to discussion
● 00:45 - Return all breakout groups to the main meeting to review answers which can be
done verbally or using Poll Everywhere application
● 00:50 - Lecture ends

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXAMPLE 2: Bipolar from NNCI

● Links: Each breakout group will be assigned to one of these 3 articles to be discussed:
interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (ipsrt), allopurinol for the treatment of mania,
and lipid peroxidation and white matter abnormalities in euthymic BD
- Sessions will follow this outline to facilitate learning in a part 1-5 outline
● Goal: Be able to describe the difficulties and consequences associated with
misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, appreciate the importance of translational
approaches in psychiatry and the potential use of biological markers to facilitate this
process, be able to describe new systems (circadian, purinergic) involved in the
etiology of bipolar disorder, and new treat-ments associated with these systems.
● Interactive components: Zoom, breakout groups, google documents and powerpoint.

TIMELINE
● 00:00 - Review clinical vignette under part 1 at this link. This link will serve as the
primary session outline that contains part 1 - 5 in the learning group
● 00:05 - Form three breakout groups, assigning one student to serve as facilitator in each
group, and have the students come up with a treatment plan using the same link above
under part 2
● 00:20 - Designated student in each breakout group will facilitate discussion under part 3
description at the same link above
● 00:40 - part 4: Each breakout group will be assigned to one of these 3 articles to be
discussed: interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (ipsrt), allopurinol for the
treatment of mania, and lipid peroxidation and white matter abnormalities in euthymic
 BD. Using google docs or powerpoint, the students will come up with a small
summary of what they’ve discussed in their breakout sessions
● 00:47 - part 5: once discussion has ended, instructor can offer more additional learning
opportunities provided in the main outline link under part 5
● 00:50 - Lecture ends

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXAMPLE 3: Cognition in Schizophrenia from NNCI

● Links: Here is a link to a brief overview of the lesson plan.

- Articles to read before lesson starts: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18923067/
● Goal: To understand the cognitive deficits in schizophrenia in order to be better
positioned to develop novel and more effective treatments for schizophrenia
● Interactive components: Poll Everywhere (or other interactive Q&A app), Zoom
breakout groups. Session launch here

TIMELINE
● 00:00 - Using poll everywhere, survey the class’ understanding of schizophrenia, the
pathways, and current treatments. Students should also launch the session here
● 00:15 - Students will read the articles assigned to them. The article is called Subunit-
selective modulation of GABA type A receptor neurotransmission and cognition in
schizophrenia then have the students fill out the pdf class worksheet
● 00:35 - after the worksheet is filled, the instructor can place students in different
breakout rooms to discuss the articles in small groups.
● 00:45 - reconvene as large group for questions and further discussion
● 00:50 - Lecture ends

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXAMPLE 4: Borderline personality disorder from NNCI

● Links: Session outline can be found at this link

● Goal: Be able to articulate current standard of care treatments and expected
prognosis for patients with borderline personality disorder. Describe the negative
 attribution bias in borderline personality disorder, the relationship to amygdala
hyperactivity, and novel approaches using neurofeedback that may offer next
generation treatment
● Interactive components: Zoom breakout groups, Kahoot

TIMELINE
● 00:00 - Review clinical vignette under part 1 at this link. This link will serve as the
primary session outline that contains part 1 - 5 in the learning group
● 00:05 - form four breakout groups, and have the residents and students come up with a
treatment plan at the same link above under part 2
● 00:20 - facilitator in each breakout group will facilitate discussion under part 3
description at the same link above
● 00:40 - part 4: Each breakout group will be assigned to one of these 4 articles to be
discussed: Epigenetics, oxytocin, neurofeedback, and aberrant social exchange
● 00:47 - part 5: once discussion has ended, instructor can offer more additional learning
opportunities provided in the main outline link under part 5. Additional Kahoot quiz can
also be used at this point to assess knowledge from participants.
● 00:50 - Lecture ends

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXAMPLE 5: Dopamine from NNCI

● Links: Lesson outline can be found at this link, which includes questions and
assignments during the discussion part of the lesson plan. Pre-assignment video on
dopamine pathways to be watched can be found here
● Goal: To understand the pathways of dopamine and how it can influence behavior. To
reflect and discuss the psychological effects of certain drug interactions and side effects.
● Interactive components: Zoom break out groups, google drawing, Pre-assignment
video on dopamine pathways (link here).

TIMELINE
● 00:00 - Have the students read the case at this link
● 00:10 - Discuss in pairs following some of the questions under the outline under part 2 of
the same link above.
● 00:20 - Have the participants watch the video on dopamine pathways, the link is here
● 00:30 - discuss in pairs following some of the questions under the outline under part 4 of
the same link above. At some point, participants will use google drawing to draw out
some of the dopamine pathways and explain their significance to the larger group
 ● 00:40 - come together as a group to further discuss and reflect on the case, discussion,
and pathways.
● 00:50 - Lecture ends

INTERACTIVE LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Kahoot vs. Poll Everywhere vs. Quizlet vs Quizizz vs. Gimkit vs. Socrative. Other slightly
different integrative learning activities include AHA Slides, Playingcards.IO, and ED Puzzle.

When it comes to interactive learning activities, there are multiple programs that are
pretty similar with very slight variations in functions and price points. Kahoot, Poll Everywhere,
Socrative, Gimkit, Quizlet, and Quizizz are a few of our favorite applications that facilitate live
questions which can be used prior to lecture to test knowledge, or during lecture to test
retainment. Most of these applications have group/team competition features which may help
create a more interactive environment. We will compare the differences below. Other integrative
learning programs such as AHA Slides, Playincards.IO, and ED Puzzle are more “stand alone”
in their unique capabilities.

KAHOOT (Game Based Learning)

 ● Overview: Kahoot is a game-based learning platform that can be used for any subject and
played on any device. It is crafted for group settings such as the remote classroom and has the
potential to transform your learning experience to be more engaging and fun! Players (students)
don't need to register for an account, only the person creating/hosting does.

● Links: Kahoot video link tutorial, pdf tutorial and overview page

SET UP ACCOUNT
● As the teacher, first step is to go to Kahoot.com or download the program on your phone
and set up your account. When prompted, choose teacher and then higher education.

CREATE YOUR ONLINE LEARNING GAME

● Now that you have logged in choose to make your first kahoot! Click Quiz, Jumble, Discussion, or
Survey to create a fun learning game, made from a series of prompted questions.
 ● Follow the instructions on-screen to add questions, answers, images and video clips. You can
also fine-tune the kahoot using different timer and point settings or setting multiple correct
answers. The possibilities are endless!

LAUNCH LEARNING GAME

● Click on the kahoot! (learning game) you would like to launch. You will be prompted to decide
whether you want the game to be played in Classic (each player is individual) or Team mode.

● After this selection a unique game PIN will be created and displayed at the top of the screen
○ This game pin can be displayed to your class through the ‘screen share’ feature of zoom
(by selecting the browser tab that has your game loaded up).
 ○

○ Share this pin with players (students). They can choose to access it online at kahoot.it in
their browser or through the Kahoot! app for iOS and Android.
■ For greatest ease it is suggested students use their second device (i.e. phone) to
do this while keeping zoom open on their laptop

● You will see the player’s names as they join the game. Once everyone has joined, the host clicks
Start and the game is live!
○ The questions will display on the zoom screen share while the students will have the
answer choices on their phone or second device
 ● At the end of the game, the player or team with the most points wins!

PICTORIAL OVERVIEW OF MAIN STEPS

POLL EVERYWHERE (Interactive Question/Response)

 ● Overview: Poll Everywhere is a live student-response tool which allows you to create and share
a survey, a competition, or even a single poll. These can be used as an educational tool or a
feedback tool to gather data
● Links: Take a look at these resources; video tutorial, Web tutorial, and unabridged instructor
guide

TYPES OF POLL EVERYWHERE ACTIVITIES

Poll Everywhere offers multiple types of activities you can use to interact with the audience:

● Multiple-choice polls: The audience chooses from the response options you provide (for
example a choice of either true or false.) You can also upload images to serve as response
options. Multiple choice polls accept both text message responses and web responses.

○
● Open-ended questions: The audience responds freely, with anything they wish. Open-ended
responses can be displayed three ways: a ticker, text wall, or cluster. You can use the
Moderation setting to manage responses before they are shown publicly. This activity allows
both text message responses and web responses.

○
 ● Q&A: The audience submits ideas or questions. Then they can anonymously upvote or
downvote all other responses, so the best rise to the top quickly. This activity only allows web
responses.

○
● Rank order: Participants rank the response options you provide. The results display as a bar
chart ranking the options 1st, 2nd, 3rd… This activity only allows web responses.

○
● Clickable images: The audience clicks anywhere on an image to respond. You can even specify
regions to count clicks in specific areas. This activity only allows web responses.

CREATE AN ACTIVITY
1. Log into Poll Everywhere and select the New Activity button from the upper right corner.
 ○

2. Select the activity type.

○ There are many types of activities including Multiple Choice, Word Cloud, Competition
etc, for full description of each type read this article here

○
3. To begin click Edit in the window prompt. You can then give the activity a title, and choose other
configuration options.
4. As you are creating individual questions for your given activity type, you will be prompted to
enter in the text for Question and responses.

5. You will be prompted to select how people can respond to your questions. For greatest ease and
flexibility select all of the options.

○
6. When you are done giving the new activity a title, setting its options, and creating the
questions/prompts click Save.
 7. The activity is now ready to be presented.
○ PS don't worry, surveys/polls/groups can be edited after the creation process as well

ACTIVATING YOUR POLL

● Log into your Poll Everywhere account and go to My Polls page (i.e. PollEv.com/your-username)
● To activate your poll from the My Polls page, click on the Activate icon (located to the right of
the poll) or open the full screen view (polls are automatically activated when in fullscreen mode)

○
● Only one poll can be activated on your presenter page at a time, so the only poll visible to your
participants is the poll you are displaying in fullscreen mode. The next poll/question will
automatically activate as you advance through your polling slides.

STUDENT RESPONSES
There are several ways an audience can respond to polls:

● SMS text message responses or website

○ Once you activate your poll, a website address and phone number will appear. Direct
your students to either enter the address in their browser and follow the prompts or
text the prompted number, allowing them to engage with the poll via SMS text.

● Live link to your poll

 ○ Each poll has a unique URL that can be shared. You can copy this URL directly from your
internet browser’s address box to send the poll chart to your audience.

○ Alternately, you can visit the Present menu that appears on the right side of the poll
when you are viewing the live chart. Expand the menu and click Share, then choose
either the Sharable Response Link (allows people to respond to your poll without seeing
results) or the Live Results Link (allows people to respond and see results live).

QUIZLET LIVE (Team Based Competition Quizzes)

● Overview: Quizlet Live is a game integrating quizlet decks into a collaborative

competition. Instructors must have a quizlet teacher account, $3.99/month, 1st month is
free. The instructor needs a quizlet account, and the students can join the game through
any device of their choice. The students need to have a way to share their screen or
have ways to communicate to teammates in order to collaborate (you may need zoom
 breakout rooms of some sort to facilitate collaboration in teams). Requires four or more
students with at least six-term definition pairs in the quizlet set.
● Links: Check out this Instructional Video and go to Quizlet’s Overview page for more
helpful resources.

CREATING QUIZLET TEACHER ACCOUNT

● Go to quizlet.com and create a quizlet account or create an account by linking quizlet to
gmail, facebook account.

CREATE A QUIZLET SET

● This is basically creating a quizlet deck, or flashcards.

CREATING A LIVE QUIZLET GAME

● Once you have selected the Quizlet deck (using a Quizlet teacher account) you wish to
use, at the top you will see options to either study or play using the deck (which can be
great tools for your students) but for the purpose of interactive learning as a group,
select the Live icon.

● A screen will be opened giving you the option to try a demo or start the game by clicking
create game.
 ○
● This will generate a game code as shown below. Text or project this game code to your
class.

○
● Students can go to quizlet.live which will prompt them to enter the code generated
above. After students enter their code, they can add their name to join the game.

○
● Once all of the players have joined, you can start the game by clicking Create Game
again at the bottom of your screen.
 ○
● Once you create a game, students will be grouped in teams. At this point, you can
change members of the team, by clicking shuffle teams. This is also the time that you
would want teammates to be able to collaborate with each other. If this game is done
remotely, this is the perfect time to split the zoom session. The instructor is the only
person that has access to the scoreboard, so if teammates are split up, try to have a way
to project the scoreboard to promote healthy competition.

○
● Students will know who their teammates are. Once the game begins, questions are
posed to the teams with multiple choices, however only one player on the team will have
the correct answer choice, so players must discuss the question to make sure they
select the correct answer.

QUIZIZZ (Student Paced Quiz Competitions)

 ● Overview: Quizizz is a competitive quiz-based learning tool providing instructors with
data which they can use to go over the quiz or change the lesson plan. Instructors may
also create slides with Quizizz and integrate polls or questions within the presentation to
make it more interactive! For more features like creating explanations to questions, ad-
free content, embedding audio, video onto Quizizz slides, teachers can subscribe to
Quizizz Super which is $5/month.
● Links: Check out this overview video tutorial, this additional video tutorial to detail how
to use the Lessons feature and other paid-for features, and official website:
https://quizizz.com

CREATING AN ACCOUNT
● Go to https://quizizz.com and sign up with google or with any other email.

CREATING A QUIZ
● You may choose from premade quizzes which are searchable by subject. Quizzes are
catered to K-12, college. You have the option of editing a premade quiz or creating your
own.
● In the home page, select create quiz:
 ○
● Then, pick a name for the quiz, and tag applicable relevant subjects

○
● You can either choose from premade quizzes or create your own question. You can
make multiple choices, fill-in-the-blank, open-ended questions, or even start creating
slides! If you see a pre-made quiz you like, you can favorite it for quick access.

○
● When creating a question, you can easily add media, tag topics so it is easier to find the
question later, change the amount of time students can answer the question. With a
Super account, you can add explanations to the questions.
 ○

STARTING THE GAME!

● You may start the quiz live by clicking Live Game, assign it as homework by selecting
Homework Game for the whole class, or provide it as extra study material.

○
● After you’ve selected the option you prefer, you have more options like shuffling
questions (so that students are working on different questions at one time), showing
answers, timer, sounds, etc. Once you’ve made your selections, click proceed.

○
● Students are instructed on how to join the quiz. Students enter a code, and their name.
The instructor will then see who has entered the live quiz session. When all students
have entered, the instructor can start the quiz. The instructor interface doesn’t show the
questions, so students can answer questions at their own space.
 ○
● The student that gets the most questions the fastest wins. At the end of the quiz,
students have the option to review the questions they answered incorrectly. The
instructors receive analysis about the quiz, including the “toughest question,” “longest
question,” and more. There is an option to review all the questions with the whole class
at the end of the quiz.

QUIZIZZ SLIDES/LESSONS
Watch this video tutorial to detail how to use the Lessons feature and other paid-for features.
● In the home page, select create lesson. A slides window pops up, where you can add
slides with text, and embed polls, multiple-choice questions and more. If you have a
super account, you can embed video, audio links, etc.

○
● After you have created your lesson, click publish. After you’ve published the lesson, you
can either choose to engage with students synchronously or asynchronously by
selecting Start a live lesson or assign homework respectively.

○
● After selecting either choices above, a code will be generated for students to join.
Students will be able to view the slides without questions like powerpoint slides. The
slides with questions will be viewed like a quiz, with students seeing the questions, and
instructors seeing the leaderboard. After the presentation is ended, the winner will be
announced. And like the quizzes above, instructors can view question data to tailor
future lessons.

GIMKIT (Expanded Student Paced Quiz Competitions)

● Overview: Gimkit is another web game-based learning tool, similar to Quizlet and
Kahoot; some of it’s main distinguishing features include a deeper, “dollar” based reward
system allowing players to buy power-ups in game and a KitCollab feature which allows
students to work together to create their own quiz questions. The fee for instructors is
 $59.98 billed annually (approximately $4.99 per month), but also includes a 30 day, no
obligation free trial period.
● Links: For a more detailed instructional guideline, watch this step-by-step video tutorial.
Official website link: https://www.gimkit.com/

SETTING UP AN EDUCATOR ACCOUNT

● Go to gimkit.com/signup and when prompted, choose Educator Sign Up.

○
● Here you will be asked to enter some demographic info including country, zipcode, area
of expertise, school and grade level (can choose other if none of the options apply)
● After verifying your email, this will start the no obligation 30 day free trial period which
has access to all of Gimkit’s core features. At the end of 30 days, Gimkit will ask you to
pay for the upgrade
● After signing in with your account, you will be taken to the Gimkit DASHBOARD, a home
page where you can access all of Gimkit’s main features including creation of Kits
(question sets for quiz games), assignments, KitCollab, and account information.

CREATING A KIT (QUESTION SET)

● From Dashboard, under KITS section, click +New Kit button on the right side of the page
● Choose a name for your Kit, desired language, and subject; you will then be prompted to
pick an image or upload a photo for your Kit.

● Now that you have created a title for your Kit, click +Add Question to begin creating quiz
questions; questions can be formatted as multiple choice (up to 4) or free response/text
input questions, and you can even add images, diagrams, or audio recordings into your
question.
 ● Once your are done creating all desired questions in Kit, click Finish Kit
● Note: you can also use features Import from Spreadsheet or Create with Flashcards
options if you’d like an alternative way to import questions into your Kit (see video for
additional instruction)
● Once complete, your Kit is ready to be played as a quiz game!

SETTING UP A QUIZ GAME

● Choose desired Kit and hit Play Live, which will bring you to the game set-up

● Choose Classic mode for students to play games independently or Team mode if you’d
like students to be on teams; both modes involve answering questions correctly to earn
“money” while incorrect answers will lose “money”
● Specify which Game Goal you would like
○ Time - all players try to earn as much money as they can before timer runs out
(specify time for quiz in minutes)
○ Race - all players race to be the first one to reach the cash goal (specify cash
goal)
○ All in - all players try to earn as much as money as they can, but game ends
when collective total of all players meets the goal (specify cash limit)

● Under Class section make sure No Class is specified (this allows students to sign into
game and enter their own names)
● You can adjust other game settings such as starting cash, handicap, answer check, and
music as you scroll down the page
 ● During the game, students also have the opportunity to buy power ups which they may
use to help themselves or sabotage other competitors; you can adjust shop options on
this page or disable this feature completely
● Once all desired settings are chosen, click Continue

HOSTING THE GAME

● Have students go to gimkit.com/play and have them enter 6 digit code to join game
lobby.

○
● As students sign in and choose their names, you will see their names appear on your
screen
● Once all students are in, click Start Game; this will begin the game and display the game
Leaderboard which displays live game stats.

○
● During this time, if you are using Zoom or other software, you can share your screen
with students so they can see the Leaderboard
● Once the game ends, winners are displayed on the Leaderboard

SOCRATIVE (Interactive Groups/Individual Quizzes)

 ● Overview: Socrative is an online software designed for teachers to create online
quizzes, poll questions, and team quizzes for students, providing real time feedback and
learning assessments during lectures. There is both a free version, and a “Pro” version
with expanded functions.
● Links: Here is a video tutorial describing how to launch and create quizzes for students.
Official website: socrative.com

SET UP AN ACCOUNT
● Go to socrative.com to set up an account and select Sign up for free

● You will then be prompted to choose your account option. Options include:
○ Free account: allows for 50 students per room, 1 public classroom, the ability to
launch 1 activity at a time, space race assessments, and on the fly questioning.
○ Socrative Pro for K - 12 teachers, $59 per year: In addition to the capabilities of
the free account, allows for 20 private or public classrooms, up to 20 activities at
a time, Space Race countdown timer, and Roster Import from CSV or Excel.
○ Socrative Pro for Higher ED and Corporate, $99 per year: allows for up to 200
students per room, up to 20 private or public rooms, up to 20 activities launched
at a time, shareable links for easy login, and restricted login using student ID.
● We will select the Free account option for this tutorial. Click through and fill out the
prompts to finish setting up your account.

SOCRATIVE ROOMS
● With the free account, you will have one default room when you set up your account.
This is a public room that students can join by going to the main Socrative site, selecting,
Login, then Student Login and entering the Room Name. Teachers will see their “Room
Name” at the top of the window.
 ● Through the “Pro Account”, teachers will have a student roster with a student ID which
students will use to login to a private room. Teachers can create up to 20 Unique rooms
with up to 200 students each.
● If using the “Pro” version, to add an additional room, simply select Add Room in the
upper left hand corner of the Rooms tab.

○
● Teachers can change their room name to something easier to remember by selecting
the Rooms tab, followed by the pencil icon

● Teachers can empty the room at the end of the session (important if using the free
account as you will only have one room) by selecting the down carrot and selecting
Clear Room.

SOCRATIVE QUIZZES
● To create a quiz, select the Quizzes tab, then select Add Quiz, followed by Create New
to make a new Quiz, or Import to import a quiz from excel or another user.
 ○
● Choose whether you would like to have your quiz shareable with other users by
selecting Enable Sharing.
● If you would like to make sure your quiz follows common core standards (more for K-
12th grade learners) select Align Quiz to Standard and fill in the relevant information.
● After making the above selections, you are ready to create your first quiz question.
Questions can be “Multiple Choice”, “True False”, or “Short Answer”.

○
● We’ve chosen True/False as the first question. Simply type the question into the text box
and select the correct answer. There is an option to upload a picture as well as type out
an answer explanation.

○
● To title the quiz, select the pencil icon at the top of the page where it says Untitled
Quiz and type in the desired name.
● When finished creating the quiz simply select Save and Exit

○
 ● Created quizzes can be merged together by selecting the desired quizzes and selecting
Merge. This will combine them into a single quiz. This function is only available with the
“Pro” account however.

LAUNCH FUNCTIONS
● The Launch tab is where you will go to start an activity for learners to participate with
● Selecting Launch and then Quiz will pull up a list of previously created quizzes. Select
the quiz you want the students to take, followed by Next.

○
● Before Launching the quiz, select the delivery method and settings. Quizzes can be:
○ Instant Feedback - where students answer one question at a time with answer
descriptions before moving on to the next question
○ Open Navigation - where students can answer questions in any order
○ Teacher Paced - where the teacher views the results in real time and chooses
when students see the next question.
● You can also choose if students are shown their final score, if questions are shuffled, if
they can have more than one attempt etc.

○
● Go to the Results tab to view the live results of the quiz as it comes in. Teachers have
the option to hide the student’s names if they want to project the results on the screen, in
addition to showing the answers. To end the quiz for all students select Finish.

○
● There is a “Quick Question” option on the launch page which is a great option if a
lecturer wants to quickly poll the class. Lecturers can post either a True/False, a Multiple
Choice, or a Short Answer question in a power-point or out loud to the class. Students
can then quickly provide their response anonymously using their own devices.

○
● Simply select the Finish button at the upper right hand corner of the screen to close the
polling.

● Space Race on the Launch page allows students to work together in teams to complete
a quiz. After selecting Space Race, you will be prompted to choose which quiz you
would like students to complete.
○ After selecting the quiz, make the following selections including the number of
teams, whether students are randomly assigned to teams or able to choose
teams, if there is a countdown, etc

● Teams will race to see who can complete the quiz first with the greatest number
of correct answers. Teachers can view students’ progress in the Results tab
 which can be projected to the students as well. Rockets will only move if
questions are answered correctly.

REPORTS
● The Reports tab provides a list of all completed activities. By clicking on the completed
activity, the report can be downloaded. Select whether you want to email the results to
students or export the results into an excel file.

○
● If selecting export there is the option to download the complete results into excel,
generate individual student reports as a PDF, generate a results summary PDF, or
generate an answer key PDF. Some of these functions are only available with the paid,
pro account.

GENERATE AN EXIT TICKET

● Exit tickets can be generated at the end of an activity or lesson to get feedback from the
students. This is done by selecting Exit Ticket from the Launch tab.
 ○
● The same three questions will always be asked which are:
○ How well did you understand today’s material? (A will be defaulted as the correct
answer so any other answers will show as incorrect)
○ What did you learn in today’s class?
○ Please answer the teacher’s question. (which will be written on the board,
powerpoint, etc by the teacher).
● Results of the Exit Ticket will be available for review by you in the Reports tab

EDPUZZLE (Interactive Video Production App)

● Overview: Edpuzzle is a free, simple to use video editing tool that allows you to embed
questions and notes into videos as well as track students’ progress in watching the
videos in order to hold your students accountable. Edpuzzle can link with Google
Classroom to transfer any classes that you’ve made with Google Classroom, or you can
create new classes.
 ○ A notable feature of this application is its ability to use premade videos from sites
such as YouTube, Khan Academy, TEDTalks, Crash Course, and more to
embed in your presentation.
● Links: Learn how to quickly use Edpuzzle by watching this short 5 minute abbreviated
video tutorial. Watch this longer 13.5 minute video for a more in-depth video tutorial.
Official website: https://edpuzzle.co

GETTING STARTED
● Go https://edpuzzle.com to either log in or signup. To note, if you have a preexisting
google account you can use that.

○
● The application allows you to organize your presentations by classes, set due dates,
create assignments etc, but the focus of our outline here will be on utilizing their tool of
interactive video productions. If you want to learn more about the organization features
and how to add classes/students etc feel free to watch this video tutorial.

CREATE VIDEO PRESENTATIONS

● From the home screen click Content on the top right corner.
● The next screen that appears will highlight currently the trending content, this includes
videos and preexisting lessons.

○
○ You can source videos from sites such as YouTube, Khan Academy, TEDTalks,
Crash Course, and more to embed in your presentation or upload videos you
yourself half made.
● If you see one of interest hover your mouse over the video and click on the eye icon
 ○
● If it is a preexisting Edpuzzle lesson you will see multiple green ?s which indicate
embedded questions.

○
○ If the presentation is to your liking you can choose to either click Share to send
now or Copy to My Content to save for later.
○ If you wish to make changes such as editing the length, adding audio, or
embedding in questions, click Copy and Edit.
○ At the top of the screen you will see a toolbar with the options to Cut, Voiceover,
or Questions.
■ Add your own voice overs for videos that you are able to upload
(unfortunately this feature is currently unavailable as YouTube blocked
the user’s ability to create voice overs on their videos)

■ When you click on Questions you will be prompted to choose the type of
question (Open-ended, multiple choice, Audio/written notes) to within the
video to engage your students.
 ●

SHARE & EXPORT

● When you are done editing your EdPuzzle video click Save at the top right hand corner
of the screen. Then click Finish.

○
● You will be prompted to choose how to share the video with your students. For greatest
ease we recommend selecting Public Links to generate a video link you can send via
email/messenger.
○ If your institution is using edpuzzle or Google classroom there are options to
assign the video to student groups with due dates and calendar reminders. In
these venues you have the opportunity to track your student’s progression in
each video, see whether they’ve skipped content (or prevent them from skipping
so they have to answer the questions embedded!)

AHA-SLIDES (Live, Interactive Slideshows)

 ● Overview: Aha-Slides is an online educational tool in which you can create interactive
and engaging slideshow presentations. Upload your pre-made powerpoint presentations
and improve them by incorporating numerous features including live polls, quizzes,
question/answer sessions, word clouds, and free response which encourages active
audience participation with live feedback. There is a 14-day trial period with limited
features and there are multiple subscription plans billed monthly or annually.
● Links: Take a look at this video tutorial of how to make a multiple choice poll. Or check
out this overview video tutorial, (you can choose to start at time stamp 1:50 to skip the
rather lengthy, albeit comical introduction). Official website: https://ahaslides.com/

CREATING AN ACCOUNT
● From the home page, click GET STARTED to create an account with email/password.

○
● This will take you to the Dashboard where you can access account information, start
new presentations, and view created presentations.

HOW TO CREATE AN INTERACTIVE SLIDESHOW

● From the Dashboard, click New presentation +, and create a name and optional URL
link for your audience to access the slide show.
 ○
● You are now in the creation screen. Here you can import your pre-existing presentation
(Powerpoint, .PDF, etc) by clicking Import at the bottom right corner.

○
● Now that your slideshow is uploaded, you can add numerous features to make your
slideshow more engaging (see link for step-by-step tutorial for each feature)
○ Multiple choice polls - see tutorial
○ Online competitive quizzes - see tutorial
○ Live word clouds - see tutorial
○ Live Q&A sessions - see tutorial
● On the right side of the screen, you can also add slides with additional features such as
pictures, YouTube videos, and a QR code to include which participants can quickly scan
with their smartphones to access your presentation quickly
● Tip: If you would like to see how your slideshow appears to your participants on their
smartphones, click the Participant View button at the bottom center of the screen

HOSTING A LIVE PRESENTATION

● Once your presentation is complete, hit Present icon.
● If teaching to your audience via Zoom, start sharing your screen so participants can view
your full presentation (for more instructions on how to use Zoom, use this tutorial.)
● To utilize the interactive features of your presentation, instruct your audience to use a
second device (i.e. their smartphone) to sign onto your presentation with the provided
URL or QR code (this may be found under the SHARE tab on your presentation page)
 ● Now you will have the opportunity to see participants respond to your various activities
as you move through your presentation.

PLAYINGCARDS.IO (Free Website to Make Custom Card Decks)

● Overview: Free website that allows you to create custom flashcard games based on the
curriculum you’d like, but we recommend National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative
(NCII- https://www.nncionline.org/) as a good starting place. For example, you can
create trivia games or your own version of digital charades for multiple teams to play
against each other and keep score!
● Links: Click on this hyperlink for a short 7 minute video tutorial along with a sample deck
created with NCII content. Official website: http://playingcards.io

CREATE A CUSTOM DECK

● Go to the main website: http://playingcards.io scroll to the bottom of the page and click
Custom Room.
 ○
● On the next screen click Start Game.

○
● On the next screen which appears, go to the bottom left-hand corner and select Edit
Table

○
● Within the editing tool box select Custom Card Deck
 ○
● You will then be prompted to choose some specific features of your card deck including
orientation, overlap, and prompting confirmation of final answer etc. We would
recommend you select No Overlap and Enlarge on mouse-hover.

○
● Now that you have made your general setting selections, click done and on the screen
click Edit Deck which will start the process of selecting images for your card deck.

○
● At the top of the prompted window, select Layers and Card Back, then at the bottom of
the screen choose to Delete this layer (we will replace this with our desired image later)
 ○
● Next at the bottom of the box, under the prompting ‘add layer’ select IMAGE

● Then choose the upload symbol on the right side which will prompt you to choose an
image from your desktop to replace the backside card image

○
● Next at the top of the screen select Card Data, which will initiate the process of selecting
your educational card images.

○
● You will see a list of generic card types. On the right side of each ‘card’ you will see an
option to UPLOAD IMAGE(S). Click this to choose the images from your desktop you
wish to convert into individual cards. To note you can select multiple and the app will
automatically upload these images into individual cards

○
● After you have uploaded your card images you will see the descriptor for each image by
the card title. On the right hand side click + for each card that now has an image
associated to ensure it is included in your finalized deck

○
● Once you have added all your desired images, at the top of the screen click Layers
again. Once there you can preview the front of the cards and resize the image by
clicking ↔ and dragging at the bottom right of the image. Any adjustments you make will
automatically apply to all the cards. Once you are finished click Done.

○
● After this you will be returned to the home screen for your current deck. On the right side
you will see a circle with the number of newly added cards. At this time we suggest
removing everything on that screen except for the newly added cards. You can do this
by clicking on the item and then selecting Remove on the drop down menu.
 ○
● You have now successfully created your deck of cards! The video tutorial starting at 5:00
goes through further optional modifications to your deck of cards
● When you are satisfied with the deck, at the bottom of the screen select Share Room
Code which will bring up a shareable link you can send to your students.

GROUP GAME
● When players follow the link you send they will open to a screen like the one below
 ○
● How to play the sample game:
○ The sample game (sample deck) is meant to be played as a digital “charades.”
Players draw cards by clicking and dragging cards from the center deck onto the
highlighted bar at the bottom of their screen. Players keep their hand of cards
private and then try to explain the area of the brain without actually giving it
away. Rules could vary, but for example could include “players must have their
team guess the region of the brain only by acting out the deficits if this region of
the brain was affected”, or “Players must describe a given Brain
Region/Activity/Lesion and their team must guess the correlating Brain
region/Activity/Lesion”:
■ For Example “Players must describe a given Brain Region/Activity/Lesion
and their team must guess the correlating Brain region/Activity/Lesion”:
“Player A: I can’t make my eyes move to the left! Which area of my
brain is affected?” Player B: “Left frontal eye fields!” Player A:
Correct!
○ The spinner could be used to assign players numbers to determine which player
will go next, or you could use your creativity to make it play a different role in the
game such as “spin to determine which attribute of the card (Brain
region/activities/lesions) you will describe next!”
 ■
○ Use the counters to keep track of the score for each team

■ →

TEAM BASED VISUAL ORGANIZATION

(outlines, flow diagrams, concept maps etc.)

Padlet vs ConceptBoard vs Google Drawings vs Doceri vs Educreations vs OneNote vs

Debate Graph vs Coggle vs Popplet

Every educator knows the importance of visual aids. These can be helpful for some
learners who are better able to grasp concepts through this format, but in these times of
virtual/remote education can also provide collaborative spaces for student engagement during a
lecture or while working on group projects. Padlet and ConceptBoard function best for those
collaborative spaces, with OneNote following closely behind, with the capacity to allow students
to collect and share multimedia items. Debate Graph and Coggle are the best for creating mind
maps (also called concept maps) which can lend to a more organized schema in these visual
collaborations/discussions. Google Drawings can be used as a simple virtual whiteboard to use
while teaching , while Doceri, and Educreations are virtual whiteboards of varying sophistication
that also have screencasting capability.
 PADLET (Virtual Bulletin Board & More)

● Overview: Padlet is a collaboration tool that allows you to express your thoughts or
present your material in a virtual bulletin board - this program allows collaborators (your
class) to simultaneously organize/create texts/documents/images/videos/links etc
○ Examples of what you can do include posting links to websites for students to
visit, links to a YouTube video for students to watch, record your own voice or
video instructions for students to follow, post demonstrations, show students a
diagram, use the Screen Record feature to record your voice and screen (e.g. go
through a PowerPoint or show students how to work out a problem), truly the
possibilities are endless. Students can respond to questions or prompts in a
similar manner by making their own video or audio, drawing diagrams, uploading
documents etc
○ While it is free to sign up, you can only make three Padlets before you need to
upgrade to a monthly or yearly subscription. Teachers can get a 30-day free trial
before upgrading to the monthly or annual plan.
● Links: For an overview of what Padlet is along with a step-by step review of how to
create content, take a look at this video tutorial and web guide. Official website:
Padlet.com

SET UP ACCOUNT

● Go to Padlet.com and choose to sign up for free to begin creating your account, follow
the prompts to associate your account with your university email.
 ○

CREATE A PADLET

● Go to the main page and begin your creation by clicking Create New Padlet!
○ Wall and Canvas have the greatest flexibility

● Title your new padlet and choose the background Wallpaper and then click Next

○
● You will have the option to choose your privacy setting with the toolbar on the right side of the
screen
○ Select Those with access to prevent anyone uninvited being able to see or edit your
Padlet and click Next

■
● You will then be prompted to launch the padlet by selecting Start Posting
 ○
● You can now begin creating! Double click your mouse anywhere to follow the prompt and input
an item of text/audio/video/photo etc
○ If you click the + then you will be prompted to choose a file from your computer

● You can edit your Padlet at any time by clicking Modify This Wall

SHARE THE PADLET WITH STUDENTS

● At the top right hand corner of your screen click the share button
● Following the prompts click on change privacy and select secret or public, you can choose to set
a password if you wish
● Select visitor permissions to determine what level of engagement you wish to allow your
students
○ You want this set to ‘can write’ or ‘can edit’.
■ If it is set to ‘can write’, students will be able to add to the Padlet, but not
change anything. That includes their own posts – so if they make a mistake, or
want to edit something about their post, they will not be able to. They can
simply post again with the correction.
■ Using ‘can edit’ allows them to change any mistakes, but also leaves the whole
Padlet open to anyone who wants to change anything. In other words, any
student can alter any other students’ (or your) posts.
 ● To share you can use many venues; the easiest is to copy the link and email or text to your
students
○ Or if using integrated into Zoom post it in the chat and students can then contribute to
the Padlet in real-time with entries appearing live in the Zoom meeting.

CONCEPTBOARD (Collaborative Virtual Whiteboard, Advanced

Sharing Features)

● Overview: Concept board is an online workspace designed for collaboration with your
group/class in a digital whiteboard-like space.
○ Potential uses for Conceptboard could include: creating and presenting
information from concept maps, a group workspace for project collaboration,
interactive lectures, and any function for which you could use a low-tech
whiteboard.
○ A limited version of the platform's features are available for free, while a more
advanced version that includes video chat and presentation features is available
 by subscription. New plans start at 6$ per month/per user for yearly
subscriptions.
○ Conceptboard is web-browser based and only requires an internet connection,
there are no program downloads necessary.
● Links: Check video tutorial or the company’s best practice guideline for further tips

SETTING UP ACCOUNT
● Go to conceptboard.com and click “Sign Up for Free”.

○
● Enter your name, email address, and choose a password
● First time users will see a pop-up window with a few simple tutorials provided by
Conceptboard:

INVITING PARTNERS TO COLLABORATE

Invite users from the home page to share ALL of the boards you have created
● From the home page of your account click on “invite users”

○
 ● A pop-up screen will appear that will allow you to invite users by typing email addresses
into the box, separated by commas or send an invitation link to participants. Sharing the
link by email or chat is the easiest way to invite a large group of participants.

○
● Invite users from within a board to share ONLY the selected board

CREATING NEW BOARDS

● From the home page, click “+New Board”, which will open an Unnamed Board.

○
● From here you can click on “Unnamed Board” to name your whiteboard, you can upload
files, and create a workspace by clicking “insert section” to start adding content.
 ○

● To add a section to your board, click on the size you would like and drag it onto the
empty board.
● You can add as many sections as you like, the little window at the bottom of the screen
shows where your sections are on the board, the blue box shows what is visible on the
screen.
● To rename a section right click on the name of the desired section and select “rename”.

○
 ONE NOTE (Note Taking & Multi-Format Information
Management)

● Overview: OneNote is a tool for capturing ideas/information in different digital formats.

The format is organization of work in notebooks, further subdivided into sections and
pages. Users can share the notebook pages, ideas, and can collaborate with team
members, eliminating the need to consolidate or “compare notes”.
○ One Note allows users to edit and comment with full tracking, To-Do tags, the
ability to mix media, and clipping and saving. It can also extract editable text from
an image.
○ OneNote is pre-installed in Windows 10 and included with Microsoft Office.
OneNote is also available for free as an app on Mac, iOS, Android, and web.
Free OneNote users get 5GB of space.
● Links: Check out this video tutorial, or for a more comprehensive overview/tutorial check
out this expanded video tutorial.

HOW TO ORGANIZE
● Start by creating a notebook with Show Notebooks button.
○ At the bottom of the list that opens, click the + Notebook button.
■ Every new notebook will contain a new section and a blank page
○ You can also open previously made or someone else’s shared notebooks by
clicking More Notebooks -> select from the list
 ● Add new section and pages with +Section and +Page buttons at the bottom.
○ You can rename these by right clicking on each new section or page

NOTE WRITING
● To handwrite notes (using stylus, apple pencil etc), do the following:
○ On the ribbon, choose the Draw tab.
○ In the Tools group, choose a pen or highlighter, and then write notes on the
screen. To stop drawing, click the Type button on the Draw tab
● Convert handwriting to text (Link for video tutorial)
○ On the Draw tab, choose the Lasso Select button.
○ On the page, drag a selection over the handwriting you want to convert.
○ On the Draw tab, choose Ink to Text.

● Apply a tag to a note to quickly return to important items, remind yourself about action
items, or filter on notes you’d like to share with others.
○ Place the cursor at the beginning of the line of text you want to tag.

○ Click Home > Tags, and then click the icon of the tag you want to apply. Use the
arrows next to the tags list to scroll through the available tags.
○ You can search for tagged notes by keyword and category and see the results in
an easy-to-read summary.

ADD AND MIX MEDIA

 ● Insert PowerPoint Slides onto OneNote
○ Click Insert tab from the OneNote page onto which you wish to add slides
○ Select File Printout -> click on the file of choice

or
○ Another method is to directly “Print” from PowerPoint (same applies to Word or
PDF files) by
■ Clicking in on File -> Print -> Send to OneNote
● You can add audio or video files saved on your computer (or OneDrive, Dropbox) onto
OneNote page via File Attachment. You can also directly record audio or video on
OneNote page through Insert tab (Link)
● If you attach an image (i.e. scanned document) that contains text you want to copy and
edit, right click on the attached image to select “Copy Text from Picture” (Link)

SHARING NOTEBOOK AND COLLABORATE

● A Share button at the top right of the interface opens a panel where you can type
someone's email address to give them access to the notebook in question. You can
choose whether the access will be edit or view only.
 GOOGLE DRAWINGS (Free, Simple Interactive Virtual
Whiteboard)

● Overview: This Google program allows you to create diagrams, shapes, or free
drawings which you can use in any other Google applications (such as Docs or Slides).
Another potential use is to use this as a collaborative white board during a class or to
visually map out a concept while sharing your screen. To clarify, this is not a photo
editing program (like photoshop) but does have some basic image-editing-features built
in.
● Links: Take a look at this video Tutorial and this online Step by step web page guide.
Official website: google.com/drawings

HOW TO DRAW
● Go to google.com/drawings and if you are not already signed in you will be prompted to
do so.
● If this is your first time using Google Drawings a blank drawing page will automatically
appear.
○ If you have a previous drawing you wish to go to you can do so by clicking File
and then Open, and select whatever previous project you wish to access.

● To insert a textbox, shape, table, diagram, chart, etc go to the top toolbar and click
Insert, and then select whichever feature you wish to implement
 ● For text box, shapes, images:

, ,
● For diagrams, tables, charts:

, ,

SAVE YOUR DRAWING

● To save your drawing you first need to name it, and can do so by clicking on the gray
box which states Untitled Drawing at the top of your screen, and then typing your
desired title. This will automatically cause your drawing to be saved in your Google
Drive.

SHARE & EXPORT YOUR DRAWING

● You can share your file to be edited by others, publish it on the web, or export it to your
computer in various file format types (SVG, PNG, JPEG, PDF)
○ SHARE: In order to invite collaboration go to the top right hand corner of your
screen and click the Share button. You will then be prompted to enter the email
of whoever you want to invite or alternatively you can click Get shareable link to
send a direct link.
 ○ EXPORT: click File, and then Download, and select whichever file format you
wish.

○ PUBLISH: to publish your drawing as an accessible file that can be embedded on

other pages, click File and then Publish to the web. To select the size of your
image click Link and then select the size in the dropdown menu under Link.

■ Depending on your need you can then click Link and copy the direct URL,
or alternatively click Embed and copy the HTML code .

DOCERI (sophisticated virtual whiteboard & screencast recorder)

 ● Overview: Doceri is a more sophisticated interactive whiteboard and screencast
recorder. It has tools for creating hand-drawn graphics along with a built-in remote
desktop control. Lessons can be pre-recorded using the screen recording mode within
the application or the whiteboard tool can be engaged synchronously with a live lesson.
Doceri for ipad is free on the apple store and can be used to recreate a whiteboard
board experience in the virtual setting either from your Mac or in conjunction with iPad.
○ This tool is best used for more comprehensive presentations. Compared to other
whiteboard applications Doceri has the greatest breadth of tools and
configurability. Doceri also has a timeline functionality which other whiteboard
applications do not, this allows you to record/edit audio voice overs while the
visual presentation remains intact.
● Links: Video tutorial. Official website: https://doceri.com.

GETTING STARTED
● Download Doceri on your ipad and download NEC Interactive (Doceri) on your desktop.
This is the program that enables your ipad and desktop to ‘communicate’.
● On your laptop open Doceri and click Through a Computer.

○
● On your computer open NEC Interactive. If this is your first time opening the application
you will be prompted to set a password to securely connect your devices. This will
initiate a QR code to appear on your computer screen.
 ○
● Tap the camera icon on the bottom left hand corner of your screen and with your ipad
scan the QR code on the screen.

○
● Next you will be prompted to enter the password you set earlier

BEGIN RECORDING
● To begin recording click the oREC button on the top of the screen

○
NAVIGATING DURING PRESENTATION
● DRAWING MODE: At the top of the screen if you click the pen icon then ‘drawing mode’
will begin and a new set of buttons will appear in your toolbar

■ The toolbars at the top of the screen allow you to draw, highlight, erase,
add lines, shapes etc
● BACKGROUND: If you click on the paper & pen icon on the top this will allow you to
change the background for your drawing

○
● ADD PHOTO: at the top toolbar click the photo icon. You will then have the option to
take a photo or upload one from your desktop.
■ Once you have added the image you can click and drag to move the
image or resize it.

○
● CLEAR SLIDE: to erase everything on the board (like erasing your whiteboard in a
classroom) click on the windshield icon on the top left corner and click Erase all strokes.
 ○

VIEWS DEPENDING ON IPAD ORIENTATION:

● On your ipad, if held vertically, you will see two screens. The top screen is what your
students will see while the bottom is your own personal view.
■ This separate view allows you to pinch and zoom to add details without
changing the view for your students.
○ If you hold your ipad horizontally you will only see your teacher view.

SHARE YOUR PRESENTATION

● Click the Export icon on the top of the screen. You will then be able to choose between
sharing the presentation as an image or a PDF file.

○
 EDUCREATIONS (Simplified Virtual Whiteboard & Screencast
Recorder)

● Overview: Educreations is a simplified interactive whiteboard and screencasting tool

that allows for teachers to engage with lessons from their desktop or turn their ipad into
an interactive whiteboard. Lessons can be pre-recorded using the screen recording
mode within the application or the whiteboard tool can be engaged synchronously with a
live lesson. The application is free from the iTunes store.
○ This tool is best used for simple/short presentations. Compared to Doceri,
Educreations is more simple to use and humble in its functionalities (only 10
colors for annotation, 4 backgrounds, you cannot layer images etc).
● Links: Video tutorial with step by step guide of how to make and share an Educreation
presentation. Official website: www.educreations.com

GETTING STARTED
● Go to www.educreations.com and click Sign up as Teacher.
● After you have signed in go to the home page and at the top left hand corner click
Lessons. Then in the drop down menu click New Lesson.

○
● On the next screen a white board will appear which has a toolbar at the top along with
navigation buttons at the bottom corners which allow you to move between slides
already created.
 ○

NAVIGATING TOOLBAR
● The setup of your screen and toolbar will differ slightly depending on whether you are
accessing the application via desktop or iPad, but the functionalities are the same.

ADDING CONTENT
● To add a photo (this may be a slide from a powerpoint presentation, table, graph etc)
click on the photo icon which will appear either on the bottom or top toolbar of your
screen. You will then be prompted to choose your image.
 ○

RECORDING
● When you have desired content on your screen and are ready to begin recording (often
simultaneous with demonstrative annotations) click on the oRecord button at the toolbar
on top of your screen

○
● When you have finished recording go to the toolbar at the top of your screen and click
Save. you will then be prompted with the choice to Preview your recording, Save it, or
Start Over to retry the recording.

○
● If you are satisfied with the recording and click Save the next screen will prompt you to
title your lesson, create a summary, and set your privacy level etc.
 ○
● After these steps click Create.

SHARE & EXPORT

● From your Lessons menu you will see all of the recordings you have made thus far. Click
on the lesson you wish to share.

○
○ Depending on your privacy settings your students could navigate to your
Educreations Lesson page, but sharing a direct link is often easier.
● At the top of the screen click the share icon and then you will see a number of options of
how to share your lesson.
○ If your school uses Google Classroom there is a direct method for this. If you
have a website for your class you could also copy/past the Embed code
● Otherwise the easiest is to click Copy next to the Permalink, and you will be able to
email/message the link to your students prior to the designated lecture time..
 ○

DEBATE GRAPH (Sophisticated Collaborative Concept Maps)

● Overview: DebateGraph is a free cloud based service which allows groups (of unlimited
numbers) to collaboratively discuss ideas which facilitates collaborative learning and
dialogue in an organized fashion via a color coding system to represent the type of
responses. Any changes made by members are visible to all, and there are further
chat/comment features to expand the discussion with your group with capacity to add
images/videos/links etc. Compared to Coggle this application is more sophisticated and
less intuitive.
○ Synchronous aspects: students can work simultaneously on graphs and facilities
dialogue via chat/comments
○ Asynchronous aspects: Discussion in comments and edits to the graph can occur
at any time.
● Links: brief overview video tutorial along with step by step video tutorial of how to add
components/edit their connections in a preexisting map. Official website:
https://debategraph.org

CREATE FREE ACCOUNT

● Go to the website https://debategraph.org and at the top of the screen click Login and
choose to Register now for a free account.
 ○

CREATE AN IDEA MAP

● Under your Account select to create new map
● To add a new component to the map click ADD IDEA at the bottom left hand corner of
the screen.

○
● A box will appear in which you will be prompted to identify what it is you are adding.
Choose by selecting Issue, Position, Information, Protagonist, or Note at the bottom of
the box. Then type in your heading and summary information, and when complete click
Save.

○
● You will see the additional item in your map immediately! If you wish to change what
other components it is connected to, on the right hand side of the screen select Outline,
and then click and drag your topic to become a subcomponent of another preexisting
component.
 ○

CHANGING VIEW
● At any time you can change the view/format of the mind map depending on your
preference by clicking Views on the top right of the screen. Furthermore you can see a
drop down list of the topics by categories by clicking Outline on the top right of the
screen.

SHARE YOUR MAP

● On the top of the screen click Share. This will then open a dropdown menu with options
to send/embed/share the map in multiple differing formats. The most useful for
discussion will likely be to get the shareable link to send via email/text/chat, but there is
also potential to embed a map to your class website or share via social media as well.
 ○

COGGLE (Collaborative Mind Mapping)

● Overview: Coggle is a visual aid for organizing and sharing information/ideas with
others through collaborative mind-mapping. This application is more intuitive than
Debate Graph to navigate and in appearance more visually appealing. There are both
free and subscription versions available, with pricing starting at 50$ per year.
● Links: Take a look at this video tutorial for a step by step instruction of how to
create/edit/share your mind map. It may also be helpful to peruse a coggle example
gallery for examples of what is possible!

GETTING STARTED
● From the home page click sign up now

○
CREATE A DIAGRAM
● At the top left of your screen click + create diagram

○
● A blank screen will open up with text bock in the middle, double click on the box click to
edit title to enter your text

○
● Click the + to add a connecting ideas/texts

○ .
● Click on any idea box to change the text, color, move positioning, delete the box, or
make multiple other edits

INVITE OTHERS TO COLLABORATE

● At any stage in your Coggle you can invite others by clicking + at the top right of your
screen. You will be prompted to enter the email address after this which will send an
invitation link to your intended person and give them the capacity to edd/add to your
mind map.

○
CHAT FEATURE
● As you and your invitees edit the mind map you can chat by clicking message on the top
right side of your screen

SAVE YOUR MIND MAP

● The program automatically saves your progress, but to finalize the map click coggle on
the top left corner

POPPLET (Simplified Mind Mapping Tool)

 ● Overview: Popplet is a visual graphic organizer that allows you to create “mind-maps”,
timelines, and many other forms of visual organizers that can be shared. It is a great
brainstorming tool, but can also be used for presentations. You can use words, pictures,
or even imbed videos into the mind maps to spice things up! Get creative and use
Popplet to make multiple-choice matching games.
● Links: watch the following 5 minute video to get a basic understanding of how to use the
application: video tutorial or pdf user guide for further information.

ACCOUNT SETUP
1. Go to https://app.popplet.com/ and create an account with your email (free to use). Then
you’re ready to begin!

CREATING A POPPLET
Please watch the following 5 minute video to get a basic understanding of how to use the
application: video tutorial. You’ll learn how to:
■ Make a “popple” (idea topic) by double clicking anywhere on the screen and link multiple
popples together by dragging the circles on the edge of the popple towards other
popples. You can also adjust the size of the popple in any direction by clicking and
dragging the arrows at the corners of the popple.

○
■ Embed media such as photos, youtube videos, facebook posts, or other multimedia into
your popples by clicking the photo icon at the bottom corner of your popple, and then
select your preferred source when prompted.

○
■ Export your popplets and share with others by clicking the settings icon on the top right
hand corner of the screen and then in the drop down menu select pdf export.
 ○
○ Pro Tips about exporting:
■ Exporting as JPEG has the disadvantage of not allowing others with
Popplet accounts to be able to edit your mind-maps when compared to
exporting as PDF.
■ The free version of Popplet only allows you to make one popplet at a
time. However, if you export the popplet as a PDF and delete your old
popplet, then you’ll be able to make a new popplet. Rinse and repeat as
many times as you’d like!

VIEWING OPTIONS WITHIN POPPLETS:

● Center all of your material at any time by clicking the “view all” button

○
● Use the Zoom bar to get a closer look at a certain topic, or zoom out to get a better look
at the entire mind-map.

○
 ● Change the color of the background any time by clicking on the transparent circle on the
top of the screen!

GET CREATIVE!
● Follow this link to watch a 3 minute video tutorial (Turn your volume up, the video has
poor audio quality unfortunately) explaining various creative ways to use Popplet as an
interactive tool in the classroom by creating brainstorms, mindmaps, multiple-choice
matching games, and collaborative popplets to work on ideas together!

PRESENTATION TOOLS

Connecting with your students is important, and there are numerous tools at your disposal to
facilitate the e-learning environment, which generally fall into the category of synchronous or
asynchronous. Synchronous learning tools occur in real time and can be helpful in making the
student feel more connected to the teacher and other students even if that experience is online;
thus it helps reduce the feelings of isolation. The best target audience for synchronous tools are
smaller groups to maximize the amount of potential individual participation. On the other side of
the coin, the main benefit of asynchronous learning is that it has more flexibility in that students
can engage with the content at various times and/or at their own pace without having to worry
about scheduling conflicts.
GOOGLE SLIDES (free web based collaborative presentation
tool)

● Overview: Free presentation tool, similar to powerpoint but with some additional
features including the ability to embed audio and video files within the presentation along
with other visual aid tools and live Q&A during presentations. In order to use google
slides, you need to have a google account (which again is completely free). Another
great component of Google Slides is that you can invite others to work on the
presentation with you in real time. Any edits you or collaborators make are automatically
saved, with substantial revisional history to allow you to revert to prior versions if
needed. In terms of compatibility, this is a great tool as you can pull your presentation
into Powerpoint and vice versa.
○ In comparison with Keynote, Google slides has the benefit of being more
compatible (not limited to Mac users and Apple devices) in terms of both
presentation and collaboration. Furthermore Google slides has the capacity to
embed/edit youtube videos whereas in Keynote you would have to engage a
workaround and use secondary applications to first download the video in
question.
● Links: Please watch this video tutorial. If you want you can also watch this video tutorial
on how to incorporate an interactive quiz within google slides or learn how to embed Poll
Everywhere by reading this instructional webpage. Official website: google.com

CREATE AN ACCOUNT
● If you don't already have a gmail or google drive, then creating a free google account is
easy. Go to google.com and click Sign In on the top right hand corner. After this you will
be prompted to sign in or Create account.
 ○

CREATE A GOOGLE SLIDE

● Go to your google drive website and on the top left corner click + New. this will prompt a
dropdown menu, select Google Slides >, and then click either Blank presentation or
From a template. We would recommend choosing to use a template if this is your first
time making a google slide

○
● A gallery of possible templates will appear, simply double click on whichever you prefer
to get started.

○
● When you have started your presentation at the top of the screen are various tools to
add/edit your content

○
ADD AUDIO OR VIDEO TO YOUR PRESENTATION
● To add audio or video to the presentation go to the toolbar at the top of the screen and
click Insert.

○
● On the drop down menu click either Audio or Video.

○
● AUDIO: The window will prompt you to choose from audio files in your google drive.
○ TO NOTE: you can already add audio files already in your google drive.

■
○ With the audio file now embedded in your slide, you can play it while editing or
presenting your google slides

■
● VIDEO: The window will prompt you to add video by one of three venues; searching for
youtube video, entering URL address for an online video (including youtube), or
uploading a video file already in your google drive by clicking Search, By URL, or Google
Drive respectively.
 ○

○ With the video now embedded into your slide, go to the right hand side to select
particular Format options. You can type in time stamps for the video to start and
end by editing the Start at and End at options. You can also choose to Autoplay
when presenting or Mute audio if desired

OTHER VISUAL AID FEATURES

● At the top of the screen click Insert. From there the drop down menu displays a
multiplicity of tools you can use to add visual aids for your teaching materials.
● CHARTS: A few we want to highlight are found by clicking Chart; which will then prompt
you to choose either a previously existing file from your google drive or create new bar
graphs, column graphs, line graphs, or pie charts.
 ○
● MIND MAP: Another tool to highlight is the ability to create a manual mind-map. This can
be done easily by clicking on the Insert tab, then choosing Shapes, and inserting
whatever type of shape[s] works best to display your idea or teaching point!

○
● ANIMATION: Select on any element in your slide (such as a text box) and then on the
top right of the toolbar click Animate.

■
○ The default automation is ‘fade in’ and will be prompted by mouse click. A drop
down list will appear where you can change these default settings and/or add
additional elements.
NAVIGATING PRESENTATION
● To begin your presentation go to the top right corner of your screen and click Present.
This can be easily conveyed with your class if you are using a video conferencing
platform such as Zoom using the screen-share function.

○
● Within the presentation itself slides can be advanced by pressing the space bar or →
and reversed by pressing the ← key.
● Don't forget that any animations you might have added are activated by clicking on the
screen with your mouse or pressing the space bar.

START A Q&A SESSION

● There are two ways to initiate a Q&A session in your presentation:
○ The easiest way is during the presentation to look to the bottom of the screen at
the navigation toolbar. Click on Q&A and a link will appear to which your
audience can send questions

■
○ The other way is to click the Down arrow next to the ‘Present’ and then click
Presenter View.
■ In the next window click Audience tools and then if you wish to start a
new Q&A session click Start new. In the next screen you will see an
 on/off switch. If you wish to discontinue questions you can switch this to
‘off’ at any time.

●
■ To display a question to the audience at large during the presentation,
click on the question as it appears in the window and click Present next to
it.

SHARE & EXPORT YOUR PRESENTATION

● if you wish to share the slides with your students on the top right corner click Share,
which will prompt you to enter the recipient’s emails and/or allow you to get a shareable
link.
● There will be prompting to choose your privacy settings and determine whether people
who receive the link will have ability to comment or edit the slides. If you wish to prevent
anyone making changes to the slide content/format we recommend clicking Viewer or
Commentor.

○
● Another way to share your presentation is by clicking File on the top left hand corner,
and then selecting Email as attachment on the drop down menu.
 ○
● Alternatively you can choose Publish to the Web in the drop down menu

○
● You can choose to do this either by clicking Link to obtain a shareable or click Embed to
get a custom HTML code which will be able to be embedded
● Once you have chosen, click Publish which will generate either the shareable link or
custom HTML code.

○
KEYNOTE (Mac Exclusive Application Based Presentation Tool)

● Overview: Keynote is a slideshow presentation software designed by Apple with lots of

features packed into a fairly user friendly platform.
○ In comparison with Google slides, Keynote has a wider range of visual aid effects
and photo/slide editing, but is restricted to Mac users and Apple products in
terms of collaboration with others and presentation. Furthermore you cannot as
easily embed youtube videos into your slide as is possible with Google slides. In
comparison to Powerpoint, Keynote is similar in many of its features but arguably
hosts a more eye catching design and collection of themes, animations etc.
● Links: extended video tutorial and webpage of brief video tutorials for specific topics.
Official website: https://www.apple.com/keynote/

MAKE A NEW PRESENTATION

● To get started, check if your version of Mac has the Keynote app already installed, if not,
then go to the app store and download it for free.

○
● Once you have opened the application click New Document at the bottom left corner of
the box.
 ○
● You will then be prompted to choose a theme by double clicking on your preferred
choice, and have the option to specify the aspect ratio of the presentation on the top
right hand corner.

○
● After selecting a theme or choosing to proceed with a blank template you will be able to
familiarize yourself with the toolbar.
● To add a new slide click on the + at the top left corner of the screen, and then choose
the type of slide in the dropdown menu.

ADDING VIDEO/AUDIO
 ● There are two ways to add video/audio clips:
○ First option is to select Media from the toolbar at the top of your screen, a drop
down menu will open and next click Movies. This will then open your iCloud
folder and allow you to select your desired file (same process for audio)

■
○ The second option is to drag and drop a file from your desktop/folders into the
Keynote slide

■
● The video is now embedded into the slide and can either play by default or by pressing
the spacebar during presentation mode.

ADDING OTHER VISUAL AIDS

● Other options in the toolbar facilitate embedding tables, charts, photos etc

○
 ● Add animations or transitions between slides is easy to do, simply look to the far right of
the screen and click Animate, and then when prompted click Add an Effect and choose
from the drop down menu.

○
● Get creative! These elements can add alot to your slides!

INVITE OTHERS TO COLLABORATE

● If you wish to bring others in to collaborate on your presentation click Collaborate on the
top right of the screen. You will then be prompted to choose how to send the invitation.

● During the editing process you can add comments as feedback or notes on desired
changes as you go. To do this click Comment, found on the top toolbar portion.
○ To note, any comments added are visible during the editing process, but will not
be seen when in presentation mode.
 ○
● Important to remember that only people with Macs will be able to make edits/comments
as it is a Mac exclusive application.

NAVIGATING DURING YOUR PRESENTATION

● To begin your presentation go to the top of your screen and click Play. This can be
easily conveyed synchronously with your class if you are using a video conferencing
platform such as Zoom using the screen-share function.

○
● Within the presentation itself slides can be advanced by pressing the space bar or →
and reversed by pressing the ← key.
● Don't forget that any animations you might have added are activated by clicking on the
screen with your mouse or pressing the space bar.

SHARING YOUR PRESENTATION

● if you wish to share the slides with your students who do not have Apple products, go to
the top left of the screen and click File, and then Export To, which will prompt you to
choose to export as PDF, Powerpoint, Movie, link etc. This can then be emailed to your
class or posted on your educational website.

○
POWERPOINT (Subscription Fee Application Based Presentation
Tool)

● Overview: PowerPoint is a popular app for presentations developed by Microsoft Office

suite. There are more limitations to collaboration compared with Google Slides. Another
primary difference from its competitors Google Slides and Keynote is that to gain access
to PowerPoint you must purchase subscription through Microsoft.
● Links: Take a look at this brief overview video, expanded video tutorial with step by step
instructions, and this link of specific video tutorial of how to publish your PowerPoint as
a video on youtube (with narration via audio/or/video). Official Website: office.live.com

GETTING STARTED
● If your device comes with PowerPoint application you can begin by opening the
application.
● If you don't have a preexisting application go to office.live.com and create a new
account. Pricing can be as much as $126.89 per year or you can try a free trial or try a
few workarounds to get free access by checking out this overview.

CREATE A PRESENTATION
● To insert a new slide click on the Insert tab on the top left of the screen and then click on
New Slide
 ○
● To change the layout of the slide click the Home tab at the top of the screen and then
selecting Layout. The populated screen will show template options to choose from.

○
● To make further changes to the color/font for all your slides you can select Design at the
tab on the top of the screen

HOW TO ADD VISUAL COMPONENTS

Get creative! These elements can add alot to your slides!
● PHOTO: To add a photo to your slide layout click the photo icon and you will be
prompted to choose an image from your desktop to insert. Alternatively click Insert on
the toolbar at the top and then click the Pictures.

○
○ Photos can be further edited by selecting Picture Format on the top of the
screen; with ability to color correct, crop, resize, etc

○
● TABLE/CHART: To add a table to your presentation click Insert on the toolbar at the top
and then click Table or Chart and then make further selections in the drop down menus.

○
● TRANSITIONS: Adding transitions between slides is easy to do, simply look to the far
top of the screen and click Transitions, and then select any of the transitions you wish.
Clicking on the transition from the dropdown menu will show a preview of the effect
automatically.

○
 ● ANIMATIONS: At the toolbar on the top of the screen click Animations. You can then
select any of the animation types in the dropdown menu and attribute it to an element in
the slide by clicking the photo or textbox you want to add it to.

HOW TO ADD VIDEO

● On the toolbar at the top of your screen click Insert and then select Video at the far right
hand side. You will then be prompted to select which video to include, with options
including to pull from your desktop by selecting Video From File or embed one form the
internet (for example form YouTube) by selecting Online Film.
● If you select to embed from online you will be prompted to enter the URL. This will
cause the film associated with the URL to be embedded in the slide which you can edit
for size

● Audio works similarly, only click Insert and then select Audio at the far right hand side.

INVITE OTHERS TO COLLABORATE

 ● It is harder to collaborate using Powerpoint than it is with Google Slides, but it is doable.
If you wish to bring others in to collaborate on your presentation you will first need to
save your presentation to OneDrive or SharePoint Online for Microsoft 365. All potential
collaborators will need to be using PowerPoint 2010 or later (on Windows), PowerPoint
2016 for Mac or later, or PowerPoint for the web.
○ Open your PowerPoint presentation, and at the top-right corner of the ribbon,
select Share and then select Invite People by entering their email addresses. If
you haven't saved your presentation to OneDrive or SharePoint Online for
Microsoft 365, PowerPoint prompts you to do so now.
● During the editing process you can add comments as feedback or chat with other
collaborators via the chat feature.

NAVIGATING DURING YOUR PRESENTATION

○ Take a look at this targeted tutorial video on how to record your presentation with
narration.
● To begin your presentation go to the top of your screen and click Slide Show and then
Play from Start. This will initiate the slide show and can be easily conveyed
synchronously with your class if you are using a video conferencing platform such as
Zoom using the screen-share function.

○
● Within the presentation itself slides can be advanced by pressing the → or ↓ keys and
can be reversed by pressing the ← or ↑ keys.
● To exit the slide show click Esc button on your keyboard.
● Don't forget that any animations you might have added are activated by clicking on the
screen with your mouse or pressing the space bar.

RECORD YOUR PRESENTATION

● When your presentation is ready go to the top toolbar and click Slide Show. Then on the
prompted bar below click Record Slide Show. You can then choose to start recording
from the current slide or the start of the presentation.
 ○
● A new panel of buttons will appear in the top left corner of the screen. When you are
ready click RECORD. You can then begin narrating your presentation as you proceed
through the slides. One thing to remember is that narration wont record during slide
transitions, so be sure to pause during those times.

○
● At the bottom of the screen there is a toolbar with pen/highlighter/erasor etc, which if you
use during the presentation at this time will record as well.

SHARING YOUR PRESENTATION

● if you wish to share the slides go to the top left corner of the screen and click on the
Save icon. You will be prompted to choose where you want to save your presentation
and in what format. You can then email this file with your students either as a powerpoint
presentation or video.

SWAY (Free Microsoft Presentation Software)

 ● Overview: Sway is a Microsoft Office app which functions as a presentation software
with a built in design engine and many interactive features. In comparison to Powerpoint,
it has more formatting/design potential which can be automatic (allowing users to focus
more on content). It is also fully responsive and thus changes according to the
size/shape of the screen it is being used on. Another benefit is that the application can
be accessed for free, whereas Powerpoint requires a subscription. Sway is best suited
for less data heavy and more visual presentations.
●
○ If you are using this as an asynchronous presentation tool the analytics that are
automatically generated can give you insight into how indepthly it is being studied
by your class (view count, completion rate, avg time spent, etc)
● Links: Take a look at this brief overview video or this step by step video tutorial. Official
website: sway.office.com

GETTING STARTED
● Go to sway.office.com in any browser and then at the top menu bar click Sign in.

○
● You will be prompted to enter your email address (you can access this for free
with a hotmail or outlook account)
● After you have created your account you will be directed to your My Sways page.
At the bottom of the screen click Create New.

○
● You will next see a page which is your Storyline. In this page you can
type/edit/insert/format your content which is arranged in cards. Each of these
cards is like a slide in a presentation which can be rearranged and potentially
contain text/images/videos/documents.
 ○
● To start the process of editing click on Title your Sway and type whatever you
wish.

ADD CONTENT
● To add content you can click + icon at the bottom of any card or you can drag
and drop content (photos, videos, etc) from desktop to the screen.

○
● Alternatively, you can search for additional content on the web. To do this look to
the menu bar on the left and click Insert. In the drop down menu select your
preferred source (for example youtube, onedrive etc).
 ○

PREVIEW PRESENTATION
● After you have added your content, go to the top of the page and click Design
● To preview your presentation next click Play.

○
● If you want to change the style of your sway click Design and then click Styles.
You can either click Remix! To automatically generate a new style or adjust
specific components by clicking Customize.

SHARE YOUR PRESENTATION

● When you are done adding content and editing go to the top right corner of the screen
and select Share.
 ○

VOICETHREAD (Asynchronous Collaborative Multimedia

Slideshow with Voiceover)

● Overview: VoiceThread is a collaborative multimedia slideshow that can hold

videos/documents/images, instructor audio/video/text commentary along with
annotation, and facilitates a high level of interaction as it also allows students to leave
audio/video/text feedback. This really can take presentations to a whole new level, for
example you can upload a pre existing powerpoint or pdf and use VoiceThread to
upgrade the presentation and make it more interactive. VoiceThread is technically a
subscription based application, but they do allow you a certain number of free
presentations.
● Links: Brief overview video and video tutorial providing step by step instructions on how
to make a VoiceThread. Official website: https://voicethread.com
GETTING STARTED
● Go to https://voicethread.com and either sign in or click register at the top right of the
screen. Remember you can start with a free account and choose to update to an
educational subscription later if desired.

○
● After you have signed in, on your home page you will see all of your preexisting
VoiceThread presentations.

MAKE A PRESENTATION
● At the top of the screen click Create to start a new VoiceThread.

○
● On the first page of your VoiceThread click Add Media to create a new slide/slides.
○ One of the amazing things about this program is that it allows you to upload
almost all types of files/media. This includes powerpoint presentations or pdfs
which will automatically be transferred into multiple VoiceThread slides. This
aspect allows you to ‘upgrade’ old presentations and make them ‘virtual
education’ friendly

○
● Look to the top left corner of the screen and click the ≡ and then choose Edit from the
drop down menu.
 ○
● In this view you can rearrange slides, add media etc. To add a new slide/file from
this scree click + Add Media and select your desired source or file type

ADD COMMENTARY/VOICE OVER

● Click on a slide you want to edit further. On the bottom of the slide you will see a
toolbar. This toolbar allows you to add text/audio/video comments.
○ This feature is commonly used to narrate individual slides, functioning as a
piecewise lecture.

○
● If you wish to add audio, click on the microphone icon. You will then be prompted to give
permission for the program access to your computer’s audio input, click Allow and then
Record.
 ○
● You will then see a countdown clock on your screen which serves to count you down the
start of recording. When recording is active you will see the red dot below next to ‘Stop
Recording’.

○
● If desired you can also annotate the slide by clicking with your cursor on the screen. You
are able to change color by clicking on the pencil icon on the bottom right of the screen.

● To stop recording click Stop Recording at the bottom of the screen.

● Once you do this a play back option will appear, this allows you to preview what you just
recorded and either click Save to add it to the slide or Cancel if you wish to try again.

○
SHARE & EXPORT
● When you have finished editing the presentation go to the top of the screen, click ≡ and
then Share from the drop down menu.

○
● You will then be prompted to choose what level access you wish to provide to those you
are sending this to
○ (if you choose Anyone can comment this will allow students leave feedback via
text/voice/audio).

○
● Next choose how to share your presentation, we would suggest doing so via Link or
Embed because sharing in this way means that your presentation is still ‘live’ and you
can continue to edit or add components to your VoiceThread which will be applied to the
version your students are viewing.

○
 VIDEOCONFERENCING APPLICATIONS

CISCO WEBEX (video & conferencing software)

● Overview: Online video and conferencing software that consists of free and paid plans.
It allows users to host online meetings with screen sharing, HD video, and audio.
● Links: Take a look at their Live Online Training Classes that walk users through how to
best utilize the software, as well as pre-recorded tutorials detailing how to join a meeting
and how to schedule a meeting
○ Free plan limits each meeting to 50 minutes, 100 participants, and only 1 host
○ Paid plans vary but extend to allow multiple hosts, unlimited meeting duration,
and up to 100,000 participants

SET UP ACCOUNT
● Go to webex.com and choose Sign up now, it’s free to begin creating your account, follow
the prompts to associate your account with your university email.

○
● To activate your account, you will receive an e-mail in your inbox. Press the link Create Password
to complete the account set up
START A MEETING AS THE HOST
● From the main webpage, select Start a meeting

○
● The first time you start a meeting, you will be prompted to open and download the Citrix
Webex Installer. This creates a Citrix Webex desktop app. While this step is optional,
certain functions are only available through the desktop app.
● To avoid the installation simply select, Join from your browser.

○
● A pop up tutorial may display, select Got it, after viewing the tutorial, to continue joining
your meeting
● You will be prompted to select your audio source. From the drop down arrow, select Use
Computer Audio.

○
● You will be asked if you would like to allow Citrix Webex access to your device’s camera.
Select Allow to enable video function
● For meeting information: including meeting link and meeting number select the icon
in the upper left hand corner of your screen. You will need this information to share with
other participants you want to join the meeting.

● Clicking on the Icon will provide your specific meeting’s information. The Meeting link
can be e-mailed to participants for easy joining. The Meeting number can be entered by
participants on the main webpage for an alternate way to join the meeting.
 ○
● The bottom of your screen contains further options:

○ Select Mute in order to mute your mic so participants can’t hear you, or any
background noise.
○ Select Stop Video to turn off your camera so participants can’t see you
○ Select Chat to type out messages to participants
○ Select Participants to see everyone in the meeting, as well as to Mute All or
Unmute All Participants

■
● More functions are available by selecting the three dots next to the red “X” at the
bottom of the screen

○
● Selecting Switch audio allows you to switch from your computer’s microphone to an
auxiliary microphone
● Selecting Lock meeting prevents any additional participants from joining the meeting,
even those who were previously invited
● Selecting Health Checker allows you to troubleshoot, diagnose, and test the meeting
connections
● Certain functions are only available through the desktop app, as mentioned above. If
using the web browser, select Switch to the desktop app, to utilize these functions.
 ● Things look slightly different in the app then they did on the web browser. For example,
the Meeting info is located in the upper right hand corner of the screen rather than on the
left.

○
● To end the meeting, simply hit the “X” at the bottom of the screen

UTILIZING MORE ADVANCED FUNCTIONS

● From the desktop app, you can:

● Select Record to record the session

● Select Share to allow participants to see a specific window on your screen
● Selecting Share will show you any open applications or windows on your screen

● Click on the window you would like participants to see in order to share it or keep
scrolling down to see more options, including Share File, Iphone or IPad Screen,
and New Whiteboard

● The Whiteboard function allows participants to draw or type out ideas.

○
● To share a video, select Share, then from the drop down in the upper left hand
corner of the new window select Optimize for motion and video
 ○
● After selecting, Optimize for motion and video, ensure Share your computer
audio is selected.

○
● Then simply play the video as you normally would, and all participants should be
able to view it

SCHEDULE A FUTURE MEETING AS HOST

● From the main page select Schedule

○
● You can then select the Date and Time the future meeting will occur, provide a Meeting
topic, generate a Meeting password, select Recurrence if it is a weekly meeting, and
invite specific Attendees.

○
● Select Start to save the scheduled meeting
● Later, selecting the Calendar Icon on the far left side of the screen will show a list of
all upcoming meetings
JOIN AN EXISTING MEETING
● To join a meeting created by somebody else:
○ Enter the provided meeting number into the text box on the main webpage.
■

● Or simply click on the provided meeting link sent to you by the meeting host,
most often by e-mail.

SKYPE / MICROSOFT TEAMS (Audio/Video Conferences & File

Sharing)

● Overview: Skype is probably familiar to you, but there is more to it than the well known
Skype we’re all accustomed to. Skype consists of:
○ Skype: This is the regular skype. It is free, and can be used in smaller
businesses for up to 20 employees
○ Microsoft Teams: Can be used for up to 10,000 employees. It allows you to host
audio, and video conferences, participate in group and individual chats, and
share files with increased security.
○ Skype for Business: is an older version that Microsoft Teams is now replacing
● Links: We will focus on Microsoft Teams as that is what can be best used for remote
teaching.
○ Here is a guided Microsoft Teams demo, providing a general overview of using
Microsoft Teams
 ○ Here is a guided demo of scheduling and setting up meetings
○ Here is a guided demo more geared to educator’s using Teams

SET UP ACCOUNT
● To set up or access your account, go to teams.microsoft.com
● You will be asked to Sign in. In the email box, type your organization given e-mail to use
your organization’s Microsoft account, or Create one to set up your own Microsoft
Teams account. However, depending on your organization’s IT settings, some functions
such as the Calendar icon, required to schedule meetings through Microsoft Teams,
may not be available.

○
● If signing in with your organization associated e-mail address, you will also use the
account associated password
● If using a personal email to create an account, you’ll be prompted to select how you plan
to use teams. Select For work and organizations.

○
● Continue following the prompts to create or log in to your account
● You will then be prompted to download the desktop app but can choose to use the web
app instead. In this case, we will Get the Mac app

○
 ● Follow the prompts on your computer to download the App. You are now ready to use
Teams!

MICROSOFT TEAMS OVERVIEW

● In the desktop app, the far left side of the screen contains the navigation bar. There you
will see various Icons including:
○ Activity : which shows notifications, replies, and mentions
○ Chat : which allows direct communication with smaller groups of individuals.
See below.
○ Teams: : discussed below
○ Assignments :
○ Files : where you will find all files posted by team members, and can even
store files on One Drive
○ More : clicking on this opens up various apps

■
● To create a Team, select the Team icon from the navigation bar
○ Select Create a team

■
○ Next, fill in the team information including Team name, Description, and Privacy
settings, and select Next.
 ■
○ Type in the name or e-mail of individual’s you would like to add to the team. As
you start typing, it will populate a list of people with that name in your
organization.

■
● Once the team has been created, you can further customize things by clicking on
the three dots next to the team name.

○
● Select Manage team to add additional members, remove members, view pending
requests etc. Members can also be added directly by clicking the Add member
icon
● Select Add Channel to create separate channels to have conversations about a
specific topic
○ You can add Files within a created channel that pertain to the channel
topic.

● There are also options to Leave the team, delete the team, get link to team etc.
 ○

● To type/converse directly with smaller groups, rather than the entire team: select Chat,
then New chat, then type the name, email, group, or tag of those you want in the chat.

○
● To Call or Video chat with an individual or small group, select the Calls Icon . If the
Icon isn’t present on your navigation bar, select the three dots on the navigation bar,
then type in “call” where it says Find an app, and select the Calls icon that comes up.

■
● From the Calls tab , you will have the option to add Contacts, Make a call, and
create a New group of people who you wish to speak with directly over audio or
video.
 ○
○ This is best used for just a few individuals. Any more than that and you
will want to set up a meeting instead (see “Using team meetings” section).

USING TEAM MEETINGS

● To set up a meeting, select the meeting or Calendar Icon from the navigation bar.
From there you can either choose Meet now to start a meeting right away or Schedule a
meeting to set up a future meeting.

○
● The Meet now and Schedule a meeting Icon’s may also appear in the upper right hand
corner of your calendar view.

○
● If selecting Meet now a video window will appear where you can choose to turn your
camera on, blur the background, and turn the mic on.

○
● There will be the additional option at the bottom of the screen to turn audio off to prevent
echo if there’s already an active mic and speaker in the room and to call in.
 ○
● Once selections have been made, select Join now to enter the meeting.
● Upon entering the meeting, participants can be invited to join the meeting via link or by
receiving an email.

○
● For a future meeting, select the calendar icon, and choose New meeting.

○
● Next, fill in the meeting details including title, attendees, date and time, etc. When
finished, hit Send.

○
● If using Microsoft Outlook email, meetings can also be scheduled this way, which will
send a meeting link to all participants.
 ○
● To Join meetings, simply click the link within your email or select Join on your Teams
Calendar

○
● Once in a meeting, the host can share their screen by selecting the tile below

○
● Clicking the share icon pulls up all open windows on the host’s computer so they can
select which window they want to share

○
● Other share options include Microsoft Whiteboard which allows participants to draw and
type out text in real time.
 ○
● Freehand by inVision is a fancier type of whiteboard with more options that can also be
shared

○
● Overall, there are many different functions including changing background effects,
changing how the participants appear on your screen (even ability to make it appear as if
participants are sitting in a classroom). Discovering all the functions will require some
playing around.

● Finally, to end the meeting, simply click the red phone at the bottom of the video
 ZOOM - (Reliable Platform for Video/Audio Conferencing and
Webinars)

● Overview: Zoom is a cloud based video communication application that facilitates

video/voice conferencing along with content sharing, chat features, polls, and whiteboard
features. One major benefit of this platform is that your students don't need an account
to join zoom meetings, and invites are easy to send via email, contact, or phone number.
● Links: Full list of zoom video/zoom help page tutorials here along with daily live demos
○ Join a meeting video link
○ Schedule meeting
■ Schedule meeting with zoom video link
■ Schedule meeting with google calendar video link
■ Schedule meeting with outlook video link
○ Meeting controls video link
■ Host vs co-host controls help page
○ Breakout rooms video link and help page
○ Recording a zoom meeting video link
○ Share screen video link and help page
○ White board help page
○ Annotation help page
○ Polling help page
○ Transcription of meetings help page
○ Chat help page
○ Non-verbal feedback help page
○ Virtual backgrounds help page

QUICK TIPS
● Look at the camera to create ‘eye contact’ with your students
● Set up your space: Work in a quiet room, with minimal background noise and distractions.
● Take time to promote questions, comments, and reactions from your class.
 ● Define who your audience is and what you are wanting to accomplish, after that it will be easier
to choose how to communicate that
● Use the tools at your disposal

SCHEDULE/HOST A MEETING
● From the zoom website click My Account on the top right hand corner

○
● If you are using the website, at the top of the screen click Schedule a Meeting. Or if you
are using the desktop application, click Meetings tab at the top of the screen and then
click the + symbol.
● This will open a prompted form where you can title the meeting, add a description,
choose the time/duration of your lecture, password protection and determine whether
this will be a single event or recurring.

-or-
● After this, you can find your scheduled meeting on the left side of the screen
INVITING OTHERS TO MEETING
● When a meeting has already been scheduled you see them by clicking Upcoming on the
left side of the screen. Then click on the meeting you are interested in to see the
associated information which will include the tab Copy Invitation.

○
● This will open a popup window with the meeting invitation, at the bottom click Copy
Meeting Invitation, which can then be sent via individual/group email, text or chat.

● If your meeting is already active, you can still invite people by clicking Participants at the
bottom of the screen, this will open a similar window where you can copy the invitation or
add other zoom users in your directory.

MUTING & UNMUTING

Muting participants is an important skill when working over zoom with large groups. There are 3 main
routes to muting all your participants:
● Keyboard shortcut:
○ If using Mac press ‘control+M’ at the same time
 ○ If using PC press ‘Alt’ + ‘M’ at the same time
● Zoom buttons
○ At the top of the screen press ‘Manage Participants’ and then, on the next screen,
clicking ‘Mute All’ on the window that pops up.

● Preset participants to be muted on entry prior to initiating the meeting

○ When creating your meeting for class you will be prompted to choose ‘meeting options’,
select the option Mute participants upon entry so students' microphones will be
disabled by default when they join the room.

* Here is another interesting paradigm shift: consider NOT muting a class of <20 participants. Why?
Because in real life, these people would have been sitting in a room quietly, all listening in together.
Having an audience of muted participants has been the standard since COVID-19 began and may
reinforce being a part of a silent mass rather than a teaching, engaged learning group.

*In Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks writes, “As a classroom community, our capacity to generate
excitement is deeply affected by our interest in one another, in hearing one another’s voices, in
recognizing one another’s presence.” Muting a classroom shuts this process down.

SCREEN SHARING
● Link to video tutorial here and help page
○ This is your new best friend teaching on zoom, it allows you to share a portion or
entirety of your screen, specific programs (like powerpoint), or websites!
1. Once the meeting is active look at the bottom of your screen and click the Share Screen button
located in your meeting controls
2. Select one of the screen share options:
○ Basic settings
■ Basic: Share your entire desktop, specific application window, whiteboard, or
iPhone/iPad screen.

○ Advanced settings
■ Advanced:
● Portion of Screen: Share a portion of your screen represented by a

green border. You can adjust the area by dragging corner of the
blue box once opened. This is a great option if you have a powerpoint
minimized on your screen and notes on the side.
● Music or Computer Sound Only: Only share your computer's audio (your

selected speaker in your audio settings).

● Content from 2nd Camera: Share a secondary camera connected to
your computer; for example, a document camera or the integrated

camera on your laptop.

○ Files: Share a file from a third-party sharing service like Google Drive or Microsoft
OneDrive. Follow the on-screen prompts to sign in to the third-party service and grant
Zoom access.
■ Note: Alternatively, you can open the file in a web browser then share the
browser window. For example, to share a Google doc, open the doc in Chrome,
then share the Chrome window. The end result is the same as using the sharing
options in the Files tab.
3. (Optional) Enable these features if needed:
○ Check Share Computer Sound: If you check this option, any sound played by your
computer will be shared in the meeting.
 ○ Check Optimize for full screen video clip: Check this if you will be sharing a video clip in
full screen mode to get the best quality possible of the video.
4. Click Share.
○ Once you click, Zoom will automatically switch to full screen to optimize the shared
screen view.
5. To exit full-screen, click Exit Full Screen in the top-right corner or press the Esc key which will
discontinue the sharing and transition you back to regular participant view
■ Note: To disable automatic full screen when viewing a shared screen, disable
this option in your desktop client settings: Enter full screen automatically when
a participant shares screen.

HOW TO NAVIGATE SHARE SCREEN MENU

When you start sharing your screen, the meeting controls will move into a menu that you can drag
around your screen:

● Mute/Unmute: Mute or unmute your microphone.

● Start/Stop Video: Start or stop your in-meeting video.
● Participants: View or manage the participants (if the host).
● New Share: Start a new screen share. You will be prompted to select which screen you
want to share again.
● Pause Share: Pause your current shared screen.
● Annotate / Whiteboard: Display annotation tools for drawing, adding text, etc. further
instructions on these features below
● More: Hover over more for additional options.

○ Chat: Open the chat window.

○ Invite: Invite others to join the meeting.
○ Record: Start recording locally or to the cloud.
○ Allow/Disable participants annotation: Allow or prevent the participants
from annotating on your shared screen.
■ To note, if you allow it will allow participants to
draw/mark/spotlight on the screen for all other
participants to see
○ Show/Hide Names of Annotators: Show or hide the participants' name
when they are annotating on a screen share. If set to show, the
participant's name will briefly display beside their annotation
○ End Meeting: Leave the meeting or end the meeting for all participants.
 ● Screen control: If you have given a student remote control of your screen during zoom regain
control by entering ‘ CRTL + SHIFT + G

WHITEBOARD TOOL
● Link to zoom’s Whiteboard help page
● As a host who has the ability to screen share there is an inbuilt whiteboard feature! Look at the
bottom of your screen and click on ‘screen share’

● Once you click on ‘screen share’ a number of options appear, click on ‘whiteboard’

● A white screen appears with toolbar at the top. Anything you draw/text/insert is visible to your
students. Use the ‘select’ tool to drag any features to a different location or delete that specific
feature.

ANNOTATION TOOLS
● Link to zoom’s Annotation help page
 ● To be used to highlight something while screen sharing (able to be done overtop powerpoint or
websites etc…) aka this has all the tools of your whiteboard but able to use overtop whatever
you are screen-sharing!

1. Look at the top of your screen to the toolbar. To see the annotation tools, click ‘Annotate’ in
the Zoom bar at the top of your screen.

2. Once you have clicked ‘Annotate’ you will see the annotate tools and these include ‘draw’,
‘stamp’, spotlight’, and ‘eraser’.

SPOTLIGHT TOOL

● If you are wanting to draw attention to your cursor use ‘Spotlight’ tool.

○ On the toolbar click the ‘Spotlight’ tool, you will then see that when you hover your
mouse over something on the screen you are sharing, that a spotlight will show and
help you to highlight to everyone what you are pointing at.

POLLING TOOL
● Link to video tutorial and help page
● User: To enable Polling for your own use:
1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Account Settings (if you are an
account administrator) or Settings (if you are an account member).
3. Navigate to the Polling option on the Meeting tab and verify that the setting is enabled. If
the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose
Turn On to verify the change.
 **Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the Group or Account
level, and you will need to contact your Zoom administrator.
● Account: To enable the polling feature for all members of your organization:
1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an administrator with the privilege to edit account settings.
2. In the navigation menu on the left side of the screen, click Settings.
3. Scroll down to ‘In Meeting (Basic)’ options to the Polling option on the Meeting tab and verify
that the setting is enabled.
If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose
Turn On to verify the change.

4. (Optional) If you want to make this setting mandatory for all users in your account, click the
lock icon, and then click Lock to confirm the setting.
● Group: To enable the Polling feature for all members of a specific group:
1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an administrator with the privilege to edit user groups.
2. In the navigation menu, click User Management then Group Management.
3. Click the name of the group, then click the Settings tab.
4. Navigate to the Polling option on the Meeting tab and verify that the setting is enabled.
If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose
Turn On to verify the change.
Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at the Account level, and needs to be
changed at that level.

5. (Optional) If you want to make this setting mandatory for all users in this group, click the lock
icon, and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

CREATE A POLL
● There are two ways to create a poll; the 1st is prior to initiation of the meeting after you
have scheduled it. The other is during the meeting itself. Both are outlined below:

BEFORE INITIATING MEETING

1. Go to the Meetings page and click on your scheduled meeting. If you do not have a scheduled
meeting, schedule a meeting now.
2. After you have scheduled your meeting the next screen shows ‘manage my meeting’. From the
meeting management page, scroll to the bottom to find the Poll option. Click Add to begin
creating the poll.

3. Enter a title and your first question.

○ (Optional) Check the box to make the poll anonymous, which will keep the
participant's polling information anonymous in the meeting and in the reports.
○ Select whether you want the question to be single choice(participants can only
choose one answer) or multiple choice question(participants can choose
multiple answers).
4. Type in the answers to your question and click Save at the bottom.
5. If you would like to add a new question, click Add a Question to create a new question for that
particular poll.
 6. You can add more polls by repeating Step 2.

DURING THE MEETING

● You can also create a poll by clicking Polling during the meeting. This will open up your default web
browser where you can add additional polls or questions.
● Note: You can only create a max of 25 polls for a single meeting.

Launching a poll:
1. Start the scheduled Zoom meeting that has polling enabled.

2. On the bottom tab are your meeting controls, click Polls.

3. Select the poll you would like to launch.

4. Click Launch Poll.
5. The participants in the meeting will now be prompted to answer the polling questions. The
host will be able to see the results live

6. Once you would like to stop the poll, click End Poll.
7. If you would like to share the results to the participants in the meeting, click Share Results.
 Participants will then see the results of the polling questions.

BREAKOUT ROOMS
● Link to video tutorials to enable breakout room and to manage breakout room and zoom’s help
page
● Breakout rooms allow you to split your Zoom meeting in up to 50 separate sessions. The meeting
host can choose to split the participants of the meeting into these separate sessions automatically or
manually, and can switch between sessions at any time.

● To enable the breakout room feature for your own use:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.

2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Account Settings (if you are an
account administrator) or Settings (if you are an account member).
3. Navigate to the Breakout Room option on the Meeting tab and verify that the setting is
enabled.
If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose
Turn On to verify the change.
 Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the Group or Account level, and
you will need to contact your Zoom administrator.
4. (Optional) Click the checkbox to allow meeting hosts to pre-assign participants to breakout
rooms.

PRE-ASSIGN PARTICIPANTS TO BREAKOUT ROOMS USING THE WEB PORTAL (HOST)

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.

2. Click Meetings and schedule a meeting.
3. In the Meeting Options section, select Breakout Room pre-assign and click Create Rooms.

4. Click the plus icon beside Rooms to add breakout rooms.

5. Hover over the default breakout room name and click the pencil icon to rename it.

6. In the Add participants text box, search for participants' name or email address to add them to
the breakout room.

7. (Optional) Use these options to edit your breakout rooms and participants:
○ Click and drag a participant's email address to change the order.
 ○ Hover over a participant's name to see options to move them to another room
or remove them from the current room.
○ To delete a breakout room, hover the room name in the left panel and click the
trash bin icon.
8. Click Save.

EDITING BREAKOUT ROOM ASSIGNMENTS

If you have already pre-assigned participants to breakouts rooms, you can edit the assignments before you
start the meeting.

Note: You can also manage breakout rooms during the meeting.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.

2. Click Meetings and click the meeting you want to edit.
3. In the Breakout Room section, click View detail.
4. Edit the breakout rooms as needed. See the previous section for more details.
5. Click Save.

STARTING A MEETING WITH PRE-ASSIGNED BREAKOUT ROOMS

1. Start the meeting with participants pre-assigned to breakout rooms.

2. Click Breakout Rooms in the controls to access the breakout rooms you created.

Note:
○ If a participant is not be automatically assigned to the breakout room you
specified when scheduling the meeting. Recover to pre-assigned breakout
rooms to assign participants to their pre-assigned breakout rooms.
○ You can manually assign participants using the in-meeting breakout room
controls.
3. Click Open All Rooms to start the breakout rooms.

RECOVERING TO PRE-ASSIGNED BREAKOUT ROOMS

After starting the breakout rooms, you can recover to the breakout rooms assignment you previously
specified. This can be useful if you changed your breakout rooms during the meeting, or pre-assigned
participants have joined the meeting after you joined the meeting or started breakout rooms.
 1. Start the meeting with participants pre-assigned to breakout rooms.
2. Click Close All Rooms to end all breakout rooms.
3. Click Recreate then Recover to pre-assigned rooms.

Participants will be reorganized into the breakout rooms you specified when scheduling the
meeting.

ASYNCHRONOUS LEARNING TOOLS

Connecting with your students is important, and there are numerous tools at your disposal to
facilitate the e-learning environment, which generally fall into the category of synchronous or
asynchronous. Synchronous learning tools occur in real time and can be helpful in making the
student feel more connected to the teacher and other students even if that experience is online;
thus it helps reduce the feelings of isolation. The best target audience for synchronous tools are
smaller groups to maximize the amount of potential individual participation. On the other side of
the coin, the main benefit of asynchronous learning is that it has more flexibility for students to
engage with the content at various times and/or at their own pace without having to worry about
scheduling conflicts. Knowing how to record your lectures is helpful to either pre-record lectures
to be distributed, or record your live lectures to distribute to students who were unable to join or
for future educational opportunities.

LECTURE RECORDING

Flashback vs Camtasia vs Open Broadcaster vs Shift-Command-5 vs inbuilt capacities of

Keynote, Google Slides, Powerpoint, Sway & Voicethread
 There are multiple ways to approach lecture recordings. It can be accomplished either
prior to the virtual classroom to be distributed to students or during a live lecture to be stored for
future use or distribution to people who missed the lecture time slot. Such pre-recordings can
occur within presentation applications (such as Powerpoint, Sway, Google Slides, Keynote).
Another method for pre-recording is through screen-recording applications which will capture
video as you navigate through your educational material on your screen (such as Flashback
recorder, Camtasia, or Open Broadcaster). If you are wanting to record your lectures live with
student/audience participation through a secondary video conferencing application (such as
zoom, Cisco Webex, or skype).

FLASHBACK RECORDER (Subscription PC Compatible Screen Recorder

& Video Editor)

● Overview: This program encompases two separate applications; the Recorder and the
Player. These allow you to record your screen to make more engaging demos and
training videos with simultaneous audio capture through recording desktop, sounds
and/or webcam video. The player application allows for video editing including features
such as text annotation, image embedding, effects, and audio narration. These fantastic
features do come with a price, with lifetime price ranging from $49 to $74, depending on
the plan you choose, with current academic discounts.
○ One notable limitation is that the program is only available for Windows PCs.
● Links: Take a look at this website listing all video tutorials and pdf tutorial outlining how
to use the application. official website: https://www.flashbackrecorder.com

RECORD DESKTOP (Recorder):

 ● When you open the program you can select the Record Your Screen application.

○
● Select whether you want to record the full screen or just a region or window.

Choose a sound source and webcam and click the button, and FlashBack
will then record your desktop.

● When you're finished, click the button and the recording opens in FlashBack
Player to edit, annotate, share and save in a standard video format.

RECORD SOUND (Recorder):

● Flashback will automatically record sound when recording the desktop, but you can also
record sound with microphone attached to your PC. FlashBack can record up to two
different audio sources at the same time. They will be added to separate tracks in the
movie, so they can be edited separately (in Pro edition) and integrated in your final
edition.
● To turn on sound recording click Record Sound in the main recorder window
 ○
● By default FlashBack will record the default microphone and PC speakers sources. In
the main recorder window ou can deselect either of these or select other sources.

PLAYING BACK MOVIES (Player):

● When you open the program you can select the Open a Recording application.

○
● Next you will be prompted to choose a recording to begin editing. On the File menu of
the Recorder main window, use the Open or Open Recent items to open a recording.
● There are various tools available depending on the version you have purchased,
including annotations, effects, editing, gallery etc
○ Any included audio files will display on the timeline on the bottom of the screen.

○
 ● For more specifics on editing tools take a look at the pdf tutorial beginning on page 48.

SHARING & EXPORTING MOVIES

● SHARING: To share a movie go to the top of the screen and select the Share button
from the toolbar.

○
● There are two ways to share the movie you have made, either through
FlashBackconnect.com or Youtube. The benefit of using the website is that it preserves
any interactive elements you implemented during editing (e.g. ‘click to continue’ boxes).
Both options will allow you to share a link with your students to watch.
● EXPORTING: To export a movie go to the top of the screen and select the Export button
from the toolbar. This will allow you to export the movie in the most commonly used
video formats.

CAMTASIA (Subscription PC/MAC Compatible Recorder & Video Editor)

 ● Overview: This program functions as a screen recorder and video editor with multiple
features such as animation along with capacity to integrate interactive elements such as
quizzes. This program is similar to Flashback recording in terms of features but is
considerably more expensive, it does however have a free trial available to try along with
various education discounts.
● Links: brief video overview and extended video tutorial or alternative extended video
tutorial. Official website: https://www.techsmith.com/video-editor.html

GETTING STARTED
● Go to https://www.techsmith.com/video-editor.html and choose to either Buy Now or try
the Free Trial.

○
● Once you open the program you can either to click New Project to edit preexisting video
clips or initiate a new screen recording by clicking New Recording.
● There are also a large number of helpful video tutorials readily available at the bottom of
the home window.

○
RECORD YOUR SCREEN
● You can initiate screen recording either from the main opening window by clicking , or at
any time when the editing screen is open by clicking Record on the top left hand of your
screen

● The next window will prompt you to make selections on the various settings for your
screen recording including the full or partial screen capture, recording from your webcam
(by clicking FaceTime ID), speaker input, and whether or not you want the
laptop/program sounds to be recorded (which can be changed by clicking System Audio)

○
● To stop recording your screen go to the ⍈ icon on top of your screen and in the
dropdown menu click on Stop Recording.

ADD AUDIO
 ● With Camtasia you can narrate your video using the built-in microphone and/or add
music or sound effects.
● Go to the toolbar on the left side of the screen and click Voice Narration or Audio Effects.
You can then place these files into your presentation.

ADD EFFECTS
● This is where you can get creative! There are a large number of features able to be
integrated into your presentation.

● Go to the toolbar on the left side of the screen and click on whatever feature you hope to
incorporate, such as Transitions, Animations, Cursor effect, Visual effects etc. You can
then place these effects into your presentation wherever desired by dragging it into your
timeline below..
 ○

SHARE/EXPORT VIDEO
● When you are done editing go to the top right hand corner of the screen and click the
green Share button. A drop down menu will appear in which you can select where to
save the movie to, including as a Local File on your desktop, upload directly to YouTube
or Google Drive etc.

CLASSROOM APPLICATION
● This application could be used to record yourself reviewing an article or lecture slides
with audio recording to narrate the content. This video could be used for asynchronous
education, to send to your students to be watched at any time.

OPEN BROADCASTER SOFTWARE (Free PC/MAC Compatible

Streaming & Screen Recorder)
 ● Overview: This program is a free open sourced streaming and recording program that
allows you to control the details, and creates good quality product. There is a learning
curve to mastering this tool however, as it is slightly less intuitive than the other screen
recording tools reviewed in this guideline. OBS uses a system comprised of scenes and
sources which essentially equate to videos and their contexts.
○ One notable limitation to this program is that if you use a macOS you will need to
download an additional application in order to capture desktop audio during
screen capture, which you can find here.
○ Another important aspect to mention is that OBS is somewhat famous for its live
streaming capabilities. This makes it a popular tool for various gaming
communities and may have potential to be implemented for remote education,
we don't go over the instructions here, but would direct you to this guideline if you
are interested.
● Links: Take a look at this video tutorial and quickstart web page. Official website:
https://obsproject.com

GETTING STARTED
● Got to https://obsproject.com. To create a free account click on whichever system you
are using in the blue buttons on the screen, choosing either Windows, macOS or Linux.
This will prompt you to create your free account.

HOW TO RECORD YOUR SCREEN

 ○ For a targeted overview of how to accomplish this, watch this targeted video
tutorial.
● To begin, open the Open Broadcaster Software application

○
● To add a source (this is for your new recording) look at the box entitled source at the
bottom of the screen and click on the + on the bottom left hand corner. Next choose
Display Capture or Screen Capture on the drop down menu.

○
● The subsequent box will prompt you to name your new source by texting in the Create
new space. Once you are done click OK.

○
● The next screen that appears will look as if you are holding a mirror in front of your
desktop. Don't worry, that is normal.
 ○
● Next step is to ensure your recording is saving in the right folder, do this by clicking
Settings in the bottom right corner of the screen, in the prompted window you can now
double scheck where the file is being saved by clicking Output.
○ To learn the specifics of the best settings for video check out this guideline and
embedded instructional video.
 ○

● Now if you are ready to begin recording click OK to exit the box and then click Start
Recording on the bottom right corner of the screen.

HOW TO RECORD ON YOUR WEBCAM

 ● To add this new source (this is for your new recording) look at the box entitled Source at
the bottom of the screen and click on the + on the bottom left hand corner. Next choose
Video Capture Device on the drop down menu.

○
● When you have confirmed your settings are as desired, click . You will see a small
window appear within the screen that displays the image from your webcam. You can
drag this to any portion of your screen and may function as a ‘video within a video’ as
you narrate your educational content/screen record

NAVIGATING DURING RECORDING

● During the course of recording at the bottom of your screen under Sources you can click
on the eye icon next to any of your sources to hide that input if desired.
○ For example if you are doing a screen and webcam recording simultaneously,
you can hide either view at any time.

○
● At any time during your recording if you wish to stop, go to the Controls panel on the
bottom right portion of the screen and click Stop Recording. Once you press this the
video you had been in the process of recording will automatically be saved as a video
file you can edit later on.

○
HOW TO LIVESTREAM
● The Livestreaming capacity of this software is one of its major benefits, but at current
time not a tool needed to facilitate remote education lectures. However is this is a
function you wish to learn more about, we direct you to this step by step guideline and
embedded video tutorial.

SHIFT-COMMAND-5 (Inbuilt Screen Recording for MAC Desktops)

● Overview: This is an inbuilt feature on MAC desktops to record your screen and desktop
audio. This is completely free and incredibly easy to use. The only downside is that it is
only going to do that singular function. You will need to find a separate program if you
need to do any editing.
● Links: Watch this brief video tutorial to learn everything you need to know!

HOW TO START RECORDING

● Press the keys SHIFT + COMMAND + 5 at the same time. You will see a toolbar appear
near the bottom of your screen

○
● This toolbar allows you to either capture a photo or video recording of your screen, with
further options to either capture just a portion or the entirety of the screen. You can
accomplish this by clicking either Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion.
 ○

● If you click Record Selected Portion you will then have the opportunity to
click/drag/resize the portion of screen you wish to video capture.

○
● Further modifications can be made by selecting Options on the toolbar. On this
dropdown menu you can choose where the screen recording will be saved to, the
speaker input source, and activate a timer for initiating recording.

○
● One particular feature within Options we wish to highlight is the Show Mouse Clicks
option, this will allow your students to see specifically what your cursor is selecting
during the recording.
○ This feature would be helpful if you are creating a tutorial or navigating
educational websites.
 ○
● Once you have chosen your desired components click on the Record button at the
bottom right of the toolbar.

GOOGLE SLIDES, POWERPOINT, SWAY, KEYNOTE, SWAY,

PANOPTO, DOCERI, EDUCREATIONS

For further information and step-by step guide on how to create a video format of your lectures
within the aforementioned presentation/whiteboard applications, click on the hyperlinks below to
be directed to their outline section in this guide:

● GOOGLE SLIDES (free web based collaborative presentation tool)

● POWERPOINT (subscription fee application based presentation tool)
● KEYNOTE (Mac exclusive application based presentation tool)
● VOICETHREAD (asynchronous collaborative multimedia slideshow with voiceover)
● PANOPTO (lecture recording/streaming application embedded in Canvas)
● SWAY (free Microsoft presentation software)
● DOCERI (virtual whiteboard & screencast recorder)
● EDUCREATIONS (simplified virtual whiteboard & screencast recorder)
 COMMUNICATION, ORGANIZATION & FILE
STORAGE PLATFORMS

Office 365 vs G suite vs Canvas vs Slack

When it comes to team organization there are many components to consider. The two
most common applications are Office 365 and G suite.The popularity of these applications
comes from their functioning as suites, or in other words, they are umbrella applications which
encompass many commonly used tools. Canvas is another similar application, categorized as a
learning management system, which is commonly used by higher education institutions,
including LLU School of Medicine. Slack is the odd man out in this list, because compared to the
capacity of storage and diversity of tools these other programs have, Slack is essentially a
messaging application to augment, but cannot function as a primary organization &
management service like Office 365, G Suite, or Canvas can. For those reasons, if you already
have familiarity with one over the other, or your institution has pre-existing subscriptions it may
be wise to follow that direction.

G SUITE, GOOGLE CLASSROOM & DRIVE (Platform for

Assignments/Grades/Communication)

● Overview/Links:
○ G Suite for education is a suite of Google tools/features which includes Google
Classroom, Gmail, Calendar, docs, forms, hangouts etc. It functions as a
workplace collaboration to further facilitate storage, communication and more. It
connects multiple other programs (google classroom, drive, gmail, docs, sheets,
slides etc), facilitates group collaboration, allows for calendar sharing to enhance
collaboration
 ■ Video tutorial and overview of the main applications within G Suite.
Official website.
○ Google Classroom is an online service within G Suite that allows teachers and
students to view and submit assignments all in one place. Teachers can post
announcements within the online classroom, post grades, and share content. It is
similar in function to other web based services you may be familiar with such as
“Canvas” and “Blackboard” and is best for organizing class material and
assignments. It does not have its own built in video or conferencing platform.
This will be the focus of our guideline.
■ In-depth video tutorial of the google classroom functions. Official website.
○ Google Drive is an online cloud storage and backup system to store files,
photos, videos etc. on the free plan you will have 15GB storage, but in the
different tiers of subscription with G suite for eduction you can expand that
capacity significantly. This can be used to store video lectures to be later
distributed or shared with your students.
■ Take a look at this video tutorial. Official website.

ACCESS GOOGLE CLASSROOM

● Access google classroom either by going to classroom.google.com and creating an
account, or by selecting the Classroom Icon from your own google account.

CREATE OR JOIN A CLASS

● Select the + icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen to create or join a class.

○
● After pressing the + icon, you will have the option to Join class or Create class. We will
select Create class.
 ○
● Fill in the class information, including class name, optional room, subject, etc. When
finished select Create

○
● Your class has been created. You will now need to add students to your class. This can
be done via the Class code in the top left corner of the screen. Students will enter this
code after opening google classroom, selecting the and clicking Join class.

○
● The other way to add students is to select the People tab and then add people through
the person + icon . Additional classroom teachers can be added the same way but
under the Teachers rather than student icon.

○
● Simply enter the email of the students you wish to join. This will send an email to their
gmail account with an invitation link.
 ○

FUNCTIONS WITHIN A CLASSROOM

● The Stream tab is where you will post announcements, links, videos etc. that you wish to
share with your students. To do this, select share something with your class…

○
● When creating the post, you can select if you want to send the post to All students or a
just particular student, if you want to Add an attachment to the post, and if you wish to
Post now or Schedule the post to happen at a future time.

○
● The Classwork tab is where you will create topics to organize classwork into modules,
units, or weeks.
○ To create a topic, select Create and then scroll down to click on Topic, and type
your topic title into the text box

■
 ● Once the “Topics” have been created, you can start posting assignments, quiz
assignments, Material, and Questions by clicking on the associated tab. Then,
simply fill in the information including Due date, Title, and Topic you want the
assignment organized under.

○
● The Grades tab is where you will see a list of all your students plus all assignments.
There grade on the assignment can be manually entered in.

○
● There is also the option to view the submission and grade it, directly from this tab by
clicking on the three dots .

○
● Within a classroom, you can select the settings icon which will allow for further
customization of things such as grades, who can post on stream, etc.

○
● Finally, selecting the main menu icon in the upper left hand corner of the screen
allows you to pull up the Calendar.
 ○
● The Calendar view will show all assignments with their due date, in one central place.

MICROSOFT 365, MICROSOFT TEAMS & ONE DRIVE

(Platform for Assignments/Grades/Communication)

● Overview/Links:
○ Microsoft 365 is a subscription based suite/collection of apps including;
Whiteboard, Editor, Project, Visio, To Do, OneNote, Powerpoint, Excel, Skype,
Teams, and One Drive etc. If you purchase the Enterprise subscription tier you
will also have access to Planner, Sway, Stream, and My Analytics.
○ It connects multiple other programs (google classroom, drive, gmail, docs,
sheets, slides etc), facilitates group collaboration, allows for calendar sharing to
enhance collaboration
 ■ Video overview of what office 365 is, additional video overview of all the
apps included in the different plans. Official website.
○ Microsoft Teams is a cloud based hub for teamwork which can be used for up
to 10,000 employees. It allows you to host audio and video conferences,
participate in group and individual chats, and share files with increased security.
This can function as a forum in which teachers/students could collaborate and
communicate assignments, lectures, etc.
■ Here is a guided Microsoft Teams demo, providing a general overview of
using Microsoft Teams. Official website.
○ One Drive is an online cloud storage and backup system to store files, photos,
videos etc (very similar to Google Drive). The amount of storage depends on
your subscription tier. This can be used to store video lectures to be later
distributed or shared with your students.
■ Take a look at this brief video tutorial and expanded video tutorial on
what One Drive is, how to sign up, and how to maximize its use. Official
website.

MICROSOFT 365 OVERVIEW:

○ This subscription gives you access to the most up to date version of many
Microsoft applications and facilitates secure file sharing, collaborative editing,
and increased productivity by having a central place to work together.
● Go to office.com and in the upper right-hand corner select Sign In, then enter your
Microsoft school/work/personal account and password. If you dont already have one
then you will be prompted to create one at this time
● In order to create a file, go to the top corner click +Start new. Then in the drop down
menu select the type of file you want to create.

○
● To share files with others from an application like Word, Powerpoint, Excel etc
look at the ribbon on top of the screen and select Share . You will then be
prompted to enter the name and email address of the person you want to invite
to collaborate, and click Send.
 ○ For more information about how to best facilitate collaboration check out
this Microsoft help page which outlines these steps in detail with further
video tutorials.

MICROSOFT TEAMS OVERVIEW

● In the desktop app, the far left side of the screen contains the navigation bar. There you
will see various Icons including:
○ Activity : which shows notifications, replies, and mentions
○ Chat : which allows direct communication with smaller groups of individuals.
See below.
○ Teams: : discussed below
○ Assignments :
○ Files : where you will find all files posted by team members, and can even
store files on One Drive
○ More : clicking on this opens up various apps

■
● To create a Team, select the Team icon from the navigation bar
○ Select Create a team

■
○ Next, fill in the team information including Team name, Description, and Privacy
settings, and select Next
 ■
○ Type in the name or e-mail of individual’s you would like to add to the team. As
you start typing, it will populate a list of people with that name in your
organization.

■
● Once the team has been created, you can further customize things by clicking on
the three dots next to the team name

○
● Select Manage team to add additional members, remove members, view pending
requests etc. Members can also be added directly by clicking the Add member
icon
● Select Add Channel to create separate channels to have conversations about a
specific topic
○ You can add Files within a created channel that pertain to the channel
topic.

● There are also options to Leave the team, delete the team, get link to team etc
 ○

● To type/converse directly with smaller groups, rather than the entire team: select Chat,
then New chat, then type the name, email, group, or tag of those you want in the chat.

○
● To Call or Video chat with an individual or small group, select the Calls Icon . If the
Icon isn’t present on your navigation bar, select the three dots on the navigation bar,
then type in “call” where it says Find an app, and select the Calls icon that comes up.

○
● From the Calls tab , you will have the option to add Contacts, Make a call, and create
a New group of people who you wish to speak with directly over audio or video.

○
 ○ This is best used for just a few individuals. Any more than that and you will want
to set up a meeting instead (see “Using team meetings” section).

● For full detailing on how to use microsoft teams, go to the SKYPE / MICROSOFT TEAMS
section.

CANVAS/PANOPTO (Web-Based Learning Management System

& Lecture Recording/Storage/Streaming Application)

● Overview:
○ CANVAS: Canvas is a web-based learning management system. It facilitates
online teaching through a myriad of features including course
creation/management tools; providing one site for assignments, grades, and
lectures to be distributed while assessing student learning.
○ PANOPTO: The panopto functionality on Canvas is a great way for professors
and faculty members to record their campus lectures, either remotely or in-
person. Students are able to rewind, play at 0.25 to 2x speed, or review certain
parts of the lecture that they might’ve missed in class. This is great if a student is
sick, or if there’s a global pandemic going on, as this allows students to review
their lectures from anywhere in the world with their laptop.
● Links:
○ CANVAS: Take a look at this overview video to understand what Canvas is and
its main features, and this video tutorial for some step by step instructions on
how to build a course. Canvas also has a youtube channel with a number of
targeted video tutorials. Official website.
■ If you use the G Suite/Google Classroom/Drive applications, watch this
instructional video on how to link them to Canvas.
○ PANOPTO: check out this overview video and this instructional video tutorial.

HOW TO RECORD LECTURES

● First check your microphone and record a test video before recording a longer session
● Log in to Canvas and choose Panopto Recordings from the menu on the left. Click
Create and choose Record a new session.
● Launch the recorder from the Panopto Create button or open the Recorder App from
your computer (see below)
● Once this is open, click Create New Recording.

○
● Next to Session enter the name of the video you want for the video. Pro-tip: include the
date and course title as well ex: “Neuroscience - strokes part I - March 2, 2021”
● Click Record when you’re ready. If using a powerpoint make sure your in the Slide Show
mode.

○
● Once done recording, exit Slide Show mode (escape key) and then click the red Stop
button.
○ Important reminder: make sure the video has uploaded before closing your
browser or logging off.
● Once the video is uploaded, you can close the application. Panopto takes time to render
the video (usually ~hour), stay logged in until this process is complete and later login to
Canvas to make sure the files are still there
● To share the video, click “Manage online recordings” where you can see your videos.
After clicking on the video you want, click the Share button. The video will now be
available to your students.
○ When a student is looking for your lecture on canvas, they can do so through
their Canvas login, by clicking Courses and then Panopto in the menu bar.
 ○

SLACK (Channel-Based Messaging Platform)

● Overview: Slack is a team collaboration application structured as a channel-based

messaging platform. Slack allows for groups to work together more effectively;
facilitating discussion, instruction, assignments, file-sharing etc within channels that can
be assigned to each class or group project. Furthemore this application has the capacity
to facilitate audio or video or furthermore implement polls, scheduling, and a large
number of other interactive features. These can be accessed on a desktop with mac or
pc along with via phone applications on both iphone and android.
 ● Links: Check out the abbreviated video tutorial and/or the expanded video tutorial for a
broad overview of what Slack is, how it can be used, and step by step instructions.

WHAT IS A CHANNEL?
● A ‘channel’ is a communication forum between groups of users. This can be open or
private, and you can create one for every project, topic, or team/group. This allows for
targeted communications and a shared view into the work being done. This allows for
everyone in the channel to work in sync, share files, and have full context to discussions,
avoiding the need to chase down people or information.
● There are 3 types of channels:
○ Public channels are open for anyone within your network to join or search for.
The benefit of public channels is increased transparency, facilitating everyone to
○ Private channels are only available to those who are invited, noone else can
view the channel or search for the content. The benefit of a private channel is
when you have sensitive or confidential content, or wish to limit participants.

○ Slack connect channels allow for communicating with multiple organizations

within a single channel.

GETTING STARTED
● Go to the slack home page at https://slack.com/get-started#/
● Click create slack workplace (this will allow you to create a free account) or sign into
slack if your institution has preexisting communication channels

○
● If you are created a new workspace you will be prompted to enter your email, choose a
URL name (aka the name of your group/school etc), and send invitations via email to
those you wish to join (dont worry you can invite someone at any time).

○
● You will be prompted to choose between the free version or variously priced plans.
From our experience you can get everything you need for the class/group
communication in the free version.
 ● Once you have opened or created your workspace go to the top left corner to either
create a new channel by clicking + or choose a preexisting channel.

FIND AND JOIN CHANNELS

● On the left side next to channels select + icon browse channels and either select a listed
channel or type in a name/topic to search for. Once found click join channel to enter the
conversation.

INVITING OTHERS TO JOIN YOUR CHANNELS/WORKSPACE

● On the top left of the screen click the name of the workspace and at the top of the
dropdown list click invite people to… from here you will be prompted to enter their email
address which will send them an invitation to join

SEND MESSAGES
● From anywhere in slack click the compose button. Next in the To: field type the name of
an individual or channel you would like to send the message to. Once finished choose to
send or save for later.
 ○
● The other option to directly communicate with another person is to @ mention them
within a channel. From the message field at the bottom of a channel type @ symbol
followed by the first few letters of the intended recipient. Then scroll down the auto
populated list to select the person you would like to be mentioned

NOTIFICATIONS
● Sidebar notifications help to alert you when you have missed conversations in channels
you are a part of (channel will be bolded) or when someone is specifically trying to get
your attention (red badge)

FILE SHARING
 ● You can include a file either by dragging and dropping it into the slack channel message
bar (if using laptop/desktop) or click the paper clip icon one the bottom right of the
message field to choose the file you want to share..

AUDIO/VIDEO CALLS WITHIN SLACK

● Audio and video calls are one of the many tools that Slack facilitates, there are however
a few catches to bear in mind before deciding to implement this:
○ Audio/video calls with more than 1 other person requires a paid plan, and even
with the paid plan the maximum number of participants is 15
○ Video calls are only available when using your desktop
● To start a call open either the your intended direct message or channel. Click the details

icon on the top right. Then select the call icon . This will initiate a message to invite
the member or members to join the call. If you wish to switch to a video call click the
camera icon .
● If you are engaged in a video call there are further options to share your screen ,
draw on your screen , or let others draw on your screen for increased group
interaction.

QUICK LINK TO ALL TUTORIALS

INTERACTIVE LEARNING BASED TOOLS

Learning Tool Brief Description Tutorials

 KAHOOT Game based learning Video Tutorial
PDF Tutorial
Overview Page

EDPUZZLE Interactive video production (allows you to Abbreviated Video Tutorial

embed Qs, audio, & notes into videos) In Depth Video Tutorial

PLAYINGCARDS.IO Free website for making custom card decks Video Tutorial
students can use to reenforce material Sample Deck

POLL EVERYWHERE Interactive question/response app PDF Tutorial

Video Tutorial
Unabridged Instructor Guide

QUIZLET LIVE Team based competition quizzes Video Tutorial

Overview Page

QUIZIZZ Student paced quiz competitions Video Tutorial

Additional Video Tutorial

GIMKIT Expanded student paced quiz competitions Video Tutorial

SOCRATIVE Interactive groups and individual quizzes Video Tutorial

AHA - SLIDES Live, interactive slideshow quizzes Video tutorial

TEAM BASED VISUAL ORGANIZATION (outlines, flow diagrams, concept maps etc.)

LEARNING TOOL BRIEF DESCRIPTION TUTORIALS

PADLET Virtual bulletin board and more Video Tutorial

Web Guide

CONCEPTBOARD Collaborative virtual whiteboard with Video Tutorial

advanced sharing features

GOOGLE DRAWINGS Interactive virtual whiteboard Video Tutorial

Web page guide

DOCERI Virtual whiteboard & screencast recorder Video tutorial

EDUCREATIONS Simplified virtual whiteboard & screencast Video tutorial

recorder

ONE NOTE Note taking and multiformat information Video Tutorial

management Expanded Video Tutorial
 DEBATE GRAPH Concept maps for organizing content & Video Tutorial
lectures Additional Video Tutorial

COGGLE Collaborative mind mapping Video Tutorial

POPPLET simplified mind mapping tool Video Tutorial

PDF User Guide

PRESENTATION TOOLS

LEARNING TOOL BRIEF DESCRIPTION TUTORIALS

GOOGLE SLIDES Free web based collaborative Video Tutorial

presentation tool

KEYNOTE Mac exclusive application based Extended Video Tutorial

presentation tool Webpage of Brief Video Tutorial

POWERPOINT Subscription fee application based Overview Video

presentation tool Expanded Video Tutorial
Video Showing How to publish
PowerPoint as Video

SWAY Free Microsoft presentation software Overview Video

Video Tutorial

VOICETHREAD Asynchronous collaborative Overview video

multimedia slideshow with voiceover Video tutorial
capability

VIDEOCONFERENCING APPLICATIONS

LEARNING TOOLS BRIEF DESCRIPTION TUTORIALS

CISCO WEBEX Video conferencing software Video Tutorials

SKYPE/MICROSOFT Audio/video conferencing Microsoft Teams Video Demo

TEAMS and webinars Scheduling Meeting Demo
Educator's Use Demo

ZOOM Reliable platform for Full List of Tutorials

video/audio conferencing Daily Live Demos
and webinars Video Tutorial - Join Meeting
 Video Tutorial - Schedule Meeting w/ Zoom
Video Tutorial - Schedule Meeting w/ Google Calendar
Video Tutorial - Schedule Meeting w/ Outlook
Video Tutorials - Meeting Controls
Help Page - Co Host vs Host Controls
Video Tutorial - Breakout Rooms
Help Page - Breakout Rooms
Video Tutorial - Record Meeting
Video Tutorial - Share Screen
Help Page - Share Screen
Help Page - White Board
Help Page - Annotations
Help Page - Polling
Help Page - Transcription of Meetings
Help Page - Chat
Help Page - Non Verbal Feedback
Help Page - Virtual Background

ASYNCHRONOUS LEARNING TOOLS

LECTURE RECORDING

LEARNING TOOLS BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS TUTORIALS

FLASHBACK SCREEN Subscription PC compatible screen List of Video Tutorials

RECORDER recorder & video editor PDF Tutorial

CAMTASIA Subscription PC/MAC compatible Brief Video Overview

recorder & video editor Extended Video Tutorial
Alternate Extended Video Tutorial

OPEN BROADCASTER Free PC/MAC compatible streaming & Video Tutorial

SOFTWARE screen recorder Quickstart Web Page

SHIFT-COMMAND-5 Inbuilt screen recording for MAC Video Tutorial

desktops

GOOGLE SLIDES, KEYNOTE, See individual descriptions above See Tutorials Above Under
POWERPOINT, SWAY under synchronous Synchronous Learning

PANOPTO Lecture recording/streaming Overview video

application embedded in Canvas Video tutorial

COMMUNICATION PLATFORMS & FILE STORAGE

LECTURE TOOLS BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS TUTORIALS

G SUITE, GOOGLE Platform for Video Tutorial - G Suite

CLASSROOM, GOOGLE DRIVE assignments/grades/communication Video Tutorial - Classroom
Video Tutorial - Google Drive

MICROSOFT 365, Microsoft Platform for Video Overview - 365

Teams, ONE DRIVE assignments/grades/communication Video Overview - 365
Guided Microsoft Teams Demo
Video Tutorial - One Drive

CANVAS, PANOPTO Platform for Overview video - Canvas

assignments/grades/communication Video tutorial - Canvas
Overview video - Panopto
Video tutorial - Panopto

SLACK Channel-based messaging platform Abbreviated Video Tutorial

Expanded Video Tutorial
 HUMOR
At the end of the day virtual learning is a weird and funny thing… so let’s look at some memes