During the pandemic, communication can seem chaotic; and both faculty and students may feel overwhelmed by the plethora of online platforms available. We suggest realistically assessing what you and the students will be able to achieve, and being sensitive to students who may find their new learning environment challenging. You may want to begin with modest goals — testing new approaches in small increments — and create opportunities for feedback from your students to assess what is and is not working.

We recommend a both/and approach to technology. To communicate across the college in a way that’s as clear and streamlined as possible, we encourage using Blackboard and Zoom for course delivery, alongside Box and Google Drive for document storage and sharing. Emphasizing these two platforms also allows faculty to take over for one another more easily should someone get sick. We recommend testing the platform in advance of your first class, and rehearsing.

However, we also encourage you to use the software you are already most comfortable with. A range of options are available, from full adoption of course management platforms like Blackboard, to more minimal approaches that rely on recorded lectures shared via Box, or meeting for class via online video chats. We recommend approaching this less as a complete course migration, and more as an adoption of tools that support activities and discussions you had already planned.

The following are recommended resources for teaching online:

Blackboard

Tutorials, videos, and resources

Mural
Tutorials

Slack
Tutorials 

Zoom  

Tutorials, videos, and resources

Additional resources and support 
School, college, and university workshops, webinars, and resources at UIC 

Other resources

Remote teaching resources from other U.S. universities — the guides from Harvard, Barnard, Indiana, and UIUC may be particularly helpful

Effective online instruction webinars — authored by subject experts, and hosted by the Association of College and University Educators