What online course tools are available?
UNC Asheville uses the Moodle Learning Management System for online course delivery. Moodle provides a place to post course materials for your students (such as a syllabus, a class schedule and lecture PowerPoints), gather student assignment submissions, hold class discussions, quiz students, and manage course grades all in a single, convenient online location. For more questions about using Moodle or your Moodle courses contact the Center for Teaching and Learning Instructional Technology team (ins_tech@unca.edu).
All UNC Asheville faculty and students also have access to Zoom and Google Meets for synchronous class sessions and to record lectures or other activities for asynchronous instruction. Instructions for activating Zoom licenses and creating, starting, and joining meetings are below. For more questions about using Zoom, contact the ITS Helpdesk at helpdesk@unca.edu. For questions about Google Meets, contact the Center for Teaching and Learning Instructional Technology team (ins_tech@unca.edu).
We are grateful to NC State University for allowing us to use their knowledge base resources to enhance our own materials.
“Getting Started” resources for Moodle and Zoom
- “Step-by-Step Online Course Creation Guide” Teaching Resource. **Courtesy of NC State. Note that all UNC Asheville faculty should already have course shells set up for their fall, 2024 courses. If you cannot find a Moodle shell for your course, contact the Center for Teaching and Learning Instructional Technology team (ins_tech@unca.edu). Some sections of this resource are specific to NC State, but you may find Steps 1, 3 and 4 useful.
- Moodle 4 Basics workshop video
- NC State University’s “Best Practices for Designing your Moodle Course.” Note that some of the resources and Moodle functions noted on this page may not be available on UNC Asheville’s Moodle instance. However, this guide offers a lot of valuable tips for setting up and/or enhancing your Moodle page.
- Activitating your UNC Asheville Zoom account
- Zoom Getting Started
How to communicate with your students
Asynchronous Communication
- Moodle’s Quickmail feature
- Moodle Course Announcements YouTube video
- Create Audio & Video Recording with Moodle Tools
Synchronous (Real Time) Communication
- Moodle Chat (3 to 4 max. participants, can be used during virtual office hours)
- Google Chat (can be used with UNC Asheville email)
- Zoom Chat (can be used during a live Zoom session)
How to share course materials online
- Moodle 4 Basics workshop video for adding instructional content to Moodle (post syllabus, files, PowerPoints, recorded lectures, etc. to Moodle course).
- Moodle Assignments workshop video by Laurie Miles
- Link a Video from YouTube to Moodle tutorial
- Moodle Hacks by Angel Kaur, an 8 1/2 minute video with tips on designing a Moodle home page
- Google Drive UNC Asheville knowledge base article about Google Drive
- Google Drive how-to’s in the Google Workspace Learning Center
How to offer synchronous class lectures/meetings
- Zoom — a how-to overview
- Host in-meeting controls UNC Asheville knowledge base article (for ensuring security and optimizing student engagement in live Zoom sessions)
- Zoom best practices to secure meetings UNC Asheville knowledge base article
- Inclusive teaching practices using Zoom (Chronicle article, April 8, 2020)
- “Inclusion in Online and Hybrid Settings,” (Cornell Center for Teaching Innovation)
- Google Meet tutorial
How to pre-record class lectures
The Basics: Zoom, PowerPoint, Google Meets and Moodle recording capabilities
- Creating a Narrated PowerPoint tutorial
- Using Moodle’s Video Recording tool to create a video (up to 5 minutes in length) tutorial
- Creating a Google Meet video tutorial
- Zoom Recordings UNC Asheville knowledge base article
- Zoom Recording Basics video
- Sharing Zoom Recording Links in Moodle tutorial
- Create a Google Meet Recording (Lecture Capture)
Fancier ways to share lectures
- Create a Podcast with Audacity software:
1) UNC Asheville Knowledge Base instructions on how to download Audacity and other available software from the UNC Asheville software center
2) If you are off-campus, you will need to activate the VPN client to download software. This UNC Asheville Knowledge Base article walks you through that process
3. Once Audacity is downloaded to your computer, follow these instructions to create a podcast. - Uploading videos to YouTube: **Note that, if you record to the cloud, Zoom automatically provides a transcript. But, if you prefer to use another recording method and upload your video to YouTube, use this resource: Upload your video to YouTube and add captions (contributed by Sally Wasileski, to be used with this introductory YouTube video)
How to collect and assess student assignments online
- “Moodle Assignments” workshop recording UNC Asheville
- “Overview of Moodle Assignments” tutorial NC State University
- “Grading Assignments in Moodle” tutorial NC State University
- “Submitting Group Assignments” tutorial UNC Asheville
How to hold class discussions online
Synchronous discussion tools
- Zoom breakout rooms UNC Asheville Knowledge Base Article
- Zoom Polling function UNC Asheville Knowledge Base Article
- Zoom Annotation function UNC Asheville Knowledge Base Article
- Zoom Non-verbal feedback and reactions tutorial adapted from Zoom Support website
- Zoom Whiteboard UNC Asheville Knowledge Base Article
- Zoom Whiteboard How-to Videos NC State University Resources
- “Participant Engagement features” on Zoom Support website
- Google Meet breakout rooms Google Meet Help
- Yo Teach! Chat (real time chat)
- Padlet tool (visual collaboration tool)
Asynchronous discussion tools
- Moodle Discussion Forum Settings (Moodle support site)
- Moodle Discussion Forum types and list of UNC Asheville tutorials with links to instructions
- Overview of the Moodle Forum Activity NC State tutorial
- Padlet visual collaboration tool
- Hypothes.is (web annotation tool)
- Perusall annotation tool
How to give online quizzes
- How to set up a Moodle Quiz UNC Asheville tutorial
- How to Grade Moodle Quizzes UNC Asheville tutorial
- How to download quiz grades and submissions in Moodle UNC Asheville tutorial
- Quizlet free, open source tool
How to manage grades online
- Moodle Gradebook overview and specific Gradebook functions NC State videos
- Adding a Grade item to the gradebook UNC Asheville tutorial
- Adding grades manually in an activity (Quiz, assignment, forum, etc.) UNC Asheville tutorial
Create accessible online materials
Video and Audio Recordings
- Transcripts (using Google Doc’s Voice Typing to create transcripts while you speak)
- Video Captioning (instructions for captioning through YouTube)
- Note that Zoom sessions recorded to the cloud will automatically create a transcript that can be accessed through the link to the recording.
Resources for creating accessible course materials
- Creating accessible Word Documents (WebAIM site)
- Creating accessible PDFs (WebAIM site)
- Creating accessible PowerPoint presentations (WebAIM site)
Find more information
- UNC Asheville library Online resources
- Lynda.com (UNCA faculty, staff, and students can get access through the Buncombe County Public LIbraries; email the library to get a membership remotely)