Faculty Resources

Teach.caltech.edu contains comprehensive information for teaching your course online.

Quick Reference

• Fall 2020 Plan
• Caltech Adaptable Teaching Series - Summer 2020
• Online Teaching
• General Advice and Guides
• Moving Course Components Online
• Lab and Experiential Courses
• Communicating Expectations
• Working with TAs
• Assignments and Exams
• Electronic Course Reserves
• Technology and Tools
• More Tools and Tech

Important Things to Consider

Student Experience

Students may be accessing courses from different time zones, have limited or shared access to computers and internet bandwidth, and working under different stresses due to the pandemic and/or working in isolation.
Should they need it, students should be encouraged to access resources at Student Wellness Services.

Support Site for Students

A new support site for students' online learning needs is available: http://learn.caltech.edu. Instructors may want to add this link to their course syllabus/website.

VPN Usage Guideline

Please DO NOT USE Caltech VPN when accessing platforms and tools for teaching and learning, such as Zoom, Google Drive, Google Hangouts Meet, and Gradescope. Doing so will degrade the overall experience and may not work properly. Applications requiring VPN can be found at: http://imss.caltech.edu/news/vpn-usage.

FERPA Compliance, Security, and Use of Other Applications

Due to compliance issues (including student privacy and copyright) associated with the public posting of recorded lectures, instructors should only post recordings on the most up-to-date recommended applications listed under /tech-tools.

Fall 2020 Plan

• The term will start as scheduled on September 29. However, all in-person instruction will be completed before the Thanksgiving break, at which time students will be expected to travel home and stay home for the remainder of calendar year 2020. The final week of classes, and all final exams, will be delivered remotely.
• Instruction will take place through a hybrid model with a combination of remote and in-person instruction.
• Caltech is moving to the Canvas LMS for fall 2020.
• All international students (graduate and undergraduate) must be enrolled fulltime and be registered for at least one in-person course per term to maintain their immigration status and remain in the United States. The usual graduate research courses taken for credit with research activities conducted in some measure on-campus will satisfy this requirement.

Learning Management Systems

Canvas

Caltech is moving to the Canvas LMS for fall 2020.

Gradescope

Gradescope is an online tool for submission and grading of problem sets, quantitative assignments, and coding assignments; Caltech now has an institutional license.

Tools for Live Online Meetings

Zoom

Zoom is a video conferencing app that allows you to share your screen and record your session. Zoom is requiring meeting waiting room or passcode starting September 27th, 2020.

Zoom can be used for:

• Lectures and live discussion
• Screen-sharing
• Whiteboard drawing
• Office hours and individual meetings
• Pre-recorded demos and lab experiments
• Breakout rooms

Faculty members automatically have a pro license with these features:

• 300 maximum participants
• Unlimited time
• License for one year

For seminar (colloquia) classes that are open to non-students for synchronous/live streaming, be careful to follow Zoom security recommendations when sharing links/invitations, and share recordings only with enrolled students and approved auditors. See: https://teach.caltech.edu/ferpa-security

Zoom Security

• Please find information here about how Caltech has evaluated Zoom and recommendations for updating your software and reviewing your settings: https://imss.caltech.edu/services/information-security/security-issues/advisories/zoom-privacy-and-security
• Recommendations for Zoom settings when scheduling and hosting a session with a non-Caltech guest lecturer can be found here: http://teach.caltech.edu/tech-tools/zoom-guide/schedule-meeting-guest-lecturer

Helpful information from Zoom

Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts has been implemented as an alternative to Zoom and to allow students to have unlimited collaboration sessions. Learn more at http://learn.caltech.edu/tech-tools/google-hangouts.