Digital Pedagogy & Online Teaching

Brightspace

Brightspace, Vanderbilt's learning management software, provides many options for sharing course content, providing feedback, and sharing grades in a private and secure manner.

• Allow students to post anonymously in discussion boards.
• Provide feedback to individual students on submitted assignments via inline comments, or upload a feedback document visible only to that student.
• Provide grades visible only to individual students.

Brightspace also allows instructors to track student progress within modules.  It is worth considering, in constructing modules, whether you wish to enable these features, if there is no compelling reason to track completion.  The Center for Teaching provides answers to commonly-asked questions regarding Brightspace, including the above topics, on its On-Demand Resources page.

Vanderbilt Box

Per Vanderbilt's data storage policy, student educational records subject to FERPA may be stored in Box.  Box offers a number of other features and benefits for use in instruction:

• The ability to share, and to organize, large and numerous files (ex. student research projects).
• The ability to collaborate on shared documents using online versions of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, or Google Documents or Sheets.
• The ability to set varying levels of permissions for users.
• Though Vanderbilt Box is only available to Vanderbilt users, users may share and seek content with non-Box users.

LibGuides

As librarians, many of us are familiar with LibGuides, and utilize the platform frequently as to deliver instructional content that is visually appealing and easily accessible.  Though many such guides are suitable for sharing with the public and intended to reach many patrons, you may wish to distribute course-related content to a more limited user group.  Privacy options in LibGuides include:

• Setting a guide to Private, such that it is only visible to users with a link.
• Hiding certain pages and content boxes temporarily (ex. if you wish to limit available content to students early in a course, revealing modules as the course progresses).
• Password-protecting a guide.
• Password-protecting content within a guide.

Microsoft Teams

Though they may not be as familiar with Teams, VU students can access the platform, and you may wish to utilize Teams in your student communication and teaching.  Considering encouraging students to use the chat function, or use Teams as an alternative to Zoom for one-on-one or small group video calls.  The collaborative spaces in Teams also provide a secure location for small group collaboration on projects and assignments. 

• Note that chat conversations can be hidden, but are difficult to delete.  Users can delete individual messages they have sent in chat.
• Team owners can adjust member permissions. 
• Though team owners can invite guests outside of the organization, guests must have a Microsoft 365 account (or create one), an administrator must authorize guests,and guests have fewer capabilities than organizational members.
• If your students do not use the app, they can access a Teams meetings to which you invite them in a browser.
• On its privacy page, Microsoft notes that it retains user data until contract termination.

Zoom

By now we, and our students, are quite familiar with Zoom.  To combat "Zoombombing," Vanderbilt requires passwords for all Zoom meetings, though passwords are embedded in meeting links.  The Center for Teaching provides guidance on how to utilize Zoom in your courses, with a focus on using Zoom in Brightspace.  When scheduling class or student meetings, consider enabling security features such as the waiting room, user authentication, and camera or microphone muting, and carefully consider whether and when to record (automatically or otherwise) your meetings.