In the event that routine work or academic functions are disrupted due to prolonged campus or building closures, you may find it necessary to work or teach a class from off campus. We provide a variety of services to connect you with colleagues and students remotely so that work and learning can continue uninterrupted.

In preparation, you should make sure you have tested your access to the following equipment at home:

• Laptop or desktop computer.

• Microphone – this may be built into your laptop or computer, or you may use an external device such as a USB microphone or headset. If you’re looking to purchase a microphone, Zoom has the following recommendations.

• Webcam – a camera may already be built into your laptop, but you can also use an external USB camera for video conferencing. If you’re looking to purchase a camera, Zoom has the following recommendations.

• Internet – either commercially provided (ex. Comcast, FiOS), or a wireless hotspot through your mobile phone.

Be prepared! It’s best to know these options will work for you before you actually need them. Test access to your equipment and resources at home before the need arises and email helpdesk@emu.edu if you have any questions or issues.

If you do not have equipment at home that meets these standards, please consult with your supervisor.

Working Remotely

Meeting & Chat Online

Google Hangouts can be use to provide chat functionality. 

Zoom can be used to hold virtual meetings. 

Zoom Tips and Tricks for Administrators and Staff

Access Your EMU Phone and Voicemail

Even when you are away from the office, there are several options for accessing your calls and voicemail. These options can be configured at phone.emu.edu.

Your voicemails  is delivered by email. You will receive an email with an attached sound file whenever someone leaves a voicemail on your line. 

You can also forward all your calls to another number and not have it ring your office phone. 

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Please note that most EMU and cloud resources, such as Moodle, myEMU, G-Suite and EMU Google Mail don’t require the use of VPN.

Services that do require the use of VPN include: Network Drives (G:, H:,P:, Z:).

EMU’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) creates a “tunnel” between your computer and the campus network that identifies you as a member of the EMU community when you are not connected directly to the campus network, allowing you access to restricted networked resources. If you need to access resources that require connecting to VPN, please see our instructions for connecting with VPN.

J1 and other applications are available in AppStream: https://appsrv.emu.edu/is/appstream/

Teaching Remotely

Asynchronous instructional options

Pre-recording lectures works for classes of any size and is especially useful for large lectures. It’s an excellent option for students who may not be available during class time.

Below are Panopto tutorials on:

Digital video for education

• Recording with Panopto

• Video Permissions

• Uploading & embedding video using the Panopto Button

    in Moodle courses (Video Hosting)

Assign online individual, paired or group work

Ideas for individual or group work:

• Ask students to complete a Moodle quiz after viewing your pre-recorded lecture or completing assigned readings.

• Ask students to work on problems, projects, or drafts online. They can do so either individually, in pairs, or groups.

  • After they submit their work, ask students to discuss it together.

  • Students may do their work asynchronously, but are required to submit their assignments by a specific date and time. 

Best practices for online paired or group work:

• Use part, or all, of an assignment your students are already working on in class.

• Assign groups of students to do different readings and then facilitate asynchronous online discussions of the texts together.

• Use the Moodle workshop activity for students to submit rough drafts, and give each other feedback on drafts, as per a protocol you post on Moodle.

Synchronous instructional options

Let your students know that you will meet with them at the usual day and time via Zoom. Advise them to be at their desktop or laptop ahead of time to try out the link you have sent them. Learn more about Zoom.

Include some Zoom best practices in your email to students:

1. Use a computer that is in a quiet room, without other computers that are accessing Zoom.

2. Click on the Zoom meeting link sent by the instructor.

3. Unmute the audio and video at the bottom of the screen.

4. When you are not talking, mute your audio.

5. Use the chat feature if you have questions.

Comprehensive Guide to Educating Through Zoom

Tips and Tricks for Teachers Educating on Zoom

Ways to be more inclusive in your Zoom teaching

Student Tips for Participating in Online Learning

Live Training, Recorded Training, and Zoom Meetings for Education Training

Outschool, a marketplace for live online classes, has made available Free Remote Teacher Training Courses showing how to adapt teaching practices and curriculum to a live video chat classroom. These webinars are led by Outschool’s experienced teachers who have transitioned from in-person to online teaching.

You can pre-assign students into breakout rooms when scheduling the meeting: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360032752671-Pre-assigning-participants-to-breakout-rooms

You can prepare polls using Socrative: Homesocrative.com

Mixed asynchronous & synchronous teaching

Pre-record your lecture and offer a supplemental live Zoom meeting

Pre-record a lecture using Panopto (or Zoom), and offer a supplemental live meeting via Zoom for follow-up questions. This format does not require recording the follow-up session.

If you decide to record the follow-up, be sure to let participants know the meeting is being recorded.

Best practices

• Communicate fully and explicitly with students. Summarize all of the changes to your course on a dedicated Moodle age.

• Utilize Moodle announcements to keep your students up-to-date on any changes or modifications.

• Send a request to helpdesk@emu.edu to setup a phone or Zoom meeting if you need assistance using these tools.

• Take advantage of colleagues' ideas, departmental practices, and share your ideas.