LibGuides: For Faculty: COVID-19 Instructional Continuity in Spring 2020: Digital Presentations

Synchronous Presentations

There are various tools you can use to enable synchronous, virtual presentations - anything you use for synchronous class sessions can be used to enable presentations at a distance. These could be recorded for later viewing for students who cannot attend them in real-time.

Zoom
Guilford now has an institutional license to Zoom, which means that all Guilford community members now have access to it. You can use Zoom to host virtual presentations sessions in your classes - students can be made meeting "hosts" in order to make use of the Pro features (such as Polling), or can just do a simple screen-share.
Google Hangouts Meet
All Guilford community members have access to Google Hangouts Meet through their Guilford Google accounts. You can set up virtual class sessions or meetings in advance by creating a Google Calendar event: this automatically creates a Hangouts Meet link that all invited participants can use to join, either by sending out the link or sharing the calendar invite. Hangouts Meet can easily be used for virtual presentation sessions.

Many presentation tools have apps, so students could join using a smartphone or tablet (though you would need to consider data needs and possible alternatives for students without WiFi).

If none of these tech tools are an option, presentations could certainly happen over the phone.

Asynchronous Presentations

There are many additional options for asynchronous presentations, where students record themselves on their own time and share with the instructor (or the entire class) after the fact. Here are some possible tools:

Creating Narrated Powerpoint Presentations
Using PowerPoint (freely available to all Guilford students, faculty, and staff), students can create narrated presentations as an asynchronous alternative. Simply record voiceover over the slides, then export the presentation as a movie.
Video Recording in Canvas
Students can record video directly from within Canvas: the media comment button allows you to record a simple video using your webcam, that is then embedded within a Canvas assignment, page, discussion reply, etc. The recording works best for presentations under 10-15 minutes.
VoiceThread
VoiceThread is a tool for creating interactive presentations and conversations, complete with multimedia. You can use it from your browser at https://voicethread.com, and you can also download the VoiceThread app and use it from your smartphone or tablet. The creator of a VoiceThread presentation can share the link with others for viewing (no account required).

Students could also record themselves in Zoom or Google Hangouts, by holding a meeting by themselves, using the record feature to capture themselves talking into their computer, and then sharing the link after the fact.

Another very simple option would be to make a recording from a computer or mobile device, using the Camera application - this would allow for a simple video presentation with no visuals.

Sharing Asynchronous Presentations

There are many different options for sharing asynchronous presentations, which may be videos and have a larger file size (though some presentations, like VoiceThread, live within the application and have their own sharing link). If you are worried about having students upload large videos directly to Canvas and use up course space, students could upload the videos to Google Drive or YouTube (as an unlisted video, which does not show up in search results) instead, and share the link in a Canvas assignment, a Canvas Discussion (so that other students can view it), via a shared class Google Doc (again, so others can view it), or simply via email.