Contingency Planning: Remote Readiness When You Need It

This page provides information on tools, common tasks, trainings, and available resources that can help you ensure your FAS course is remote ready in the event of a pandemic, inclement weather, or other closure of Harvard's physical spaces. Click the links below to learn more, or compare tools in the matrix at the bottom of this page. Visit the Supported Technologies page for more tools for teaching and learning.

	Canvas		Slides
	Zoom		Collaboration Tools

The Vice Provost for Advances in Learning's University-wide Teach Remotely site provides instructors with information on best practices, available tools, and how to get support for teaching your classes online, while the Learn Remotely site provides students with information on where to go, what to do, and how to get help when learning online. 

Additionally, Harvard University Information Technology has several key resources and guides in the IT Help Portal. 

Canvas

Make use of Canvas features that support instructor engagement with students, student engagement with each other, and digital access to content, assignments, and assessments. Here are a few best practices that will ease the transition to teaching and learning online:

• Post a syllabus to provide students information on course policies, assignments, and important dates.
• Provide a method for holding class online through Zoom, or another web conferencing system.
• Organize your content so finding course materials is easy for students.
• Use assignments and quizzes to assess student understanding.
• Communicate with students via emails and announcements.
• Create opportunities for students to engage with each other asynchronously through online discussion.
• Record and share video through Panopto or another lecture video tool.

More information is available on our Canvas page. Academic Technology for FAS also provides both live and recorded Canvas trainings. 

Slide-Based Presentations

If your class lecture is presented using slides, consider recording audio into your slides. Once your slides are complete, you can upload them to Canvas for your students to view. Click the links below to view a brief video tutorial about recording voiceover on your presentation slides.

Powerpoint

Google Slides

Keynote

Zoom Video Conferencing

Zoom videoconferencing is available to all FAS faculty, staff, and students, within your Canvas site or at harvard.zoom.us. Useful information on using Zoom, including instructions, tutorials, and troubleshooting steps, is available on the Getting Started with Zoom page in HUIT's IT Help Portal. You can also find information on how to Increase Security and Privacy for Zoom Meetings, including activating your waiting room, disabling chat, and removing people from your meeting.

More information is available on our Zoom page. Academic Technology for FAS also provides both live and recorded trainings. 

Collaboration Tools

Collaboration tools may incorporate some aspects of web conferencing while adding the ability to work on documents together.

Google Drive or Google Docs collaboration in Canvas

OneDrive collaboration in Canvas

Comparison Matrix

Compare tools available to support remote teaching. Visit the Supported Technologies page to find more tools for teaching and learning.