Here at Rush, we prepare you to succeed as you teach from home. Below you will find all the information to get you transitioned to online instruction.
Rush’s chosen learning management system is Blackboard Learn (RULearning). Blackboard is used to support learning by providing a space where materials can be stored, organized, assessments can be given, and students and teachers can interact using the various communication features.
You can access your courses using your web browser in one of two ways: through the University Portal or via RULearning (Blackboard). The advantage of logging in via the University Portal is that it provides a one-stop shop to Rush news and events, various applications, the WebAdvisor where you can see your enrolled students, enter your grades, etc. The portal uses single sign-on, so once you sign on here, you can access other applications without logging in again.
Use this E-Learning Teaching Guide for Faculty for step-by-step instructions on adding content to your courses, creating and grading assignments, communicating with students and more.
Panopto is a lecture capturing tool that allows faculty to create lecture recording, screen casting, live video streaming and video content management within the learning management system.
You’ll want to download and install Panopto to record videos and presentations. Complete instructions are available in the E-Learning Teaching Guide for Faculty.
Zoom offers a video, audio and screen-sharing experience across Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Blackberry, Zoom Rooms, and H.323/SIP room systems. Use it to create a virtual classroom space for lectures with chat, polls and other interactivity.
You can add Zoom to your course sites/shells from inside Blackboard, or sign on to Rush’s Zoom web portal with your Rush e-mail address and password.
Use this E-Learning Teaching Guide for Faculty for step-by-step instructions on scheduling, hosting and recording Zoom meetings, sharing controls, creating polls and more.
Our E-Learning Teaching Guide for Faculty has a wealth of information about choosing the right form of assessment, including standardized testing, authentic assessment and project-based learning assessment.
Online exams may be administered online via Blackboard, Examity or ExamSoft, part of Examplify. You can choose the software that best fits your course.
Instructions for manually uploading an ExamSoft exam file:
When students move to an online format, learning should not be self-paced or lonely. Find ways to encourage student interaction and engagement with the content you’re presenting them with or the content they are supposed to read. There should be a value (grade) associated with these activities. Some ideas here are:
In the event of a campus closure, it is very important to communicate to your students right away. Give them information about:
If you already have lectures written for courses as Power Point files, those can be used in a pinch for an online version of your class, but are not ideal as stand-alone “lectures” since they’re used for you to lecture in class. Thus, if you have Power Point presentations, the next best thing is to create a video lecture. You can use Panopto or Screencast-o-matic.
Please use previously-recorded Panopto lectures if they already have closed captions available. Use Screencast-o-matic if you do not have a captioned Panopto video. Contact CTEI@rush.edu if you need help getting access to either of these tools for lecture recordings.
In an emergency situation, even a written lecture is fine. Just save it as a PDF file.
Digital accessibility should be thought of from the start when preparing or designing your course.
Check accessibility in your Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents
Caption your lectures & using videos that have captioning
Edit scanned .pdf’s to readable .pdf’s
Ensure accessibility in Blackboard
Blackboard support
Zoom support
ExamSoft support
Other support