Join colleagues from the Center for Teaching and Academic Innovation (CTAI) and the Center for Academic Success and Tutoring (CAST) for a collaborative conversation about how academic support and teaching practice can work together to strengthen student learning.

CAST supports students through discipline specific tutoring, Supplemental Instruction (SI), and peer academic coaching focused on learning strategies and executive functioning. National research on Supplemental Instruction shows that students who participate tend to earn higher course grades and achieve higher rates of successful course completion than peers who do not participate.

During this virtual session, faculty will learn how CAST and SI partnerships work in practice and explore ways academic support can be thoughtfully integrated into course design to connect students with peer learning and tutoring opportunities early and often throughout the semester.

Participants will leave with practical examples and one or two strategies they can begin experimenting with in their own courses.

Co-Sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Academic Innovation (CTAI) and the Center for Academic Success and Tutoring (CAST)

We hope to see you there!

The Remote Teaching Checklist includes quick, actionable steps for communicating with students, posting a clear plan in Canvas, setting up a Zoom session if needed, and preparing online activities or assignments so your course can stay on track with minimal disruption.

Table of Contents:

• Communication
• Zoom
• Syllabus Modifications
• Prepare Online Activities and Assignments
• Collaboration Tools
• Providing Accessible Materials
• Instructional Technology Tools
• Training and Support
• Online Self-Help Documents
• Additional Online Teaching Resources

Communication

The Canvas announcements feature is an effective way to communicate with all of your students in your class. Students will receive the announcement in their Montclair Gmail as well as be able to see your announcement in your Canvas course. Learn more about

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Zoom

Zoom is a platform for video and audio conferencing. All members of the campus community have access to Zoom “Licensed” which does not restrict the length of meetings. You will be able to via SSO using your NetID and password.

Please visit the following pages for more information:

• About Zoom

For help with Zoom, please reach out to the IT Service Desk at itservicedesk@montclair.edu or (973) 655 – 7971, option 1.

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Syllabus Modifications

Depending on how your syllabus is prepared, you may need to make adjustments to accommodate a shift in instruction. Due dates, grading policies, and modes of communication, are examples of changes to consider. It is also advised to include a proactive statement in your syllabus that advises students what to do in the event of an unexpected shift in instruction.

Example syllabus statement:

In the event of an emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to change when necessitated by revised course delivery, semester calendar or other circumstances.�� Information about changes in this course can be obtained in the Canvas course web page or by contacting my email address: xxxx@montclair.edu or my office phone/cell xxx-xxx-xxxx.�� If the course is not able to meet face-to-face, students should immediately log onto Canvas and read any announcements and/or alternative assignments. Students are also encouraged to continue the readings and other assignments as outlined on this syllabus or subsequent syllabi (Pace University, 2015).��

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Prepare Online Activities and Assignments

Designing your course with online-ready elements helps ensure that any unexpected interruption causes minimal disruption to teaching and learning.

Examples:

• Online Discussions

Canvas discussions provide an easy way for instructors to create and facilitate interaction amongst students. Online discussions encourage active participation from students and help replicate discourse that may occur in a face-to-face classroom. Discussions can be created as an assignment for grading purposes (which is integrated with Canvas Gradebook), or simply serve as a Q & A to answer students’ questions, or a forum for students to share information. Group discussions may be set up so that small groups of students may converse.�� Learn more about how to .

• Assignments

Canvas assignments are used to accept submissions by students, such as files, images, text, URLs, etc.�� Assignments can be created for everyone in the course or differentiated by student, section, or student groups. Learn more about how to .

• Quizzes

The Quiz tool is used to create and administer Online Quizzes and Surveys. They can be automatically graded, depending on the question type. A column in the grade book is created for each quiz where you can manually enter a grade for quizzes or exams taken on paper. Learn more about how to.

• Record and Share Lecture Videos

Panopto is an all-in-one video platform that not only provides faculty with desktop lecture recording and automatic captioning services, but also offers pedagogical features to add learning interactions within a video. It is seamlessly integrated within Canvas.

Take a look at our documentation for both the and. Students can also create Panopto recordings in their Canvas courses. For more details, please review our documentation for student use of Panopto.

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Collaboration Tools

Canvas Groups

Canvas groups are a small version of a course and used as a collaborative tool where students can work together on group projects and assignments. Effective group work and collaboration are important to facilitate a social learning environment. Working in groups assists students in developing problem-solving, communication and critical thinking skills, and provides them opportunities to work and learn from their peers. Learn more about.

Google Drive

Google Apps for Education is a suite of communication and collaboration tools for learning anywhere, anytime, on any device. All faculty and staff have access to this suite of tools through your Montclair email address (netid@montclair.edu). Google Docs, Slides and Sheets are useful in extending the classroom to an online environment. Collaboration features include: sharing, editing, commenting, suggesting, and chatting on documents online. These may occur in real-time, during a scheduled work session, or asynchronously, at different times. Learn more about.

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Providing Accessible Materials

The accessibility of all materials is a crucial component of any course. During an unexpected disruption, the shift to other modalities can present challenges to students’ access to course material. Make sure to review your course(s) to ensure all materials are accessible.

A good place to start is to think about the diversity of materials provided to students. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a helpful framework to guide your approach to accessibility. UDL focuses on three main components:

• Multiple Means of Representation: Learners differ in the ways they perceive and comprehend information.
• Multiple Means of Action and Expression: Learners differ in the ways they can navigate a learning environment and express what they know.
• Multiple Means of Engagement: Learners differ in the ways they can be engaged or motivated to learn.

There are a number of helpful resources to help you create accessible materials for your students. To get started, view the ITDS Designing Accessible Learning Environments webpage and the for more information.

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Instructional Technology Tools

Some helpful instructional technology tools to consider implementing in your course include the following:

• Padlet– An online collaborative bulletin board that allows participants to interact by posting text, links, images, videos, and more.
• Social Annotation Tools- Allow students to collaboratively annotate readings with their peers using a digital text. Montclair subscribes to two social annotation tools: Perusall and Hypothes.is

For a full list of all instructional technologies, please visit our Instructional Technologies page.

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Training and Support

• CTAI offers year-round , primarily for faculty.
• In addition, we have a self-paced Canvas course with resources and how-to guides:
  
• Our ITDS resource page contains helpful information regarding instructional design services, faculty development support, and teaching and learning strategies.
• If you would like direct support with a particular assignment or would welcome suggestions, please feel free to contact John Yi, Director of Teaching and Learning at CTAI, at yij@montclair.edu. He would be happy to assist.

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Online Self-Help Documents

You can also reach out to the University Service Desk at x7971 for support or set up a one-on-one appointment with a member of ITDS using the.

Return to Top

Additional Online Teaching Resources

All Montclair faculty have access to ACUE Commons, an invaluable resource that offers practical, evidence-informed teaching tools for immediate classroom use. If you need assistance with logging in, please email support@acue.org.

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References

Pace University. (2015). Academic Continuation Plan. .

The Remote Teaching Checklist includes quick, actionable steps for communicating with students, posting a clear plan in Canvas, setting up a Zoom session if needed, and preparing online activities or assignments so your course can stay on track with minimal disruption.

Table of Contents:

• Communication
• Zoom
• Syllabus Modifications
• Prepare Online Activities and Assignments
• Collaboration Tools
• Providing Accessible Materials
• Instructional Technology Tools
• Training and Support
• Online Self-Help Documents
• Additional Online Teaching Resources

Communication

The Canvas announcements feature is an effective way to communicate with all of your students in your class. Students will receive the announcement in their Montclair Gmail as well as be able to see your announcement in your Canvas course. Learn more about

Return to Top

Zoom

Zoom is a platform for video and audio conferencing. All members of the campus community have access to Zoom “Licensed” which does not restrict the length of meetings. You will be able to via SSO using your NetID and password.

Please visit the following pages for more information:

• About Zoom

For help with Zoom, please reach out to the IT Service Desk at itservicedesk@montclair.edu or (973) 655 – 7971, option 1.

Return to Top

Syllabus Modifications

Depending on how your syllabus is prepared, you may need to make adjustments to accommodate a shift in instruction. Due dates, grading policies, and modes of communication, are examples of changes to consider. It is also advised to include a proactive statement in your syllabus that advises students what to do in the event of an unexpected shift in instruction.

Example syllabus statement:

In the event of an emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to change when necessitated by revised course delivery, semester calendar or other circumstances.�� Information about changes in this course can be obtained in the Canvas course web page or by contacting my email address: xxxx@montclair.edu or my office phone/cell xxx-xxx-xxxx.�� If the course is not able to meet face-to-face, students should immediately log onto Canvas and read any announcements and/or alternative assignments. Students are also encouraged to continue the readings and other assignments as outlined on this syllabus or subsequent syllabi (Pace University, 2015).��

Return to Top

Prepare Online Activities and Assignments

Designing your course with online-ready elements helps ensure that any unexpected interruption causes minimal disruption to teaching and learning.

Examples:

• Online Discussions

Canvas discussions provide an easy way for instructors to create and facilitate interaction amongst students. Online discussions encourage active participation from students and help replicate discourse that may occur in a face-to-face classroom. Discussions can be created as an assignment for grading purposes (which is integrated with Canvas Gradebook), or simply serve as a Q & A to answer students’ questions, or a forum for students to share information. Group discussions may be set up so that small groups of students may converse.�� Learn more about how to .

• Assignments

Canvas assignments are used to accept submissions by students, such as files, images, text, URLs, etc.�� Assignments can be created for everyone in the course or differentiated by student, section, or student groups. Learn more about how to .

• Quizzes

The Quiz tool is used to create and administer Online Quizzes and Surveys. They can be automatically graded, depending on the question type. A column in the grade book is created for each quiz where you can manually enter a grade for quizzes or exams taken on paper. Learn more about how to.

• Record and Share Lecture Videos

Panopto is an all-in-one video platform that not only provides faculty with desktop lecture recording and automatic captioning services, but also offers pedagogical features to add learning interactions within a video. It is seamlessly integrated within Canvas.

Take a look at our documentation for both the and. Students can also create Panopto recordings in their Canvas courses. For more details, please review our documentation for student use of Panopto.

Return to Top

Collaboration Tools

Canvas Groups

Canvas groups are a small version of a course and used as a collaborative tool where students can work together on group projects and assignments. Effective group work and collaboration are important to facilitate a social learning environment. Working in groups assists students in developing problem-solving, communication and critical thinking skills, and provides them opportunities to work and learn from their peers. Learn more about.

Google Drive

Google Apps for Education is a suite of communication and collaboration tools for learning anywhere, anytime, on any device. All faculty and staff have access to this suite of tools through your Montclair email address (netid@montclair.edu). Google Docs, Slides and Sheets are useful in extending the classroom to an online environment. Collaboration features include: sharing, editing, commenting, suggesting, and chatting on documents online. These may occur in real-time, during a scheduled work session, or asynchronously, at different times. Learn more about.

Return to Top

Providing Accessible Materials

The accessibility of all materials is a crucial component of any course. During an unexpected disruption, the shift to other modalities can present challenges to students’ access to course material. Make sure to review your course(s) to ensure all materials are accessible.

A good place to start is to think about the diversity of materials provided to students. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a helpful framework to guide your approach to accessibility. UDL focuses on three main components:

• Multiple Means of Representation: Learners differ in the ways they perceive and comprehend information.
• Multiple Means of Action and Expression: Learners differ in the ways they can navigate a learning environment and express what they know.
• Multiple Means of Engagement: Learners differ in the ways they can be engaged or motivated to learn.

There are a number of helpful resources to help you create accessible materials for your students. To get started, view the ITDS Designing Accessible Learning Environments webpage and the for more information.

Return to Top

Instructional Technology Tools

Some helpful instructional technology tools to consider implementing in your course include the following:

• Padlet– An online collaborative bulletin board that allows participants to interact by posting text, links, images, videos, and more.
• Social Annotation Tools- Allow students to collaboratively annotate readings with their peers using a digital text. Montclair subscribes to two social annotation tools: Perusall and Hypothes.is

For a full list of all instructional technologies, please visit our Instructional Technologies page.

Return to Top

Training and Support

• CTAI offers year-round , primarily for faculty.
• In addition, we have a self-paced Canvas course with resources and how-to guides:
  
• Our ITDS resource page contains helpful information regarding instructional design services, faculty development support, and teaching and learning strategies.
• If you would like direct support with a particular assignment or would welcome suggestions, please feel free to contact John Yi, Director of Teaching and Learning at CTAI, at yij@montclair.edu. He would be happy to assist.

Return to Top

Online Self-Help Documents

You can also reach out to the University Service Desk at x7971 for support or set up a one-on-one appointment with a member of ITDS using the.

Return to Top

Additional Online Teaching Resources

All Montclair faculty have access to ACUE Commons, an invaluable resource that offers practical, evidence-informed teaching tools for immediate classroom use. If you need assistance with logging in, please email support@acue.org.

Return to Top

References

Pace University. (2015). Academic Continuation Plan. .

Participating in this series will empower you with tools and practical strategies to:

• Streamline the course (re)design process and use instructional design frameworks to better position your students for success.
• Discover practical strategies for building a strong sense of community and collaboration in online courses through intentional engagement and meaningful interaction.
• Redesign assessments to foster deeper engagement, application of practical knowledge, and academic integrity in online courses.

This workshop series is designed for any level of experience — whether participants are relatively new to teaching online or are experienced practitioners looking to refresh their skills and discover new tools.

The 4-part workshop series will be offered online via Zoom in February, and then repeated in April. Faculty are invited to register for these sessions separately.

Schedule

Key Dates for Upcoming Term(s)

• First Day of Spring Classes: Friday, January 16, 2026
• Last Day of Spring Classes: Monday, May 4, 2026
• Spring Canvas courses will be automatically published 3 business days before the start date.
• Review the Academic Calendar for all session dates.

Please note that online programs may follow different dates!

A Checklist for Setting Up Your Canvas Course

Whether you are teaching a course for the first time or are continuing to teach an existing course, our checklist will provide you with tips for success!��

If you are teaching more than one section of a course and plan to them in Canvas, please remember to do so before adding any content to your courses. Cross-listing after content has been added can result in loss of materials and student data.

When cross-listing courses, the course information section of the Montclair Syllabus will display the details from the master course, and this portion cannot be edited. If you need to include course information for additional sections, you can add a new component to provide those details. Visit Updating the Montclair Syllabus for Cross-Listed Courses for additional information.��

Canvas Updates

Canvas releases new updates about every three weeks, and ITDS will continue to share highlights with you. You can also stay up to date anytime by visiting our Canvas Updates page, where we post the latest changes and what they mean for teaching and learning.

Canvas Integrations: For a comprehensive list of pre-installed Canvas integrations visit our Integrations page.

For more recommendations, please visit our page.

Faculty Development Opportunities

The Spring 2026 Teaching Symposium: Designing for Engagement & Excellence

Monday, January 12, 9:00am – 3:00pm

The Annual Spring Teaching Symposium is a virtual faculty development event that will look ahead toward the start of a promising new semester, while reflecting on lessons learned from the fall. It includes external speakers, faculty presentations, instructional technology workshops, and much more.

This year’s event will kick off with opening remarks by Dr. Jessica Murphy, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Success and Academic Innovation, followed by our keynote speaker Dr. Bonnie Stewart’s talk. Dr. Bonnie Stewart, Associate Professor of Online Pedagogy & Workplace Learning at the University of Windsor, is a longtime educator and digital researcher whose work in participatory learning has spanned all eras of the web!

• EOTL101: Empowering Online Teaching and Learning: Foundations for Success

EOTL101 is designed to enhance online teaching competencies. This foundational course is intended to provide faculty with an overview of online teaching and learning, applicable to both online and hybrid courses. Participants will explore strategies for creating inclusive online learning environments, the qualities of successful online instructors, and considerations for conducting effective assessments online. Standards for evaluating online courses to align with best pedagogical practices will also be shared. The cohort experience allows for a rich exchange of ideas and practices between faculty and peers across the university. This course provides a critical foundation for first-time online instructors, or for instructors hoping to tune up their online teaching practice. !

One-on-One Consultations with ITDS

• Preparing for Spring 2026 Support: To prepare for the Spring 2026 term, the ITDS team will be available for teaching support starting Tuesday, January 13 through Friday, January 23 from 10am to 3pm, excluding weekends. Support will be offered both in-person and online. In-person support will be available as walk-in assistance on the 5th floor of University Hall, no appointment needed, just stop by with your questions. For online support, please schedule an appointment via .
• ITDS Walk-In Office Hours for Faculty: We’re excited to continue the addition of our walk-in office hours designed to offer convenient, in-person support—no appointment needed!

When: Mondays, 2:00pm – 4:00pm (starting January 26)
Where: University Hall, 5th Floor

• ITDS Consultations: ITDS staff are made available year round to meet with you to discuss your course(s) and provide guidance on designing your course(s) across modalities, instructional strategies, syllabus design, teaching/learning activities, instructional technologies and more. You can set up an appointment with one of our ITDS staff via the .

Technical Support

Make sure your devices are registered on the campus network (see the Connect to Wireless page). If you need technical support, please contact the IT Service Desk or your academic technology team. You may also review information on classroom technology on the Audio-Visual Services website, check for modality, room, and other details.

Key Dates for Upcoming Term(s)

• First Day of Winter Session:��December 22, 2025
• Last Day of Winter Session:��January 14, 2026
• Review the��Academic Calendar��for all session dates.
• Winter courses are now available in Canvas and will be automatically published 3 business days before the start date.

Please note that online programs may follow different dates!

A Checklist for Setting Up Your Canvas Course

Whether you are teaching a course for the first time or are continuing to teach an existing course, our��checklist��will provide you with tips for success!

Canvas Updates

• �ճ����Montclair Syllabus, powered by Simple Syllabus, is a centralized, template-driven platform designed to help instructors efficiently create, customize, and publish interactive class syllabi. This tool ensures consistency across courses while allowing you to add personalized content to meet your teaching style and students’ needs.��Visit our Simple Syllabus webpage to learn more and get started!
• Canvas Integrations:��For a comprehensive list of pre-installed Canvas integrations visit our��Integrations���貹����.
• For more recommendations, please visit our�����貹����.

Training Opportunities

ITDS offers a variety of workshops designed to help you prepare for a successful term. Whether you’re setting up your Canvas course, refining your syllabus, or exploring new instructional tools, these sessions provide practical guidance and hands-on support.

Visit our��to view the upcoming schedule and register for a session.

One-on-One Consultations with ITDS

• ITDS Consultations:��ITDS staff are made available year round to meet with you to discuss your course(s) and provide guidance on designing your course(s) across modalities, instructional strategies, syllabus design, teaching/learning activities, instructional technologies and more. You can set up an appointment with one of our ITDS staff via the��.

Technical Support

Make sure your devices are registered on the campus network (see the��Connect to Wireless��page). If you need technical support, please contact the��IT Service Desk��or your academic technology team. You may also review information on classroom technology on the��Audio-Visual Services website, check����for modality, room, and other details.

Date: Friday, October 31

Time: 9:30 am – 1:00 pm

Where: Cole Hall, Room 340

Participants will:

• Learn foundational principles and the definition of experiential education
• Explore experiential education models
• Learn practical course/program design and implementation
• Develop assessment and evaluation.

For more information, contact the Office of Experiential Education and Career Connections at��careerconnect@montclair.edu.

Exploring the Future of Montclair Unbound

Montclair Unbound is more than an initiative; it’s a transformation of how students connect with learning. In this session,��Dr. Marc Austin, Vice Provost and Managing Director for Montclair Unbound,��will unpack the Unbound vision and its goals for course design, student flexibility, and the University’s future. Faculty will gain insights into emerging programs, future initiatives, and the evolving role of technology and pedagogy in creating a truly blended campus.