Teaching Outside of Canvas

This page is designed to support instructional continuity during technology disruptions. It outlines alternative approaches for communicating with students, distributing course materials, and sustaining teaching and learning outside the Canvas environment. 

Teaching Resources

• Communicating with your students

  Follow this guide to either email your students from within your course roster in MyCSUSM or download your course roster (including email addresses) to email through Outlook.

  You can use a Class Team within Teams communicate with students, share resources, and collect assignment submissions. If you are leveraging Teams to work with your students, consider sending them this guide on how to set up their notifications in Teams so that they do not miss a message. 

• Meeting with your students

  You can meet with your students either in person, over Zoom, or over Teams.

  Bookings with Me is the private bookings every CSUSM instructor has access to that can be used to book appointments with students in person or virtually. Watch this video to learn more about Bookings with Me.

  Visit our Zoom help guide to learn more about setting up and managing Zoom meetings.

  Visit this Microsoft guide to learn more about meetings using Teams.

• Sharing course resources

  You can share resources with your students through email (Outlook), OneDrive, and Teams.

  You can use a Class Team within Teams to share resources, communicate with students, and collect assignment submissions.

  As an alternative to using Teams, follow this help guide to set up a folder in OneDrive to share course resources. 

• Accessing library course reserves
  Your library e-reserves are still available outside of Canvas on this site.
• Accepting submissions

  You can use email (Outlook), OneDrive, or Teams to accept file submissions from your students.

  You can use a Class Team within Teams to share resources, communicate with students, and collect assignment submissions. Follow these help guides to create a Class within Teams, add your students, and add assignments (including quizzes).

  As an alternative to Teams, follow this help guide to request files via OneDrive.

• Using Scantron for paper exams

  Course modifications should align with the current course modality.  For example, if modality is online, you should not require students to come to campus for an in-person exam.

  There is a Scantron machine located on the 2nd floor of Kellogg Library near the Technology Help Desk.

  Students can purchase Scantron forms from the campus bookstore and two vending machines on campus. You will need to purchase one form to use as your answer key.

• Communicating about grades

  Grades can be shared over campus email; however, ensure you are sending only to individual students (i.e., information should not be disclosed publicly or to anyone who is not the student) and are using students' CSUSM email addresses.

• Staying secure

  During times of technology disruption, remember to remain vigilant for phishing or suspicious communications. You can help by forwarding suspicious messages to abuse@csusm.edu. 

• Staying informed

  Refer to the CSUSM Campus Status page for all updates on technology disruptions on campus. 

  Check your campus email and watch for campus communications.