
Cougar Courses supports academic teaching and learning with the ability to communicate with your students, deliver course materials, link to online resources, collect student assignments and quizzes, facilitate discussion, and track grades at https://cc.csusm.edu. Additional resources outside Cougar Courses are available for office hours, recording microlectures, and developing lecture materials and can be linked in Cougar Courses.
As a majority of businesses around the world have moved to working virtually, there
have been a massive increase in attacks on Zoom, often referred to as "Zoom bombing". Review information on how to "Secure Zoom Meetings" from our Information Security Team.
We are often asked if classroom recordings with student discussion can be used in future courses. The Chancellor's Office has provided guidance on this topic and others in the CSU Virtual Learning and Student Privacy Rights document - April 9, 2020 (attached).
Topic | Description | How To |
---|---|---|
Announcements | Send a message to all students. A copy is posted immediately in the Announcements forum & sent to their CSUSM email at the top of the hour. | Post an announcement |
Messaging | Send quick message to one or more students. It is sent immediately. | Send a Message |
Zoom | Office hours, Q&A session, audio & video, test preparation/review |
Instead of emailing materials to your students, upload them to Cougar Courses. Students can easily access the materials without searching their email and choose an alternate format (if necessary) using Blackboard Ally. You can upload files and add links. The links can be on the Internet, library resources, and/or documents created in Office 365 or Google Drive.
Type of Material | How To |
---|---|
PDF, Word, Excel, etc | Upload a file |
Online resources | Add a URL |
Creative method to create your own whiteboard to record on paper or a dry erase board.
Create and share rich and interactive web content specially designed for use in e-learning with H5P. H5P is integrated in Cougar Courses as an activity. View the examples and get started today.
There are several assignment types integrated in Cougar Courses. The regular assignment, Turnitin, and PoodLL. The guide "Which assignment type and options suit your purpose?" will help you choose which one to use.
Students can complete quizzes/exams online and the grade goes into the gradebook. There are a variety of question types to choose from including multiple choice, essay, and matching. If you are worried about academic integrity, use the Respondus LockDown Browser (RLB) and Monitor. The RLB prevents students from using the computer to find answers to questions but doesn't prevent them from using a phone, friend, or separate computer. RLB and Monitor records students while they are taking the quiz/exam for review later (if necessary). You can also use Zoom to proctor the exams similar to what you would do in the classroom. The students would need a webcam to watch them all in gallery mode.
NOTE: Students cannot use Chromebooks with Respondus LockDown Browser. Please ask your students what technology they have available.
Respondus LockDown Browser is a locked browser used specifically for taking online quizzes in Cougar Courses.
It prevents students from printing, copying, going to another URL, or accessing other
applications (like Word) during a quiz. If a quiz requires that LockDown Browser be
used, students will not be able to take the quiz with a standard web browser. There
is also the additional option of Respondus Monitor, which uses a student's webcam
to record them while they take the quiz/exam. These videos are then viewable by the
instructor through the Respondus LockDown Browser Dashboard. Automated video analysis
automatically flags any suspicious behavior in these videos and prioritizes them for
review. You should create a practice quiz in your course for your students to test
their configuration. They want to access the practice quiz each time prior to taking
an actual quiz/exam.
Some students may not have access to a computer with a webcam and may not have access to an external webcam. Instructors may elect to use Zoom to proctor those students themselves.
ProctorU is a live proctor that is not taking new clients and is very expensive (~$18 per student/per quiz or exam).
Create a "Student Space" Zoom recurring meeting for your students to meet and chat without you. This will give them easy access to peers to study with and ask questions as well as chat with like they would in class.
Create the meeting with the password and post the link & password in Cougar Courses.
Students working in groups can use Zoom for live meetings and recording their presentation. They can use a Forum to facilitate an asynchronous discussion with the group members and the instructor. Using Office 365 or Google programs, they can outline and write a paper and create a presentation. The guide "Group Work and Roles" provides a framework for successful student projects. Students can submit their final project to an assignment or forum. Forums can be peer reviewed.
Cougar Courses has a number of reports available to provide insight into your student use of Cougar Courses. These reports will enable you to provide support and interventions.
All students and faculty can download the Office Suite and Adobe Creative Cloud. Additional software can be accessed through CougarApps. The list of available software is CougarApps is available on our Software Page.
You may be contacted by a student who receives services through Disability Support Services or a student who needs an accommodation due to sickness or other personal reason.
Students need materials in HTML, PDF, ePub, and audio formats.
Our instructors have put together these examples to help you during your planning and transition. If you have examples you would like to share, please email them to cchelp@csusm.edu We will get them posted as soon as we can.
Teams allows for instant text messaging, voice and video calling, file storing, sharing, and collaborative editing, instant translation, and more with every faculty, staff, or student on campus.