eLearning: Recommended Teaching Resources and Tools

The following are recommended tools for a variety of instruction scenarios.

Engineering IT offers assistance to instructors with various instructional tools. Please email engrit-help-elearning@illinois.edu for consultation.

Course Setup & Management

To host your instructional materials, please use a Learning Management System that best suits your and your department's needs.

Learning Management Systems
	Recommended
Solution	Canvas	Courses Webpage
Function	Collaborative online space for delivering course content, course materials	One stop landing page for course content and links to other tools
Features	Communication Tools Assessment Tools Interactive Tools Analytics	Website directories along with term subfolders are automatically created for each course being taught as soon as they appear in the course catalog
Notes/Resources	Canvas Support Form Getting Started with Canvas Video Guides Request a Canvas Space Canvas Checklist Grainger College of Engineering Canvas Best Practices	https://courses.grainger.illinois.edu/ Managing Course webpage

Assessment Tools

When testing your students' knowledge of your materials, consider using a digital tool for tracking, rubrics, and grading options.

Assessment Tools
Solution	Canvas	Gradescope	PrairieLearn
Function	Assessment creation within Canvas	Supports variable-length assignments and fixed-template like worksheets, quizzes, or exams	Offers a wide range of built-in widgets to accelerate question writing development
Features	Utilizes built in tools for tests and surveys Automatic grading of single-answer choices	High quality feedback may reduce the burden on students to seek help	Score adaptively based on student mastery and question difficulty Automate the submission and grading process Analyze assessment quality and student outcomes
Notes/Resources	Guide to creating assessments in Canvas Canvas Support Form	Gradescope Workshop Video (using with CBTF)	Request your course

Proctoring Tools

Currently, there is one Engineering solution to proctoring.

Proctoring
Solution	Computer-based Testing (CBTF)
Function	Computer based, proctored assessments for Grainger College of Engineering students.
Features	Utilizes PrairieLearn Online Zoom-based proctoring Facility for in-person testing Reservation-based scheduling

Engagement & Interactivity

For live discussion options, please pick one that will best suit your needs.

Discussion Tools
Solution	Zoom	Campuswire	Microsoft Teams	Slack
Function	Video conferencing for live class sessions Group discussions Office hours	Single platform for Q&A, discussions, and active learning	Video conferencing Threaded chat Instant messaging	Collaborative channels for communicating via threaded chat
Features	Breakout rooms Waiting rooms Whiteboard Polling Chat	Course communication in one place Polling Breakout rooms Queuing Screen sharing	Chat File sharing Calling Teams live events	Organize conversations Search Share files
Notes/Resources	Zoom Training for Educators UIUC Zoom Instructor Training	Getting Started Demo	Microsoft Teams UIUC Info UIUC Microsoft Teams Training	Getting started with Slack

Asynchronous Online Discussion

For asynchronous discussion options, there are a variety of options - please choose one that best suits the needs of your course.

Asynchronous Online Discussion
Solution	Canvas	Campuswire	Piazza	Microsoft Teams	Slack
Function	Post discussion questions or topics publicly	Single platform for Q&A, discussions, and active learning	Public or private Q&A Provides structure to interactions	Threaded discussions	Collaborative channels for communicating via threaded chat
Features	Multiple discussion boards in one course No need for students to be logged in at the same time	Class feed for discussion	Can be anonymous Both students and instructors can respond	Chat File sharing Discussion threads	Organize conversations Search Share files
Notes/Resources	Creating a discussion group in Canvas	Getting Started Demo Campuswire Live Session	Create a space on Piazza	Microsoft Teams UIUC Info UIUC Microsoft Teams Training	Getting started with Slack

Office Hours

If you're scheduling office hours, there are several options of hosting a virtual space to meet.

Office Hours Tools
Solutions	Zoom	Virtual Spaces	Microsoft Teams	Canvas Scheduler
Function	One on one discussions with waiting room option	Custom virtual spaces for people to gather	Scheduled discussions with chat option	Create a block of time where students can meet with you
Features	Hold small group discussions or use breakout rooms Waiting room Recurring meetings	Virtual spaces that lets multiple people hold separate conversations in parallel and walk in, out and around the conversations	Hold small group discussions or use breakout rooms Recurring meetings	Appointments display in your calendar after a student or group has reserved a time slot Appointment details are also included when you export the calendar using the Calendar feed Can include Zoom link
Notes/Resources	Configuring break out rooms Using waiting room feature	Virtual worlds options		Adding a Scheduler appointment to the course calendar

Recording Lecture Tools

There are two main options for capturing your lectures - online and in a lecture capture-enabled classroom.

Recording Lecture Tools
	Personal & Online Class Recording	Classroom Recording
Solution	Zoom	Kaltura Room Capture
Function	Video conferencing for live class sessions Live interaction between instructor and peers	Dual capture of room camera video with projected presentation content from multiple sources: e.g. resident computer, laptop, document camera (where available)
Features	Whiteboard option Accessible from many different OS platforms including mobile Canvas & Moodle integration Breakout rooms Polling In-meeting notes	Pre-schedule a semesters worth of course recordings in advance Remotely steerable camera can be set to capture in-room blackboard or whiteboard Canvas & Moodle integration Flexible media sharing options (to specific individuals, course sections, or off-campus audiences) Basic video editing capabilities Variable speed video playback Auto-captioning, with ability to edit captions
Notes/Resources	Zoom, Students, Getting Started Zoom Training for Educators Zoom Recording Guides Zoom, Usage in China Zoom Restricted Countries	Grainger College of Engineering equipped classrooms Review the Instructor Checklist Publish to MediaSpace for content sharing and management Getting Started with Kaltura How to Use Kaltura Personal Capture Kaltura Personal Capture Video Demo

Captioning Tools

If you're using videos as an instructional support tool, please ensure that there are accurate captions on the video.

Captioning Tools
Solution	Kaltura	ClassTranscribe	Zoom
Function	Automatic speech recognition tool within our campus's offering of Mediaspace/Kaltura.	Open-source, web-based platform that leverages crowd sourcing to address the problem of accurate, reliable, and fast transcriptions of college lectures.	Automatically transcribe audio of a meeting or webinar that you record to the cloud.
Features	Captions are automatically added to media in Kaltura using ASR (automatic speech recognition)	Student reviewed transcribing Searchable by captioning	Option to display the transcript text within the video itself Similar to closed caption display
Notes/Resources	Captioning Kaltura Video Guide About Kaltura Captioning Tool	More about ClassTranscribe	Using audio transcription for cloud recordings

Remote Engineering Software Access

For instructional needs that require access to software typically found in our Engineering WorkStation (EWS) labs, these are the recommended connection solutions. Support is available by submitted a help request at https://go.illinois.edu/ewshelp.

Remote Software
Solution	Citrix	FastX
Function	Remote Windows-based application access	Remote Linux-based application access
Features	Connect to Citrix from Windows or macOS Course instructors can request software Application computing needs are handled by EWS-hosted servers Includes college-wide and department specific applications	Connect to EWS Linux environment by browser-based interface or desktop client Course instructors can request software
Notes/Resources	Requires VPN Available Software	Requires VPN Guide to opening Linux applications Available Linux software modules

Keywords:

instruction TA teaching tools course management lecture capture communication assessment asynchronous synchronous faculty instructor canvas courses gradescope PrairieLearn CBTF Zoom

Doc ID:

103824

Owned by:

Anya K. in Engineering IT
Shared Services

Created:

2020-07-09

Updated:

2026-06-01

Sites:

University of Illinois Engineering IT

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