Article Intended For
Instructors using Top Hat at Penn State
Introduction
Top Hat is a student engagement system and comprehensive teaching platform that instructors can use to engage students in and outside of the classroom with interactive slides, graded questions, customized content, videos, discussions, and polls. When integrated with Canvas, instructors can also seamlessly synchronize rosters and grades. Top Hat utilizes no separate hardware but rather asks students to use their smartphones, tablets, laptops, or ordinary cell phones to participate in activities. There is no additional cost to use Top Hat for Penn State students or instructors.
Article Body
How to Use in Teaching and Learning
- Take Attendance: Secure attendance technology for accurate recording of class attendance data.
- Polls & Quizzes: Increase student participation during class with the ability to create a variety of interactive content such as polls and quizzes in Top Hat to share seamlessly through Canvas or via a web browser.
- Live Chat & Discussions: The live chat functionality integrated directly into the virtual lecture experience allows students to discuss topics and concepts with their peers, and instructors.
- Labs: Livestream your lab demonstration while launching real-time questions. Check for comprehension after lab meetings with engaging and accessible assignments.
- Integration with Canvas: Instructors can seamlessly synchronize rosters and grades.
- Learning Insights: Keep track on how students are doing in your course.
- Assignments: Create tailored assignments or upload questions for use in your course.
- Low-cost Interactive Textbooks: This feature is available for a discounted student rate.
- Features coming soon: Lecture Recordings, Virtual Classroom Streaming, and Slate Course Communications.
Top Hat Help Articles
Use the follow articles to help integrate Top Hat into your course:
- Professor: Quick Start Guide
- Professor: Creating Your Account and Courses
- Professor: Creating Additional Courses
- Professor: Setting up the Canvas Integration
- Professor: Inviting Students to Your Course
- Professor: Taking attendance
- Professor: Top Hat Questions
- Professor: Creating a Pages Content Item
- Professor: Creating Discussions
- Professor: Getting Started With Top Hat Test
- Professor: Teaching Online - Labs
- Professor: Teaching Online – Virtual Office Hours
- Professor: Uploading and managing slides
- Professor: Presenting slides
- Professor: Uploading Files for Student Download
- Professor: Folder Management
Links
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