Indiana University Quick Start Guide (Educators)
This article has been designed to assist Indiana University Educators with preparing their course content, getting students enrolled in their Top Hat course, and using Top Hat inside and outside the classroom!
Table of Contents:
Enrolling Students in your Course
1.1 - Top Hat Course Creation and Syncing with Canvas
The first step in preparing for your semester is to create a Top Hat account and courses if you haven't already done so, and then establish the sync between Top Hat and Canvas. For detailed instructions on how to proceed with this, please see here: Educator: Getting Started Guide
1.2 - Content Spaces
After entering your course you will be presented with the course home page or interface. This is the web-based console from which you will primarily access your Top Hat course to create content, monitor your course roster, and track the gradebook. Please note that your course will only look similar to this once you create some content, so you will want to start building your course content right away!
Visit Educator: Content Spaces for more information
2.1 - Transitioning from Other Engagement Platforms
Top Hat is different than most of the other classroom engagement and clicker systems out there, in that it is an entire teaching platform designed to help you engage students inside and outside the classroom!
For the most seamless presentation experience, most Educators who use Top Hat choose to upload their PowerPoint or PDF slides directly into Top Hat and then create Top Hat questions and other interactive content to embed between their uploaded slides. If you have previously used classroom engagement questions that you would like to have our Content Creation team build in Top Hat, please simply follow the instructions below so we can get those created for you:
- Our general time frame for completion is at least 2 weeks and we cannot guarantee completion before that time, but will try to complete it as quickly as possible. Exceptionally large projects may take longer.
- The content for uploading must be in a copy-and-paste friendly format (Word, PDF (unless it has been scanned in), PPT, etc.).
- All questions must indicate the correct answer for proper question set-up.
- Questions must match one of our 6 question types for uploading properly. Unclear questions will usually be created as discussions instead.
- Any special instructions must be noted, including (if applicable)…
- Naming conventions
- Folder organization
- Custom grading
- Anonymity settings
- Discussion setup (anonymity and visibility of responses)
Please click here for the form in which to submit your content to be created: Top Hat Content Request Form
Alternatively, some Educators transitioning from other engagement platforms choose to use our presentation tool, a desktop application that has been designed to “float” inconspicuously over your favourite presentation software (ex. PowerPoint, Keynote, etc.). It works alongside your slides, allowing you access to both your slides and your Top Hat content or the option to ask questions on the fly using the questions already within your slides (Educator: Using the Presentation Tool > Quick Ask Questions).
2.2 - Building your Top Hat Course
If you choose, as most Educators do, to build their content directly within Top Hat, once you have a course, the next step is to start populating your course with content that you will use to engage your students. Simply click the blue "Add to course" button in the upper left-hand corner of your course screen and then select the type of content you would like to create.
A) Question
Interactive Top Hat questions allow you to break up your lectures and engage your students. No matter how large or small your class is, asking a Top Hat question will give you cumulative statistics for student responses and automatically record individual student grades. You can set a correct answer, ask a polling question, or even set the question as anonymous for those more controversial subject matters! There are a variety of different question styles available for you within Top Hat. More on creating Top Hat questions are available here: Educator: Top Hat Questions
B) Discussion
Top Hat’s discussions module is incredibly versatile, allowing you to ask students subjective and interpretive questions that may not have a simple or absolute answer, gaining real-time feedback during lectures by allowing students to seek clarification, and facilitating dialogue between students, to name just a few! More on creating Top Hat discussions is available here: Educator: Creating Discussions
C) Upload File
Top Hat's upload file feature allows you to upload your saved files to Top Hat and share them with your students. Once uploaded, files can be made available for your students to download onto their local devices. More on uploading files to Top Hat is available here: Educator: Uploading Files for Student Download
D) - Folder
Placing your Top Hat course content into folders allows you to easily organize your content by lecture, chapter, subject matter, or any other relevant category. This allows you to quickly locate and retrieve your content when you need it! A more detailed look at folders is available here: Educator: Folder Management
E) - Take Attendance
Although you can take attendance when presenting your content in class, you can also use the take attendance option to take attendance on the fly without presenting content if you would like. More on our attendance feature is available here: Educator: Taking Attendance
F) Upload Slides
Uploading your still/static PowerPoint or PDF lecture slides into Top Hat allows for seamless integration, as you can insert your Top Hat questions and discussions directly into the presentation! More on uploading your slides into Top Hat is available here: Educator: Managing Your Slides.
G) Whiteboard Sketch
Many of our Educators choose to use our annotations feature (Educator: Presenting Your Slides > Annotating) to mark up their slides, and now we have added the ability to create a blank slide to a presentation. In the list of your course content, simply click on the item immediately preceding the location where you would like to insert the blank slide, and then select the Whiteboard Sketch option. More on slides are available here: Educator: Managing Your Slides and Educator: Presenting Your Slides.
H) Pages
Top Hat Pages allows you to develop interactive digital documents with amazing functionality! Alongside your text, you can embed pictures, videos, and Top Hat questions and discussions! More on creating Top Hat pages content is available here: Educator: Creating a Pages Content Item
I) - Top Hat Test
Top Hat Test allows you to securely administer tests and quizzes in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environment, using Top Hat’s proprietary lock-out capabilities! More information on the Top Hat Test is available here: Educator: Getting Started With Top Hat Test.
3.1 - Syncing Top Hat and Canvas
If you have not already done so, before enrolling students in your Top Hat course, you will need to establish the sync between Top Hat and Canvas. The instructions on doing this are available here: Educator: Indiana University Course Set Up Guide
3.2 - Inviting Students to Join your Top Hat Course
Once you have linked your courses, your course roster will be synced from your Canvas course, into your Top Hat course. To enroll in your Top Hat course students will simply have to visit your Canvas course and click on your Top Hat Registration assignment. Upon doing so they will be prompted to create a new Top Hat account or log in if they have an existing Top Hat account. For sample syllabus language, please see here: Educator: Indiana University - Syllabus Information
Once you have populated your course and have students enrolled, all that's left is to make content available to students! There are a couple of different techniques you can use to integrate Top Hat within your lecture, and the one you choose will be dependent on your unique lecture style. Most Educators choose to upload their PowerPoint or PDF slides into Top Hat for the most seamless integration, but for Educators with very dynamic slides or those who use other software programs, our Presentation Tool may be a better option.
The following articles will also likely be useful as you prepare to present your content in the classroom:
Educator: Presenting Your Slides
Educator: Asking a Top Hat Question
Educator: Using the Presentation Tool
If, or when, the time comes for you to make content available to your students outside of the classroom this article will likely be helpful:
Educator: Assigning Content (For Use Outside of Class)
Once students have created a Top Hat account and enrolled in your Top Hat course they will be able to engage with you in the classroom, responding to questions, submitting attendance, etc., using one of three submission options.
5.1 - Web Browser (Laptop/Desktop)
Students can use our website to participate in your Top Hat courses. They simply need to login into their account and enter your course. When you ask a Top Hat question, it will open automatically on your students' computer screens. Students select or input their answers and then click Submit. They can also access any content assigned to homework or review from the Assigned tab.
Students can download and use our native Android or iOS apps by searching for 'Top Hat' in each respective app store. After installing and logging into the app with their account information, they can access all of your course content directly from their mobile device. When you ask a question, it will open automatically on the student's device's screen. They can also access content assigned to Homework or Review using mobile apps. For additional information on our mobile applications, please see here: Student: iOS App Overview (Version 5.0 and newer) or Student: Android App Overview
Students can submit answers in class using an older-generation phone by sending a text message to your course’s SMS Response phone number. Each time you activate a question, it is assigned a unique 4-digit SMS ID code. This code can be found below the answer values of any activated question on your projected screen. To submit an answer, students simply compose a text message starting with the 4- digit SMS ID code, followed by their selected answer value. Note: the space between the SMS ID code and the answer is optional. For a detailed guide on submitting SMS/text message responses, please see here: Student: SMS/Text Message Submissions
6. Attendance
Taking attendance with Top Hat is quick and easy! There are a few different ways in which to initiate an attendance session, but regardless of the journey, the outcome is the same - Top Hat will generate a random 4-digit attendance code that will be displayed only on the projected screen in your lecture hall. Students may check-in for attendance by submitting the session's attendance code in the field provided when logged into their Top Hat account using a mobile application (iOS or Android) or web browser, or by texting the attendance code to the Top Hat SMS response number. More on taking attendance is available here: Educator: Taking Attendance
Top Hat’s gradebook allows you to view and track your student's progress by logging their participation grades, correctness grades, and attendance, throughout the semester. You can also export the data in your Top Hat gradebook to an Excel spreadsheet. For a more detailed look into the Top Hat gradebook please see here: Educator: Gradebook Overview.
To pass your Top Hat gradebook data from Top Hat to your Canvas course, you simply need to click the LMS Sync button from your Top Hat course gradebook or your course settings page. This will push students' cumulative course averages from Top Hat to your Canvas grade center for easy grade reporting!
