Educational Technology
Quercus Support Resources & the Academic Toolbox
Learn about the educational technology tools the University has access to.
Use our Tool Finder to see guides for the various tools in our Academic Toolbox.
The Academic Toolbox helps you...
The tools in your Quercus Academic Toolbox can assist in keeping your course content organized and easy for your students to find.
For example, you can Copy Content from a previous Course, Organize your content in Modules and Pages , make your content stand out using the Quercus Rich Content Editor, or add Videos & Pictures to your Quercus course page.
You can view these example and many others to help organize your content in the Tool Guides section.
The Quercus Academic Toolbox can assist with making connections with your students and tools to help you communicate important course information.
For example, you can utilize various online discussion tools, make online announcements, look up student enrolment lists, or engage with a student response system.
All of the tools to help you connect and communicate can be found in the Tool Guides.
Your Quercus Academic Toolbox provides tools to make it easy to keep your assessments organized and easy to collect assignments.
Your Quercus course comes already built-in with a grades management tool, which you can collect online tests and assignments, but you also have available customized assessment tools like Team Up, Quizzical and PeerScholar.
Check out these and other Tool Guides to help you assess student work and provide feedback.
The Academic Toolbox at U of T also provides multiple ways to Teach from a distance.
Webinar and online meeting tools such as Microsoft Teams Meeting and Zoom are available to assist with synchronous teaching.
Browse our listing of Tool Guides to help you Teach from a distance.
The Academic Toolbox can also assist with...
Ensuring your course is accessible is an important part of course design and delivery. Please consult some of our resources:
We also have numerous webinar recordings to assist with incorporating and embedding accessibility into your course:
- Accommodations and Accessibility in Remote/Online Teaching – View recording (October 26, 2020)
- Exploring Captioning and Transcription Tools – View recording (August 11, 2021)
- Making Learning Accessible: Accessibility Services and Accommodations – View recording (January 26, 2021)
We have the following resources to assist with Active Learning in the classroom:
- Active Learning at the University of Toronto
- Join the ALC Hub – Active Learning Classroom (ALC) Hub
- Active Learning Anywhere – webinar recording
- Active Learning Strategies for Online Teaching webinar recording
- Teaching with Technology 2.0: Improving Engagement and Collaboration with Educational Technologies – webinar recording
Resources for instructors in regards to Generative AI use at U of T:
- 10 Things You Should Know About Generative AI for Fall 2023 (Center for Teaching Support and Innovation (CTSI))
- ChatGPT and Generative AI in the Classroom FAQ (Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education (VPIUE))
- Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom (Center for Teaching Support and Innovation (CTSI))
- AI Readings: Artificial Intelligence in Teaching and Learning (Academic, Research & Collaborative (ARC) technologies group)
Access Quercus at q.utoronto.ca
Just getting started? No problem, check out the Quercus Quick Guide for guidance around getting up and running with your Quercus course as well as important administrative functions that occur in Quercus.
We have webinar recordings on various topics regarding teaching with technology.
You can also consult our information pages on the following Quercus elements:
Looking for something specific? You can search and browse all of our Teaching with Technology Resources and Tool Guides here:
Your course home page sets the tone for your course and often is the source of a student’s first impression of your course. CTSI’s asynchronous program provides you with the tools you need to build an inviting and welcoming learning environment, starting with the course home page. We anticipate this asynchronous program will take up to two hours to complete.
By the end of this online self-paced program, you will be able to:
- Describe social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence as part of the community of inquiry model
- Utilize the Rich Content Editor in Quercus to edit text and include audiovisual materials on Quercus Pages
- Create a Course Home Page that fosters social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence
Enrol in the asynchronous program – uoft.me/q-homepage
This program and others can be found on our Self-Paced Programs listing page.