IDL Resources Guide: Educational Technology
IDL supports teaching and learning by helping faculty and students make effective use of digital tools, instructional technologies, and the learning management system.
iThenticate
iThenticate supports academic integrity by allowing faculty to submit theses and dissertations for citation review. It generates reports with visual indicators that highlight potential citation issues. It is a licensed program that is available only to faculty and some administrators and staff.
Please note: Staff of IDL will need to set up an account for you before you can get started. Please Submit a Ticket.
After your account is registered by IDL Staff, you will receive a welcome email with more information about setting up your account.
Key Points about iThenticate Report Processing
iThenticate reports can take up to 24 hours to generate, depending on the size of the submission and overall system demand, including submissions from outside the university.
After you upload a document, the iThenticate homepage will display the submission status as it progresses through the following stages:
- Saving: the document is added to your account so matches can be identified
- Extracting: text is pulled from the document to prepare for comparison
- Processing: the system searches for matching content
- Complete: a similarity percentage appears. Click this percentage to view the report
Please note: only one document per account can be processed at a time. If you upload a new document while another is processing, the first submission will move to a pending status until the newer upload is complete.
Resources from the Graduate School
For additional information about iThenticate, please refer to the documentation provided by the Graduate School, which can be found at: iThenticate (for Faculty Only)
Panopto
Panopto is a video hosting platform that allows faculty and students to create and upload media captures and share them securely. It has an online editor, a robust Audio Speech to Text generator, built-in captioning editor, and many more features. For additional guidance, the Panopto Support site offers a wide range of how-to articles and video tutorials or Submit a Ticket.
How to Get Started
- Faculty can activate/access Panopto from within their D2L course by using the “Existing Activities” tool and then inserting the “Panopto Video” LTI Link. Please visit Panopto’s Support site for more information on How to Add Panopto to your Brightspace Course.
- Or, directly access ETAMU’s institutional instance here: https://tamuc.hosted.panopto.com/
- After logging in, you will see a green “Create” button at the top, left corner of the screen (labeled as “1.” below).
- Click this button and an option menu will open (labeled as “2.” below).
- To embed a video in your course content, use the “Insert Stuff” menu in D2L’s content editor. Scroll down to the bottom of the menu, and you will see the “Panopto Embed” and “Panopto Student Submission”.
Qualtrics
Qualtrics is a university-licensed survey tool available to all users. You can access it at: https://qualtrics.etamu.edu/.
Faculty should log in using their Active Directory credentials (LastnameFirstname). Students should use the same credentials they use to access the myLeo portal. Be sure to always sign in with the same credentials to avoid creating multiple Qualtrics accounts.
Qualtrics Customer Success Hub
The Qualtrics Customer Success Hub offers guides, tutorials, and best practices to help you create, distribute, and analyze surveys effectively. It's a great resource for learning new features, troubleshooting issues, and getting the most out of Qualtrics.
To access the Customer Success Hub:
- Click on the “Switcher” menu in the top, right corner of the Qualtrics homepage
- Click on “Customer Success Hub”
- Log in with your SSO credentials, make sure that “tamuc” is entered as the company’s Organization ID
- This will open the Customer Success Hub homepage, click on the option that best fits your role at the university (undergraduate student, graduate student, or faculty/staff)
- If new to Qualtrics, choose the onboarding modules to learn how to get started
Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor
Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor are tools used to help maintain academic integrity during online exams.
What is LockDown Browser?
Respondus LockDown Browser is a secure, custom web browser that restricts what students can do while taking an online exam. When using LockDown Browser, students cannot:
- Open other applications or websites
- Copy, print, or take screenshots
- Use keyboard shortcuts or right-click menus
- Exit the exam until it is submitted
The exam runs full-screen, and standard system controls and features are disabled to create a controlled testing environment.
What is Respondus Monitor?
Respondus Monitor is an optional add-on that works with LockDown Browser to provide automated online proctoring. If enabled, it:
- Uses a student's webcam (and sometimes screen recording) during the exam
- Records the testing session for later review
- Allows instructors to review flagged or suspicious activities
Respondus Monitor serves as both a deterrent and a review tool for maintaining exam integrity.
What Students Should Expect
- Students must install LockDown Browser before taking a required exam
- Exams open only within LockDown Browser, not standard browsers
- If Respondus Monitor is required, students will complete a brief setup (e.g., webcam check) before starting the exam
- Instructors may review recordings after the exam is complete
Resources
For training webinars, Getting Started videos, resources for instructors and students, and technical requirements, please visit the Respondus Training Resources webpage.
For FAQs, please see the Rapid Rollout for Instructors webpage.
Instructor Quick Start Guide for Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor
Respondus
Respondus is a tool for creating and managing exams that can be printed or published directly to D2L. Exams can be created offline using familiar Windows programs, such as Microsoft Word, and then imported into Respondus for upload to D2L. Whether you are experienced with online testing or new to it, Respondus can save you significant time when building and managing exams.
To get Respondus installed on your computer, please Submit a Ticket.
Please note: installing Respondus can take 2–4 business days. Please notify IDL in advance to ensure the software is installed and working properly before you need it.
If you're using Respondus and would like a refresher or need access to the user guide, please visit the Respondus Resources page, which also includes a Quick Start Guide and video tutorials.
Top Hat
Top Hat is an interactive teaching platform and e-text tool that helps instructors engage students in and out of the classroom. You can create interactive slides, graded questions, discussions, polls, videos, and more. Students participate using their own web-enabled devices. Top Hat also integrates with D2L for easy roster and gradebook syncing.
If you're using a Top Hat eText, the cost of the eText includes full access to all Top Hat features for students.
If you're not using a Top Hat eText, and you want to use Top Hat's interactive tools, your department will need to cover the per-student licensing cost.
Top Hat is priced per student for a set access period, and we've secured preferred pricing for ETAMU students:
- 4 months $29
- 1-year $46
- 4-years $93
How to Get Access to Top Hat
Contact Alexa Hefner, ETAMU’s Top Hat educational technology consultant, at:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 817.734.5910
Turnitin
Turnitin helps instructors identify improper citation and potential plagiarism by comparing student work against continuously updated databases. Each Turnitin report also provides an opportunity to teach proper citation practices and support academic integrity.
Turnitin is integrated with the myLeo Online (D2L Brightspace) learning management system, and instructors at East Texas A&M University may choose to use this tool in their courses.
How to Use Turnitin
Please note:To use Turnitin, it must be enabled within an assignment folder in D2L. Turnitin is available only through D2L assignment folders.
- When creating or editing an assignment, click on the caret beside “Evaluation & Feedback”
- click on “Manage Turnitin” (see screenshot below).
- This opens a pop-up window, check “Enable Similarity Report for this folder”
- Check “Enable Online Grading for this folder”
- Leave defaults or select other options, then click “Save”
For more information, please see Assignments and Turnitin in the D2L knowledge base or Submit a Ticket.
Zoom
All ETAMU employees have access to a Zoom account. If you haven’t set yours up yet, please go to https://tamuc.zoom.us and click on “Sign in”, this will take you to the SSO login page. The CITE Support Center has more detailed instructions on their Zoom Account webpage.