Online class guidance

Modified:2023-04-07

Due to the epidemic of the new coronavirus infection, many classes will be given remotely at the University of Tsukuba instead of in the classroom. Three years have passed since then, and although the number of face-to-face classes is scheduled to increase in FY2023, some classes will be conducted online. This page explains the procedure for taking online classes for students. The first half explains the preparations for those who are new to the information environment at the University of Tsukuba, and the second half explains how to take remote classes for everyone including current students.

Roadmap to online classes


1. Preparation

In the following, we will explain the preparation for taking online classes for newly enrolled students.

Glossary
  • ICT Guide ( Japanese / English )
    A survival guide for the university’s information environment. The following explanation will also be given with reference to the ICT Guide pages. Follow “(E)” links for English pages.
  • Unified authentication system
    A system that manages so that login names and passwords that are common to many systems can be used. The ones with “(Unified authentication)” below are used with this common login name and password.
  • Microsoft 365 Email
    Email address assigned to all students. Important contacts come here. Be sure to read it.
  • Zengaku Computer System
    A personal computer (PC) terminal and server installed in the satellite terminal room on campus that can be used by students. (Unified authentication)
  • TWINS
    System for registering to attend classes and referring to grades. (Unified authentication)
  • KdB
    Subject database. You can search for information on all classes in the school / graduate school. (No login required)
  • manaba
    A learning management system that allows you to see the course page for each registered course and is used for distributing teaching materials, contacting about courses, and submitting assignments. (Unified authentication)
  • Microsoft Products (for private use)
    Various services provided by Microsoft that can be used by students at our university. Not covered in the ICT guide. It includes Teams, which is groupware used in online classes, and Stream, which is a video distribution service. Prepare and use authentication for using Microsoft products separately from Unified Authentication.

Terminal

In order to take online classes, terminals such as personal computers (PCs), tablets, and smartphones are required.

The following is reference information for those who will acquire the device as of March 2022. However, even if all the requirements are met, we cannot guarantee that there will be no hindrance to attending online classes, so please understand and refer to them.

  • If you are going to buy a PC now, we recommend a notebook PC with a 13-inch display, which makes it easy to carry between your home and university and makes it easy to browse video classes and create documents.
  • Considering the possibility of participating in online classes and seminars that are held in real-time (rather than recording), a microphone is essential and it is advisable to have a microphone and a camera.
    If you cannot attend or view remote lectures alone in a quiet place, having a headset (with earphones and microphone functions) that can be connected to your own device should be a good idea.
  • When you come to the university, you will need a wireless LAN to connect to the campus wireless LAN. For more information, click here.
  • Please select the wired LAN function according to your home environment.
  • Since there are many choices of software, it is recommended to use Microsoft’s Windows 10, 11 or Apple’s MacOS (Students can purchase Apple products from “Apple on Campus”. For more information, click here. Students can also purchase Microsoft Surfaces computer through the “Surface PC sales program for students”. For more information, click here).
  • 8GB or more memory is strongly recommended
    CPU (Central Processing Unit) specs cannot be said unequivocally, but as a guide, choose an intermediate or higher level (Intel Core i5 11th generation or, later, AMD Ryzen 5 5th generation or higher) CPU.
  • You do not need to buy a PC with Microsoft Office or an antivirus software pre-installed, as Univ. Tsukuba students are licensed to use them without any additional fee.

Some satellite rooms (computer rooms) of the University of Tsukuba are open under the COVID19 measure. If you are unable to prepare the above terminals and communication lines, please use the satellite rooms. Please click here for the status of satellite openings.

Communication line

It is recommended to have a fixed line internet connection to your home or apartment. When taking an online class, it is necessary to download data and watch a bulky video, so a line with no communication restrictions is recommended. Please be aware that there is a possibility that the maximum number of packets may be reached in contracts such as mobile phones that have an upper limit of communication volume.

 

1.1 Unified authentication

The unified authentication system is responsible for “authentication” (work to confirm that the user is who he / she is and to use the system) so that you can use many important systems on campus. It is very important to manage the unified authentication ID (login name) and password correctly in order to protect personal information such as e-mail, class attendance and grades. Follow the steps below to understand Unified Authentication and change the initial password given at the time of enrollment to a password that you can remember.

Try
  1. Please read and understand “4.1 Unified Authentication System“(E) of the ICT Guide carefully.
  2. Please access https://account.tsukuba.ac.jp/index-e.html and change your password from the initial password distributed at the time of admission to something you can remember. The password can be set to a maximum length of 16 characters, so select a password that is 16 characters long whenever possible and difficult for others to guess.

Check item
  • What is your UTID-NAME? What is UTID-13?

 

Now you can use various systems on campus with UTID-NAME or UTID-13 and the password you set.

1.2 Microsoft 365 Email

All students are given an e-mail account. Whenever there is a message from the university, it will be sent to this address, so it is important to always check. Especially, those who have a habit of using only LINE and other SNS should be careful.
Microsoft 365 Mail is used to send and receive email. This address is also used when using Microsoft products.

Try
  1. Set up your Microsoft 365 password.
  2. Read “9. How to Use Microsoft 365 Email” (E) in the ICT Guide .
  3. Sign in to Microsoft 365 Email from https://portal.microsoftonline.com/  and create and send a test email using “Outlook”. Make sure that the destination is the email address of yourself or your family who can confirm the incoming call, and that the transmission is properly done.
  4. To ensure that you can always check incoming mail in your Microsoft 365 Mail, set it up so that you can read it on your smartphone or other information device.

Check items
  • What is your Microsoft 365 Email address?

 

Up to this point, you can read and write Microsoft 365 Email.

1.3 TWINS and KdB

TWINS is a system that manages class registration and grades. In order to take credits for classes, it is necessary to register for all courses taken during the designated period. In addition, there is a bulletin board in TWINS to post notices related to classes. KdB is a database that allows you to search for information on all classes in schools and graduate schools. You do not need to log in to browse KdB.

Try
  1. Please read the entire “ 5. TWINS Usage Guide ” (E) of the ICT Guide .
  2. Please log in to TWINS from https://twins.tsukuba.ac.jp using the unified authentication ID and password and confirm that you can see the information on the “HOME” page, notices, and academic calendar. 
  3. Please read ” 6 Browsing Syllabus Using KdB ” (E) in the ICT Guide .
  4. You can see the list of classes offered in your academic department / specialty group / degree program by accessing KdB from the button “KdB” on the TWINS menu or https://kdb.tsukuba.ac.jp. Please confirm that this is possible.
  5. Click the “Logout” button on the TWINS menu to log out of TWINS.

Check items
  • In what period do you have to register for courses that begin in the Spring A module?
  • When is the term-end examination period for subjects that end in the Spring B module? When will the grades of that subject be disclosed on TWINS?

 

Now you can login to TWINS with your unified authentication ID and password. Before registering for actual courses, please attend the orientation of the faculty / specialty group / degree program.

1.4 manaba

manaba is a type of learning management system. A Learning Management System (LMS) is a system that allows instructors and students to perform various class activities (distribution of lecture materials, submission of report assignments, attendance, etc.) via web pages (course pages) provided for each class. After completing the course registration at TWINS, students will be able to access the courses of the course they are taking. When conducting online classes, manaba will play a central role in sharing teaching materials, distributing explanation audio files, and making links to video files known.

Try
  1. Please read “7. Learning Management System (manaba) ” (E) in the ICT Guide.
  2. Access https://manaba.tsukuba.ac.jp and log in using your unified authentication ID and password. You will not be able to see the course page of the lectures until you register for the lecture on TWINS.
  3. Check the basic settings and individual settings according to “7.3. Initial Settings” in the ICT Guide. Please turn on various reminders so that you can receive Microsoft 365 Email until you get used to manaba.
  4. When using manaba to distribute materials in the orientation, a contact course will be set up before orientation．If you can find the course at your “My Page”, please check the notice and materials on the course page.

(Reference) Office for educational cloud’s  manaba page
(You can also log in to manaba from this page, but you may not be able to access it immediately after class starts due to congestion. It is recommended to access https://manaba.tsukuba.ac.jp directly.)

Check items
  • Please check how to use the “Registration Key” to join the course by yourself. By using the “registration key” distributed by the instructor, you can use manaba courses without registering for courses in TWINS. However, please be careful. In order to take the courses and earn credits, you must register for them on TWINS.

 

Now you are ready to use the learning management system, which allows you to share materials and video files for each lesson.

2. Participation

2.1 Preparation of using Microsoft products

  1. Set a password
    For details, click “Steps to use Microsoft 365 (M365)(PDF)”
    * If you have already set your password with reference to “E-mails of Zengaku Computer System“, this step is not necessary.
  2. Sign in to Microsoft 365 and prepare to take online classes
    For details, please refer to “How to sign-in Microsoft 365 and take online classes(PDF).”

2.2 Typical style of online lessons

There are three typical types of online classes that can be considered. The following describes the case where materials are distributed via manaba, but it is also possible to use another web page that is not manaba. Please follow the instruction of the teacher in charge of each class for the actual distribution method and the method of interaction with the teacher such as questions.

Material (manaba) + explanation voice (manaba)

Lecture materials such as PDF files and audio files explaining them will be distributed on manaba. Please listen while listening to the audio files while attending the materials.

Video (manaba + Stream)

It is a format where you take a lecture by watching a PowerPoint presentation or a video recording of the lesson in the classroom. If the link to access the video is announced on manaba, you can watch it by clicking on it, but the video itself is placed on a distribution server such as Microsoft Stream or YouTube.

If you want to view the video placed in Stream from manaba, sign in to M365 with @u in one tab (window) of the browser in advance, and link to the video in another tab (window) Please click to see the video. When you click the link to the video without signing in to @u, a message asking you to sign in is displayed. After signing in on another tab (window), reload the page of the link to the video. Please play it again.

When the video is played in the browser window and the display is small, you can enlarge it by pressing the “Full screen display” button on the playback screen.

Real-time online classes (Teams, Webex, Zoom)

It is a format in which lecture materials are distributed in advance and participants can participate in a class in real time at a set time. There are two methods, one is to use an electronic conference system where student participants can speak and give presentations, and the other is to watch live lectures. To participate, it is necessary to connect to the electronic conferencing system or live distribution system with a web browser or a dedicated application in advance by the method specified by the teacher.

Below is a link to pages in Japanese explaining how to join a meeting (join a class) using a typical electronic meeting system. ACCC does not provide (contract) zoom and Webex.

Microsoft Teams

Cisco Webex Meetings

Zoom

Zoom is not supported by ACCC.
If you are assigned to use zoom in a class, please contact the person in charge of the class for any questions regarding zoom.


About copyright

Generally, in order to use a copyrighted work, the permission of the right holder is required in principle. When using materials and teaching materials in class, there are exceptional cases where copyrighted materials can be used without permission, and there is a possibility that the materials and teaching materials will be distributed to students using them even in online classes. However, receiving the material does not mean that the student is allowed to further reproduce or distribute it.

In addition, the audio and video of the lesson are generally subject to copyright protection, so it is not possible to copy or distribute them beyond the range permitted for the course.

(reference)

In case of trouble