Remote Communication

Here are some tips to help everyone communicate remotely. Please review the university's Online Learning website to understand the basic framework within which our courses will operate. See also our Design Software page.

What you'll need

  • mid-level computer (see Computer Specifications)
  • Internet connection
  • access to sufficient software for your assignments

Video Conferencing

Before you begin, please read Zoom Etiquette for Students.

Zoom
Some instructors use Zoom for class meetings. For instructions, see Zoom tutorials.

Conceptboard
Some instructors may ask you to create a free Conceptboard account to share and discuss your projects.

Teams
To discuss projects with other students and with instructors, you can also use Teams, which is part of Dal's Microsoft Office 365 suite of applications. You can form groups, chat, share files, and more. It works on both laptops and phones.  

  • go to my.dal.ca, log in, and click on the waffle at the top left
  • click on Teams
  • in Teams: if you wish to download the Teams desktop app, click on the download button at the lower left corner
  • for tutorials, go to the Help menu > Microsoft Teams Help

File Storage and Sharing

OneDrive
Each Dalhousie student has 1 TB of free cloud storage on OneDrive. You can share these files with others within Dalhousie. Go to my.dal.ca, log in, and click on the waffle at the top left. See also OneDrive instructions.

WeTransfer and Dropbox
You can share files with someone outside (and inside) Dalhousie. Both are free for basic uses.

 

Updated Dec. 2025