Top Hat FAQs

1. How long will my questions and responses be available through Top Hat? 

We currently don’t delete content from Top Hat, so everything that was created since Top Hat started still remains there. If needed, we can delete content upon request.

 2. Can the answers my student provide be anonymous, even to the instructor? 

You can make questions anonymous to the instructor and other student when creating questions. There’s a checkbox that says “Anonymous Question” for questions and discussions. Full disclosure though, due to the way the system is designed, someone with database access (less than 5 people at Top Hat) would be able to link the submission to the actual user. This was a concern for some instructors who require submissions to be truly anonymous so I figured I’d let you know.

3.  If a student needs to sign up for Top Hat on their own how will they get the site license benefit?

Students will go to a sign up page that will gather their information (first/last names, email, phone number) so instructors can track them. They will not be prompted for payment and will automatically get a subscription. This subscription is valid for the duration of our agreement with the University of Calgary and will apply to all students. Students can enroll in as many courses as they want. Instructor accounts will remain free.

4.  For students who had Top Hat accounts last year, will they still use the same accounts or will they have new accounts?

All existing Top Hat accounts will remain usable and will be automatically migrated to the new subscription model. Nothing has to be done from the student’s perspective!

5.  For new Top Hat accounts how are usernames and passwords assigned and communicated to students?

Usernames and passwords are created by students. Instructors do have the ability to invite student enrolment by using the Top Hat “Student Manager” feature.

NOTE: UCalgary currently does not have the Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication process in place, so instructors and students will be required to create their Top Hat accounts manually, using their @ucalgary email addresses rather than personal email accounts. Failure to do so could lead to access or grade syncing issues.