Once you've mastered the technology, it's time to think about how to enhance the learning experience. The goal is to adapt the best practices used in the classroom to a this new modality. Think about the outcomes and identify the best techniques and technology to help achieve them!
For more information, visit the ASU Teaching Toolkits that have been collaboratively developed to provide ideas for how to address common remote teaching scenarios and questions.
Before your scheduled class meeting time, email your students with directions to your personal Zoom meeting room. Faculty need only click the link to their Zoom room in MyASU. Students need only click the ATTEND REMOTELY button in MyASU next to the course title. If you choose a different method to connect with your students than the MyASU link, please let your students know the Zoom link they will be required to use well in advance of the class start time.
Just as in a full immersion class on campus, it’s important to have procedures to get started and set expectations with your students. One strategy is to share your screen with a slide or two at the start of the class period that summarizes expectations and etiquette. You can kick off the class by going over that protocol with students prior to diving into the lesson or activity. We have provided a sample slide deck that can be accessed in your browser and then displayed to the entire course as a shared screen.
At the beginning of class, remind your students of basic Zoom etiquette:
Ask them to turn on their cameras.
Look at the camera in order to make eye contact when they’re talking.
Consider closing down your camera to conserve bandwidth if there is a lag/freeze.
Mute students’ mics when they aren’t contributing.
Ask questions in the chat.
Consider assigning students roles to help you host the session so you can focus on teaching. Roles could include:
Technology Troubleshooter - helps others with their technology
Chat Monitor - monitors the chat window for questions or shared resources
Note Taker - types closed captions for the class if there are students in need of accommodation. Getting Started with Closed Captioning (NOTE: If you have a student with a formal request for accommodations, please work with the DRC to ensure these are met.)
Note Taker’s Note Taker - shares their notes with the Note Taker so they don’t miss out on learning
Consider taking attendance in your Zoom session. The attendance records can be found in the Zoom web portal, and you can generate a report for any given meeting in your account. Reports can be run 30 minutes after the meeting has ended. If taking attendance, require students to use their real names. Advise them if they don’t use their real name they won’t receive attendance credit.
Select a Video Layout that is best suited for your class. The more students can see you and each other, the more connected they feel as a class and the more likely they are to stay on task. You can view up to 25 students at a time in Gallery view.
Record your class so that students can rewatch and review what they learned, any time. Let students know that you are recording the class. (See: Guide for Recording in Zoom)
Waiting rooms may be a solution for some instructors in certain situations such as office hours, but should be considered a more advanced solution for managing a remote classroom session as they can lead to instructor distractions at a time when the instructor is focusing on delivering instruction. (See: Waiting Room Setup.) If you opt to use a waiting room, you may want to consider disabling the notification advising the room host that attendees are waiting. Otherwise, depending on the class size, you may receive a lot of email notifications as students join the session.
Save the chat BEFORE ending the meeting or enable auto-save chat in the session settings
Leaving a meeting means you log out, but the session can continue without you
Ending a meeting means that you (the host) can instantly close the session for all participants
Zoom sessions can be disrupted by a number of different environmental or situational variables. These can include loud roommates, television on in the background, kids home from school, and other applications running on a student’s computer. Here are some strategies and suggestions for minimizing such distractions:
Ask students to mute their microphone when they are not speaking. The instructor can also mute any participant's microphone.
Ask students to turn off their video if they are not presenting. Not only will this minimize background distractions, but it will also conserve bandwidth so the student experience may be improved if they don’t have a robust internet connection.
If students, or the instructor, prefer that student video be enabled, consider using virtual backgrounds, which display the participant but mask the area behind them. NOTE: There are higher system requirements for using virtual backgrounds.
Request that students not watch videos, listen to music, or use other applications (other than note taking apps) while attending class. Doing so could not only distract the class, but lead to a degradation in computer performance that may affect the student viewer experience.
Consider disabling one-to-one chat functionality and only allowing group chat during class.
On occasion, students may display inappropriate behavior within a Zoom session. These disruptions can occur in face-to-face classroom settings, and strategies exist for remediating them. Online learning environments may lead to new situations; however, student code of conduct and behavior expectations do not change for remote teaching and learning contexts. It is recommended to review appropriate behavioral expectations for online environments with your students. Reminding students to be mindful not to disrupt the learning environment can help eliminate any distractions for your teaching and instruction.
Suggested reminders for students
You may be viewable, or heard, by the entire class during a Zoom session and should conduct yourself accordingly. Classes may be recorded.
Dress as if you are in a classroom setting.
You are still subject to the ABOR Student Code of Conduct and the University’s Technology Access Policy even though you are in a digital environment.
Strategies for faculty
Disruptive participants may be removed from a Zoom session.
Recording your Zoom sessions can help identify students of concern. Guide for Recording in Zoom.
Escalate offensive behavior to your Dean just as you would in a face-to-face class.
special thanks to all those in the ASU learning community who contributed these ideas, especially
Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.
UTO has a series highlighting stories from across the university including FSE's own Penny Dolin.
Discussions can be held over a period of time in a text-based environment like Canvas Discussions, or in real-time with a video conferencing tool such as Zoom. Both methods should have clear instructions for students on how to participate, and what you expect of them for those discussions. For a discussion board based discussion, it’s often best to give a time frame for posting (one week, for example) and let students know if you require them to respond to other students (it is common for students to be required to post once in response to a prompt, and then respond to two other students’ posts).
Discussions held over Zoom will need to be managed very differently than a discussion board activity. You will need to let them know if they should submit questions in advance, or if they will be allowed to speak during the Zoom session by using the ‘raise hand’ indicator that they’d like to turn on their mic and participate. Breakout rooms can be useful if the class size is large and you want students to be able to be more active in the session.
Consider mixing pre-recorded materials for content dissemination and live interaction focused on active learning.
FSE has a self-service studio available in BYAC to create content. The facility is available for use 24/7 after an initial walkthrough. Submit a request to gain access. A similar space will soon be available at the Poly campus.
In addition to slack, these tools are licensed by ASU and available for use:
Playposit is a interactive web-based video platform that allows educators to provide formative assessment both inside and outside the classroom. Teachers are able to embed quiz-type questions into videos on MediaAmp, Youtube, Vimeo and other popular video platforms. Data can then be analyzed on the individual or group level, providing powerful insight into educational trends in the classroom.
Yellowdig is a social learning platform, seeking to engage the community using a broad array of resources including videos, news articles, blogs and more.