When a participant in a class, meeting, or workgroup can’t physically attend the live event due to illness, disability, distance, or other limitation, there are ways to ensure that they can still participate. What you choose to do depends on the format and objectives for the event.
During the continued public health crisis, we want to take care of each other. So we encourage people who have tested positive, or who worry that they may be positive, to stay away from places where they could pass the virus to others. By offering a remote option, participants will not have to choose between attending an important event, and helping keep others safe.
In addition to the immediate risk of a pandemic, offering a remote option as a matter of course (if the curriculum allows) will also benefit groups who, before the pandemic, often struggled to attend events in-person because of permanent disability (wheelchair, fatigue, neurodiversity), temporary disability (broken ankle, flu, concussion), or other limitations (caregiving, transportation, financial). By offering a remote option without requiring a disclosure of the reason, we protect student privacy, save the instructor time, and treat students as accountable adults.
In order to confirm that students are “attending,” we can use other methods for confirming engagement. If both the in-person and remote students perform the same action (e.g. filling out a response survey, participating in a chat, or responding to short prompts in a journal), the students will know what to do if they suddenly need to be remote one class, which will also reduce the work for the instructor. If a student is not engaging in class or through the online methods, this can be addressed separately by the instructor.
Your goals and expectations for the participants will help determine the best tools and methods to use for providing remote flexible access to your class sessions.
A few suggestions that apply no matter what option you choose:
Provide written expectations for anyone who attends remotely (e.g. “if you can’t attend class live, and you connect to Zoom, you can demonstrate your engagement by …”)
Use the same Zoom URL every class and post it online for easy access (e.g. in LMS, syllabus.)
If appropriate to the content, and with the consent of the people in the room,
record sessions to Zoom for later reference (also helpful as a review for people who attend.)
Turn on captioning in Zoom. This can also help with audio & mask issues in the classroom.
Set up a “presenter” device with a camera and microphone, logged in to Zoom as host.
Set up an additional “monitor” device logged in as a guest, use it to check what participants can see and hear. Ideally, this should be monitored by an assistant or volunteer.
Use an online forum outside Zoom (in the LMS or other platform) for managing remote logistics (e.g. sharing links, asking for help, arranging groups)
In addition to the host, have someone take on the role of “stage manager” to keep an eye out for issues with the remote audience: questions in chat, technical problems, sharing links.
Include a simple activity that participants (remote and in-person) can complete to demonstrate engagement: fill out a survey, write a short response, record a thought.
A live event that is for one-way delivery of information from one or more speakers one will only need a camera and microphone focused on the speaker. The event can then be broadcast to live remote attendees and/or recorded for people who were unable to attend live, but want to catch up later.
Pre-pandemic, this technique was very valuable to students, and often used as much by students who attended the live event as by students who could not attend.
Tools & people needed:
Simplest: presenter’s laptop with built in camera and microphone. Connect to the projector or screen to show slides to the room, then share the same screen in Zoom.
Better (add to the above): a portable microphone (lavalier, airpods) for better audio. If showing objects or giving demonstrations, use a second camera or document camera.
A live event that mixes a speaker with opportunities for questions during or after the presentation needs a way for remote attendees to deliver their question to the speaker or moderator. This can be done with a text-based back channel and/or through a device in the room.
Ideally, you can have someone else take on a “stage manager” role: monitoring the back channel to bring your attention to any remote questions or contributions. If you are on your own, be clear with the remote students about when and how often you will be able to check in with them.
Tools & people needed:
Simplest: use a chat platform (Zoom or other) to share links and collect questions and comments. As presenter, keep an eye on the chat, or announce times when you will be on.
Better: Have someone other than the presenter watching the chat to respond, share posts with the room, and call attention to remote participants who wish to speak. Use collaborative documents for participants to build answers to FAQs and share links.
A live event that involves discussion, activities, and/or decision making will need additional equipment and assistance to make sure remote attendees are actively included. Depending on the number of remote participants, this can involve setting up a dedicated device for a single participant (e.g. an iPad on a tripod) or a more complex setup with larger screens to display many remote participants to the classroom.
If you manage complex activities in the classroom, it will be ideal to have one or more people in the room and/or online to help facilitate. If you have set groups over several sessions, members of the group can link to any members who are remote that day. If you have many remote participants, arrange for them to work together separately, then have the local and remote groups meet up at times during the session to compare notes. The more remote participants there are, the more likely a remote host will be helpful.
Tools & people needed:
Simplest: a portable device for displaying remote participants (e.g. iPad, laptop). Activities that are designed to be done online by both in-person and remote participants. Someone in the room to act as the proxy/buddy for online participants.
More Complex: Use a large screen on a cart or wall to display remote participants “lifesize.” For group work, use Zoom breakout rooms, create separate Zoom meetings for each, or have multi-session groups choose their own method for meeting. For large numbers of remote participants, consider a co-presenter who acts as the primary facilitator & host in Zoom.
For lists of the rooms, equipment, and software available in the College of Education to help connect remote attendees to an event, see EdTech’s Tools for Supporting Remote Attendance