1. Set guidelines for Zoom etiquette and technological parameters as early as possible

   • What will your Zoom classes and office hours look like? How long will they be?

     • Students have expressed repeatedly how they appreciate 1-on-1 interaction time with professors through Zoom / phone call relative to class time on Zoom.

   • Emphasize the need to respect one another, especially due to the increased emotional and mental strain during these times.

   • Sample of Zoom classroom etiquette here.

2. Set up a good Zoom workspace with a not-too-personal background and good lighting

   • Article with tips on creating a good workspace.

3. Check in with your students at the start of the quarter, middle of the quarter, and the beginning of each class.

   • Sending out a survey to understand the challenges they face in relation to accommodations, focus, and technology, as well the various time zones they inhabit will help you design your course and decide whether or not to record your classes.

4. Online modes of assessing student engagement:

   • Zoom Polls to ask simple, short questions at key points during class.

   • Zoom Breakout Rooms for small group discussions. Students crave student-to-student interaction, and this has proven to be a very useful feature to facilitation peer connections.

     • • See how other universities have used this feature to increase student engagement here.

   • Zoom Reactions (handshake, clap) to elicit quick responses from students and break awkward digital silences.

   • Ask questions to frequently break the awkward Zoom silence.

5. Incorporate pauses so students can ask questions, make comments, and take a breath.

   • Consider breaking up long classes with interactive activities (watching a video, etc).

6. Encourage students to keep their cameras on, especially in a small class. Recognize too, however, that students sometimes are in a situation in which they cannot turn on their cameras. Be understanding, and it may be useful to gently inquire (perhaps privately via the Zoom private chat feature or after class) why they were unable turn on their cameras rather than asking them to do so. Don't use students' visible presence in a Zoom session as the only way to evaluate their engagement. Many students report that they tend to be considerably more shy on camera than in person.

1. Consider uploading all recordings of your Zoom classes, especially if your students are in different time zones. You can send out a survey at the beginning of the quarter to understand the different time zones your students inhabit.

2. Develop an active discussion space.

   • Many students tend to engage more readily in discussion spaces and have highlighted how helpful it is to have a course that includes asynchronous discussions and projects as opposed to time spent in synchronous sessions.

   • Have a space where you can post non-class related materials so that students can connect with you and each other on a more human level. (e.g., sending information about online workshops for managing stress, a "random" page where students can post encouraging notes and related news, etc.)

3. Preparing pre-recorded or pre-written information to post on your virtual workspace (Canvas Discussion Board, Kaptura Gallery, Facebook, etc.) can be a better way of assessing student engagement than frequent attendance during Zoom sessions.

4. Invest more time than you would in a traditional class making guides and preparing notes to upload to the class website for student reference.

   • This recommendation has been particularly helpful for certain faculty members who can't completely rely on their synchronous sessions to relay all the information that they would like to share.

5. Try to utilize one platform for all your course communication (like Canvas).

6. Send frequent encouraging emails and messages to help sustain class morale.