🍎Add Structure to Zoom/Remote sessions

computer screen with Zoom class in session Okay, now you've got your Zoom account, and you've added your Zoom link to your Canvas course. Now, how to teach in Zoom?

What's the goal of that class session?

It's really helpful to think about what you're hoping to accomplish with each remote session of your course. A goal for a class session could be something like:

Discussion around a course topic or assigned reading
Collaboration of students in groups to construct understanding together
Providing a space for students to practice new skills and get formative feedback

Notice we didn't include "lecturing" in the list above. While delivering short (recommended 20 min at a time) chunks of content could help to support the goals above, the lecture itself wouldn't be the goal of that session. It would be one of the activities in support of the goal. Whatever the goal is, it's important to fold in structed interactive elements into your plan for each course session. Once you decide on your goal for the session, then you can think about the activities and information that students will need during that time to be successful at reaching that goal together. That's how you can plan how you'll spend those, say, 90 minutes together on Zoom.

Structuring Your Zoom Class

Once you've decided on the goal for your Zoom session, think about how you'll structure the time to meet that goal. You'll want to mix in the opportunities for interaction and active learning throughout the session. Let's say the Zoom session lasts for one hour, here are a few sample frameworks for planning that time:

Sample 60 min Zoom Structure

10 mins | Individual students retrieval practice activity
5 mins | Intro/welcome to today's session/goal
20 mins | Presentation of course topic
15 mins | Breakout into small groups
10 mins | Share out & debrief

A Possible 90 min Zoom structure

Perhaps you have a 90 minute Zoom session scheduled? Then you could use a structure similar to this:

5 mins | Intro/welcome
20 mins | Presentation of course topic - part 1
5 mins | Individual reflection activity
20 mins | Breakout into small groups
10 mins | Share with full group
15 mins | Presentation of course topic - part 2
10 mins | Breakout into small groups
5 mins | Debrief

Additional Resources for Structuring Zoom Sessions

Need more ideas? Flexible Course Run of Show Examples Links to an external site.
Template: Flexible Course Run of Show Template Links to an external site.
Startup & Shutdown Checklists Links to an external site.
Got questions about how to structure that time? Post to the Canvas Discussion or to the TT Pronto queue to ask your colleagues.
Have more Zoom session structures/ideas to share. Let's collect them in this GoogleDoc Links to an external site..

References

Costa, K. (2020). Cameras Be Damned. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cameras-damned-karen-costa Links to an external site.

Hogue, R. (2020). A model for sync sessions in the online classroom. Retrieved from https://rjhogue.name/2020/05/01/a-model-for-sync-sessions-in-the-online-classroom/ Links to an external site.

Kelly, K. (2021). Preparing faculty to teach flexible courses. Retrieved from https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/2021/09/02/preparing-faculty-to-teach-flexible-courses/ Links to an external site.

Mihai, A. (2020). Let's zoom in! The Educationalist. Retrieved from https://educationalist.substack.com/p/lets-zoom-in Links to an external site.