💬Signs of Engagement
No matter how you structure it, you'll want to have a clear idea of how you'll be spending the time together on Zoom, knowing that it never comes off exactly as planned. Educator Alexandra Mihai reminds us, "Decide on a clear structure but also try to provide some degree of flexibility. Think of it as structured and unstructured time. Reflect on the duration and sequencing of the activities and try to ensure a degree of variety and a balance between passive and active learning" (para. 6). Look at the time you're allotting to presentation and the time you're allotting to active learning activities, and aim for a balance. If you're spending 75 minutes lecturing and leaving 15 minutes for Q&A at the end, then students will likely disengage. Hogue reminds us, " If you present too much, then students will disengage – as presentations on a computer are better done asynchronously when students can watch them when they have time to focus on the content" (para.5).
Using Zoom Breakout Rooms
Zoom breakout rooms allow smaller group interaction within the same Zoom meeting ID. Zoom will let you assign students to breakout rooms manually or automatically or you can allow students to choose which breakout they want to go to. Generally speaking, breakouts of 4-5 people tend to work well. The key for successful breakouts is providing the structure for everyone to be successful.
Tips for Successful Breakout Rooms
- Provide clear concise instructions. Post the prompt to chat and provide it visually on a slide, if screensharing.
- Share the goal of the activity with students. Tell them why you're asking them to do this group activity.
- Ask groups to work collaboratively on a document, such as a GoogleDoc, GoogleSlides, Jamboard, or Padlet. This allows you to monitor progress across all the groups
- Tell the groups you'll be visiting the breakout rooms to offer help if they need it.
- Tell the groups how much time they'll have to complete the task.
- Check out these Non-Boring Zoom Breakout Groups Links to an external site. ideas for additional ideas and resources.
- And here's another article with great tips for Managing your Zoom breakout room effectively. Links to an external site.
Mesa Colleagues' Helpful Resources
- Prof. Jason Kalchik (ENGL) uses Google Slides for Synchronous Collaborative Group Work Links to an external site.
- Prof. Kelly Spoon (MATH) gets students collaborating in real-time using Google Slides and Zoom. Links to an external site.
- Prof. Tasha Frankie (CISC) shares how she supports students using Zoom in both asynchronous and synchronous classes Links to an external site.
- Prof. Inna Kanevsky's (PSYC) guidelines for Remote Class Sessions Links to an external site.
- Here's a demo video of Katie (w/ help from her kids) using Google Slides inside of Zoom. Links to an external site.
- Here are some Google Slides templates that you can copy/paste to use with your students. Links to an external site.
Cameras On Zoom
It can be difficult to teach to a bunch of blank squares in Zoom. How do I know the students are there? Is anyone is even listening to me? The truth is, that even when the camera is turned on, you don't know that students are engaged in the class either. And there are a variety of reasons that students may be unable to enable their camera during a Zoom session. In her article, Cameras Be Damned, educator Karen Costa reminds us that "The reasons don't really matter. What matters is that we treat students as human beings, and that we focus on what we can actually control: our own teaching choices" (para. 17). Costa goes on to share several ways to do this including use of a collaborative document, asking for responses via chat or polls, and breaking up large lectures into smaller chunks of no more than 10 minutes. Using the Zoom structures we've provided above will help to break up your Zoom classes and create those spaces for engagement and interaction.
Resources for more
- Here are several practical strategies for engaging students in your Zoom sessions. Links to an external site.
- Check out the Catalyst session archive from our colleagues Prof. Kim Lacher and Gretchen Gilman: No Camera? No Problem Links to an external site.
- Our District's Recommended Practices for Recording live sessions Links to an external site.
- Karen Costa's Cameras Be Damned Links to an external site. article
Taking Attendance on Zoom
Here are instructions to find the list of participants in a Zoom session:
- Go to https://zoom.us/
- Sign in using your ConferZoom account.
- On the left column, click "Reports".
- Click "Usage".
- Adjust the date range to include the date of your class, then click "Search"
- Find the desired meeting in the list, then click on the number of participants for that meeting.
- A pop-up box with a list of participants (and the time they joined/left) will appear.
- (optional) Click "Export" to download a CSV file (open in Excel).
Notes: If you use breakout rooms, you'll get multiple listings for participants - one entry for each entry to a breakout room or the main room. Click the "Show unique users" box to combine lines. Note that this will give you the total duration (in minutes) that each user is in the meeting (whether in a breakout room or the main room). It appears that time in each room is rounded up to the nearest minute and then added, so it's possible that a user who has moved between breakout rooms gets reported to be present for more minutes than the entire meeting!
Per the website, you may need to wait 30 minutes from the end of the meeting to get the report. But in practice, it's often available sooner.
If someone changes their name after joining the session, you'll see both the original name and the name they changed to. I don't know what happens if someone changes names multiple times.
(Thanks, Tasha! For writing out these instructions!)
Tips Before Starting the Zoom Session
- Host a practice session in Zoom with family or friends to get familiar with the interface.
- Practice using video and audio, sharing your screen, typing messages in chat, and any additional features you plan on using during your class session.
- Review the Zoom Security tips Links to an external site. and locate the Security button on the Zoom menu prior to your session.
- Pre-open your browser pages in different tabs so that time is not wasted during the meeting with logging in and pages loading.
- If you'll be recording the session, locate that record button and set a reminder to hit it when you begin.
- The Live Captioning button provides automated captions to participants which can be helpful for lots of reasons. Enable Live Captioning at the start of your session.
Resources for More
There are so many resources now for successful teaching in Zoom. Here are a few:
- Our District's Recommended Practices for Recording live sessions Links to an external site.
- "I Built It But They Didn't Come: Boosting Your Zoom Session Attendance" Links to an external site. by Karen Costa
- Need to check status of Zoom? status.zoom.us Links to an external site.
Photo by Wes Hicks Links to an external site. on Unsplash 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.
Mihai, A. (2020). Let's zoom in! The Educationalist. Retrieved from https://educationalist.substack.com/p/lets-zoom-in Links to an external site.