ZOOMING ALONG BEST PRACTICE STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING VIA

ZOOMING ALONG BEST PRACTICE STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING VIA ZOOM Susan Gallanis, M. S. – Assistant Director, CELT Kate Robertson, Ph. D. – Instructional Development Specialist, CELT Concordia University Wisconsin

Outline of Session and Objectives ◦ Frontloading and intentionality ◦ Engagement and attendance ◦ “Hitting Pause”: breaks for learning ◦ Time for questions and discussion Our goal for today: After today’s session, we hope you are able to: ◦ Apply some best practices for teaching via the Zoom platform 2

Frontloading and Intentionality *laying out content, materials, expectations in advance Preparing students: ◦ Will they be watching a video? Typing responses? Interacting in small groups? Preparing questions? ◦ Create an “order of the day” and share it before class or at the beginning of the session ◦ Before a lecture, video or article reading, give students specific concepts to “look for”. 3

Frontloading and Intentionality *laying out content, materials, expectations in advance Preparing content: ◦ Make materials available on Blackboard before class ◦ As class begins, open all documents for screen sharing ◦ If you want responses to be more spontaneous, have questions typed up on a separate document and share at the appropriate time. ◦ Try to avoid typing up questions/discussion prompts as the instructor during class session. 4

Frontloading and Intentionality *laying out content, materials, expectations in advance Preparing yourself: ◦ Consider being in the Zoom room 10 -15 minutes early and let students know you will be there - this is the equivalent of being in your physical classroom early for student questions and interactions ◦ Remember: not private ◦ Use this time also to double check your sound, lighting, surroundings, materials, etc. 5

PAUSE FOR QUESTIONS 6

Engagement & Attendance ◦ Communicate (verbally and in writing) the “rules of engagement” – turn taking, how to ask questions. ◦ Give students “jobs”: timekeeper, scribe, etc. ◦ In the virtual environment eye contact and facial expression are critical. 7

Engagement & Attendance Taking attendance options ◦ Do a short recording of the students with their faces in the middle of class time. Review the video after class to enter attendance in Banner. ◦ Convey a “password” at the beginning of a teaching segment then ask students to type the password in the chat at the end of the teaching segment. The chat can be saved and downloaded prior to ending the session. 8

PAUSE FOR QUESTIONS 9

“Hitting Pause: ” Breaks for learning in the Zoom environment Why are breaks important for learning? ◦ Helps students “chunk” information into meaningful parts ◦ Improves student focus and attention (less “zoning out”) ◦ Improves student retention of information (Rice, 2018) 10

“Hitting Pause: ” Breaks for learning in the Zoom environment Why are breaks important for learning? ◦ Provides opportunities for feedback/clarification (student and teacher-student) ◦ Helps students reflect on and process their learning (Rice, 2018) ◦ Memory is impacted during stressful times – give students more time to collect their thoughts during COVID stress 11

1. Starting Pause – Focuses attention ◦ Graffiti board – using the Whiteboard feature (under “Share screen”), have a picture, problem or prompt for students to respond to as they enter your Zoom room ◦ Most user-friendly for a brief (1 -2 word) response, numerical response, or simple drawing ◦ Have students also include their name in their response ◦ Try having a focus question posted in the chat or on your screen as students enter. They can think for a minutes, then write a response in the chat – also attendance shared few functions as 12

2. Mid-pause – re-focus attention ◦ “Quiz-Trade” ◦ Ask students to write a quiz question based on the material. ◦ In a small class, students could read their question to the entire group on Zoom. ◦ In a larger class, try using breakout groups for students to “quiz” each other in small groups ◦ “Virtual Turn and Talk” = “Turn and Chat” ◦ Have a “turn and talk” using the private chat pane. Prior to class, type up a list of partners. Ask students to use the chat to privately discuss as a pair. Afterward, ask some to report back. 13

3. Closing Pause – Capture learning Physical Classroom ◦ Exit Ticket ◦ Quiz ◦ Class discussion ◦ Journal Entry/written reflection or response Virtual Classroom ◦ Response to a prompt in the chat ◦ Quiz on Blackboard or a Zoom poll ◦ Class discussion with specific questions or prompts ◦ Journal Entry/written reflection or response 14

Sample Closing Pause ◦ “Complete the Sentence”: ◦ post one of the following sentence starters in the chat for students to respond to (or write one of your own!): ◦ “Today I learned…” ◦ “I’m surprised about…” ◦ “I need to think more about…” ◦ “I would like to learn more about…” ◦ “I hope I never forget that…” 15

General recommendations for “Hitting Pause” ◦ Be creative – use a variety of pausing strategies ◦ Give students a set amount of time for the pause – 2 minutes is usually enough ◦ Ensure the pauses are purposeful – linked to course learning objectives and assessments ◦ Consider student needs 16

QUESTIONS, COMMENTS & DISCUSSION 17

Closing and Reminders ◦ “Instructional Continuity” – faculty tab on the portal ◦ This session recording and any related links and documents will be posted here ◦ “Keep Learning” – landing page on the CUW main website – info for students and faculty Peace and blessings to you all ~ Susan and Kate 18