Virtual Teaching: Advice & Strategy
Please use this space to offer advice and strategies (including tips sheets, rubrics, slide decks and other resources you’d like to share) regarding how best to teach effectively in the virtual space. Two notes:
- Use the DropBox upload and download links on the main Forum on Virtual Teaching page to share files
- Let Tim know if you’d like to create a more specific (example: by topic or course) thread than this one.
10 Responses to “Advice & Strategy”
Timothy Flood
Theomary Karamanis – theomarykaramanis@gmail.com
Theomary and some of her Cornell colleagues produced a truly excellent webinar on “Leadership through Communication: Navigating the COVID-19 Crisis” which was fascinating as an individual in the midst of these situations AND doubly fascinating from leadership comm and crisis comm perspectives. The video runs an hour, is well-worth the time and is available here https://www.ecornell.com/keynotes/view/K032020a/
Timothy Flood
Lisa Warshaw – warshawlisa@gmail.com
Lisa sent what she calls “percolating ideas. But that’s what [she loves] about Kimberly’s suggestion; she’s inviting us to share ideas.
1. Zoom: although Universities are suggesting different systems, many of us prefer zoom. An issue: if you go outside your University’s preference, you may be on your own, uploading the recording to sites such as Panopto. I’ve never uploaded an 80 minute file! A friend told me that if you start late in the evening, it will be uploaded by morning. We might want to compare notes on how long this takes, especially since students who can’t join live will expect recordings.
2. Enhancing online learning: First, Patricia, I’m happy to see you on this link! So you may know all about this, but for others, some context: Adam King worked with Patricia, and has now moved to IT at Gies School of Business (a name-change from the business school at the Univ of Illinois Urbana-Champaign- now 100% online). Gies uses zoom conference rooms that have been around for ages. What was new to me was a guy appears to participants in conference rooms and asks them how things are going. In one case, when the group wasn’t functioning well, this “guy” made a classmate apparate! (for Harry Potter fans) and join a functioning group. When I asked about this guy, Adam’s boss: Norma Scagnoli replied: “This is the “LIve Session Navigator”, a person with background in Education or ELearning, who helps the instructors in the course management as the live sessions go on.” I searched for Live Session Navigator to see if they support teaching at other Schools, but I can only find them connected to Gies.
Timothy Flood
Jim O’Rourke – jorourke@nd.edu
Jim sent a strong 1-pager, “Communicating in a Continuing Crisis” (which is available in the MCA Virtual Teaching DropBox: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1wrxbi164qwqc5a/AABV2Y8_TI04wf_EJZ2tMMnVa?dl=0 ), and please don’t forget the companion video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_tucBMrHn4
Timothy Flood
Beth O’Sullivan – betho@rice.edu
Beth forwarded some great Zoom Tips which are available in the MCA Virtual Teaching DropBox to access the file: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1wrxbi164qwqc5a/AABV2Y8_TI04wf_EJZ2tMMnVa?dl=0
Timothy Flood
JD Schramm – jschramm@stanford.edu
JD Schramm (Stanford) forwarded a parody video–which, like all good parody videos, cuts really close to reality–which he and his students made one day before Stanford went all online. Makes a great ice-breaker, stress-reliever and parody https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2xp-zNWlPs
We also have a copy in the MCA DropBox to access the file: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1wrxbi164qwqc5a/AABV2Y8_TI04wf_EJZ2tMMnVa?dl=0
Timothy Flood
April Rowsey – April_Rowsey@baylor.edu
April offered her day-one message out to students as an annotated sample for others to consider.
Check out the MCA DropBox to access the file: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1wrxbi164qwqc5a/AABV2Y8_TI04wf_EJZ2tMMnVa?dl=0
Timothy Flood
April Rowsey – April_Rowsey@baylor.edu
Several great recommendations from April:
• Recording the live sessions is a MUST. Upload/share after each live session.
• Make sure to enable closed captioning in order to meet accessibility requirements set by ADA.
• Upload/share PDFs instead of PPT files for a more mobile-friendly experience for students.
Of the tips I listed initially (below), these will be the most crucial:
o Ensure everything NEW/CHANGED is visible all in one place in your LMS (preferably on the initial/front page)
o Enable online Discussion Board “Hub” for information and answers; nothing drives students more crazy than continual mass email/LMS announcements. Drive them to this hub to routinely get answers/contribute
Timothy Flood
April Rowsey – April_Rowsey@baylor.edu
April reminds us that, in addition to the inherent challenges of the virtual space for students (and faculty!) who expected a face-to-face environment, several students who experience differences in physical and cognitive abilities, location, technological access, visual/hearing limitations, and other considerations.
Check with your university’s Accessibility or Disability Services Office for campus-specific tips
Timothy Flood
Tim Flood – Tim_Flood@unc.edu
Video conferencing (with, for example, Zoom, Teams, WebEx, NetMeeting, Adobe Connect)? Login from your computer as yourself to have full ‘participant’/’host’ abilities, and, if possible, also login (as a guest) from your SMARTPHONE. The guest access on your smartphone allows you to see what the students see and makes for a good double-check. NOTE: be sure you mute the microphone and speaker on your smartphone to avoid that feedback static of having two microphones too close to each other.
April R
This is an excellent tip!!