• Instructional Strategies,  Remote Teaching

    The “What if…?”s of Live Zoom Sessions

    Interested in using Zoom for online, synchronous learning? Here are some basic ‘what-ifs’ to consider before you start using Zoom. What if a student refuses to mute themselves?  To start, tell students that you will have specific times during your live session where they will be able to speak and that they should wait to be prompted, or wait for other cues, to unmute themselves. Set the tone from the beginning of the session that there are appropriate times to share and other times to not. If this is repeatedly a concern, you can use the Host Tools (Shield Icon) in the meeting controls to secure the meeting and minimize…

  • Instructional Strategies,  Remote Teaching

    Remote Breakout Rooms – Facilitating Small Group Discussions and Interactions with Zoom

    The move to remote learning has created challenges for actively engaging students in our classes.  A simple think-pair-share activity now requires extensive descriptions of who is partnered with whom, how will you communicate, and how much time do you have – not to mention how to use the available technology to complete the activity.  The truth is – facilitating learning activities and interactions remotely is different, but with some planning still provides our learners with valuable opportunities to engage, think, create and do – to practice and improve the things you want them to learn. If you are considering delivering any part of your class synchronously – consider actively engaging your…