Web Conferencing Tips for Remote Teaching

The participants’ menu might not display all features or appear at all at first. For example, this menu bar from Zoom doesn’t appear unless your mouse hovers over it. I sent the developers a recommendation to make it visible by default to increase discoverability.

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As K-16 schools cancel face-to-face classes and transition to remote teaching online, many are using web conference tools for the first time. I’ve used them for a decade and would like to share some best practices. First, go through all the features and configure your settings in this new tool—this is critical because some settings automate tasks such as saving the recordings, etc. The software companies have great video tutorials and guides to help you learn how to use it. Practice with family and friends. Second, determine the purpose of using this tool and how it can best be used for teaching and learning. Third, as indicated in the image above, see what the user experience is like before hosting a live chat as the host. Then prepare technical tips and general etiquette on your first slide to ensure participants know how to interact to minimize disturbances and frustrations. Fourth, strategize how to engage participants for diversity, equity, and inclusion. The following are some basic tips that I’ll continue to update as questions and issues arise in my own current usage of web conferencing tools.

Tips for Hosts

Here’s a list of tips for hosting a live chat, lecture, or review:

• Provide a guide for students to know how to install and use the web conferencing tool.
• Provide a practice link for students to use.
• A headset is useful if you have a noisy background.
• Configure your settings in the web conference tool to provide your name, profile photo, and interactions. Use a backdrop image to obscure your background if you’re in a shared space. Use the virtual background image of upload your own.
• Prepare to handle disturbances (e.g., echo, mute participants button, remove participants, Internet disconnections). Avoid public Wi-Fi if possible, as this will make your image freeze or flutter due to low streaming capability; a direct Ethernet connection is best.
• Provide the link to your live session in your shared learning space (e.g., learning management system, school webpage for your course, etc) to direct them to the content to be discussed. You can also send it via email, as a reminder.
• For large classes, ask your teaching assistant to manage the chat box. Direct students to post their questions there to everyone. Respond to students by using the @ sign to let the student know their questions are being addressed (e.g., @Sandra). Important or difficult questions can be read aloud. There’s also a feature to ask private questions for which the protocol for responding should be thought through. You can disable private messaging.
• Use features (e.g., breakout rooms, polls, reactions, sharing links in the chat) and nontechnical strategies (e.g., pausing for questions & comments, student-led discussions, presentations or group work, & address the human—see how everyone’s doing) to provide an inclusive learning environment. Another nontechnical strategy is to use a matrix such as an Excel sheet to track your responses to students each week to ensure equity.

Tips for Participants

Here’s a list of tips to share with your students:

• Install the software in advance of your first session and practice using it.
• Prepare for the session by finding a quiet place to focus and a strong Internet connection.
• Arrive a few minutes ahead of time to minimize disruption.
• Mute your audio until your have a question or comment.
• Raise your hand to ask questions or write them in the chat box.
• [Insert your classroom rules of engagement.]
• The session may be recorded.
• Your instructor may save the text messages from the Chat box including those sent privately or shared in Breakout Rooms.

I hope you find this helpful. See my blog post on alternative formats to lectures on web-conferencing platforms. Check out Getty’s collection of free virtual background images for your web conferencing account. Please share your strategies or questions in the comment box below.

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Sandra Annette Rogers, Ph.D.