Given the remote teaching environment, we know this term is going to look and feel different for everyone. To provide the best teaching and learning experiences possible, many faculty are reimagining the way they deliver their courses: incorporating pre-recorded content, designing new activities to keep students engaged over Zoom, and trying new forms of assessments. Just as this shift has required faculty to rethink the way they teach, it also means that students need to rethink how they learn. Below are some suggestions to help your students transition into this new modality.
Explain the “Why” of Your Class Format
You have reasons for why you’ve included certain readings, assignments, or projects in your course and have thoughtfully crafted the flow of your class. Even though it makes clear sense to you, it isn’t always as obvious to your students. It can be very helpful to walk your students through your course and explain why you’ve structured the course the way you have. A typical first day of class generally includes a review of the syllabus, or the “how” of your class. Explaining the “why” can go a long way to reducing student confusion and getting their buy-in on your class format.
- Why are you holding (or not holding) synchronous sessions? What will your students get out of synchronous time with you that is different from the rest of the asynchronous materials you’ve prepared for them?
- For example, your class was previously 3 hours long when held in-person. Now you’ve decided to hold only 2 hours of synchronous meetings each week with 1 hour of additional asynchronous material (pre-recorded lectures and online discussion boards). Students might feel that they are being slighted with less class time, but explain to students that this model was not designed to just limit their face-time with the instructor, but to instead make that time more productive and interactive, address issues around Zoom-fatigue, and help accommodate students who cannot join live due to connectivity, illness, etc.
- Why did you choose particular formats for group projects or major assessments? Without the experience and knowledge in your field, students may not understand the value of your authentic assessment without explanation.
You may have made certain decisions to help improve the way the class flows in a remote environment – don’t be afraid to tell your students why you’ve made these decisions.
Set Expectations and Norms for Student Interaction
Students are taking many different courses during the quarter and each class is different. Setting expectations for how you want students to interact during class can help alleviate the awkward Zoom silence and keep your students from losing motivation.
Examples could be:
-
“I’ll pause frequently during class to ask if there are any questions. I won’t be able to see the chat until pausing, so if you have a question, please unmute yourself when I pause for questions.”
-
“We’re a relatively small class, so if you have a question, feel free to unmute yourself and interrupt me and ask your question.”
-
“I’m reserving the first 3 minutes of breakout groups for informal discussion to help you get to know your classmates. When you go to your breakout groups, ask your classmates, ‘What TV shows or movies have you been watching recently and what do you like about them?'”
- “If my internet access or computer goes down during the session, please wait for an email from either me or the TA with information on how we will be proceeding.”
Check in with Your Students and Get Feedback
Feedback from end-of-term CTECs can come too late for you to be able to make meaningful changes in your course. These days, it is even more important to check in with your students to see how they are feeling about the class and the workload and find out what questions they have.
- Check-ins can be as simple as a short text assignment or quiz in Canvas using the Start-Stop-Continue framework.
- Have students use the chat feature in Zoom or the discussion board in Zoom to share areas of confusion or outstanding questions.
- Check out additional resources available for Northwestern instructors from the Searle Center.
- Explore student activity with the NU Canvas Dashboard for visualizations on student activity around submissions and files.