Since most students will be on Zoom at least part of the time, wearing masks when in person and maintaining physical distance, it will be harder to create personal connections with the students.
Recommendations
- Set up a breakout room for pre-session “virtual discussions at the lectern” and assign students to the room as needed
- Change the setting on the monitor to view up to 49 participants at one time
- Require students to attend at least one virtual office hours session during the course
- When students are in breakout rooms, take the time to enter those rooms to engage with the smaller group
- Use Groups and Collaborations within Canvas to encourage student engagement with each other
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Allows you to simulate students approaching the lectern before class
- Allows you to see more faces at once
- Ensures one-on-one interactions with each of the students
- Allows interaction with smaller groups of students
- Demonstrates engagement with the students
- Creates a space for the students to interact with each other directly since the chatter outside the course room will not be an option
Cons
- Disengages the instructor from the rest of the class while in breakout room
- Harder to do in a Hybrid model
- Each face appears smaller
- Could be distracting to see 49 heads moving at once
- Harder to accomplish with larger courses
- May be hard to jump into each breakout room in a larger class