Dr. David Blades is a professor of science education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the Faculty of Education at UVic. He is a celebrated instructor of science education and shares below his advice for others new to on-line teaching and for using Zoom.

Advice for online teaching

  1. A lot of words may be unfamiliar to you—here’s some I had to learn:
    1. On-line means using digital technology to enhance your teaching or even replace face-to-face (in person) teaching. You will likely be using TWO platforms for teaching on-line (see below).
    2. A “platform” is the digital software you are using—an example would be Skype, Zoom or Brightspace.
    3. Synchronous means that groups of students or entire classes are present and on-line in some particular platform, like Skype or Zoom. Typically this has audio and video features, so you can hear and often see each other.
    4. Asynchronous means some platform where teachers can post readings, assignments, etc. that students can do on their own time. This platform is usually different than the synchronous one.
  1. There are technology-savvy people that can help you. Find out who they are and get a contact list. These people LOVE to help you!
    1. Don’t be afraid to ask even the most basic questions.
    2. Tech people talk in their own unique language and don’t even realize how exclusionary this can be. Don’t be shy to ask what an acronym means for more basic explanations. By the way, be careful of slipping into such language yourself when sharing ideas with colleagues.
  2. Figure out what platform you will be using when directly contacting students (i.e., Facetime, Zoom, Skype, Bluejeans, etc) and learn how to use this. Do this at least a month before you teach and imagine your first class.
    1. Check that your hardware actually can run these platforms! I was surprised to discover that my desktop computer was too out of date to run Zoom completely (it only sort of worked); a newer laptop worked just fine. So, check early on this.
    2. If you have used this platform as an individual citizen, you may need to “switch” to a university-based system. Check with your IT people on how to do this. I had a Zoom account for private meetings but the university has a more secure version they want you to use. I didn’t know this. So, find out and use the university one when teaching.
    3. Signing in to Zoom is not quick or even that easy. Try this all out as soon as you can and well before teaching—do a trial run as host, perhaps using support staff as members so that you can learn the process.
    4. Be sure to determine how to sign students up and your role as host in all of this.
    5. Be prepared that your students don’t know how to use this platform. Give them some advice on how to sign in and to talk one at a time. We’re back to raising hands on most platforms. Give that advice as a handout at least two weeks BEFORE your first class. Include, “how to sign in” and what to expect and most importantly, proper manners when using the platform. For example, Zoom can only handle one person speaking at a time.
    6. Know how to post videos and PowerPoints as well.
    7. Determine if you have sufficient bandwidth at home for teaching. You may have to upgrade your system if others want to use the Internet at home while you are teaching.
    8. It’s unlikely that your laptop or desktop computer has a sufficient camera or microphone for teaching. Consider buying a headset (earphones and mic) and camcorder for your laptop to enhance your presence when teaching. If you have professional expenses, you may be able to use these for this equipment.
    9. Check the lighting in your room as well; in general, you will need more light that normally found in a room (typically a bedroom used as an office has insufficient lighting for on-line teaching).
    10. When teaching on-line using video, don’t wear checks or stripes—it messes up the camera. Solid colours work best.
    11. When teaching on-line, have tea or water ready because your mouth will get dry.
    12. In your planning, allow for only 60 minutes maximum for on-line teaching—the rest of the time of your class should be activities and assignments or even discussions that can be conducted asynchronously. Research shows that students can only handle about 60 minutes at a time and remember: students usually have other classes, too.
    13. If you have students in Asia, there is a significant time delay. 08:30 in BC is 00:30 in the morning—the next day—in Japan, Korea and parts of China. Know your time delays. In some cases (like afternoon classes) the time difference is manageable. For example, suppose you have a class between 1:30 and 4:30 (a three hour class). Scheduling your class to meet on-line from 3:30 to 4:30 means that students in Asia will be meeting in the morning the next day (7:30 to 8:30 AM)—totally manageable.
  1. Thoroughly know how to use the off-line platform you will be using for posting assignments, course outline, etc. A real breakthrough for me was organizing a planning sheet into columns: week, synchronous, asynchronous, assignments given out and assignments due. You pretty well have to plan the whole course out—unlike the flexibility of face-to-face teaching.
  2. If you need to make videos, you will need to edit these and that takes a lot of time: Allow about two days for a 5-7 minute video. Figure out how to post videos on your platforms.

Using Zoom

  1. Go to the UVic website and sign in to your page.
  2. Click on “online tools”
  3. Click on “Zoom Video Conferencing”
  4. You get three choices:
    1. Join = a meeting already underway.
    2. Host = to start a meeting right away.
    3. Sign in = takes you to your account and also where you can schedule regular Zoom meetings. Click on this choice.
  5. You may get an “information release consent.” Check over that the info is correct as this identifies you as the user. I clicked “ask me if the information changes” under “Consent duration” and then click submit.
  6. You then come to a confusing page of information. On the top left is “schedule a meeting”—that’s what I used to schedule our meeting. Click on that and change the date and times as necessary. You can have a recurring meeting here, too.
    1. The profile page has some useful features, though. You can add a background when chatting, which is handy if you don’t want your students to see the background where you have your computer. There are a host of controls about student access as well—I’m still working out what these actually do.

To use Zoom once you have a meeting scheduled:

  1. First, log into Zoom and go to the Sign In page. Then on the upper left click on “Meetings”—your scheduled meeting should be listed.
  2. Click on “start” on the right-hand side of the listed meeting. That it! You’ll go through two or so windows and then the screen should be up and running.
  3. You can select a background easily—on the “video” button on the bottom set of menu options on your screen, there’s a little upwards arrow—click on that and “virtual background” provided a place to choose backgrounds. I added pictures from my photos file and used those. It does make a difference if your computer has a green background, so I switched my desktop computer to simply green.
  4. The “share screen” option worked really well! I could share a PowerPoint and even a live camera!! So, this does open possibilities. On my Mac computer, “CONTROL + COMMAND F” creates a full screen, ESC to get back.
  5. Break out rooms work; Zoom will move people automatically into rooms based on the number of rooms you create, BUT you have to tell it to “move automatically” or the people will just sit there waiting! It’s a good idea to set the time limit for these rooms.

What I’ve also discovered:

  1. Have a glass of water or tea ready.
  2. Zoom fatigue is real; I find 1.5 hours to be the limit for most.
  3. You can record your sessions for those who wish to review the lesson—it’s easy. Then you can upload the recording to Brightspace.
  4. It’s wise to go to the bathroom before your meeting! 🙂