3 Ways to Win at Teaching on Zoom
Students say these things help them love learning online
As classes moved online, a student let me know in one regular class they attended the teacher did not switch the camera on — or the microphone. The entire class took place in the chatbox. I was astonished. Yet, these students were at least able to interact. Another described being muted for the entire class, unable to ask questions or talk to their peers.
“People just keep talking at me, not with me.”
For many of us, teaching online is new. We haven’t interacted with our students this way before and we haven’t had time to consider what works best and what doesn’t. Here are three ways to win at your Zoom classes, based on the voices of students about their experience over the last weeks.
1. Make online learning face to face
I think we can agree that using a microphone is necessary. But, what about the camera? We know making eye contact with our audience is important, whether we make or fake it. Students comment that they find motivation by the expressions communicated on their teachers’ faces.
“The enthusiasm on their face puts that energy into you.”
Creating an expectation that students have their camera on is equally important, and can be done while respecting those who may need more privacy. In the biology course I deliver, tutors checked in with each student at the start of class. They asked a question of each student to test if their microphone was functioning and asking them to have their camera on if possible. I have written before on how this played a key role in successfully building an online community for the course. This way, students are all engaged at the start of class and the expectations made clear. Students comment that if left to decide on their own they “feel dumb” or self-conscious if they are one of few with their camera on and, if introverts, look for any reason to switch it off.
“If the first class were one which switches on the camera, I think the trend continues until the last class.”
Students in the video below describe their experience after several weeks of Zoom classes. They talk about how they miss seeing and talking with each other and struggle to engage without seeing facial expressions and body language. With their cameras and those of their peers’ cameras turned off they get distracted or disengaged.
“I end up falling asleep as I don’t even have the camera on anyway.”
One student shared with me how their teacher usually mutes everyone’s microphones and switches off the chatbox — in a language class. A class you would expect to be packed with activities for students to talk and write in the language they are wanting to learn. In one of these classes, the teacher accidentally muted themselves and with no means to communicate to the teacher that they could not hear, the students either sat either through a silent ‘class’ or logged out. This was saddening, as one of my favourite memories of a language class was acting out a visit to the cafe, where every student had to place an order with the teacher who acted as a barista making coffee machine noises in between taking our orders, calculating change and shouting out when a virtual coffee was ready to be picked up.
“I just miss talking to people and I feel like zoom doesn’t let me do that because the default is to just lecture.”
2. Facilitate interactions
“There’s no interaction with other people and they’re not introducing any conversations — they’re just looking at us.”
Educational researcher Professor George Veletsianos, who has studied online learning for over a decade says that a good online course is interactive. These interactions should be between the teacher and the students, and between the students themselves. Interactions can include providing personalised feedback, collaborating to solve a problem, or debating an issue. He says “A good online course often becomes a social learning environment and provides opportunities for the development of a vibrant learning community.”
“If I’m just not engaged, there’s nothing happening, there’s no conversation going on, after a while, I just completely shut off.”
In the video above, students say they enjoy answering polls as it makes them feel like they are contributing. This is also useful for the teacher, who can see if the students are understanding the concept taught. It then provides the opportunity for further interactions where the teacher can ask a student who was correct to explain how they came up with the answer to the others. Including opportunities for students to teach each other is important, as this type of learning and teaching is particularly effective.
“I don’t really learn through someone just talking to me.”
3. Be real
When asked “What do you think is the most important skill for a teacher to have on Zoom” students answer simply. They just ask their teachers to show they are enthusiastic and interested in what they are teaching. To provide relevance and show why the material is relevant to them.
“Passion. I feel like when someone’s excited about talking or teaching us the content there’s a massive difference.”
Meet your students halfway. As educators we have already connected the dots, and only by asking students can we know how they experience the curriculum and our teaching. Without interactions, we have no way of knowing whether students are learning. I have written before on how being a good teacher also involves more than just helping our students to learn, it involves making learning enjoyable. We mustn’t wait until it is too late to measure this — when students have finished their assessments and completed their evaluations of us. We can just ask.
“You don’t have to guess what they’re thinking. Just invite them into a conversation. Say ‘hey, did today work?’”
At a conference I attended last year for Australian science and maths teachers, the keynote was delivered by two students. One of them, Fahad Khan, described the best teacher he had during university and the impact that had on his life. He spoke about how she always came to class like she was happy to see them and be there, and how he appreciated it when she was honest about how she was experiencing a difficult time outside class. It was these out of curriculum conversations that made the curriculum come to life, and also provided a connection.
It was clear that listening to students and having a real human connection has a huge impact on students lives.
At the end of the talk, someone from the audience asked: “What can we do if we aren’t teaching face to face?” Fahad stunned us with his reply: that that experience he’d described was with a teacher in an online course.
Student quotes used in this article are taken from the video “Zoom is the New Classroom”.