A Virtual Class is a Real Class
Teaching and learning online took us by surprise in March or 2020. And at first we thought we’d done well merely by surviving a Zoom class. That’s not fair to our students. They may not be able to articulate what was missing in our online class, but they’ll know it was not up to our standards for face-to-face instruction.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Most of the elements of a good face-to-face class can be carried over to its virtual version.
The two articles below are a good starting point, and we welcome your suggestions for other resources!
Online Instruction – Best Practices
Osher NRC Report on Distance Learning Research
With those as your guide to overall class design, let’s look at the tools you’ll use to create that class in an online environment. You don’t have to read everything here. Start with what is most relevant to you now, and explore further when your needs change.
Blue titles are Web links. Red titles are PDF documents. Green titles are PowerPoint presentations or spreadsheets.
Zoom–The Basics
- OLLI’s Basic Guide to Zoom (Read this first!)
- OLLI-USF List of Zoom Training Videos
- Jeanne Dyer’s Zoom Tutorials for OLLI Instructors
- Jeanne Dyer’s Practical Tips For Teaching on Zoom
- Zoom Overview for OLLI Instructors – PowerPoint (You will be prompted to download)
- Brief and Useful Zoom Tutorials (Created by Zoom. Browse to the bottom of the page for a complete list of what they offer)
- Update Zoom on your Device
Zoom–Intermediate Skills
Zoom–Advanced Skills
- How to Create a Professional Looking Class at Home
- Do this at the start of every class
- Breakout Rooms Handout (Diane White)
- Using Breakout Rooms in Zoom
- Tips for Using Videos in Zoom (Bruce Gobioff)
- How to Schedule a Zoom Meeting from a Chrome Browser
- Using the Zoom Whiteboard on an iPad
- How to Use Zoom on a Chromebook
- OLLI Zoom Class Moderator Responsibilities
- Presenting PowerPoint in a Zoom Window
- Prepare Your Mac to Run Keynote in Zoom
- Running A Keynote Presentation in Zoom (Bruce Gobioff)
- Teaching on Zoom with Keynote
- Bring your Own Teleprompter
- Bring Your Own Teleprompter Alternative
- End “Glasses Glare” in Zoom meetings
- Retrieve and Share a Zoom Cloud Recording
- How to Use Zoom on a Chromebook
And speaking of PowerPoint…
- PowerPoint is–for good or ill–even more important in a Zoom class than it was in a face-to-face class. Which really means that good PowerPoint presentations are important in a Zoom class. So we’ve created an entire page to help you create the best PowerPoint presentations possible. And you owe your students nothing less.
Back to Resource List
I just used the breakout rooms feature. It was relatively easy and really worked well. I teach Italian . I divided my students into three groups. Each group’s assignment was to devise a conversation around a dining room table. They were then sent to 3 separate breakout rooms. Each group had 5 minutes to come up with a scenario. I let tnem know when they had one minute left. At the designated time I reunited everyone. Each group then presented the conversation to the whole.
I’m hot sure where else this might be helpful, but it’s something to think about. This was actually an improvement over a live class!