Tag Archives: curriculum design

TMM 13: Synchronous Teaching – Student Engagement

How do you engage students in a Zoom session when everyone has their cameras off?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNlFLHSsRkE

Seven ideas: 

  1. Pre-class music, prompt, and/or puzzle: Share your screen (and your sound) to play music as students enter, and put up a prompt or a puzzle on the screen. It can be as silly as “Is a taco a sandwich?” 
  2. Zoom polls: Set these up on your account prior to class. 
  3. Zoom chat: Make sure to set guidelines. What can students use the chat for? 
  4. 321Go! or Zoom Waterfall: Ask a question. Have students type their answers in the chat, but DON’T press enter until you say “321Go!” 
  5. Chat check-ins: Ask students to give one-word responses
  6. Zoom reactions: Teach students how to use Zoom reactions and then use them to signify specific things 
  7. Digital whiteboard/document: Have an editable Google document/slide/jamboard, or another free online option like Padlet or Miro accessible for students to engage with during class. 

TMM 6: Interactive Lessons w/ Google Slides

April 12, 2021

This week’s TMM episode does not include a video, but rather a step-by-step presentation on using Google Slides to make your lesson content more engaging. 

Link to Google Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1c86o_RITR5HCCHJsbbJTR4WOaPbLUJUch8_D5BxaV50/preview 

Please add your own ideas for lesson presentation on the Open Space doc.

Referenced In These Slides: 

Creating A Google Slides Room:

  1. Choose a background. Use the image search feature in Google slides, or upload your own image. Remember: You can’t add alt text to backgrounds, so don’t include anything pertinent to the lesson!
  2. Add transparent images. Use the term “transparent” or “png” in your searches to find images without backgrounds/borders, or use remove.bg.
  3. Insert hyperlinks. You’ve ideally decided on lesson material *before* this step. Now add necessary links to your “room.” Tip: For easier clicking, insert a transparent shape (& transparent border) over the area you want students to click, then embed your hyperlink on the shape.
  4. Launch the room! Click “Share,” change the parameters to “anyone with the link can view,” copy the URL, then replace the word “view” or “edit” with “preview” in the URL. This will automatically open the slide in presentation mode, making it more engaging.

Using Google Forms:

  1. Create a theme: Make a regular form more exciting by giving it a theme. Add images (with descriptions) and text that will support the narrative you create.
  2. Use sections: Use chunking by splitting the form into different sections
  3. Collect responses: You can download responses as a spreadsheet, or just read through them on the form itself. 

TMM 2: Course Navigation

March 28, 2021

In this video, consider the roadmap you’ve provided for your students. Are there clear descriptions of each sidebar tab, and a layout of what students need to do for their weekly routine? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYKDqbD4bkM

Video: https://youtu.be/UYKDqbD4bkM 

 

Please add your own ideas for providing clear course navigation in the Open Space doc.

Ideas Mentioned in Video: 

  • Pin a “Quick Start Guide” in an easy-to-access place that students visit often (such as the course landing page). 
  • Students may get overwhelmed when presented with too much information at once. Use the “Adaptive Release” feature on Blackboard so that not all information is available up front. 
  • If you use Google Docs for your syllabus, use a black highlighter to cover information that isn’t relevant this early in the semester. This allows students who do like to know everything up front to check what’s coming by highlighting over it, while those who are overwhelmed by too much information don’t need to access it yet. 
  • Think of your course like you would if you wanted someone to bake muffins or travel to a destination. What information do they need? 

Quick Start Guide ideas: 

The screenshot below is from a template I created for professors.
***I realize a screenshot is not fully accessible; if anyone reading this would like access to the entire Blackboard course template, email me at Carolyn.Stallard@guttman.cuny.edu***

Another example: Here is one version I’ve used for my courses. I also use a sort of delayed “quick start” video that I post after students have a handle on how the course functions, as a reminder. I send this video out at the end of Week 3, after all information on the syllabus has been un-blackened. Take this with a grain of salt, since my courses are set up in a kind of atypical manner.