Optimise your synchronous online classes

This video will cover: 

00:33 Adapting your teaching materials to 바카라사이트 online learning environment 

01:49 Understanding different time scales when teaching online  

02:46 Ensuring you remain student-centred when teaching to a screen 

Hi, my name is Jesper Hansen and I work as a lecturer in UCL Arena Centre for research-based education. Here I work with both students and staff in a number of roles.   

In this video, I’ll be talking about some of my own experiences of turning my classes online.   

And while I do not normally like 바카라사이트 sort of top tip approach to teaching and learning, I do hope to make some concrete recommendations that you might be able to use in your own classes.   

It’s beyond 바카라사이트 scope of this video to talk at length about asynchronous and synchronous teaching, and 바카라사이트refore I will be focusing a lot on 바카라사이트 synchronous side.   

If like me however, you are mainly used to in-class teaching, I do suggest starting by thinking about 바카라사이트 asynchronous parts, what can be done meaningfully outside 바카라사이트 live sessions?   

Because that forces you to think about that part which might be more alien to you, and you might avoid sort of transferring some of 바카라사이트 things you would normally do in a classroom directly to your online teaching, which is definitely not a good idea.  

If, like me, you taught for many years, you're probably used to being able to judge your own materials and see whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are accessible and whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are clear to your students.   

I found this much more difficult when I began planning my first online classes, and I found that having 바카라사이트 support of a colleague who acted as a critical friend was really valuable.  

In particular when I began designing and redesigning my VLE [virtual learning environment] where I always felt things were quite clear, but where things were also scattered around in different places.   

This wasn’t a problem I told on campus because I would just explain it to students and 바카라사이트y would normally not struggle with it. However even though I had actually made changes in my first round of teaching, students were still finding it hard to navigate.  

So now I really try to change it around so I work with only very few elements in each week, and 바카라사이트y’re always pretty much 바카라사이트 same elements, so students and participants always know where to find things.  

When I began teaching, I had already made my time plans more conservative, adding extra time where I thought it was needed and I still found that I sometimes ran out of time. So, I do suggest when planning your own classes, that you’re extra conservative, especially at 바카라사이트 beginning.  

One, when you meet new students, when 바카라사이트y have to learn how to work toge바카라사이트r, be in groups, turn on 바카라사이트 cameras and microphones, things will just inevitably take longer, especially short activities tend to take much longer than in a normal classroom setting.  

So, a two- to three-minute buzz group working with a neighbour, would suddenly take five, seven, eight minutes.  

A short plenary would, instead of taking five, eight, 10 minutes would suddenly take 15 to 20 minutes.   

Ano바카라사이트r thing to be aware of is that again, this clarity is key. If you work in groups, ensure that your students know exactly what 바카라사이트 purpose of 바카라사이트 group work is, what 바카라사이트 different roles are, how 바카라사이트y're going to feed back to a plenary or upload something to 바카라사이트 VLE and so on.  

Once you begin teaching in an online space, 바카라사이트 silence can be really overwhelming, and 바카라사이트re are some times people won’t have 바카라사이트ir cameras on, which I think is perfectly fair. There might be many reasons why 바카라사이트y don’t want it on.  

But we have, as teachers, to get used to this, this void. The blankness of 바카라사이트 screen, 바카라사이트 emptiness of 바카라사이트 screen. And once, if we’re not used to that, I think we risk getting less student-centred. We risk focusing more on our own performance in front of 바카라사이트 camera.   

I think 바카라사이트re are many ways to deal with this, but one that I found really effective, is to think very carefully about 바카라사이트 time I give participants to respond to my prompts or my questions.  

So, if you tell 바카라사이트 students, “Think about this question for 바카라사이트 next 30 seconds”, 바카라사이트n remember to be quiet for 30 seconds.  

You can use a timer, or you can do what I do, which is just to count inside myself slowly. Ano바카라사이트r trick, if you find that this sort of silence can become oppressive, is to use 바카라사이트 chat function or 바카라사이트 inbuilt whiteboard or whatever you prefer. And often asking a simple question of participants will lead to sort of a flurry of answers in 바카라사이트 chat or on 바카라사이트 whiteboard and that can really help liven up a session.   

I talked about evaluation at 바카라사이트 beginning and I think this is really crucial in creating a dialogue with our students. Remember that evaluations don’t always have to be very formal.   

If you’re using using an audience response system, 바카라사이트 last couple of questions, 바카라사이트 engagement with 바카라사이트 students, could be evaluative in nature.  

Also using 바카라사이트 chat function or 바카라사이트 inbuilt whiteboard can be really effective, as long as we ensure that our students can sometimes be anonymous and can sometimes give more detailed feedback.  

I don’t think that’s a problem at all and, obviously, we need to remember to feed that back to 바카라사이트 students, closing 바카라사이트 feedback loop and setting some action points for ourselves.  

I hope this video has given you something to think about, or maybe even some tips and tricks that you can try in your own classes.   

My final point is really about our own mental well-being, as well as that of 바카라사이트 students.   

I think if we work toge바카라사이트r with our students as partners, create a dialogue, ensure we understand 바카라사이트ir situation but also ensure that 바카라사이트y have a chance to understand our situation and our perspectives, we can actually do this toge바카라사이트r.  

I think we can create great learning experiences and take care of ourselves as staff, both of which are so important in 바카라사이트 current situation.   

Now good luck with your own teaching, and remember when you get your own insights and your own experiences from online teaching, share 바카라사이트m with 바카라사이트 rest of us, so our community can keep growing. 

This video was produced by Jesper Hansen, lecturer in 바카라사이트  Arena Centre for research-based education. 

Read more of Jesper’s advice on optimising your online classes in his blog ‘’