Follow Up Friday

April 9, 2021

This week: what should we keep from this past year? posts you may have missed, and upcoming events

While the conditions of the past year have changed so much about they way we work and teach, there are a few things that will undoubtedly become new methods and habits. We’ve been asking instructors to tell us: what are you keeping? The following ideas – and much more – came up in our April First Friday Coffee & Conversation. Don’t miss the next one on Friday, June 4 at 8:15 – 9:00 am.

Office hours on Zoom – This is a very popular method of meeting with students, either for drop-ins or by appointment. Holding office hours on Zoom offers instructors ultimate flexibility in location and time. Some instructors are opening up a Zoom meeting for an entire day to let learners check in any time for exam review, to ask questions, or just to chat. The option to hold office hours at home is going to be a popular one from now on.

Group projects/group work – Because learners have access to their own Zoom accounts, they can now arrange to do group work and group project planning in their own Zoom meeting spaces. While many instructors (whether teaching face to face or online) set aside class time for group work, learners can now easily arrange their own out-of-class virtual group work sessions. Additionally, if the course is being taught synchronously over Zoom, the instructor can place groups into breakout rooms so they can still work during class time on their projects.

Incorporating technology for active learning – Because technology has become so critical to the college experience over the past year, instructors are finding innovative ways to keep using it in their classes. For example, learners can use their mobile phones to conduct interviews or to film something in their local area. They can then edit and upload the videos to Canvas, and the finished videos could be reviewed in class over Zoom via screen sharing. This general framework could be used for a variety of topics, from film class to architecture to nursing; the available technology affords a lot of flexibility. Learners could also use the Zoom app on their phones to record themselves giving a speech or playing an instrument – the possibilities really are endless.

So let us know if you’d like help integrating Zoom or other technology into your course; whatever the class format, Clemson Online can help you make the most of it!