Best Practices for Teaching with Video Conferencing
- Work to bridge the social barriers of students sitting as groups in separate rooms by:
- Learning all students’ names in each location (consider having students put up name cards for the first few classes).
- Calling on students from both locations.
- Asking the remote location as well as your classroom if anyone has questions (e.g. "Does anyone in Shanghai/New York have a question?").
- Asking students in one location to comment on opinions, answers, etc. offered by students in the other.
- Setting up cross-site project groups early in the semester, etc.
- Never having side conversations with people in your room while students or faculty in the remote location are talking.
- Recognize that you and your students are more or less on camera in a TV studio. This can be tricky when some cultures are more accustomed to interrupting others and stepping on others’ words (such as in New York!). Keep in mind the basics of voice-activated microphones (that it’s easier to engage in a dialog when one person is speaking at a time vs. interruptions). Point out a camera’s ability to present significant light and dark contrast (don’t wear highly contrasting clothing nor all bright or all dark), etc.
- Establish and communicate ground rules and guidelines for videoconferencing etiquette.
- Make certain that materials that you plan to distribute in your physical classroom are also available online and accessible by the students in the remote locations.
- Be cognizant of less overt forms of communication that could be lost in videoconferencing classrooms, such as body language suggesting confusion or discomfort.
- Conducting a Video Conference Class – Best Practices & Tips for Instructors