Simply replicating what you do in the classroom doesn’t work.
In the fall of 2020, I began teaching college level computer graphics. Since my timing is impeccable, I started teaching in the middle of a pandemic, which meant I had to learn how to teach, on zoom. The school I teach at runs in quarters, which has classes twice a week, which tends to be a pretty intensive 10 weeks.
Full disclosure, my first quarter was a disaster. Anyone who has met a nineteen year old understands that they will flay you alive, especially if they are burned out, grumpy, distractible — Wait… I mentioned this was during the pandemic, right?
The point is, I rapidly learned that if I were to survive – I needed a strategy.
Learning to collect data while teaching
When I begin to design systems, I devise methods to record findings. In this case, I tried to estimate the length of time certain activity would yield the highest levels of focus and interest. Then I reflected on it in my writing and preparation process. Essentially, I began prototyping the amount of time that an engaged student can absorb before boredom and distraction makes their focus plummet.
As I got better at teaching, I began to organize my methods. I could feel my way through whether I was hitting or missing. Self reflection on how many laughed at my jokes, or whether they responded to regular cues was ongoing. I could absolutely tell if they had YouTube on, or were just clocking time without actually paying attention. I would try calling them out if they looked distracted or try to do more conceptually weird things.
Really – I tried it all.
I began to take rigorous notes after class and wound up making some speculative findings.
- Lectures only work for 20 minutes. Long lectures lead to gaps of focus, and increased checking of tik-tok feeds.
- Demoing software live will instantly lose half the class. The cognitive capacity to focus on learning an unknown graphical user interface is extremely high. They are either confused, or they already know it, which leads to boredom.
- Group work will recharge a class and create social connections. However, group work in breakout rooms of more than 20 minutes will devolve into socializing.
Over the next two quarters I began prototyping a system based on my finding to which I began to see some improvements – granted, some classes still continued to be difficult – but I certainly faired far better than when I had been thrown to the wolves in the first quarter. All of these are work in progress ideas, that I continue to experiment with.
Here are some take-aways.
Seven Strategic Tactics to Teaching on Zoom
1. Cameras on
I unequivocally tell my students that they must keep their cameras on. Despite the grumbling the first day, it actually keeps them far more engaged. The work and interest is better. It’s important to connect, so I don’t even question it. If the camera is off, I ask them to turn it on. If they continue to do it, I continue to ask them to put it on.
If they don’t like it. Tough. If I have my camera on, you must as well.
2. Anything Interesting?
When you ask a question, any question, there is a natural delay — and worse, dead air anticipation of anyone responding. It’s hard to cut through this initial anxiety of participation. The added step of dealing with the “your muted” phenomenon is also a deterant. – So – I open every class with:
“Anyone got anything interesting?”
– Prof Nye
After asking this question, I wait. I let that dead air take hold right up front.
I push and get them to start talking about anything. If we are lucky, we might hit on a new game release, or a trend or movie they are all eagerly awaiting. As someone in a different generation, it’s good to hear about their current interests. Dungeons and Dragons is back apparently, and everyone still hates Electronic Arts. These are important things for me to know to be credible.
Asking them to participate at the beginning of class makes the rest of the class easier, because that ice has already been broken. Once we have established the participatory nature of the class, as a teacher, I’m less worried about throwing a question to someone during lecture. I also use the “anything interesting” time to try to fire up the typically quiet-ones.
3. Don’t do Software Live – Record for the Rewatch
I started recording my software demos outside of class.
Following along became the homework assignment, not something that fills class time. What I found was that those who didn’t understand could rewatch, and those who already knew it could skip ahead or speed through it. This is enormously successful in the results I got back. Video gives the learning support outside of class, and then maximizes the face to face time inside of it.
And honestly, doing software demos in class and live is hard. You might have forgotten a check box, or a process, and as you fumble to correct yourself, you can feel the shift of the group to non believers. If I hit a snag while I am recording, I’ve gotten good at pausing, jumping into documentation, trying it out, and then resuming. It might have been 5 minutes of double checking and fumbling through software for me live, but in the recording, the edit to the valuable information is instant.
This does bring up the problem that if all the demos are being done outside of class, what content is being developed in class. The response to this is “a lot of things.” Ultimately, it makes class time more about connecting with you as a teacher, and less about watching you fumble on a computer.
One draw back is that many who aren’t comfortable with the software will simply copy. This makes it especially important to stress problem solving, creativity and improvisation in class. The more they can build confident in class, the more they build upon the video work, instead of simply copying it.
4. 20 Minute Group Jams to Energize Collaborations
The focus of all my teaching can be summarized as “problem solving.”
And the best way to get people to learn to problem solve is 1. to write documentation, and 2. go to groups to share what they learned. If I can identify a common problem amongst several people, I try to encourage the opportunity to group-up, to see if they collectively can figure it out.
The tendency for many is to use the problem as an excuse to disengage.
“I couldn’t figure it out.” is what I hear, and my response is “who else has this problem?” Generally, others do, and putting them into a group is a natural way for them to form collaborative problem solving.
Sometimes you get especially focused students who lean into the process. When you get them together, you can see potential partnerships forming.
5. Discord
Most educational software platforms are bad. Empirically, from a software UX and design standpoint, the makers of software (like Blackboard), genuinely wish to insult the students and teachers of the world, by giving us interface designs from twenty years ago.
Fortunately, the educational tech space is rapidly advancing to fit this need, but until new solutions are instituted, I gravitate to software communications that value the persistent nature of chat. If someone has to log in to do something, I’ve lost them. If someone can participate in multiple content streams, it becomes fun.
Discord is a chat application that, like it’s business sister program slack, maintains multiple communication streams. I can run my class in a chat, post and pin videos and handout to that chat, and run multiple chats for groups. By siloeing information correctly into persistent chat, I find I can work directly with my class and regularly interact with them over the week, as opposed to having to log in and target. Granted that means that you need to have the application open always, and be ready at any time of the day to respond.
Additionally, by installing StatBot, a bot application that lives within your discord, I can track the number of posts, and the engagement on posts. If I know the groups, the subjects they are talking about, and the number of times each group chats, I can catalyze the conversation by helping out on a questions, make a joke with a gif, or provide a relevant youtube clip. I got into the habit of wishing them a happy friday, or sending reminders of upcoming deliverables.
Discord, in my opinion, makes it fun, not a chore. Granted, some who are not gamers or as digitally native do not understand how to engage with the method. It can be difficult for the more email native types to shift to the persistent way of thinking. If someone is going to learn to work with game engines however, they will need to learn to think like this. It’s now industry standard.
6. No mercy for the disruptors
This one is hard. Disrupters rip your class apart. They seed conversations in channels that undermine the teaching as it goes on. I don’t know why it exists, if I deserve it or not, but I suspect it is commonplace in all teaching on zoom.
The answer for me was to single them out, and call them out immediately. Do not let it take hold, because you can lose the whole class. I am actually ok with them complaining about me outside of class. Everyone needs a watercooler, but in class, focus needs to be on the subject matter.
I lost a class completely due to a selfish and destructive student. Make no mistake, there are bad kids who need to be dealt with. Let them undermine you, and you won’t just lose a class, but the entire course.
7. Draw your ideas
I’ve always used whiteboards to talk through ideas. My home office has two, and I have 30 years worth of sketchbooks. Drawing is how I learn, so it makes sense that I use it in the classroom. I do the same thing while on zoom.
I can explain something in five minutes, or I can slow down and explain it by drawing the idea out in photoshop, or this nifty piece of software I just found called “Concepts.”
Granted, sometimes drawings don’t work. A good drawing is like a good lecture, it needs to be imagined, refined and visualized. If you make a drawing part of your lecture approach, try to draw everything you are going to do in class ahead of time in your sketchbook. Practice it, prototype it, refine it.
The results are better drawings for visualizing concepts. Improvisation can work, but it should only augment the structures you practice beforehand.
As an educator, I welcome feedback and collaboration from others who are experimenting with teaching online. Despite the lowering levels of the virus, I do not believe we will be backing away from online teaching any time soon. In fact, I believe it will only accelerate. We should be facing these challenges head on, not simply running back into the classroom.
Thanks for reading! I welcome interactions on twitter @nyewarburton, my DM’s are always open.
