Online Video Conferencing Classroom Management Tips
Things to Consider
- Deliver classes in locations where Internet connection is strong and household disturbances from family, pets, land lines, external noise, etc. don’t occur.
- Avoid doing other work during active class sessions.
- Establish ground rules and guidelines for videoconferencing etiquette.
- Use of chat room
- Don’t talk over other students
- Mute mics to avoid background noise until ready to talk
- Make materials and handouts available online and accessible to students.
- Be aware of body language that could be lost in videoconferencing classrooms.
- Getting Your Students Involved
- Engage Students, Encourage Dialog, Establish Rapport and Promote Interactivity
- Remote students may have difficulty staying engaged, if the lecturer is not engaged, tense or bored. Make the session as energetic and interactive as possible.
- Try not to think of yourself as being on camera, just behave and talk naturally.
- Assume that the remote students can see and hear everything
- Maintain Eye Contact so students feel engaged and not just watching a video
- Keep Movement to a minimum as big gestures can be distracting
- Sit up straight, don’t lean back and avoid reading excessively
- It shows off the top of your head.
- Be aware of the camera range so students can see you
- Minimize distractions such as tapping, clicking a pen, fixing your hair etc.
- Eliminate Background Noise
- Try to relax, act natural and teach as you would if they were F2F
- Speaking
- Speak clearly in your normal voice and enunciate clearly.
- Talk naturally, using inflection.
- Pause when you expect a response from the remote site.
- Repeat questions if necessary, and wait for students to respond
- Clothing
- Solid colors or muted patterns, in dark or neutral colors.
- Blue is the best color. Dark or neutral colors, earth tones and pastels also work well.
- Subtle jewelry.
- Avoid on camera:
- Busy patterns. Plaids, pinstripes, tweeds, checks, prints and glittery or reflective fabric.
- All white or a strong black/white contrast.
- Reds and blacks. They tend to “bleed” on the screen.
- Dangly, shiny jewelry or accessories can cause glare.
- Lighting
- Be careful of overhead and background lighting
- Be careful of too much or too little lighting
- Be aware of any glare that comes through the camera