Transcript: Link to Micro-Lesson 3.1 video transcript

View Google Slides for Micro-Lesson 3.1

3.1 Outcomes (WHAT): In Micro-Lesson 3.1, we will

Discuss how to create equivalent pathways and consistent expectations for student engagement in course activities;
Use multiple tools to improve course communication;
Identify and create interaction and communication opportunities among students, between students and instructor, and between students and content; and
Create for each course activity clear instructions that include expectations, deadlines, technology tutorials, support services, and other relevant information.

3.1 Purpose (WHY): Working with students in multiple course modalities can disrupt typical interaction strategies. Together we will discuss ways to use engagement strategies that work across modalities, streamline the process(es), and create a sense of community.

3.1 Instructions (HOW): To complete this micro-lesson: Watch the video above or review the text under each tab below. Then complete Activity 3.1.

Estimated time: 12-15 minutes for content review + 10-15 minutes for Activity 3.1

Typical interaction
Flexible interaction
Equivalent pathways
Interaction challenges
Inclusive pathways
Interaction instructions
Multimodal communication
Activity 3.1
Sac State Technology Resources for Interaction

Typical interaction opportunities

It can be hard to imagine what interaction opportunities look like across multiple environments. One way to envision what’s possible is to look at typical classroom, hybrid and fully online activities.

	Classroom	Traditional Hybrid	Online (synchronous)	Online (Asynchronous)
Pair activities (e.g., think-pair-share)	Students turn to a neighbor	Students begin a pair activity in person and continue it online, synchronously or asynchronously	Students move into virtual breakout rooms of 2 or 3	Students work in pairs asynchronously; or Students schedule synchronous meetings in pairs outside of class time
Small group activities	Students move into groups or pods	Students begin a small group activity in person and continue it online, synchronously or asynchronously	Students move into virtual breakout rooms of 3 to 5	Students work in groups asynchronously; or Students schedule synchronous meetings in groups outside of class time
Large group / whole class activities (e.g., Q & A, interactive lecture)	Students participate in large group classroom activities, with or without technology (e.g., clickers, devices)	Students begin a large class activity in person and continue it online, synchronously or asynchronously	Students participate in large group activities using videoconference tools (e.g., raise hand, chat, annotation)	Students participate in large group activities via LMS tools (e.g., discussion forum) or 3^rd party tools (e.g., Pronto, Slack)

Flexible interaction opportunities

Now let's envision how those same types of activities work in flexible course experiences.

	Flexible (Synchronous only)	Flexible (Synchronous & Asynchronous)
Pair activities (e.g., think-pair-share)	Students pair based on location; or In-person students with technology pair with remote students	Students pair based on sign ups or assignments, and schedule their own meetings or work asynchronously
Small group activities	Students move into groups based on location; or In-person students with technology connect with remote students	Students sign up for or are assigned to groups, and schedule their own meetings or work asynchronously
Large group / whole class activities (e.g., Q & A, interactive lecture)	Students participate in large group activities either in person or via videoconference tools (e.g., raise hand, chat, annotation)	Some students begin a large class activity (combined in-person and remote) and all students continue it online, asynchronously; or All students participate in large group activities asynchronously via LMS tools (e.g., discussion forum) or 3^rd party tools (e.g., Pronto, Slack)

Equivalent pathways and expectations

Fully online courses must address expectations of regular and substantive interaction between an instructor and the students, where the instructor regularly initiates meaningful interactions that support students in reaching the outcomes. For students to succeed in fully online courses, they also need opportunities to interact with their classmates.

Flexible course experiences bring similar expectations, but require us to be creative in constructing equivalent pathways for in-person learners, real-time remote learners, and asynchronous learners to interact with the teacher and their classmates.

If your class has any asynchronous participants, creating equivalent engagement activities provides a challenge. Asynchronous students should have opportunities to engage with and learn from classmates.

Use an asynchronous activity for the whole class.
Try using the same environment for both synchronous and asynchronous learners. For example, use tools like Poll Everywhere, Kahoot or NearPod that support learners in real-time and on their own time.
Create serial or sequential activities that build on in-person interactions.
Start activities in person and continue them asynchronously.

Interaction challenges

Unfortunately, students face challenges associated with participating in flexible course experiences, such as needing an accessibility accommodation, lacking access to technology or the Internet, needing more proficiency with technology, lacking a quiet place to sit, and so on.

Not enough devices: The types of interaction you can facilitate or how you facilitate them may be controlled by how many devices students have. You may need to assign pairs or groups based on location—in-person student groups and remote student groups—to reduce the need for devices in the classroom.
Devices with limited capabilities: In-person or remote students using a smartphone may have challenges switching between the videoconference app and a browser or other apps like Google docs.
Power for devices: In some scenarios, students with devices may play an important role in making interaction possible. In that case, you may want to encourage students to bring their chargers to class in case their device battery runs low during a class meeting. Consider requesting or bringing one or two power strips. If your classroom seating is organized in pods instead of rows, request a power strip at each pod. For long class meetings with a lot of interaction, students may need to trade places.
Audio too low: If there are not enough microphones or speakers in the classroom, remote and in-person students may not be able to hear each other. In Module 4, we’ll look at how the teacher may need to repeat questions from either group for everyone’s benefit. For engagement activities, you may need to assign pairs or groups based on location or students may need to bridge the gap—e.g., volunteer students who bring a device or provide a device to all in-person students.
Background noise: During classroom activities, noise levels escalate. This can present challenges for remote students who join in-person groups. In-person students may need to bring earbuds or a headset to help control the noise, or less ideally, mute themselves and communicate via text or chat.

Inclusive pathways

Here are some student-based strategies to address those challenges:

Remote buddies – Allow students who have to attend remotely to sign up to be paired with a remote “buddy”—a fellow student who plans to attend class meetings in person and who can act as a resource for a remote, real-time learner. The buddies use private chat or text messages to stay in contact during a class session. (Read Carmen Macharaschwili’s article about the buddy strategy.)
Backchannel – Use the chat or another communication technology like Pronto or Slack for students to ask and answer questions as the teacher or a classmate gives a presentation. These questions are crowdsourced – anyone who is paying attention and knows the answer can reply.
Tech scribes – At the beginning of each live class meeting, ask for volunteer tech scribes—students who bring technology with them
- In large group activities like Q&A sessions, tech scribes can type questions and comments that in-person students ask or state out loud. In universal design, this provides a text-based alternative for the audio and for flexible design it helps remote learners who cannot hear students in the classroom.
- When you create small group activities, make sure each small group has at least one tech scribe to submit their work or ideas.
- In micro-lesson 3.3, we’ll describe a similar role called a Chat Jockey—students who volunteer to keep an eye on the chat so the teacher can focus on running the class meeting. If you have more than one chat jockey, they can double as tech scribes.

Interaction instructions

For any activity that involves interaction with you or classmates, make sure your instructions include the following:

Expectations – As stated earlier, we have to be creative in constructing equivalent pathways for students to engage. Regardless of how students interact, they should be asked to do the same amount of work or produce the same end product.
Deadlines – Due dates for interaction should take into account students participating in real-time and on their own time. Having one due date also supports students who join a live class meeting, but do not or cannot interact in real-time for some reason. For example, some students cannot join a breakout room activity because their children need their attention, so they join an equivalent asynchronous activity later.
Technology tutorials – Some students may need to learn more about a technology before they can interact with you and their peers. For each activity, put links to any guides or tutorials that would support students trying something for the first time. For example, some students might want to know how to create a video comment to give feedback about a classmate’s work.
Support services – Even with tutorials, students may need tech support. Be sure to include links to the appropriate tech help desk at the bottom of your instructions. If it’s appropriate for the activity, you may also want to link to other student services that provide individual or group support.
Other relevant information – What else do students need to know to engage with you and their classmates? In your syllabus and in your instructions, link to any community participation norms you generate as a class. List your goals for how often you expect to participate and how quickly you expect to score any graded engagements.

Multimodal communication tools

Engagement in flexible course environments entails creating opportunities for students to connect, even though they may be participating from a different location and/or at a different time.

Announcement tool – Even if you regularly send email messages to your students, copy and paste the same message as an announcement in your learning management system, or LMS. This creates a growing archive that students can review without having to search their email inboxes. Use the LMS setting to allow students to reply to announcements so they can ask questions.
Videoconference chat – The videoconference platform’s built-in chat function is a useful tool for live class meetings, but it excludes students who participate asynchronously. If you choose to use the live chat, consider creating hashtags for each main topic you cover as a group. Save the chat at the end of each class meeting. Then you can use the chat in a number of ways:
- Copy and paste the chat text into a Google doc to extend the conversation asynchronously.
- Give bonus points to students who generate a chat summary of the main points and questions associated with each topic covered. Distribute the chat summary to the entire class.
- Combine the two strategies above by extending the conversation from a chat summary, rather than from a raw chat file that is hard to follow.
Other text-based communication tools – If you decide you want to use only one communication tool, you might use a tool like a discussion forum in your learning management system, or a 3^rd party tool like Slack, Pronto or Harmonize. On the positive side, this allows students to contribute ideas to the same place, both in real-time and on their own time. On the negative side, this increases the complexity for real-time students—they have to open another tool and keep track of it along with the videoconference.
Media-based communication tools – Perhaps you want to humanize the course experience for asynchronous students who cannot join live or via videoconference. You can provide an option for them to use an asynchronous video tool like FlipGrid from their phone or computer. Like a text-based discussion forum, students create short videos (under 3 minutes) to present an idea, answer another student’s question or to ask their own question. You can accomplish something similar with video tools embedded in the learning management system. On the positive side, this allows asynchronous students to see you and their classmates. On the negative side, some students may choose not to create videos and the automated captions may not be perfect. For balance and equity, create a discussion forum where students can post text or a video.

Activity 3.1

Purpose (WHY): With this activity we will check our engagement strategies to make sure a) that they can be completed by students who participate in different modalities and b) that they have an equivalent engagement experience.

Task (WHAT): Use the Backward Design Worksheet to review the engagement strategies for one of your courses. The handout includes two tables. The first table shows sample engagement strategies that have been modified to increase flexibility. The second table is for you to write and edit your own engagement strategies.

For Activity 3.1, we will focus on the third column. We’ll come back to this handout to revisit content review strategies. If you want to list them all now, go for it. If you want to wait, I’ll prompt you in Module 4.

Remember that for this activity we’re focusing on how well the engagement strategies support flexibility or how well they work across different modalities. However, feel free to adjust them for other reasons as you work.

If you’re in the room with me or if you’re online in real-time, I’ll give you a few minutes to write or type one or two engagement strategies in the third column of the matrix.
If you’re working on your own time, please complete the third column of the Backward Design Worksheet. When you are finished, return to the Micro-Lesson 3.1 video. You’ll hear the real-time participants begin a brief conversation about flexible content review strategies, and we’ll finish this discussion together with you online.

When you're ready, visit the Activity 3.1 discussion and share the before and after versions of your newly revised, flexible engagement strategies. If you want specific feedback, include that request in your post.

Sac State Technology Resources for Interaction

Taking into account what you just learned about strategies and tools to use for interaction between you and your students in a flexible teaching context, below we list some Sac State specific technology tools that can help you get started with this process.

Zoom Breakout Room: Breakout Rooms allow you to keep your group projects or discussion times without requiring students to leave the main meeting and are an excellent option to make your interactions between students more manageable by splitting groups of students into several breakout rooms for individual discussions where you can check-in as the instructor and bring everyone back to the main Zoom meeting room after small group activities are completed.
Teams Chat, Channel Posts and Meetings: Teams is a Microsoft Office application that is available for free to you and your students. It has vast capabilities for interaction and project management. However, if you are looking to keep the interaction going outside of Canvas in a more synchronous context, you may want to set up a teams channel where you can add your students and take advantage of the chat feature to send messages to students or encourage students to post their questions. Once you have added a few members to a chat space, you can also call a meeting within the Teams application which enables you to share your camera, microphone, and provides closed captions.