Teleconferencing (Synchronous Online) Meetings/Classes
If Macaulay and/or CUNY decide to hold all classes online, or if this is a good option for individual class sessions or students (or groups of students), Macaulay’s default option is Google Meet to hold remote class sessions. Macaulay will offer tutorials on using Google Meet, and TLCs will help support this option. After extensive research and testing, Macaulay has selected this platform for several reasons:
- Google Meet allows logins by guests without any pre-existing account. No gmail account is necessary. To start a meeting (class), a Macaulay email account (@macaulay.cuny.edu) is needed.
- Google Meet provides the option of a dial-in telephone number for students who may lack internet service at home.
- Google Meet works on all mobile devices and computers (not in the Safari browser, however). On a mobile device, it can use a standard data plan and does not require wifi (although of course battery life remains a limitation if students are not near AC power).
- Google Meet provides simultaneous automatic closed captioning, which may be useful if students are in an area where noise is a problem.
- Google Meet allows for sessions to be recorded and saved for later sharing (this option will become available on approximately March 16).
- Please note that you must use the Google Chrome browser.
As backups, Microsoft Teams is also an available option (login with CUNYFirst login credentials). CUNY is also exploring access to WebEx, and for campus-based courses (not for Macaulay Central courses) Blackboard Connect is also available.
A simple step-by-step guide to using Google Meet for your classes, including how to get a personal account or use a faculty guest account, is available here.
You can also watch this video tutorial:
We recommend several extensions to make Google Meet even better:
- Grid View allows you to see all of the participants in your session
- Push to Talk allows you to mute and unmute yourself with a tap of the space bar
- Nod creates a hand-raising and emoji reaction tool
Teleconferencing is another area where faculty should try to extend as much leeway as possible to help students be academically successful. Especially for students who are not technologically adept, or who do not have good access to the internet or unlimited data plans, these options may be less successful. We also must be mindful of student privacy, and should not require them to turn on cameras. Synchronous teleconferencing is also a challenging environment for discussion-based courses, and requires some practice as well as patience in negotiating the inevitable obstacles. Macaulay’s office of Academic Affairs and your TLC can work with you to find creative solutions.
Asynchronous Assignment Options
There are some situations when teleconferencing might not meet the needs of the class, needs to be augmented, or needs to be used for individual students. We are already used to this by much less fancy names: email and eportfolios.
- If you typically collect hardcopy assignments in class, think about how you want to collect them digitally.
- A form that allows for file uploads can be integrated into your class eportfolio, and you can access submissions in the site dashboard. A lot of professors like this option because it keeps the submissions organized.
- If you are not experienced using the eportfolios dashboard, email also works for students to get assignments to you.
- When you ask about students’ access to the internet at home, you want to specifically ask if they will be able to use email and eportfolios off campus.
Academic Policies
Whether or not we have large-scale shutdowns within the city and at CUNY, individual members of our community may certainly be affected by illness. Students, faculty, fellows, and staff may also experience periods of illness or quarantine while well.
- Any person who is sick should not report to work or class, nor should they be expected to participate in remote work/class options (although they may if they feel able).
- Faculty should consider alternate assignments to help students continue to learn class content if the faculty member is unable to teach for a period of time
- Students who become ill should be given maximum latitude to recover, and offered options such as makeup work and incompletes for the semester
- TLCs, if not sick themselves, and able to be in touch remotely, may help faculty to construct alternative assignments and assessments
- Remote classes should be offered by faculty who cannot come to campus, but who are not sick and still able to maintain normal daily routines. Remote classes can take place via teleconference at the same time as your class normally takes place.
- Students who are unable to attend classes due to quarantine, immune status, or other reasons should be offered the option to attend remotely by videoconference.
- Faculty should provide the maximum possible flexibility for students who need to be absent. Incomplete grades, at-home exams, etc.
- Macaulay requirements for graduation, including internship, study abroad and community service, are all subject to relaxation or cancellation as needed as the situation develops. Students should focus on the three priorities above (health, information, education) and feel confident that they will not be penalized for circumstances that are beyond their control.
Tips from Joe Ugoretz, adapted from Amy Young, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Communication, Pacific Lutheran University (link to original post)
===========
1. Be kind to yourself and your students. Everyone is stressed, even if they’re playing cool. That includes faculty (and Senior Associate Deans!). And that’s okay.
2. There are a considerable number of pedagogical experts who can help you. Your TLC is one of those. Be kind to these people. They are suddenly very slammed.
3. You will not recreate your classroom, and you cannot hold yourself to that standard. Moving a class to a distance learning model in a five day’s time excludes the possibility of excellence. Give yourself a break.
4. Prioritize. What do students REALLY NEED TO KNOW for the rest of the semester? You may have to strip things down. But these are not normal circumstances.
5. If you’re making videos, student viewership drops off precipitously at 5 minutes (or even less). Make them capsule videos if you make them. And UPLOAD to YOUTUBE because it TRANSCRIBES for you. Do not assume your audio is good enough or that students can understand without transcription. This is like using a microphone at meetings–I don’t care if you don’t need it, someone else does and they don’t want to ask.
6. Make assignments lower or no stakes if you’re using a new platform. Get students used to just using the platform. Then you can do something higher stakes. Do not ask students to do a high stakes exam or assignment on a brand new platform.
7. Stay in contact with students, and stay transparent. Talk to them about WHY you’re prioritizing certain things or asking them to read or do certain things.
8. Do not just read up on best practices for distance learning and think you have to immediately implement all of them. That’s not the situation we’re in. We’re in triage. Distance learning, when planned, can be really excellent. That’s when the professor and the students have all chosen to work in this way and thought it through and practiced and planned for it. That’s not what this is. Thinking you can manage all the best practices in a day or a week will lead to feeling like you’ve failed.
9. Be particularly kind to your graduating seniors. They’re already panicking, and this isn’t going to help. If you teach a class where they need to have completed something for certification, to apply to grad school, or whatever, figure out plan B. But talk to them. Radio silence, even if you’re working, is not okay.
10. Remember that synchronous audio and video (like Google Meet) is only one approach. And it’s often not the best approach. Think about small group work (even if it’s synchronous) and think about asynchronous work, particularly online asynchronous discussion. Macaulay eportfolios offer a discussion board option that your TLC can help you set up. This can keep students engaged and because it’s simple and text-based, offers a lower barrier to getting ideas across.
===========
