Teaching synchronously
Planning and delivering synchronous teaching and learning sessions are important elements to master in hybrid models of teaching and learning. Consider the following strategies that are derived from a combination of cognitive load theory and best practice in learning design.
How do I do it?
Planning
Get familiar with the technologies that you (and your students) will use
This is vitally important because technology-mediated learning requires basic familiarity with the tools that will be used to deliver lessons. Spend some time getting used to the functionality of tools that you will use (e.g. Zoom, sharing documents in Zoom, Zoom breakout rooms) before you deliver your lesson. The following table outlines some of the features of synchronous tools.
| Tools that emulate the traditional classroom environment |
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| Tools unique to the virtual domain |
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From Nunneley et. al (2020).
It is also important to test the simple features synchronous tools such as learning how to mute participants (if needed), whether you will need headphones and experimenting with your background.
Provide simple learning objectives
It is important to consider the cognitive load associated with the learning objectives. Research (Daniel et. al, 2018) indicates that teachers should focus on 3-5 learning objectives for each session and to revisit these objectives in various ways during the teaching period. During face-to-face sessions, more objectives can be included but online synchronous sessions feature flows of communication that often require more time to administer so it is important to bear this in mind.
Make sure your slides are engaging and don’t overload students
Try to limit extraneous material in your slides or learning material since this will have a negative impact on your students’ abilities to cognitively engage with the session. The following table outlines some best practice tips for your presentation material.
| Use | Use Judiciously | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
From Nunneley et. al (2020)
Consider spacing out your lesson in 10-15 minute blocks
According to research (Lenz et. al, 2015), you should be providing your students with activities every 10-15 minutes of your lesson . This site has a wide range of active learning activities that you can use and these range from simple think-pair-share activities to more complex role-play or debating style activities. Consider introducing technologies in these learning activities that can promote student engagement such as student response systems.
Delivery
The following elements are important to consider in the delivery of your lesson.
Continue to develop a learning community
The creation of a safe and inclusive learning environment will provide the foundation for the collaborative construction of knowledge, sharing views and perspectives and the negotiation of meaning. In practical terms, connectedness can be promoted by encouraging students to turn on their videos (if applicable) and to use eye-to-eye contact with students rather than mediating communication through the learning material.
Use the session to connect the dots
Due to the unique nature of online communication, you will need to be deliberate about asking students about any problems they may have had with set learning tasks (e.g. reading material or creating artefacts) and to be clear about how this session connects up with previous lessons. Consider using polling software for this or to provide students with a shared document with some targeted questions. This also provides you with a good sense of the difficulties that students are facing.
Plan your lesson around the delivery of meaningful chunks
The cognitive load attached to online learning is often greater than face-to-face teaching and learning because there are several steps that are required to perform even the simplest tasks such as attending breakout rooms or sharing documents with peers. It is important, therefore, to break up your lesson into ‘meaningful chunks’ (Mayer, 2010). Each chunk could be related to a learning objective or logical break during the session. You do not want to contribute to extraneous cognitive load during the session so consider spacing out your ‘meaningful chunks’ with non content-related activities such as stretching or even 5 minute breaks.
Develop a system to field and respond to questions
It is important to open up the session to questions and feedback since this promotes the sense of a learning community. There are, however, issues related to questions that don’t feature in face-to-face communication:
- Consider which channels you will use to field questions – the chat function or the raise hand function?
- Consider the wait time that is required to use the technology to answer or ask questions
- Consider the use of students to help with the moderation of any questions using the chat function
At the end and after the session
Provide students with a poll about the session and this can include what they found difficult or what they would like more help with in subsequent sessions. This provides students with an opportunity to reflect on their learning during the session and this can help to promote self-regulated learning. Remember that synchronous sessions are ongoing dialogues with your students and online technologies provide unique ways that you can enrich a dialogic, student-centred approach to teaching.
References
Daniel M, Fowler R, Merritt C, et al. Creating effective and engaging presentations. Clin Teach. 2018;15(3):191–196.
https://doi-org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/10.1111/tct.12712
Drysdale, Jason (2020). Tips and practices for teaching with synchronous sessions. https://www.ucdenver.edu/offices/digital-education/instructional-design/newsroom/faculty-blog/tips-and-practices-for-teaching-with-synchronous-session s
Lenz PH, Mccallister JW, Luks AM, Le TT, Fessler HE. Practical Strategies for Effective Lectures. Ann Am Thorac Soc.2015; 12(4):561–566. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201501-024AR
Mayer RE. Applying the science of learning to medical education. Med Educ. 2010;44(6):543–549. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2010.03624.x
Nunneley, C. E., Fishman, M., Sundheim, K. M., Korus, R. E., Rosen, R. H., Streater, B. A., O’Donnell, K. A., Newman, L. R., & Marcus, C. H. (2020). Leading synchronous virtual teaching sessions. The Clinical Teacher , n/a (n/a). https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13282
