Classroom Considerations for On-Campus Faculty Teaching Online Students

CGU has equipped the classrooms with “zoom-ready” technologies such as microphones, cameras, and speakers to allow for participation in and teaching of online classes. These technologies are integrated into the computer in the room. Please join your Zoom, Teams and/or Canvas sessions from the computer in the room using the wireless keyboard and mouse. You can also access your materials in OneDrive once logged in to your account.

To share content from your personal laptop device, join the same session as the in-room computer to share your screen to the online meeting space. Do not join the audio from your secondary device, as this will result in echoes and feedback.

Always remember to log out of your Zoom, Teams/OneDrive, and/or Canvas accounts on the classroom computer before leaving the room at the end of class.

Classrooms contain a wall- or ceiling-mounted webcam for teaching purposes. Although the webcams are permanently installed in their location, they can be adjusted using the software on the desktop to modify the camera view. The most common view is a full classroom angle, but you may want to pan, tilt and/or zoom the webcam to show the presenter, discussion group, whiteboard, or physical object.

Classrooms contain integrated microphones so your online audience can hear everyone in the room. The microphones should already be optimally set for your class, there is little need to adjust them, but if you need to, please do so on the Zoom interface on the in-room computer.

Only the classroom computer should join audio in a Zoom or Teams meeting. Students in the room and additional personal devices should not join audio for the entire class session. Multiple devices sharing/receiving audio in the same room will result in echoes and feedback.

Classrooms contain integrated speakers so your on-campus attendees can hear those who have joined online. The speakers should already be optimally set for your class, there is little need to adjust them, but if you need to, please do so on the Zoom interface on the in-room computer.

Some in-room students may need to collaborate with the online student or share their screen:

• Students in the room can join the Zoom session or a Breakout Room on own computer to share their content using the share screen feature.
• Students can be heard by the sound system in the room.

Students should not join audio on their personal devices in the room, as this will result in echoes and feedback. If on-campus students need to join audio to work with online students in Zoom, they may prefer to move to an outdoor location and use a microphone/headphone headset to hear and be heard properly.

If any attendee needs the volume louder on an individual basis, have them utilize headphones, and keep the microphone selection on their personal device muted, but do not allow them to join the audio until the headphones are connected to the computer. As a best practice, use the Zoom setting to mute all participants upon entrance to the meeting.

Please turn on all classroom lights to ensure an optimal viewing experience for the students online. In rooms with exterior building windows where sunlight can interfere with the projection, please close the blinds to improve the experience of both the in-room students and those online.

Use of virtual backgrounds is not suggested in in-room classes, as they can be distracting and ineffective.

Classroom computers are connected to the network and ready for use. If you are using your personal computer, please join the “eduroam” network.

When you are joining meetings online, especially when you are moving about campus or between campus and home, have your data, websites or other physical resources ready prior to the time of the meeting. You do not want to struggle through logging into other sites, share screen or virtual background problems, and/or need to get up in the middle of the meeting for your audience to see.

Be familiar with your collaboration tool’s capabilities. If you need to stop and deal with something in the middle of the meeting, do not distract from the meeting. Please use audio mute if you need to speak with someone in your office, video mute if you need to stand up, and/or pause share, for any activity requiring you to log in or navigate your computer to get to the relevant shared content.

When recording your classes, please record to the cloud, not the local computer. Be sure to notify on-campus and online attendees that they are being recorded.