Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@trouleau
Created March 16, 2020 11:42
Show Gist options
  • Save trouleau/0fa201cc24d80a0f5529626647d51eca to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save trouleau/0fa201cc24d80a0f5529626647d51eca to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.

Online Teaching Tips

All official teaching guidelines are provided here. This page summarizes the documentation in these pages that is relevant to our use case.

Lectures

  • Tool: The best tool available to us is Zoom. The Pro version of zoom is available to all Professors and Teaching Assistant.
  • Setup: First configure your account at https://epfl.zoom.us/
  • Two choices:
    • Meetings: Recommended for courses with <200 students. A Skype-like meeting with many features (waiting rooms, polls, emoji reaction for quick replies, breakout rooms, ...).
    • Webinars: Recommended for courses with >200 students. Students cannot share video/audio.

Configure your global settings

For the first time only, configure your global settings. These settings will then be set by default for future scheduled meetings.

  • Go to https://epfl.zoom.us/
  • Choose "Sign in - Configure your account"
  • Choose "Settings" in the left menu bar and go the "Meeting" tab
  • We advise you to keep the standard settings, except for:
    • Host video: on
    • Participants video: on
    • Audio type: Computer Audio
    • Mute participants upon entry: on
    • Auto saving chats: on
    • Co-host: on
    • Polling: on
    • Allow host to put attendee on hold: on
    • Nonverbal feedback: on (Let participants quickly answer questions with reaction/emoji in the chat. It makes feedback much more convenient)
  • Other interesting features might be:
    • Attention tracking: Lets you see an indicator if a participant does not have Zoom window in focus)
    • Waiting room: Participants join in a waiting room. You have to admit them to the meeting individually, this may be useful for exercise sessions.

Schedule a meeting

  • Go to https://epfl.zoom.us/
  • Choose "Host - Schedule a meeting"
  • In the form, enter the meeting details:
    • Topic / Description: Use a descriptive clear lecture title (optionally alongside a description)
    • When / Duration / Time Zone: Choose the time and duration of the lecture (these are not enforced. It is just a way for Zoom to allocate resources)
    • Recurring meeting: Do not tick the box
    • In meeting options, select:
      • Disable waiting room
      • Enable Record the meeting automatically, in the cloud

Host a live lecture

  • Get ready for the session:
    • Set up your tools, make sure you have:
      • A laptop or a desktop to run ZOOM, that has a camera and speaker
      • A suitable microphone
      • Wired internet (recommended by ZOOM)
    • If you use PowerPoint:
      • Start your PowerPoint presentation in present-mode
      • At the bottom left of your screen, you can swtich cursors (laser pointer, pen, hidden, ...)
  • Start the meeting:
    • Go to https://epfl.zoom.us/meeting
    • Select your meeting and click start. This will prompt you to open your Zoom client, or download one.
    • You will be given the option of testing your microphone.
    • Once you join the meeting, your webcam image will be displayed.
    • An cloud icon will show that recordings is underway. Recording can be paused/stopped. If stopped, it will generate a video file and start a new one when you restart recording.
    • In the menu bar:
      • The share function lets you share your slideshow. You can select which window to share
    • The Polling function lets you start a poll with multiple-choice questions for full-powered Q&A.
    • The Chat function lets you interact with the class through a text chat.
    • In **Participants, students can also react with nonverbal feeback using some emoji symbols for quick Q&A.
  • Click "End the meeting" to stop recording at the end of the lecture.

Pre-record a lecture

Just like for a live lecture, you can also pre-record a lecture and then share the link of the recorded video on Moodle (or any other platform of your choice).

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment