Sunday, April 5, 2020

Video Conferencing You Can Do

About a month ago, I would NEVER had guessed that I would be returning from Spring Break ready to continue with distance learning in my district, let alone across Ohio & much of the world! This is new territory for everyone!

Video conferencing has been around for awhile ... but before March 13, I hadn't done much of it. Since then, I've stopped counting the number video conferences I've been a part of. And not only is it "normal" for me, it's also "normal" for my own daughters.

When my district moved into distance learning, several of us began working through what would become guides for our teachers. I won't profess perfection, and we learned a lot by reading and talking with others. We did formulate a plan and have moved forward with it.

My district decided to utilize Zoom. Is it right for you? I can't say. We decided this was the best plan for ourselves after weighing pros/cons of a few different platforms. EVERY platform will have pros/cons so please don't think that I am saying Zoom is better than others. It is what we decided on. But, I do feel like the guidelines we shared can work for ANY video platform.

I am sharing this out today in case you are interested in something to help guide what you do & don't do while video conferencing. As with anything I share, please feel free to make a copy & modify to fit you & your district better. I've kept it very simple, as I believe simplicity is best, especially right now. I also do not believe the focus should be on the "tool" ... it should always be focused on the usage and goal of the tool. 

I recreated the doc for our district on Slides, to make it more visual. Below the one for teachers, I created a VERY generic video conferencing tips for students. This one is not specific to any platform.

Here is the one for teachers:


Want to make your own copy? ↬ Link to "View Only" (please use File --> Make a copy)


Here is the one for students:


Want to make your own copy? ↬ Link to "View Only" (please use File --> Make a copy)

I hope these guides help. 

As always, if you have a comment or question, please feel free to comment below, reach out on Twitter (@kiefersj), or email me (sarah@techyoucando.com).


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