Teleconferencing

Enrollment in courses taught remotely in higher education has been on the rise, with a recent surge in response to a global pandemic. While adapting this form of teaching, instructors familiar with traditional face-to-face methods are now met with a new set of challenges, including students not turning on their cameras during synchronous class meetings held via videoconferencing. After transitioning to emergency remote instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our introductory biology course shifted all in-person laboratory sections into synchronous class meetings held via the Zoom videoconferencing program. Out of consideration for students, we established a policy that video camera use during class was optional, but encouraged. However, by the end of the semester, several of our instructors and students reported lower than desired camera use that diminished the educational experience. We surveyed students to better understand why they did not turn on their cameras. We confirmed several predicted reasons including the most frequently reported: being concerned about personal appearance. Other reasons included being concerned about other people and the physical location being seen in the background and having a weak in-ternet connection, all of which our exploratory analyses suggest may disproportionately influence underrepresented minorities. Additionally, some students revealed to us that social norms also play a role in camera use. This information was used to develop strategies to encourage-without requiring-camera use while promoting equity and inclusion. Broadly, these strategies are to not require camera use, explicitly encourage usage while establishing norms, address potential distractions, engage students with active learning, and understand your students' challenges through surveys. While the demographics and needs of students vary by course and institution, our recommendations will likely be directly helpful to many instructors and also serve as a model for gathering data to develop strategies more tailored for other student populations.

Η διάδοση της χρήσης του βίντεο, ως σύγχρονη μορφή επικοινωνίας, άλλαξε τα δεδομένα τόσο στην επικοινωνία των ανθρώπων όσο και στις εφαρμογές της εξΑΕ. Η τηλεδιάσκεψη αποτελεί, πλέον, ένα διαδεδομένο μέσο επικοινωνίας στην εξΑΕ και χρησιμοποιείται στη σχολική εξΑΕ, σε εξΑΕ προγράμματα τριτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης αλλά και σε εξΑΕ επιμορφωτικά προγράμματα. Η βιβλιογραφία, άλλωστε, αποδεικνύει το ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον των ερευνητών για τη μελέτη της. Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι η παρουσίαση του ερευνητικού ενδιαφέροντος για την τηλεδιάσκεψη στο επιστημονικό πεδίο της εξΑΕ. Μέσω μιας εστιασμένης βιβλιογραφικής ανασκόπησης εγχώριων και διεθνών βιβλιογραφικών πηγών καταγράφονται τα αντικείμενα της ερευνητικής δραστηριότητας, αλλά και τα συμπεράσματα που προέκυψαν, σε σχέση με την εφαρμογή της τηλεδιάσκεψης και του σύγχρονου τρόπου επικοινωνίας στη εξΑΕ. Από τα ευρήματα της έρευνας προκύπτει πως η ερευνητική δραστηριότητα για την τηλεδιάσκεψη στην Ελλάδα είναι περιορισμένη σε σχέση με τη διεθνή βιβλιογραφία, καθώς και το ότι η τηλεδιάσκεψη δεν έχει μελετηθεί ιδιαίτερα ως προς τη λειτουργία της μάθησης σε ατομικό και ομαδικό επίπεδο.

an experimental joint programme was developed by Parma University Language Centre (Italy) and the Humanities and Arts Department of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology with the aim of offering EAP students the opportunity to deliver presentations to a foreign audience on a topic relevant to the academic and professional interests of both groups. The students had to explore and personalise it in order to be able to explain it to a group which they had had no previous contact with or information about. The purpose was to engage students in active learning by moving away from a more traditional approach to language learning focusing on vocabulary and macro-skills, to a more pragmatic approach which incorporates ‘soft skills’ too. A secondary objective was also to develop the students’ confidence through a ‘realistic simulation’ of situations which they are likely to encounter in their professional lives, including emotional and social implications. This paper offers an insight into the challenges and issues which arose, and ideas for improving the learning experience. We will discuss preparation stages carried out by the teachers at both universities, and the guided and autonomous student team work carried out to find relevant material, work on visuals and commentaries, and deal with questions from their foreign counterparts. A post-conference survey stimulated students’ reflections about their experience and triggered discussions about language skills essential for successful professional practices. The survey was also valuable for the teachers as regards reassessment of teaching strategies and preparation for future joint projects.

El avance generado por las Aulas Virtuales Síncronas (AVS) ofrece la oportunidad de trabajar en entornos virtuales de aprendizaje superando las limitaciones ya conocidas de las plataformas asíncronas (Learning Management Systems), lo que genera la necesidad de replantearse competencias y tareas docentes más adecuadas, relacionadas con el aprendizaje colaborativo, evaluación virtual de los aprendizajes y tutorización de trabajos. Los resultados de las experiencias desarrolladas, en el marco de un proyecto de investigación, ponen de manifiesto la existencia de aspectos comunes a las distintas metodologías empleadas: procesos de planificación de la enseñanza, gestión docente del aula y gestión técnica de la herramienta.
The advancement of Synchronous Virtual Classrooms (SVC) offers teachers and students the opportunity of working in virtual learning environments and overcoming limitations generated by the Learning Management Systems. This lead us to reconsider teaching skills and tasks appropriate to these virtual spaces, related to collaborative learning, e-assessment and guidance using SVC. Within this scenario, we propose pedagogical and methodological criteria for teaching in SVC. Results coming from teaching experiences developed within a research project, express the following common topics to the different methodologies used: teaching and learning plan, and SVC's educational and technical management.