Let's Change it Up!

Let's Change it Up! Let's challenge ourselves and our students!

Teachers and faculty are professional change-makers. They frequently modify, delete, change, and review their teaching tools and resources. It's just what we do to continue professional development and learning. We need to find new ways to encourage and energize our online participants so they can better learn the course or training concepts.

In a tech-savvy world, educators should challenge themselves. So ready to learn, I logged online to attend a webinar on presenting practical remote training techniques.

What did I learn? Unfortunately, I did not learn much from the online training session. The entire recorded presentation used slides and a lecture without any audience participation. It is no secret. Educators understand that students and participants dislike instructors reading their slides as they present to an audience. We know the audience may leave or "check out" of the session (especially if they ask you for a copy of your slides.) Suppose your participants can browse the Web or check their email during your presentation. In that case, you are not engaging them (and they are probably not learning much, either).

Educators need to facilitate active and interactive online or hybrid class sessions. Students and adults must be able to ask questions, communicate, chat, interrupt, and share information during live sessions. We need to stimulate the audience to collaborate and learn with us.

Here are some tips for educators trying to teach others online or in hybrid settings (yes, you can use these ideas in campus classes, too.)

Know your Content and Objectives

What does the audience need to know, and why is it important? Or, as one of my professors used to say, "Why should we care?" As you plan your session, make a brief agenda, and select no more than 8-10 bullet points from your content and objectives to include, explain, discuss, question, or summarize during your remote session. If you use slides, use images, not text. Refrain from distracting your audience by having them read slides; they need to listen and learn from you. As you talk, align each image with the specific speaking points you want to make.

Practice, Practice!

Yes. You might "wing it" in a classroom lecture without practicing your delivery, but a remote presentation needs forethought and planning. What will your online or hybrid audience expect from you? They would not need to hear your voice if they just wanted you to send them the session's PowerPoint slides. Embed the most essential concepts in your presentation sparked by photos, live surveys, feedback, questions, and, yes, directly calling on your students to contribute to the discussion.

You Create the Tone and Atmosphere for the Session

As the presenter, your voice and smile create a welcoming tone for the entire presentation. Change the pitch and tenor of your voice to keep people listening. Ask questions of the audience and call on them, so the audience hears other voices. Ask the participants to do a quick poll or survey in the chat. Ask questions that require more than a yes or no answer. Remember, you want to engage your audience, help them learn, and make the session worth their time.

Add Co-Instructors in the Session

Always have another person collaborate with you in remote sessions! This gives you, as the presenter, another person to "bounce-back ideas with" during the session. Use students or participants as co-presenters or instructors to help read the live chat, check in with technology issues, or help answer questions during the session(s). After the remote session, get feedback from your co-presenter. What did they notice? What might they suggest to make things go smoother next time?

Rewind and Review

After your presentation, send your audience a feedback request (or survey). Google forms are a free survey application. Ask for ideas! What might you add in a future session? As educators, we need to frequently critique and review our work. Since we constantly learn to revise our remote or hybrid sessions, make those interactive changes today! Let's change it up!

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