>> Welcome to Humanizing Remote Learning in Zoom. My name is Chantilly Apollon, I'm part of Technology Enhanced Education at UCSF. And I used to be a biology professor.
>> Hi, I'm Jill Bond. I'm an Instructional Designer in Technology Enhanced Education as well. I'm a mom and a returned Peace Corps volunteer, and happy to be here to help Chantilly talk about humanizing remote learning.


>> Jill and I were talking before we started this session, and we realized that between the two of us, we have almost 25 years of teaching experience at the higher education level. So we're gonna try to share some of that experience with you, and some strategies to incorporate both technology and humanizing into your sessions.

Starting off with a little question, how do you feel when you are a participant in Zoom? Are you a bored participant? Are you feeling very zen and yoga like? Or is your head exploding? How about you, Jill, how do you feel?
>> Well right now, I'm great, I'll just say that.

But I just wanna say normally, I might be on one end of the spectrum, or the other. Very rarely am I in the middle, in that nice yoga position.
>> Yeah, for me, especially when I'm presenting, I have that head explosion feeling, I'm trying to keep track of so many things.

It's hard. And similarly, other people and participants, faculty staff, students have some common challenges and experiences when they are participants in Zoom, and we're gonna share some of those with you. Some people say they have problems with their technology, or their WiFi. Some people are uncomfortable with sharing their background.

Should they turn their video on or off? Is it expected that that video has to be on? It might be hard to figure out how a student is being assessed, and there are often difficulties finding a place to work or a space to work.
>> Totally, and I think some people actually work out of their closets, under bunk beds, I know somebody who does that.

Students report being exhausted by the pace and the length of sessions. They're kinda checking out a little bit early. Mentally, they're not really learning a lot. Something else that students report is they're feeling misgendered. They're not feeling like peers or faculty are using their pronouns. So we'll talk about how to deal with that.

And also, they're affected by microaggressions and implicit bias. And at the end of this video, we're gonna share some fabulous resources with you developed by UCSF, training and resources that will help you dig deeper into that, and figure out what you can do to affect change in that area.

And students also talk about, it's very competitive. They need to jump in there quickly enough. Are the subjects moving on to the next topic before they can talk? And last but not least, the big talkers. Big talkers that take over, need a little bit of more facilitation in a remote learning environment, and we can certainly tell you how to do that.

So we've talked about challenges that we've had, that students and other participants have experienced. But what about you? What are some other challenges that you've experienced as a participant while using Zoom? All right, so thanks for reflecting on your own challenges, and thinking about the others that you have heard about.

But in this session, we're gonna take a deep dive into some ways to address those challenges. Using strategies and specific tools and features in Zoom that can create connection and community in your sessions.
>> So let's start with this idea of humanizing. What exactly is humanizing in remote learning?

So humanizing involves focusing on the students' needs and their experiences. It focuses on building empathy for the learner. And ultimately, it's gonna nurture connection, and promote equity and inclusion between learners and faculty. There is a model, a community of inquiry that takes a look at the educational experience, and separates it into three main parts.

So those three main parts are the cognitive presence, the instructor presence, and the social presence. So humanizing is really building on that social presence. And again, it's a focus on building connection and empathy, so that the cognitive and instructor presence can come together with that social presence, and really formulate a powerful educational experience that achieves the goals and outcomes of learning.


>> Thanks, Chantilly. Something else I was also thinking about with the community of inquiry is how it's really important for students to have a safe space to take a risk, like asking that question that might seem kind of dumb. But no question is dumb. So having to save space to take a risk to create learning with each other.

That's also part of social presence as well. So what are some ways that you've see that address these kinds of participant challenges? Reflect on that just for a moment, in your own experience. So one thing that you can do to address that is, start with a slide like this right off in your virtual environment.

It's already asking the participants to engage. So for example, in this one, you let them know how to rename themselves, and how to put personal pronouns, if they like to do that. You also ask them to open up Chat, which is an important part of the engagement strategies that we'll talk about later in the session.

And you have them respond to a prompt. And it's kind of an icebreaker prompt as an example here, or you could use one that actually connects to prior pre-work. And last but not least, play some music. You can totally play some music during this part of the session.

It's just like when people walk into a room, they're getting settled. So you're creating that space virtually with these different techniques and tools.
>> Yeah, Jill, something I've heard that people have tried is they've asked their students for song ideas. And that way, everyone kinda gets to contribute their favorite song and hear it, and you learn a little bit about other people's tastes in music.


>> That's a fabulous tool. Thanks Chantilly for breaking the ice. That sounds great. Thanks for that tip. All right, another strategy that is super helpful in these kinds of sessions is put a slide in introducing yourself, and not just professionally. So what is it about you that you really enjoy?

What are your passions? What have you started doing? Since quarantine started, that's a little different, any kind of hobbies. So introduce, share a part of yourself, and that helps students feel a little more relaxed as well. Chantilly, for example, we have a slide here.
>> Sure, so my name is Chantilly Apollon.

I use she/her pronouns. And I'm a mother of two, a bit of a fitness fanatic, and a former biology professor, and I actually happen to be learning ukulele.
>> Nice, ukulele. All right, okay, looking forward to some future concerts. All right, on Zoom, of course. All right, moving on.

So another really key strategy for you to walk away with from this session is setting session norms at the beginning. So we talked earlier about some of the challenges that students and participants typically have. Well, this really addresses many of them. We highly recommend as a best practice allowing videos, showing videos is optional.

Letting the participant or student choose whether to share their video really takes a lot of stress off of them, and lets them focus on the content and the learning. And we're gonna show you some other ways to engage them that might not include video, as well. Let them know it's a safe space to take risks.

They could ask questions. Provide ways for them to ask questions, which is moderation, which we have in the fourth bullet there. You let them know who will moderate chat, and don't forget to introduce them, either. They can also have an introductory slide earlier. If they want to be called on or don't want to be called on, they could put an X in front of their name in the Participant window.

And let them know once again, how to share their questions. Can they ask questions on the fly using audio? Or should they use chat? Should they go through the chat moderator, if you're fortunate enough to have a chat moderator? And we'll talk a little bit more about that as well.

All right, so for chat, this is really a key tool. We found that students really enjoy using this tool. They put a lot of questions into chat. So here are some tips for you for using chat. Number one, find yourself a moderator. If you're fortunate enough to have a chat moderator, talk with them before the session starts about how it's gonna work.

Are you only gonna use chat questions through the moderator? Or do you want to allow students to do private questions through chat? That's another option. It gives them a little bit more anonymity, but remember once again, that chat always has a digital footprint. So it's not really truly private.

Another technique is pasting and housekeeping language. The chat moderator can have some kind of set moderated language to paste in there. Several times throughout the session, late-comers might not see what comes earlier. So definitely consider that. And if you don't have a chat moderator, consider asking some of your students or participants if someone would be willing to do that, if it's relevant and appropriate at that time.


>> Yeah, and Jill, something that I keep hearing a lot from people is they find it hard to see the chat window when they're sharing their screen. So it is possible, and it is kind of a key way to make sure that students can continue to engage through that chat.

So I'm gonna refer everyone to the Zoom Essentials, that's available in our Remote Learning Toolkit. It has some great details about how to setup your screen, so that you can both share and see chat.
>> Okay, great. Thank you, Chantilly.
>> All right, so you've welcomed students to the space, you've established norms.

You've clarified how chat is going to be used, and you wanna continue inviting them in to participate and engage during a Zoom session. So what do you know about the tools, and techniques, and strategies that you could pull on to do that? We'll share a few that we've come across.

One technique is to utilize wait time. To embrace the pauses and the silence that happened, and maybe embrace them even more than you would in a face-to-face situation. And there's evidence that supports that allowing for this wait time is actually going to create more rich response from your participants.

Another approach is to utilize the reaction option. It's found on the bottom of most people's screens and their toolbar. If you're on a mobile device, it's up on the top of the screen, in some of the "More" options. And right now, Zoom has about six emojis to choose fro,m and they're brief 10 second displays.

So you can sort of ask if people are ready to go. If someone says a joke, you can post up that crying with laughter emoji. But they are great ways, especially if someone's video is off, to get a little bit of a cue about how things are going for them.

Look, we have a special guest joining us, Rocky. Rocky, the raccoon. Let's see how reaction works in real-time. Hey, Rocky. How you doing today? Rocky is doing good. And I don't know if you've noticed the skin tone of some of those emojis or reactions is often by default, yellow.

It is possible to adjust the skin tone in your Zoom app settings to match you. Looking further into some of these nonverbal reactions. Not only are there the emoji style, there's also more reactions found in the Participants window. So if you open the participants window, you can see some things like raising hands.

And raising hands, once someone raises their hand, it will stay raised until either they put it down, or as a host, you can lower people's hands. You could take a quick Yes/No poll. Ask a simple question that has a Yes/No response, and you can quickly see individuals' answers.

If you're going too fast or slow, you can have a little check in and people can respond. If people need a break, they can let you know with that coffee mug. And if they're away from their screen, they can put up that sort of timer image. And then you know, okay, there's a reason why they haven't responded, they have to attend to other things at this time.


>> Great, and Chantilly, just wanna add to that, that could be also part of your norm setting at the beginning also, so everyone knows they can use those.
>> Yeah, Jill and I have been part of sessions where people really embrace raising their hand, and they use it a lot, and other sessions where it doesn't seem to be a useful tool.

So also adopting a bit to your learners and their preferences. Zoom has some polling tools that are part of the platform. They're found again, in that toolbar, and they allow for multiple choice questions. If you're teaching in the Bridges curriculum, there are always three polls that are built into the sessions that have A, B, C, D, and E as options and then you can actually put the question itself on the slide.

And that poll can just be used over and over again, and we have a single answer multiple choice, many answers so students can choose A, B, and C, and then a True/False question. Another option at UCSF is Poll Everywhere. And one of the nice things about Poll Everywhere is not only are multiple choice questions possible, but there's also the ability to respond with a couple words, or you can have students put things in a specific order.

They can click on a part of an image. It has a broader set of options for how to ask questions. All right, so consider this question for a moment. Medical students like to be called on, true or false? So this is one of the most common topics that a lot of faculty ask about in the remote learning environment, how to call on students.

So Chantilly, true or false?
>> If you asked me back on March 1st, 2020, I would have definitely said false. What's the answer?
>> Well, sorry, yeah. But the reality is, they do wanna be called on. They've given us feedback in focus groups and so on, that nobody wants to sit in a quiet, empty room, where nobody's talking or engaging.

So definitely call on students.
>> Here's some strategies that you can use for that. First of all, we talked a little bit about nonverbals and reactions. You can ask people to raise their hand. You can, first of all, let them know what you're doing. You're saying you're not asking for audio responses at this time.

You can say all right, I'm gonna ask a question now, and I would like people to raise their hand. Once again, that's in the Participant window. And then as you call on people, you can lower their hands. So that's one technique. All right, another technique is simply use the list in the Participant windows, and go in alphabetical order, usually by first name is a little bit easier, and just call on people in that manner.

Another technique that you could use is to rearrange the videos in gallery view. If you have the most up-to-date Zoom app, you can actually move windows around also, if that's helpful to you to keep track of things,
>> Another way that I've heard is to have students choose the next responder.

So depending on who all has raised their hands, the students can also see that and sort of select the next responder. We also have the ability as host to rename students. So I've often used a symbol, and just added it right in front of people's names. And if you have sort of 15 people, for example, you could use 3 symbols to take 15, and reduce the number into 3 sets of 5.

And that way, you have sort of these subgroups that you could ask for responses from. And there's a less of a concern that students have of talking over each other, and more ownership of chiming in.
>> Great, and just to be clear, you use a symbol like an asterisk, or some other kind of symbol to the left of their name when you re-name them?


>> Correct, yeah, kinda like that x that we mentioned earlier. Just a little symbol to help organize the groups. Yeah, and one other technique is to hide the non-video participants. So that's something that allows only people with their video turned on to be visible. And so that kinda gives you the ability to see all the people with their video on.

And if you're clear, and you mentioned, that means that you want to engage, then you know anyone with their video on you could call on. And that can change over time, so students could turn their video off to signal they don't wanna be called on, and then join the conversation again later.


>> Or new people pop up, I've noticed when we tried that, totally. Another really useful technique is doing a simple verbal check in. I found it helpful to have some language chunks to emulate. And some of my colleagues have shared these with me. And one of them is, I'd like to pause here and hold this moment for anyone else who would like to share, or who hasn't had a chance to share yet, or some variation on that.

And once again, coupled with that, that nice wait time there, allowing people to come forward with Chat, or they might decide to turn their video on, and use audio. You really find you get more responses of like Chantilly mentioned earlier, often richer and more robust responses.
>> Soliciting feedback is another really useful strategy.

Checking in with a few students at the end of a session, or even checking in in the middle. Remember that "I need a break" symbol in the participant window? A quick little check in, do we need a break for five minutes, and people can give you that information.

If you try something new, ask people how it went. There's a approach called scientific teaching, where you sort of run an experiment, and then collect some data, and think about it, and decide how to proceed next time. So kinda embracing a little piece of that, and the approaches that you use through remote learning.

So we've talked a lot about how important it is that video does not have to be on in a session, or making it a requirement. We suggest avoiding that requirement. And so just to kinda emphasize, there's many ways to engage students without video. And so summarizing them again here for you, you have reactions, or those emojis type symbols.

You have the nonverbal reactions found in the Participants window. You can use the Zoom polling, or Poll Everywhere, Chat. You can also call on students. And if they aren't able to turn on their video or unmute themselves, they can also type their responses in Chat. So even calling on someone with a different type of response is a great strategy.

And then, as Jill said, just creating space, right? Giving people that time to think, the time to find the reaction or place that they can respond in this remote environment.
>> Yeah, and I would add to that Chantilly also that it's, I think you already mentioned purposeful, and really planning for how you're gonna do it.

One big difference in the remote environment is that you do need to plan. It's a little bit harder to shoot from the hip in this kind of environment, so that planning really goes a long way to create a really great space for the students or participants. Another super important tool is creating a collaborative space.

So examples of that in the remote world are breakout rooms, whiteboard, or cloud documents. So these collaborative spaces where people can come together and talk about content and create meaning together, so...
>> You know Jill, Rocky still is joining us. Maybe we could send Rocky to a breakout room.

So why don't you post the instructions in chat really clear for Rocky, and I'll open the breakout rooms?
>> Hey, Rocky. Nice to see you in the breakout room. Let's play tic tac toe. So how could you use breakout rooms in your session? Well, we have a lot of suggestions for you.

There's some really wonderful activities. An icebreaker, an icebreaker is a wonderful place to start out the session. Once again, make sure you have clear instructions and guidelines for how long to go in your icebreaker. Another great example of an activity in breakout rooms are case studies. Students can get together, they can work through step by step.

You can have pre-planned materials that they work through. Something else that students have really gotten into is analyzing journal articles. That's something they could do in a breakout room. And they could also annotate images as well.
>> Lots of great ideas. You could have students go to a breakout room and do some brainstorming, share ideas.

While they're in the breakout room, they could work on a group presentation and then come back into the main room and actually present. You might have each breakout room watch a different video and discuss it, and then come back and share what they learned or what they experienced from the video.

And it's also a place that you can have a private conversation. So you can have a breakout room where you could talk one on one with a student. And then, our last idea, although that shouldn't stop you from thinking about more, is role-play. So having one student as a patient and one student as the health professional and doing an assessment.

So we are talking about humanizing. And we work in Technology Enhanced Education, and there's that technology part. But we're really hoping that you see that teaching in the remote learning environment is not just about how good is your Wi-Fi. It's also about how well are you connected with your students?

And there's a quote here that actually represents sort of how I really view humanizing, and so I'll read it and elaborate a little bit. Humanizing is juggling all the hospitality needs of multiple constituents in an ongoing and reflective process that is necessarily social justice focused. So the students that are meeting you on your Zoom meeting, they have different experiences, and backgrounds, and situations, and different ways to learn, different ways they prefer to engage.

And so creating a place where everyone is invited and welcome, and reflecting on that. So taking feedback, exploring new ideas, and practicing, and trying new things out, and continuing to increase that connection you feel to your students.
>> Yeah, thanks Chantilly. For me, humanizing also means really respecting the adult learner, and helping to create that community.

Even if it's only one session, you can have a sense of community and safety there. Learners can take risks together and they feel like they're in a safe, inclusive space, and that really helps them focus on the learning and less so on the technology.
>> How about you, what does humanizing mean to you?

We've shared a lot of sort of our insights and strategies we've taken from our collaborators and people that we've talked to, and given you an overview. We wanna remind you that there are many ways to continue learning about how to humanize your session, and one that we wanna emphasize in particular, is to learn more about microaggressions and implicit bias, how they impact your students and also how they impact you.

So here are two links that you can use to find more information about the training at UCSF.
>> Alright, and finally we have some resources for you we mentioned earlier. The School of Medicine Technology Enhanced Education Remote Learning Toolkit has this workshop and others, including checklists, guides, recordings to help you become more fluent in the virtual learning world.

The School of Medicine Virtual Learning Experience Workgroup also put together some really amazing materials you'll find at the link you see there. In conclusion, I just want to say thank you for joining us in this space together. I think a lot of these techniques will really empower your learners, and help them feel like they have agency in their session, and help them feel respected as learners.

Chantilly?
>> Yes, thank you so much for joining, and remember that the goal is also for you to have fun teaching your sessions as well, and enjoy the experience--take care. How do you feel when you are a participant in Zoom? You know, are you a bored participant? Are you feeling very zen and yoga-like, or is your head exploding?