FIVE STYLES UTILIZING Connected Classroom

RELECTIONS ON SUPPORT NEEDS BY A DISTANCE LEARNING TECH

This paper in intended to examine five distinct pedagogical styles that have been observed
among professors using Zoom or IVC/Zoom Hybrid connections with distance learning students.
Each of these styles also has slight variations depending how and where the instructor is
teaching from, and any limitations of equipment or technical assistance at that origination site.
For the purpose of this paper we will be looking at only those originations that are Zoom
sessions whether from the professor’s laptop in his office or home, or from a Zoom origination
room currently only available at NVC or Blacksburg, three classrooms, two at NVC (106 and 206)
and one in Blacksburg (Whittemore 281).
This is also intended to primarily discuss pure Zoom sessions that do not include an IVC
connection or a VNOC Telepresence connection which is necessary for the IVC connection and
some recording methods. This connection takes away one-third of the functionality of either
Zoom Meeting Center or Training Center, including the sharing of video files, whiteboards, or
even sharing the actual “My Meeting Window” to assist the person on the other end with what
menu to look in or box to click to trouble shoot their connection.

Style One: Straight lecture. This has been observed primarily in engineering math courses
where the content is only going in one direction and there may or may not be interaction or
questions from the students either in the classroom or the connected distance students. Exams
and homework is typically done on paper or submitted by email or utilizing Canvas/VT Scholar.
This style, as well as the others listed below, may use PowerPoint, MATLAB, the document
camera, Smart boards, touch screens, or stylus tablets. Video or You Tube Clips may be shown
along with other file documents. Zoom can only share what is able to be shown on the desktop
of the computer that is actually connected to the Zoom session. Video can only be shared in
real time if it is a file on the computer that is connected to the Zoom session not just a link to a
YouTube or other video stream on the internet. Therefore these video streams must be
converted and saved on the computer with an application such as “ClipConverter.cc”. Then the
video can be shared in real time using the “File (including Video)” share selection. These video
clips can be preloaded in the video sharing window prior to class start time and selected to play
individually from tabs in the video sharing window. Video played in any other fashion will play
normally at the originating computer end but all of the distance connections will see the video
animated at the 1 frame per second refresh rate that is used for the normal content window.
At this time the existing Zoom origination rooms are unable to accommodate “bring your own
device” (BYOD) such as a laptop loaded and licensed to use MATLAB, because of the difficulty of
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displaying the external device on the desktop of the Zoom session. (See the BYOD discussion
below) However, if the Zoom session is originating on the instructors laptop, they can share
anything that is able to be displayed on the desktop of that device including whiteboards and
annotation.
A Smart board is not available in the current Zoom origination rooms but annotation can be
done on printed material or hand written material using the document camera that displays on
the desktop of the classroom computer. There is also the availability of a white board and
annotation tools within the Zoom session.
This style is fairly easy to manage for this instructor, as they may or may not be interested in
how many or which students are connected but they set the rules of who may talk or ask a
question and how that is done. Zoom allows students to do a hand raise which brings up a
notification just below the green sharing bar, or they may chat privately to another student or
the instructor or to everyone which also brings up a notification on the screen. The third
method of contact or questions is to open the mic and ask the question into the whole
classroom. A second computer and monitor may be used in the room as a confidence and
participant list monitor to ensure that the presentation is actually being shared or to know
which remote students are speaking without this information overlaying the content screen.

Style Two: Small group discussion. This is typically a graduate level course that may involve less
than ten students and one or two instructors or instructor and TA. Students may generally
download assignments or do reading before class that is then discussed in an open forum. The
group may be in just two or three locations or may be dispersed through a number of Zoom
Connections. Some project presentations may be done by individual students. When all
participants are in Zoom origination rooms, there is no need for headphones to be worn by
anyone as the rooms have open mics and digital sound processing to allow the sound to enter
the room through speakers. Any student(s) connected by Zoom from home or laptop, however,
must use headphones and have a webcam and mic in order to participate in a discussion
originating in a Zoom classroom without causing feedback or echo loops.
Generally students will regularly chime in and participate actively in the discussion and this
takes no action on the part of the instructor to manage other than initial settings in
“Participants” dropdown menu to mute mics on entry, turn off entry and exit tone, and turn off
anyone can share. Students are also likely to have their webcam video turned on throughout
the class as this is face to face participation. (The video transmission requires more bandwidth
and a relatively fast connection or else the distance student is likely to start experiencing audio
transmission difficulties also. This is why students are generally advised to not connect video
while viewing the classroom presentation)

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If the individuals in the class are going to do presentations from a location other than the
classroom where the instructor is located, then the instructor also needs to claim host role in
the Zoom session so that they can pass presenter role to the student and then bring that role
back into the classroom after the presentation. This is not difficult but does require a little bit of
understanding of how to pass roles and having the host key number. Also if any material is
presented that is video, sharing of websites, passing files to others, whiteboard or annotation,
both students and the instructor need to understand these modes and know how to shift
between presenters and the type of presentation shared. For this style typically only the one
screen showing the actual Zoom session may be necessary to be displayed in the classroom. A
second camera or rearranging the room to show the small group in the classroom may be
necessary.

Style Three: Flipped classroom. Typically pre-recorded lectures and/or reading assignments,
videos, etc. are posted in Scholar or Canvas and class time sessions are used for discussions,
questions and “Office Hours” with the instructor. This style will likely be a larger group in the
classroom and online. Instructor needs to set the rules of conduct for the discussion especially
for students not in the classroom. Again online students must have headphones or earbuds,
and a microphone, and a webcam. Webcam may likely only be turned on when speaking.
Pre-recording may be done in a Zoom originating classroom using the Echo 360 associated with
that classroom, recorded in Zoom and downloaded/edited using Zoom tools, recorded and
edited with Camtasia or may be recorded directly to Canvas using the built in video recording.
In any case the final product needs to be made available to the designated class resources
space in Canvas.
Instructor’s understanding of the functions of Zoom will vary depending upon how much
external interaction occurs and whether presentations are made by distance students.

Style Four: Lecture and heavy use of other resources such as VT Scholar or Canvas for quizzes,
poling, discussion questions and feedback Etc.
In this style, the students in class need to have a laptop with them to connect to Canvas for
those portions of the class that are utilizing that resource. The distance online students also
need to have a second window open on their computer to be able to view and work in canvas
as well as see the Zoom content. Again online students must have headphones or earbuds, and
a microphone, and a webcam. Webcam may only be turned on when speaking.
This type of class may also include presentation assignments for class members so requires the
instructor to have a thorough understanding of the “host role” or have a technician in the room
to assist during presentations from a distance. The students need to have some understanding

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of how to share their screen and to check out and adjust settings for their microphone prior to
the presentation.
Students who are going to be doing presentations should perhaps have certain days and times
that they can connect to a test site with a distance learning technician to check out and discuss
their Zoom connection and settings. A headset with a boom mic is preferable for giving a
presentation as the volume level will be more even with the microphone at a fixed distance.
The purpose is communicating, not what you may look like with a headset on. Also some
attention needs to be paid to the background and lighting at the student’s end, as well as
interruptions such as children, pets and phones.
This classroom may also require a second computer connected to Zoom for
confidence/participant and chat monitoring.

Style Five: The full boat! Lecture, dynamic discussion with all participants involved, break out
groups in the room and online, poling and other assignments within canvas, and presentations
from both within the classroom and the online connected students. This classroom needs to be
operating in Training Center and takes significant technical skill to manage both in dealing with
audio levels coming from multiple sources, changing of camera views, assigning, starting,
monitoring and stopping breakout sessions, passing presenter role around to share work done
in breakouts. This classroom definitely needs at least a second computer connected to the
Zoom session for a distant participant and chat monitor. This second computer needs also to
have a headset with boom mic and webcam so that the instructor can interact with the distant
students during their breakout sessions.
Some aspects of this style are still in the testing and learning stage with both NLI and the
Distance Learning Techs, as it is not fully known how we integrate Zoom Training Center into
our existing origination rooms. It is difficult to test and train on the use of the some of the tools
in Training Center as we need to have at least six people involved in separate Zoom connections
to assign roles and test collaboration tools used in breakout sessions. This is nearly impossible
to pull off without everyone involved in the class having some training and understanding of
what is going to happen when they go into breakout sessions and what they have to do as far
as reconnecting audio going into and coming out of breakouts and permissions that happen
along the way. Also there has to be a clear understanding of how the work of the breakout
session is going to be documented and presented using tools such as Google Hangout, Google
Drive, or Canvas using Google Docs if all students have Google account linked to their Canvas
personal settings. There also has to be coordination with the classroom to bring the breakouts
to an end and reconnect with the classroom.

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The instructor needs to dedicate some time to directly interacting with the students online
either during the breakouts as they are doing in the classroom, or as a collective group. Roles as
spokesmen for a breakout and presenter or documenter need to be assigned.

Some Equipment Considerations:

Network connection: Distance students should use a hardwired Ethernet connection. Check the
computer and the connection intended to be used well in advance of the class with a distance
learning technician to avoid missing class time and to determine if your location is going to be
suitable for the class you are taking.

Audio: Microphones and audio speakers or headphones are a major component of

communicating on Zoom. Two or more Zoom origination rooms with Echo Canceling speakers
and microphones connected together is not a problem. Two or more laptops connected in a
session together with all participants wearing headphones or earbuds, is no problem for most
of the pedagogical styles. But, as soon as you add a classroom full of students into a Zoom
session along with online connections, there are a whole lot of audio problems with which to
deal. Zoom is a “Full Duplex Audio” program which means audio can be going both directions at
once. This means that a microphone can hear itself on the room or laptop speakers and start an
echo loop that results in loud feedback or ringing echoes. To deal with this problem the
classroom must insert a “Digital Sound Processing Unit” (DSP) in the audio circuit to hear the
starting of the feedback echoes and quickly filter out the resonating frequencies. This is the
same thing that is applied at concerts and in auditoriums to stop feedback loops when a
musician or singer steps in front of a speaker with a live mic. Unfortunately this circuitry is not
normally available at the distance learning student’s computer, so without wearing headphones
or earbuds they are very likely to cause a feedback loop that interrupts the class and the
session host role may need mute their mic or expel them from the session.

Webcam: A webcam is not essential for all pedagogical styles on the student end but most
instructors would like to see who their students are at least once during the semester and is
essential for doing presentations or small group discussions. All students should sign in to the
Zoom session using their full name as registered in the class so the instructor will know who is
speaking if not using a webcam and even if they are using a webcam. (Some instructors write
down the names of students who answer correctly).

Document Cameras: According to Classroom AV, the document camera is the most used piece
of equipment in the technology enhanced classroom. Document cameras in the IVC rooms do
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not display on the desktop of the classroom computer and therefore do not appear in Zoom.
The current Zoom origination rooms use a program called Image Mate to display the document
camera on the desktop of the classroom computer. Instructors teaching from home or their
office should consider adding a stylus tablet and/or using the annotation feature in Zoom.

BYOD: Over the last three months two devices are being investigated that have the ability to
display the desktop of one device onto the desktop of the device connected in the Zoom
session. These devices are the Kramer Via Collage and the Christie Brio. The wirelessly
connected devices either Apple or PC or even Android or IOS can be displayed simultaneously
on one screen or individually. Via Collage can display up to six connected devices on one screen
or up to twelve with two displays connected. It is also able to control a connected device and
annotate on any displayed desktop. The Collage has built in programs to connect to Zoom,
browsers and to display PowerPoint, PDF’s, Word and Excel Documents and therefore could
actually act as the classroom computer for Zoom. Connection of the BYOD device is
accomplished by typing the Collage Room URL into a browser, which will download a small app
into which the connection pass code in entered.
Christie Brio can display up to 5 connected devices, is somewhat similar to the Collage, but does
not have the built in programs to connect to a Zoom directly or insert the document camera.

Classroom Cameras and Audio Levels: The Zoom Origination Classroom needs to have at least
two cameras as there may be times when the Zoom Origination Classroom is the Zoom
Receiving Classroom and the instructor on the far end needs to see the classroom participants.
This is also the case when small discussion groups are operating between two Zoom
Classrooms. Zoom does not have a camera control user interface built into it. Therefore either a
Crestron panel, Kramer Control Pad or some other integration of camera selection and control
needs to be available for all of these pedagogical styles. Audio levels incoming and outgoing can
be adjusted within Zoom but the outgoing level cannot be monitored in the room. All Zoom
users should use the automatic mic level control by checking the box in the test audio window.

Conclusion: Each of these pedagogical styles requires different levels of Zoom knowledge and
technical assistance for both the instructor and for the online students. In-the-classroom
students may also need to know some simple skills for doing presentations. At the very least
how to connect audio in a Zoom session, how to mute and unmute the microphone, choose
what type of sharing they are doing, and share their content. Preferable would be that
everyone registered to teach or attend a class by Zoom, attend an online interactive Zoom class
in which they would be taught; using links, host key codes and participant access codes, the
basics of connecting audio, checking connection speed, muting mics, expanding content display,
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chatting, raising a hand, testing their microphone, webcam and headphones, adjusting audio
levels, etc. Also test connection hours need to be established to allow any student or instructor
to connect to a session with a distance learning technician to test their connection or
equipment and to ask questions on functions they may need to use. This should be done before
and outside of the immediacy of a class starting up. For any audio connection to a Zoom
Classroom by remote computer, headphones or earbuds are mandatory and the connection will
be muted or “expelled” (a Zoom function to disconnect a participant) if it causes echoing or
feedback in the classroom.
Any pedagogical style that requires remote presentations, or a lot of interaction with distance
students will likely require the presence of a Distance Learning Technician during class times
that involve those activities until the instructor and/or a TA feel comfortable and competent to
manage those sessions as host.
It would be helpful if pedagogical styles were somehow classified and identified during the
scheduling of classes to help determine equipment needed in the room and the level of
technical assistance that may be necessary to support the class.

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