Notes for Richel 

Breakout rooms - When in pairs of breakout rooms, they did not really interact together, only when they were having issues. Some students chose to complete tasks on their own: given that this is a synchronous course, and not an online self-paced course, should all activities be done in pairs or groups of three?

Can more be done to help students interact? Perhaps some icebreakers in the introduction to help students get to know each other? 


Students have a lot of options on how to participate (camera on/off, cold calling yes/no, breakout rooms pairs/single, etc)… but instructor is left spread quite thin.

Is there a role for another layer of peer to peer learning? Those that are stronger with the material tend to finish earlier, so could they pop into the beginner students’ breakout rooms and offer support or guidance on how they completed the tasks?

Role of TA - could the TA do more to help?

No visuals - would a powerpoint or shared notes document be helpful, especially for the introduction?

Cold calling - very short wait time for students to reply… more wait time might mean more responses and more considered responses

Other thoughts/tips that may help make the instruction easier:

Encouraging students to use the “raise hand” or “reaction” feature to help the instructor know how to group them for activities