Dear UNIV 3275 members,

Here are the instructions, guidelines, and suggestions for attending our online class discussions over Zoom. More technical details can be found at the Center for Teaching’s On Demand Resources for Students. Scroll down to find the section on Video Conferencing: Zoom and Virtual Classrooms.

What you will need

In order to participate, you will need a computer and an internet connection. While the instructors have a great deal of experience with Zoom for large and small meetings alike, and have never needed headphones or earbuds to avoid mic feedback (audio echo), it wouldn’t hurt to have a headphone or earbuds on hand – in case feedback is an issue given the large number of participants, the situation at your particular site, or simply to better hear (e.g. if zooming in from a coffeehouse). Of course, we prefer that you have a quiet, private place from which to participate!

Before class you may want to check your internet connection. You can test bandwidth by going to ‘fast.com.’ Things that affect bandwidth include running numerous devices on a single connection; downloading or playing video games while streaming; or using a computer in a room distant from the wifi hub. These are things to check in anticipation of classes going online.

Since you enable video (see below), check this out in order to display a virtual background screen, should you wish to hide a messy room/environment and/or to express yourself creatively (though using this feature may affect bandwidth). If you want to use this feature, figure it out well ahead of, not during, class.

When the class will take place

We will be running the class during our normal hours, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:35pm to 3:50pm US Central Time. If you have traveled to a different time zone you will need to adjust so that we’re all online at the same time (Pacific 12:35pm to 1:50pm, Mountain 1:35pm to 2:50pm, Eastern 3:35pm to 4:50pm). If you have traveled internationally, then you’ll have to adjust in like manner, but please email us a heads-up so that we can infer, for example, whether you might be sleeping or not, should you miss class.

How to ‘enter’ the virtual classroom

Our Brightspace page should now have a tab at the top menu bar marked ‘Zoom.’ We have scheduled this recurring meeting to start at 2:30pm US Central time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we may open the meeting earlier than that. Let’s all try to log in a few minutes early to get set up and make sure everything is working. When you click on the Zoom tab, you should see a link you can click to ‘join’ our virtual classroom for the given date and time. If for whatever reason this fails through Brightspace, or for whatever reason, you can also join through this link: Join URL: https://zoom.us/j/191180543. In fact, joining through this link may be easier, but we want you to know about the Brightspace tab so that you can easily monitor the addition of other meetings such as office hours with one or more of the instructors and TA present.

During the virtual class

Once you join, you should all be able to see others in small frames arranged around the screen. There is a button at the top right labeled ‘Gallery,‘ which gives you options on how other participants are displayed on your desktop. This button may only become visible to you if you move your mouse toward the top of the Zoom window.

When you initially enter the meeting, your mic and your web cam will both be muted. This is because we want you to be mindful of both your audio and video input. You can enable your camera and microphone by clicking on the relevant icons on the bottom left of the Zoom screen (and these icons may only become visible if you move your cursor to the lower portion of the screen). Please enable your mic and camera after joining so that we can see and hear one another. We will want you to keep the video on throughout class, but mute the mic when you are not speaking or not anticipating doing so (to save bandwidth and avoid acoustic feedback from disrupting class conversations). Being able to see each other, looking into one another’s eyes, makes for a much more compelling meeting. Some of you may even prefer the sense of virtual closeness this setting provides, and many of you will likely work with and meet through video conferencing after graduation; let’s see our class experience as providing novel, utile experiences, rather than simply a disruption. After some initial sessions, we may mute everyone and use Zoom’s hand-raising feature to unmute you when you want to speak.

Text chat is also available. The icon for opening the chat window is on the lower, center portion of the Zoom screen. You can chat with all or selected participants.

In later weeks, when we go over group projects, we will certainly want you to be able to screen share with the class to present relevant images, slides, websites, etc. The button for screen sharing is on the bottom center of the Zoom screen. We will run through this during our first virtual class.

We expect that we may need a few extra minutes to get organized, especially for the first few class meetings. Again, you will be able to join at 2:30 US Central time at the latest, possibly even earlier.

Other Zoom functionality

Zoom allows smaller group meetings, and as such is a good platform for your project team communications in the coming weeks. Inside of Brightspace student access is more limited because of the student role, but outside of Brightspace students have the same Pro access as every other Vanderbilt user. Students can download the app or use Vanderbilt.zoom.us to set up meetings. Using Zoom outside of Brightspace, students can invite other students and there are no limits on participation, just like with the faculty license.

Zoom also allows the meeting hosts to partition participants into virtual “breakout rooms” during the class itself, for small group discussion (details to be determined later, but our usual routine of breaking you into small discussion groups during Tuesday classes is subject to revision).

Finally, if and when we set up office hours for team project discussions, we will have one link for consultations, but use Zoom’s ‘waiting room’ feature to prevent interruption of one discussion and ensure smooth transition to the next discussion.