Transitioning Lectures to Online

Synchronous - Live Online Lectures

Asynchronous - Pre-Recorded Lectures

Tips + Lessons Learned

Considerations for Remote Recordings

SYNCHRONOUS V. ASYNCHRONOUS:

As faculty across the country adjust to the sudden move to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, one question keeps coming up: How much of class time should be done live—known as “synchronous” teaching—and how much should be done so that students can do the work at their convenience—or “asynchronous” teaching.

Synchronous - Live Online Lectures

Synchronous is where the participants can hear, see, and/or interact with each other at the same time and place. This would be most similar to a live “in person” class experience.

ITS recommends the use of Zoom for virtual or hybrid academic lectures.

The process for facilitating a Zoom online lecture include:

Create a Zoom Meeting (all faculty have been provided a Pro Account for meetings with up to 300 participants).

Share the Zoom Meeting Link with Students (ITS recommends this be done via the D2L announcements tool on your course homepage).

Additional Zoom resources:

Access the Zoom portal

Join a Test Zoom Meeting

Access Zoom help documents

How to access Zoom Meeting attendance reports

Asynchronous - Pre-Recorded Lectures

Asynchronous is where learning does not happen at a set time and place. This approach is predicated on instructors creating and/or distributing content (e.g. recorded video lecture, voice overs on PowerPoints, or handouts, etc.) ahead of time and supplementing it with additional elements (e.g. email, discussion boards, texts, assignments, polls, etc.) to achieve class interaction but in a nonparallel fashion.

Options for Asynchronous Learning at DMU include:

Copy your Panopto recording from last year to this year’s course folder.

Create a new Panopto recording from your home, office, or a DMU classroom.

Create a voice-over PowerPoint recording and upload it to your Panopto course folder.

Tips + Lessons Learned

Issues with audio or webcam connectivity are frequently attributed to the use of or switching between multiple audio/video capture applications (i.e. Zoom, Panopto, GotoWebinar, etc.). Your webcam and microphone can only be used by one application at a time. If you’re unable to connect the audio or video, try restarting your computer to sever the connection between the other application.
A single user cannot host multiple Zoom meetings at the same time, and having alternative hosts does not get around this issue (it still treats the primary host/the person who scheduled the meeting as the host, even if they don’t join the meeting).
If you have enabled both “join before host” and automatic recording for your Zoom meeting, the recording will start as soon as the first person joins, whether that’s the host or a participant. You can edit the recording in Panopto to trim the extra time at the beginning before the meeting actually started. Tutorial for Trimming a Panopto Video.
Most home internet connections have significantly slower upload speeds than on campus. Therefore, uploading Panopto videos is very likely to take longer – in some cases, we’re seeing upload times at over an hour for a 30-40 minute recording.
When creating Zoom sessions, we recommend that you select “Generate Automatically” to create a unique meeting ID versus distributing your “Personal Meeting ID” to others. (*Please note this is the default for our account when creating a meeting). Distributing your Personal Meeting ID creates the risk that others may enter your meeting erroneously. Several news outlets recently reported on situations where external participants were joining meetings and creating inappropriate situations.

Considerations for Remote Recordings

Background Noise

Background noise is the greatest consideration during these sessions. If you are unable to limit background noise, please consider using a USB Headset.

If your external USB Headset is not functioning correctly, please ensure this device has been selected.

Use of Video

Use of video is encouraged for video creation and for smaller web conferencing sessions. Bandwidth can be an issue with sessions larger than 40. If you’re using video, please ensure your background is free of distractions.