Fall 2021: Video and Web Conferencing Spaces
As we approach the one year anniversary of teaching and learning primarily remotely, it’s time to start planning for the near future: Fall 2021. Many instructors and students are looking forward to resuming traditional in person classes, while others will continue with fully remote instruction. For instructors planning to serve a mix of local and remote students joining simultaneously, here are some of the best Office of Classroom Management rooms to consider for interactive language learning. If the university’s social distancing guidance changes for Fall 2021, room capacities will be increased.
Two-Camera Classrooms
These video conferencing classrooms offer a two-camera system that can call into your Zoom session, including an audience camera that provides in-person students a presence online, a high quality ceiling microphone for class discussions, and three monitors for both presentation content and a classroom presence for students connecting via Zoom. Folwell 118 also has the advantage of a flexible room layout, but is the smallest of the three rooms.
- 5 local students: Folwell 118
- 7 local students: Peik 165, Humphrey SPA 20
- 14 local students: Humphrey SPA 25
Note: Instructors can only utilize the two-camera system if they start the Zoom meeting via the codec system on the podium. If they initiate a meeting via their laptop, only the instructor-facing camera will be operational. Training on using the codec system is available.
Single-Camera Classrooms
These flexible classrooms have a ceiling microphone to facilitate full class discussions and an instructor camera to provide views of the front of the room to your laptop running Zoom.
- 11-13 local students in Nicholson Hall: 110, 115, 120, 145
- 11-13 local students in other buildings: Amundson 240, Appleby 302, Murphy 214, Tate 120, Tate B65
- 14-15 local students: Akerman 225, Civil Eng 212, Elliott N119
- 19-20 local students in Akerman Hall: 209 & 319
Instructor-Only Conferencing Technology
Many other rooms, including three in Folwell Hall, include an audio video bar, but not a ceiling microphone. This type of classroom can work well for a lecture-style class to capture audio and video of the instructor, but planning and practice would be required to facilitate student-to-student interactions.
Language instructors who plan to enroll more than 13 local (non-remote) students, while also including any number of remote students, are encouraged to consider configurations other than having all students attend class simultaneously every session. The HyFlex Teaching model can be adapted to meet the needs of instructors and students in many ways. Retaining some remote elements in an in-person class can allow instructors to bring some students back to the classroom while providing an interactive learning experience for all students.
