How to teach case-based courses online. Advice for architecture tutors, mentors and scholars.
Several features of small or large case-based courses can transfer well to an online setting since Zoom and other technologies have various interactive features built in. Here are tips to consider when teaching a case-based course, and for more tips make sure to join my Facebook group exclusively for people who teach architecture online:
Calling Patterns
· Keep your students in front of you: Zoom’s gallery view lets you see thumbnails of usually 25 students at a time (depending on your screen). You can also move from screen to screen to see the next 25.
· Discussion transitions: it may be harder than usual for students to know when you have shifted between discussion topics, so be sure to state clean, well-defined transitions.
· Using Chat to decide on calling patterns: tracking the Chat feature can be useful in deciding which students to call on next — for example, if a particular student notes through Chat that she/he disagrees with the student speaking, or has some additional data to provide. As one faculty member noted, the advantage of Chat is that it’s like “reading students’ thought bubbles” — an advantage over the physical classroom.
· Role plays/debates between students: you can request two students to “role play” a situation like you would in the physical classroom.
· Warm and cold calls: you can “cold call” a student just as you would in the traditional classroom, instead of waiting for them to raise their hand. For “warm calls,” you can message them privately in Chat before you call on them.
· Raising hands: this feature works like the physical classroom. Have students use the Raise Hand feature in Zoom to answer questions. When you open up a conversation to students, you can pause a beat to let a number of people raise their hand and then pick according to whatever calling pattern you want. Call on a student by name.
· Polls (private or public): with Zoom’s polling features you can get group results in real time, then reveal them later.
· Buzz groups: consider giving students more time than you normally would to formulate ideas jointly in one-on-one conversations, and then have them share those ideas into the broader discussion.
· Checking in/Reading the room: unmuted students can inadvertently start talking at the same time; you will not be able to read body language easily; and those less inclined to speak may disappear more easily. To address these issues, be more diligent about pausing and asking if anyone else has more thoughts before jumping to the next topic.
Board Plans
If you usually do “board work” as part of a class session, you can purchase white board and use it on call, you can also screanshare and prepare a PowerPoint presentation for your students to follow. Note that if you’re accustomed to multiple simultaneous boards you may need to adapt to showing a single screen’s worth at a time.
Closing the Case
· Summary slides work as they do in the physical classroom. In addition, though, you might invite students’ reflections on the case too (through Chat). This can be a useful addition in an online setting vis-à-vis the physical classroom — the collective reflections of the class can provide a powerful summary of the discussion. Consider archiving these reflections for the class.
Assessing Participation
· In case-based classes, participation is a heavy component of the grade. Student comments can be more easily recorded since Zoom retains a video archive of the entire class.
· In an online setting, consider using students’ Chat comments and reflections as additional inputs to a student’s participation grade, and a supplement to the spoken word. This can help draw in students who may be somewhat quiet in “speaking,” and can also help limit frivolous chat. If you decide to use Chat in participation grading, you should be sure to let students know about this norm before you start teaching.
Follow this space and join my Facebook Group for more advice on teaching online. If you have any questions or you would like specific subjects covered please reach out to me individually via social media and I will answer your concerns in form of more publications.