In part one of this series we looked at some of the accessibility tools in Teams and how you can create content to improve accessibility for students. Making sure everyone has an equal opportunity to access, the content of your class session is a great place to start, but there are other things you can do to help all learners get the most out of your Teams sessions. In this post we will look at some of the ways you can structure you online sessions to help students with a variety of needs.
Set Clear Expectations
Everyone in your class will benefit from knowing what you expect to happen in your Teams sessions, but this is especially important to first generation university students, neurodivergent students, students dealing with trauma and students who are dealing with anxiety. For these groups, knowing what to expect can alleviate stress, help them navigate unspoken expectations and generally enhance learning.
You may not know everything that is going to happen in an online class, but you can provide or co-create a set of expectations for how everyone will behave and interact in online sessions. It is especially important to ensure everyone knows how to ask for help or get clarification if they don’t understand something you are working on.
When you are asking students to participate in discussions or activities, it’s helpful to set out clear guidelines and even provide an example to help students understand what you are looking for. These expectations can be shared before a session, at the beginning of the session or right when they become relevant. What matters is that students are not left guessing what you want them to do and instead can focus on the activity itself.
Recording Class Sessions
If you will be recording your class session, this should be disclosed to students before the meeting. One of the differences between Teams and Zoom is what is captured when you record. Zoom gave a variety of options and allowed participants to opt out of being captured by keeping their camera off. Teams currently (in April 2024) offers only one recording view and will include participants even if they don’t turn on their camera. Participants whose cameras are off will show up as the block with their name in your recording.
Before any student joins a meeting that will be recorded, you want to let them know:
- What is being recorded?
- Why is it being recorded?
- Where will the recording be stored?
- Who will have access to the recording?
- When will the recording be deleted?
Students who do not want to be recorded may be able to join as a guest. However, users who are not signed in to their VIU O365 account will have limited access to some meeting features so it’s a good idea to have a conversation with your students before selecting this as an alternative.
Mix It Up and Build in Breaks
Three years ago I remember a lot of talk about ‘Zoom fatigue’ —the very specific exhaustion caused by spending hours talking to people on our screens. While most of us are now better able to mix up our human interaction between face to face and digital, it would be a mistake to forget just how tiring long stretches online can be.
There are two ways to combat this problem and we recommend using both in your online courses. The first is to split up times when you’re sharing content and students are listening with activities that get students involved. These don’t have to be elaborate or time consuming. The purpose is to draw students in and give them the ability to confirm that they understand what has been covered so far, or to contribute a question they might have.
The second way you can combat online meeting fatigue and help your students get the most out of your sessions is by building in breaks. Breaks can be an opportunity to incorporate wellness into your class by encouraging students to stretch, do some breathing exercises, or just look at something that isn’t their computer for a minute or two so their eyes can rest.
Don’t Require Cameras
It’s a common misconception that participants with their cameras on are more engaged in virtual meetings. Research done in the last four years has found that being on camera in virtual meetings increases meeting fatigue, especially for women, and people who are new in their role. This effect can be magnified for people who cannot sit still for long periods of time, who need to fidget or doodle in order to pay attention, and anyone who has a visible disability or relies on visible assistive technology. Students who are neurodivergent or live with chronic pain may need to move frequently which they may feel they cannot do while on camera, or which may make them a distraction for others if they are on camera. People who require assistive devices (ranging from oxygen to mobility devices) may be uncomfortable on camera and should not need to disclose the details of their health condition or disability to receive an exception in a cameras-required environment.
In addition to these accessibility considerations, there are equity reasons to allow students to opt out of using their camera.
When we ask a student to turn on the video we are asking them to let us, and everyone else in the class, into their space. Many students don’t have the luxury of a home office or private space where they can work. They may have kids, partners, dependent parents, or roommates who share the space and should not have to be on display for your class. Virtual backgrounds can provide some privacy but they are less effective on less powerful computers, in spaces with ‘busy’ backgrounds, and when there are multiple people in view of the camera.
A lack of sufficient internet bandwidth or technology is another key reason some students may not be able to enable their camera. Video calls can be very resource intensive on a student’s device and requires a steady, high speed internet connection. For students who don’t have reliable high speed internet or who rely on an older device (computer, tablet or even smartphone) to join your session, turning off their camera might mean the difference between being able to follow along with the class material and dealing with consistent freezing and lagging.
Sending a video feed also increases the system requirements for a student’s device to smoothly participate in a Teams call. Students who rely on old technology or who don’t have reliable high speed internet may need to turn off their video simply to be able to connect to the call without experiencing lagging video or audio that can make it hard to follow along, let alone participate.
Rather than requiring video, which can feel to students like surveillance and signal a lack of trust, we recommend telling students why you would like them to tune on video if and when they are able and that it’s okay if they need to turn it off mid-meeting or leave it off for the whole meeting.
Managing Distractions
For some students, other students’ camera feeds can be a source of distraction. Fortunately, in Teams everyone has the ability to adjust their own view to help with this potential challenge.
Focus on Content
When content is being shared (such as slides or a shared screen), attendees can choose to view only the shared screen and not the videos of everyone else attending. This is especially helpful for people working on small screens.
- Select View in the meeting control bar
- Select Focus on content
Hide Incoming Video
Students who don’t have the bandwidth or system resources to have everyone’s video streaming or who find it distracting can turn off all incoming video:
- Select View in the meeting control bar
- Select More Options
- Select Turn off incoming video
Final Thoughts
We’ve looked at a number of ways you can make your Teams sessions more accessible for a broad range of students but this is far from an exhaustive look at this very important topic.
If you have questions or would like to talk about ways to build accessibility into your courses from day one, we would be very happy to meet with you. CIEL offers one on one consultations on pedagogical topics and around our learning technologies. To request a consultation you can fill out this web form or send an email to learnsupport@viu.ca. When emailing, we suggest including at least two days and times that will work for your schedule.
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