Conducting blended teaching sessions – synchronously face-to-face and via Teams

Teaching staff are encouraged to provide access to teaching sessions for students unable to attend them in person. The guidelines below provide step-by-step checklist of all things that need to be completed to conduct an effective session for both students sitting in the classroom and those joining via MS Teams.  

Before the session: 

Note: Make it clear that this has been provided for students who are not able to attend the session in person and that all students who are well and not self-isolating are expected to attend the sessions in-person and that attendance during face-toface session will be closely monitored.  

  • Revise the teaching room guide and watch videos demonstrating using the new teaching room set-up:  

Teaching Rooms Guide 

Teaching Rooms demonstrations 

Once in the teaching room: 

Once the session started:  

  • Inform all students of the session format.  
  • Encourage students joining virtually to unmute themselves, turn on their cameras and take part in the discussion directly rather than by typing in the chat. Clarify that you will not be monitoring the chat all the time, so if they have a question, they need to ask it directly.  
  • Make sure they know the chat will be visible to everyone and stored in Teams, so they should not be posting anything they would not feel comfortable saying in the classroom. They should also not share any personal data.  
  • Try to encourage participation, ask students in the class what they think then address students joining virtually. 

After the session:

  • Ask your students in both groups how the session went for them and whether they would suggest any changes to make it better.  
  • Reflect on the session and adjust any steps in accordance with your experience.  
  • In case of any questions please contact: lteu@aber.ac.uk  

A number of academic staff are successfully running simultaneous in class and Teams sessions. However, this format of session delivery is still new for the majority. Please take time to reflect on the process, adjust when necessary and don’t hesitate to ask us for help.  

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