Overview

The workshop is designed for academics seeking to enhance the quality and impact of their synchronous online teaching. The session covers essential aspects of lecture preparation, delivery, and strategies to promote student engagement during Zoom-based lectures. Participants will receive guidance on equipment setup, improving their webcam presence (e.g., posture, lighting, or framing), vocal delivery, and slide design. The session covers the use of features in Zoom to enhance the lecturer/student visual experience (e.g. Zoom Focus mode, different lecturer/student views) and audio (e.g. sharing video/audio).

Through interactive activities, participants will learn how to sustain student engagement using Zoom features including polls, breakout rooms, and the whiteboard tool. Some of the techniques learned in this workshop are highly transferable to in-person teaching, making them relevant for both online and traditional classroom settings.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the workshop, participants will:

• identify the key qualities of effective presentation materials and slide design
• identify techniques to improve webcam presence and vocal delivery.
• experience the use of features in Zoom that promote student interaction.