Video Call Tips

Teams Call Tips

Engaging with students in a video call

Be on camera

It might be uncomfortable at first to be on camera, but allowing students to see your face, your facial expressions, and your body language is important to making a connection to them. Students may be reluctant to turn their camera on, but having yours on will encourage them to do the same. If a student doesn't turn their camera on, it can feel awkward to leave yours on. However, it is important that we model having our camera on. Eventually the student may come around and turn theirs on too.

Come prepared

Plan for the call ahead of time. If you are doing a live session, create a lesson plan to follow and set up all of your visuals and resources ahead of time. If you are meeting with a student, take a look at their grades and work before getting into the call so you know how to best help the student when you are together. If you are offering office hours or a drop in and don't know what exactly to expect, you can still be ready by having any resources you need open for you. For example, open your Schoology gradebook ahead of time and be ready to look at a student's grades and work when they arrive.

Use Visuals

Create or choose a relevant background for your Teams call. Choose some visuals or props to show during the video call to help illustrate the things you are discussing. You might make a PowerPoint if you are presenting something. Demonstrate or use the whiteboard in Teams to help students see the concepts you are teaching. If you are working individually with a student, consider sharing your screen to show them any resources you have to help them or even to show them their grades.

Follow EXCEL

Remember the EXCEL model when you are in your Teams call with students.

• Engage
• Explore
• Communicate
• Empower
• Launch

Don't skip the Engage and Explore steps! Let students show you their dog/cat or show off something they are proud of. You might also find out some of the reasons a student is struggling with school work during these steps and have an easier time addressing their academic success once you know more about their life outside of school.

Develop Digital Skills

Students may not know how to do some of the things that could help them be successful in virtual spaces; such as taking screenshots, using reations in Teams, screensharing, etc. Use your time in a video call to help students develop these kinds of skills. Later on, when they can send you a screenshot so you can trouble shoot a tech problem with them, it will pay off!