Introduction

You've learned about the technical adjustments that will need to be made, such as recording the class session and not straying too far from the podium. With some thought and planning, you can provide alternative participation activities that lead to the same learning outcomes and provide meaningful learning opportunities for all students. This page lists some practices that are conducive to the BlendFlex environment, meaning that they tend to support an equitable experience for both in-class and remote students.

When planning your classroom time, it might help to use a template that lets you script out your time and focus on how you will engage your students regardless of how they are 'attending' your session that day.

Lesson Planning Template

Activity	Time Estimate	Synchronous in person	Synchronous online	Asynchronous online
Instructor opening	3 - 5 minutes	Greet everyone. Set expectations for the session. Assuming your platform as the capability, ask for an in-class student volunteer to monitor the chat room for questions.
Lecture	10-15 minutes	Students watch in class	Students watch via video conference or webcast [Panopto, Zoom]	Students watch recording located in your online course section
Activity - Instructor prompt	3 - 5 minutes	Students work in small groups*	Students work in breakout groups using a collaboration platform like Zoom, MS Teams, or Webcourses@UCF Collaborations	Students work in discussion forum in online course section in Webcourses@UCF

*Note: in-person activities may work better when aided with technology,

Classroom Strategies

At this point, you may be asking yourself: “What activities can I do in the face-to-face classroom when students are physically distanced and could be wearing face coverings?” We recommend taking a minute to think about activities that you have found to be particularly effective in the face-to-face classroom. For instance, physical demonstrations can be performed by you or a single student at the front of the class.

"OK, but what about activities that require students to interact?" These activities are still possible but it will look a little different than usual. Students can be encouraged to bring a laptop or mobile device to class, and in-person activities can be aided with technology.

Below are some common activities that take place in a classroom, and strategies that can help facilitate the activities in the blendflex classroom.

I Want To...	Classroom Strategy
Encourage remote students to participate in the live classroom sessions	Use Zoom to stream and record your classroom session. Ask remote students to post in the chat area if they have questions or comments. Check the chat periodically or ask a student in the class to monitor. Alternatively, ask targeted questions in class and invite the remote students to contribute via chat.
Have a small group of students brainstorm a solution to a problem I posed in a class session	Use Groups or Collaborations in Webcourses@UCF to have a small online group discussion. Zoom also provides breakout room for group collaboration.
Gather student feedback and use it to drive the classroom discussion	Create a Survey or Poll in Webcourses@UCF before the classroom session. Ask in-class and remote students to access it using the UCF Mobile app on their mobile device, or log in from their laptop. View the results as a group. Review the sample In Class Polls lesson plan for including all three audiences: in class, remote participants, and asynchronous watchers.
Ask an open ended question; have students reflect on options; with a partner, compare and evaluate options; then report their findings to the rest of the class	Think-Pair-Share - students share and compare possible answers to a question with a partner before addressing the class at large. Review the sample Think-Pair-Share lesson plan for including all three audiences: in class, remote participants, and asynchronous watchers.
Check my students' understanding	Quick Write Activity - students write something, such as a reflection, facts, solution to a problem, formulate quiz questions, etc. Review the sample Quick Write lesson plan for including all three audiences: in class, remote participants, and asynchronous watchers.

Online Strategies

When possible, we recommend offering interactive activities that are asynchronous, meaning that students do not have to log in and/or interact at the same time. Discussions, Peer Review, and Polls are some tools in Webcourses@UCF that support these activities.

Consider offering graded assessments in your Webcourses@UCF online course section as much as possible. This may be more efficient and consistent than implementing many graded activities in class.

Attendance Strategies

Consider reviewing the following page on attendance strategies from the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning. It includes valuable information including developing your attendance policy for your course and technical considerations to help you stay aligned with that policy.

Faculty Implications

Lecturer P

I am going to embed a poll in a page in my online course and ask the in-class students to participate using their mobile devices. I'll encourage the remote students that are watching the session in real time to do the same. That will help direct the discussion in the face-to-face classroom, and also acknowledge the online audience.

Professor M
I think I will use online discussions more than I usually do. That way, students can participate when they are able. I can always pull up the discussion during the classroom time and we can talk about it.