What an engaging live session agenda might look like: (Download as PDF or Word )
| Template Agenda for a Live Session | ||
| 1 | (2 MINS) | Welcome introduction (people) and topics (Agenda for the day) |
| 2 | (10-15 MINS) | Instructor responds to class questions or general feedback on assignments or topics |
| Polling to assess students’ readings or learning of the weekly concepts. (Polls can be prepared in Zoom, and the results can be downloaded at end of the session) |
||
| – Questions to the class, students respond with voice or in chat. | ||
| 3 | (10-15 MINS) | Instructor presentation/lecture. What value is my presentation adding to the course readings? Why would students want to come to the live session? |
| DO | ||
| Expand on the topics of the week with new information. | ||
| Make connections between course topics and current events. | ||
| Explain or clarify a topic or activity that was difficult or needs more support. | ||
| Introduce a new topic that will be discussed in the upcoming week, and get students excited about what they are about to learn. | ||
| Make a brief presentation. (Hint: focus on interaction.) | ||
| Use a case or problem as a prompt. | ||
| DON’T | ||
| Don’t repeat what you have presented before or what is already in the course readings. Ask questions about that. Provide examples. |
||
| Don’t take too much time to clarify previous topics with individual students. Encourage students to use office hours for a more personalized consultation. | ||
| Don’t repeat logistics or instructions that they can find in readings or a syllabus. Send them to read from the source. | ||
| 4 | (10-15 MINS) | · Active learning activities |
| – Provide students with a discussion prompt (a case, questions, current event). | ||
| – Send them to breakout rooms in groups of 5 or 6. After discussing with their peers, they return to the main room and present their ideas. | ||
| – Instructors and peers pose questions or comments on student reports. | ||
| – Capture individual or team responses with polling software. | ||
| 5 | (15-20 MINS) | Ideas for student presentations or discussions |
| Students could present: | ||
| – What they discussed in the breakout rooms (assign a recording secretary) | ||
| – On topics that were pre-arranged per class schedule | ||
| – Summaries of the live sessions (groups sign up for different sessions) | ||
| – Summaries of shared annotations of assigned readings (e.g. use of hypothesis) | ||
| 6 | (15 MINS) | Wrap up |
| – Ask students if they have further questions. | ||
| – Review key ideas of the live sessions. | ||
| – Share highlights or assignments for the following week. | ||
| – Provide logistics if needed. | ||