I start teaching a hybrid class in person tomorrow @YaleLawSch. So excited to be back in the classroom for the first time since March. I tested out my classroom on Friday and found a few ways to make the classroom work better. Passing this along in case it's helpful to others. 1/

I'm teaching a small collaborative seminar, which I limited to 9 in person (1 international student online) so that we could fit in a large seminar room. The first problem I encountered is that the room cameras offer a bird's eye view on the classroom. 2/

It was obvious right away that anyone coming in from online would feel like a bystander. I really want this to be a very collaborative class, so that is a problem. After debating the options with our amazing IT staff, I decided to have everyone log into Zoom. 3/

That includes the students in the physical classroom. Yes, it seems a little silly to come into class just to log into Zoom, but it has a lot of advantages. Students joining from online can see everyone's faces. Using the built in class cameras, that was impossible. 4/

Because the built in microphones in the room are excellent, I'm having everyone in class turn off their microphones and I'm logging the classroom into Zoom separately for both sound and the visuals of the classroom as a whole. 5/

Students in the class can minimize the Zoom window as soon as they log in, and use their laptops to take notes or look at class materials. All that Zoom does in this case is add their individual image to the Zoom screen (which I also will have showing at the front of the room).6/

If your classroom doesn't have a great sound system, you probably would need to have every student joining in person bring in headphones (otherwise the reverb would be a problem). I do think that's less ideal, but it would still work. 7/

This will allow students joining online to feel like an equal part of the classroom, which is important to the kind of class I want to teach. It also will make it seamless if some students need to rotate out to quarantine, or for any other reason, during the term. 8/

Teaching this fall is going to be a huge challenge, but with a bit of planning, I think we can make the classroom experience an excellent one for everyone. If you are teaching in a hybrid format this term and have any tips to share, I'd love to hear them! 9/9