This document provides guidance for planning and conducting effective online teaching sessions. It recommends extensive practice and preparation, including testing equipment, familiarizing participants with interactive elements, and designating speaker roles for co-teaching. Troubleshooting tips include closing unneeded applications, checking permissions, and monitoring the chat for technical issues. Moderators should engage participants, check for understanding, and consider accommodations for late arrivals.

1. Planning
Practise, practise, practise … and then
practise some more.
 Make notes as you go along - it will help
you with your teaching reflection.
 Brief participants on how they can get
involved - e.g. click here, launch this.
Explain how to join or leave a session.
 If recording the session, tell the
participants and make sure everyone is
ok with this - don’t forget to press the
record button.
 Check what is behind you - You don’t
want someone 'photobombing' your
recording or a large plant pot growing
out of your head.
 Check the angle of your camera to ensure
a flattering appearance. You don’t want
the camera looking up your nose!
 Arrive in plenty of time to sort out any
technical issues.
 Have a welcome slide outlining the
session - this can be posted before the
session is due to start so that early
arrivals can see something.
 Personalise the session by welcoming
participants as each person arrives.
 Encourage students to 'raise their hands'
to signal they are ready for the session to
begin (remind them to lower it again
once you get going).
 Introduce all the speakers and
moderators at the beginning of the
session.
 If co-teaching, decide who is teaching,
who is monitoring and who will handle
any question.
 If co-teaching, switch off your
microphone when not speaking,
otherwise participants might hear any
background conversations.
 Keep your voice level at an audible level.
 Give clear signposting throughout the
session e.g. now I am going to do this, I
am clicking on the…
 Think about which interactive elements
you will be using and how will you be
using them to reinforce the learning
outcomes.
 Activities can take longer then you
expect.
 When screen sharing or touring, check,
either verbally or through chat, to see
that participants can see what you are
demonstrating.
 You can export the chat or make a
recording. Consider how you will handle
personal information and respect the
confidentiality of the participants. You
can get the agreement of the participants
that names can be included, or you can
anonymise the data.
Trouble Shooting
 Prepare - read training guides, get expert
advice, have technical support available
during the session.
 What kit do you and your participants
need? Test your kit - especially for sound
quality.
 Ensure moderators and participants have
the required permissions.
 If switching between moderators, make
sure you stop sharing screens and the
new speaker should make sure they have
their microphone switched on.
 If sharing your desktop, close down
applications that are not needed.
 If using a PowerPoint, be aware that any
URLs on the ppt will be treated as flat
text and will not link you to the web
resource.
 If you are altering participants'
permissions to enable activities, make
sure you give the permissions at the
correct time, and take them off again -
otherwise you risk losing control of the
session.

2. Chat Reflections
 You can send global pop up
announcements which will appear on
everyone's screens.
 The Chat log can show the levels of class
engagement.
 Reassure participants that they are not
being assessed on spelling and grammar,
but if any abbreviations are used, it is ok
to ask what they mean.
 Technical problems may be reported on
Chat - moderator needs to be aware of
this and offer workarounds.
Things to Consider
 How will you engage and re-engage
participants?
 If there is more than one moderator, who
will answer any questions?
 How will you check understanding?
 How will you manage late arrivals?
 Will you be providing a text based
transcript to accompany any presentation
materials?
Emma Finney, Julia King, Rupert Kahn