Zoom is Down! Now What?!?
Author: Arlene Vinion Dubiel
At approximately 8:30 A.M. EST on the morning of Monday, August 24, Zoom went down.
Within the hour, the crash of this popular video conferencing service was reported in the national news by Newsweek, USA Today, and locally by NBC News in Chicago. The outage affected many schools across the U.S. just as they were beginning the school year remotely. The website Downdetector confirmed that the problem with Zoom was a world-wide issue. The problem was short-lived. The New York Times reported that Zoom had completely resolved the issue by 1:00 P.M. EST. But those who rely on Zoom to keep students’ learning on track will not forget this disruption. It will happen again. So what will we do when our video conferencing platform crashes? How can we keep teaching when we can’t connect with our students in real time?
Synchronous class sessions - the next best thing
Let’s face it, most of us would rather be in a classroom interacting with our students than looking at them through a computer screen. But, we know that with the highly-infectious nature of COVID-19, being in close quarters with our students is just not possible, even with precautions. Colleges that have tried to hold in-person classes, like Notre Dame, have decided to revert to online learning due to students and teachers becoming infected. So, for the time being, we will have to use remote learning.
Video conferencing software is as close to in-person learning as we can get while still being physically distanced in our homes. Through synchronous class sessions, we can require video to take attendance and make sure our students are awake and participating. We can deliver content or provide instructions and students can easily ask questions. It is also possible to create breakout groups to allow for small group discussion. There are many advantages for holding synchronous class sessions, and we should hold as many synchronous sessions as we can, especially in this time when we are physically distanced from one another.
While synchronous teaching is the next best thing to being physically with our students, we need to be realistic about its limitations. Notably, there can and will be technical or other challenges that prevent us or our students from being able to join. Whether it is a global crash of Zoom, a local storm that causes a power outage, illness, or simply not waking up in time. Form a contingency plan now for the next time a synchronous session cannot be held.
Plan as if for a substitute
My high school student’s physical education teacher posted an announcement to the class home page shortly after the Zoom problem was detected. It read, “Since Zoom is not working today, please do the following...” This teacher, not knowing when the situation may be resolved, made the decision to implement a contingency plan. Having a contingency plan is necessary. But what kind of contingency plan do you make, especially when you don’t know when you may need one?
Make a contingency plan as you would make a plan for a substitute teacher. If you have been teaching for a while, you probably have a few plans stashed away somewhere. Pull some out, dust them off, and see if you can convert it to be online. Start with the instructions you provided to the substitute teacher to give to the students. Good instructions are the key to a contingency plan. Make sure your expectations and instructions are clear, including how to access the technology. Once you’ve written your instructions, either find someone to read them or read them yourself an hour later and edit for clarity.
With your contingency plan, be aware of the time it will take for students to complete. A task that takes 30 minutes in class is going to take at least 45 minutes if presented remotely. Then, consider that if you are going to have students submit something to you, estimate how much time it will take for you to assess the evidence. When a contingency plan becomes necessary, it is due to unforeseen circumstances which will cause stress. Don’t overburden yourself or your students with tasks that will take some time.
Allow a brain-break
We are living in a time that is more stressful both personally and societally than many of us have seen in our lifetime. Even if we ourselves are not stressed, we hear about other people’s stress, which can affect us in negative ways. Having some kind of unforeseen event that prevents us from engaging with our students synchronously online can cause even more stress. So, rather than pile on work, sometimes it is all right to let our students have a brain break.
My 8th grade science teacher had a box full of puzzle worksheets, trivia flashcards, a Rubik’s cube or two, and (my favorite) tangrams. If we finished our work early, we could pick out something to play with quietly. This box motivated me to get my work done so I could play. While I viewed it as play, in truth, these were educational tasks, promoting logical thinking, which is important for STEM fields. There are a plethora of online games and puzzles that students can do. A later blog post will share some of these, specific for upper level math learners. These games can keep students’ brains working while they have a little fun.
If you are already using Desmos or PhET Simulations in your class, it could be easy for your students to keep using these resources on their own. Both resources have activities or lessons from teachers already prepared. If your class has a textbook, it is likely that you have access to online resources that align to particular portions of the text. Discovery Education, Pearson, Follett, and more have online educational resources available for students of all ages. For some college-level texts, it may be necessary for students to purchase online access, but for K-12 schools, the online resources are likely already included. See what kinds of resources are available for your students and make a list of some that you might want to post to your class page for when you cannot work with your students synchronously.
What about attendance?
With synchronous online class sessions, it is easy to take attendance. But with asynchronous learning, ensuring that your students have engaged with the content can be a challenge. Fortunately, most learning management systems (LMS) have a feature where you can see whether students have logged in or not. With some LMS, like Moodle, you are also able to see what sites were accessed and how much time students were there. Find out if your LMS has this feature and let it work for you.
You may want to have students submit some kind of evidence indicating they have accessed the material. You may have a simple click to submit or a timed video that cannot be advanced. You may also want to have students turn in a worksheet, take a picture, or write something about their experience. One word of caution: if you are going to have students take the time to turn something in, then you need to take the time to acknowledge their work. Do not underestimate the time it will take for you to ensure your students have engaged in the work.
“We know our best-laid-plans will be derailed sometime. Whether it is a global Zoom outage or a local storm, it will happen. Make a contingency plan to keep your students engaged and learning.”
We know our best-laid-plans will be derailed sometime. Whether it is a global Zoom outage or a local storm, it will happen. Make a contingency plan to keep your students engaged and learning. In short, good contingency plans have these features:
Very clear instructions
Not overburdened on time for student or teacher
Uses familiar technology
Incorporates something fun
Tracks student engagement
Once you have your plan in place, don’t hesitate to use that plan. Decide your threshold on waiting for technology to work and stick to it. The goal is to keep students engaged and sometimes an asynchronous contingency plan is best.
If you need something to lighten your day after having to deal with technical issues of Zoom, check out the compilation of Samuel Grubbs’ TikTok posts on YouTube from this past spring. This high school class continuously messed with their teacher on Zoom lessons. The only question is, should they be punished, or given extra credit for creativity and effort? Enjoy!
Make a contingency plan for the next time you cannot connect with your students synchronously. Dust off some old lesson plans for substitute teachers, utilize learning resources from your textbook company, or find an online game or two that can keep students engaged with learning, even when you can’t be with them.
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