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Zoom Lectures can be fun!




For Term 2 at UNSW I decided to make the Zoom lectures fun by using themed backgrounds. I was inspired by fellow academics on Twitter, in particular Dr Scott Chadwick (of UTS) - Twitter link here. I could see Scott was having a lot of fun and his students at UTS enjoyed his Zoom background themes. I gathered as my research for backgrounds a list of all of Scott's backgrounds (see here). If you would like to get started I collected some of the same backgrounds (see here). This idea of Zoom backgrounds for teaching lectures resonated with me because it looked fun. I was aware as well of some academics who tried to rope in their students into themes (remaining nameless) and that this didn't go down well. I think this is a valuable lesson as well. It guided me towards an approach of - "I enjoy backgrounds in Zoom. I'm going to have fun with this." To date students have responded very positively. Many during the "Star Wars" week said they were just loving the backgrounds. I think this engages the students as well. I'm showing something that interest me and sharing it with the students.

Going into Term 2 I was aware that all of my teaching load would be Zoom Lectures. This increased my focus on the Lectures and creating an engaging environment. I came prepared with the experiences of Term 1 were online teaching was emergency based and lacked the engagement elements. I learned about Zoom and how to do "Polls" and "Sharing" to prepare. Part of my preparation also included thinking about Zoom backgrounds. I got myself organised with two weeks of Zoom Lectures at UNSW so far for Term 2 being "Star Wars" week and "Harry Potter" week. Today I thought it's a good idea to map out the next 4 weeks following UNSW's Flexibility week. I am now organised with Zoom background themes lined up for all the weeks ahead of Term 2. I teach 4 Lectures per week so it's great to have variety ready within a theme choice of 4 backgrounds. It more personalised to the students who attend each lecture stream to have a unique background. Plus when I'm editing the videos I can tell straight away which day the Lecture video is from.

Here is my plan for Term 3 (note my colleague taught Weeks 1 to 3) - see here for downloadable list:


Below are some pictures of me giving the lecture. Here is a photo of me teaching the lecture in Week 5 - Harry Potter Week - I'm at Platform 9&1/3.


Here is a photo of me with a Star Wars background in Week 4:


There are a limitless supply of Zoom background on the internet. Enjoy! Have fun with your Zoom classes!

Regards,

Victoria

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