Tips for Teachers

Thanks for teaching a course at Bethel University! We’ve compiled some information to help make sure your course is fun and successful.

Resources for Teaching on Zoom:

Using Zoom

Basic Guide to Using Zoom (AARP)

Step-by-Step Guide to a Zoom Meeting  (Seniors’ Guide)

Zoom Video Tutorials (from Zoom)

Teaching on Zoom

Tips & Tricks: Teachers Educating on Zoom (from Zoom)

The Best Tips & Tricks for Teaching on Zoom (from Bright Classroom Ideas)

How to Make Your Video Calls Look & Sound Better (Wired)

Designing Virtual Classes

BU Course Planning Template (Google doc – copy or print)

Adapting Your Curriculum to the Virtual Classroom (Psyche Learning Experience Design)

Ways to Be More Inclusive in Your Zoom Teaching/Meetings (UNL)

 Five top tips to developing great courses and building connections:

  1. Introduce yourselves. Have everyone in the course introduce themselves at the beginning. That can be short and sweet (just stating names and hometowns) or can involve a more fun and engaging ice breaker. Try asking people to respond to short prompts: What’s your connection to Bethel? Why are you taking this course? What do you hope to learn? You’ll be surprised how many connections can develop.
  2. Make a plan. Start by asking yourself what you want your students to know and do by the end of the course. Then consider what kind of format will work best for the info you want to share. A step-by-step explanation? Good old-fashioned lecture? Hands-on practice, or discussion, or group work?
  3. Follow the 20 minute rule. No matter how interesting you are, you can’t hold people’s attention forever. Think about breaking your course into 20-minute chunks of time. After 20 minutes, switch gears to a different topic or activity or even get people up to stretch and mingle.
  4. Make it interactive. We know you’re brilliant, but probably a lot of other people in the course have great info to share too. And even if they don’t, people love to gab. Consider group work, time for sharing and offering ideas, discussion, and other ways to get people working together and actively participating.
  5. Wrap it up. Leave enough time at the end to do some important wrap-ups. Save room in your schedule for Q&A and be sure people leave with their questions answered. And consider going around the room at the end to go around the room and share responses again. What was your favorite part of this course? What would you change? What will you do with what you learned?

Teachers’ Manual

For more great tips on organizing your course content and finding ways to help people build relationships, check out our teachers’ manual.