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At this point in the term, many of us are already starting to think about next quarter, especially those of us who will be teaching in a face-to-face or hybrid course format for the first time. In the past 12 months, we've spent time adjusting to remote synchronous and asynchronous courses (terms that my 1st, 5th and 7th grade coworkers now use as part of their everyday language), but considering how to manage a class with some students in the classroom and some online presents a new pedagogical challenge. In many cases, tools that we have been using in remote synchronous courses will continue to be effective in this new environment. However, it is important that we begin by thinking carefully about how activities in the classroom will support students' engagement towards the learning goals in the course鈥攚hich should always be at the heart of our teaching decisions. In addition, here are three tips to help guide you in this transition.

Get to know your classroom technology

While many of us don't want to wrestle with even more new technology, it's critical to have a realistic idea of how the audio and video work in your assigned classroom, as it will help you determine how to best support all students to feel part of the conversation. In order to foster engagement, students must be able to hear each other's contributions. In most cases, you can work with campus IT staff to access the room and test out equipment prior to the start of your course.

Depending on the room you use, there may be microphones hanging from the ceiling which will connect to Zoom or another web conference system you plan to use. If this is the case, students online should be able to hear you and other students in the class. However, it is still important to . Typically, in these classrooms, students online will be projected on screens and their audio will be loud enough for students in class to hear. However, in classrooms without built-in microphones, it's likely that the students online will have a hard time hearing you or other students unless everyone is speaking directly into the computer's microphone. In this case, it's best to repeat questions or comments from classroom participants. It's also helpful to say the student's name and acknowledge their contribution. If you are just getting to know the students in the class, ask them to say their name as they share their ideas.

Technology can help students collaborate more safely

If you want students to work in small groups while staying socially distanced, setting up breakout rooms works just as well in hybrid classes as it does in those fully online. Creating a virtual space for each group to record their thinking (one Google Slide or ) works well. It also gives you the chance to monitor students' progress while keeping your distance and can help you make decisions about which group to "pop" in on in order to offer additional support. You'll also want to make sure to let your students online know about the "request help" button in their breakout rooms so they can "call" you if they need you. Of course, it may also be nice to assign groups to include a mix of in-person and online students to help them better connect with one another. You can also still use the "broadcast message" feature to remind breakout rooms of the amount of time left or of the focus of the assignment. It can help to build in a few extra minutes to allow students a little time for relaxed conversation and to connect with each other in addition to working on the assigned task. It's important to remember in this socially distanced environment, we've often unintentionally eliminated social engagement and that can leave students feeling disconnected.

Chat and polling features are still effective for face-to-face students

As we have continued to learn in the last year, many students have benefited from the ability to ask questions or post written comments using chat or responding to online polls. These features are a valuable tool for taking a quick pulse of the class or for . The chat feature works especially well for this with open-ended questions. Rather than only having time for one or two students to unmute their mic or raise their hand in class, chat allows you to invite or require all students to respond to a question. However, keep in mind that it can be a challenge to teach students in-person and online, present slides and course content, and make sure to catch all of these chat contributions in live time. For that reason, assigning a student to be the chat monitor or the "" for the day can support you to make sure all the questions and ideas from the chat are voiced to the group. Don't forget, in Zoom you can also .

While this is by no means an exhaustive guide to moving to the hybrid format, it can help us start to think about how to maintain a sense of student participation in learning and class conversations as we continue to move into new teaching and learning formats.