Subject area: Online teaching
Length: 1 hour
Level: Library staff and University academics
Organisers University of Queensland – Information Technology Services
Presenter: Stephanie David
Format: Face to Face training session

Evaluation of the activity

Objectives

To allow staff the chance to prepare for a classroom environment using Zoom. This session was aimed all staff required to either provide online classroom teaching session or for those providing system support to students seeking to connect to their classrooms.

Reason for attendance

As part of the University of Queensland’s provision to move toward online learning due to the COVID 19 pandemic all staff were required to participate in a session to allow them to be able to communicate and collaborate with staff both across the library as part of their normal duties, but also to prepare for virtual reference questions and online support for students locally and internationally that could face potential issues when using Zoom for the first time.

Relationship to work or studies

The information gathered from this course assisted both my work and my studies as more classes moved online to the Zoon application. Having the ability to know how to set up and enter a meeting and what causes potential either video or sound connection issues did take a lot of stress out of using a new learning technology. The confidence gained through my own personal experience was also appreciated when helping my peers in our online courses, as well as the students supported at work.

What the activity achieved in terms of my learning outcomes

The activity gave me essential knowledge that was put to immediate use due to the circumstances, as a result, I was finding myself supporting either one on one with people with a variety of issues to supporting colleagues hosting meeting and lectures with up to 5oo participants and then breaking these groups into break out rooms for group works.

Planned implementation from knowledge gained

As mentioned, the implementation was almost immediate, within less than a week all staff were required to work from home as part of the strategy to reduce the spread of Covid 19. Further challenges were met once working from home and adapting to a hybrid workstation comprising of using borrowed work monitors and headphones to supporting hardware in my own personal office. This was a stressful situation but again demonstrates why libraries are seen on the cutting edge of technology and called on by the community in a time of need or technology support.

Evidence