Planning, designing and delivering engaging online sessions
In order to support our facilitators we have collated information to answer any questions and considerations you may have about running online sessions.
Please see below:
- 10 top tips for planning an online session
- 10 top tips for delivering an online session
- 10 top tips to get online discussions going
- 10 top tips for delivering a pre-recorded online session
- Accessibility considerations when designing your session
Additional general tips
- If any written resources are being shared, make use of the ‘Styles’ section in Word (below) as this helps with people who use screen reading software e.g. it will tell the person if a word is a ‘heading’ or body text etc.
- Share any written resources in advance so that people have time to process them. This supports anyone with dyslexia as well as those using screen readers due to visual impairments.
- At the beginning of your session, ask participants about any adjustments they might need.
- If sessions are interactive, consider offering people different ways to get involved – video might work best for some whereas chat would work better for others – so if both could be offered concurrently, that would be good. Allow time for all participants to respond – some may take a bit longer to respond and will feel frustrated if conversations are shut down before they can get involved. Using something that has a ‘raise hand’ function (such as Zoom) might help to ensure everyone gets a chance to be involved.
Further resources
- Zoom Guide for Hosts
- ‘Zoom Like a Zoomie’: 10 Tips & Tricks to Use Zoom Like a Pro
- How to Run a Successful Online Event via Zoom by David Longstaff - please visit the website at: www.positivepeople.biz
- NCCPE Online Engagement: A guide to creating and running virtual meetings and events
- Wildlabs WILDLABS Virtual Workshop Recording: Running Engaging Events on Zoom
- In-depth Guide: using Zoom to teach online class sessions
- Impact of COVID-19 on online learning - keeping accessibility in mind
- Zoom Guide for breakout rooms by Emma J Williams
- Virtual Team Building Games by Michelle Cummings
- Zoom Guide for Participants
- Zoom webinar guide for chairs and panellists
- Zoom webinar guide for participants
- Mural guide for participants
The information provided in these pages has been adapted from:
- The BRECcIA project: http://www.gcrf-breccia.com/resources/briefs/
- The EJW Solutions newsletter: https://ejwsolutions.com/
- Online Discussion Tips
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