Did you know after 8 minutes of lecture, college students begin to fade out? If they are intensely focused, that increases to about 20 minutes.
Due to clinical skills lab construction, some lectures that currently take place in the VMC have been moved to the Goss auditorium. Goss’s smaller size has necessitated live streaming core lectures to the AT Lab overflow location, and VIS has worked to implement a solution with the Zoom conference tool. While Zoom is not currently among OSU’s officially-supported online conferencing tools, both VIS and OTL have found it to be a great alternative that can be easy to set up and use.
If you have used CarmenConnect before, you will be familiar with Zoom online conferencing features, including audio and video, text chat, screen share, breakout rooms, as well as ongoing and scheduled meeting rooms. In particular, breakout rooms are a great way to implement group work and discussions in a online, asynchronous setting, where students are expected to connect individually.
Compared to free Zoom accounts, CarmenConnect does have the following advantages:
- Cleared by OCIO Cybersecurity for data element classifications up to S2 (Internal).
- Supports session recordings directly stored in the cloud with a sharable link.
- No time limit for meetings with 2+ participants.
- No technical or arbitrary limit to the number of concurrent attendees allowed that we are aware of.
While Zoom is currently a temporary solution to the CVM classroom situation, you may find online conferencing tools appropriate for other synchronous education experiences, such as bringing outside expertise into your classrooms. For example, Professional Development 3-B invites an outside expert to speak about animal law via Zoom.
If you ever run into a situation where you cannot be physically present in class, or if you are interested in other educational applications of online conferencing tools, please feel free to contact cvmotl@osu.edu for some ideas! For general business-related conferencing needs, please consult vishelp@osu.edu.
For more information: