Hill, J., C., Brown, K., & Elfving, T.

Summary

1. Due to COVID-19, many faculty members transitioned to the live stream (synchronous online) format. There are few resources or trainings available for faculty who seek to improve their live streaming skills.
2. Instructor-student rapport is strongly related to positive learning outcomes for students. Developing and maintaining rapport in the live stream format is difficult, particularly if an instructor embraces the equity-enhancing philosophy of no cameras required.
3. Live streamers from Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube provide insights into enhancing higher education live stream courses, such as the philosophy that any time a viewer spends watching is an honor because the viewer is choosing to spend their time with the streamer.
4. A few easy-to-implement techniques can build rapport in live streams. We share specific behaviors that any instructor can adopt.

Background and Context

Higher education dramatically changed during the spring 2020 semester as faculty quickly shifted from face-to-face instruction to an emergency online model in a response to COVID-19. Faculty teaching in a traditional format (i.e., face-to-face) with little to no online teaching experience were forced into an unfamiliar educational environment with few choices. Experts in the traditional format frequently express negative attitudes about the inadequacy of the asynchronous online format (Betts & Heaston, 2014), thus we suspect that many chose the online synchronous format (i.e., live streaming) because they could maintain their current schedule and a similar delivery format—their students would continue meet with them using video conference software (e.g., Microsoft Teams) during their regularly scheduled class meetings. Yet, while hopes for the live stream format was high, many faculty members felt that their hard-won teaching skills seemed to translate poorly to this format.

In the traditional format, instructors have a rich, instantly available source of data about their students’ understanding and their own effectiveness: the visual and auditory information from the classroom. By listening to the sounds of the classroom, it can quickly become apparent if students are confused, enjoying themselves, or distracted. By visually monitoring the classroom, instructors can tell how students are feeling, if the pacing of their delivery is appropriate, and the exact moment to tell an important story. Masters of the traditional format can produce transformational learning experiences for their students that change lives. They embrace and wield its power because they, themselves, were successful in it; after all, “teachers teach as they were taught” (Schmidt et al., 2016). Unfortunately, while some teaching behaviors translated from the traditional format to the live stream format, many did not.

Instructor-Student Rapport

Foundational to the success of a college classroom is the instructor. An instructor’s social presence is composed of two communication constructs: intimacy, the perceived closeness or warmth of a relationship based on physical proximity and body language (Ananga, 2020; Argyle & Dean, 1965, p. 293) and immediacy, which is “produced through communication channels such as eye contact, facial expressions, tone of voice, postures, and movements" (Baringer & McCroskey, 2000).  Instructor-student rapport, which is built upon appropriate intimacy and immediacy, can be strengthened through teaching behaviors such as the effective use of humor to support learning, facilitating interaction through discussion, using their students’ names, and using the time before and after class to engage with students interpersonally (Keeley et al., 2006). The effects of strong instructor-student rapport are robust and well-documented, including increased attendance, in-class attention, enjoyment of the course content, student engagement with the material outside of class, and academic performance (Kirby et al., 2018; Richmond et al., 2016; Wilson & Ryan, 2013). Moreover, student satisfaction with their learning and the course as a whole is largely based on the rapport they have with their instructor (Ananga, 2020; Richardson & Swan, 2003).

Developing rapport relies on two-way interactions between instructors and students that includes visual and auditory feedback on behaviors indicating intimacy and immediacy. Common concerns about transitioning to live stream instruction included difficulty in engaging students and the inability to develop close bonds between instructors and students (Torda, 2020). These concerns were well-founded, as instructors quickly discovered during 2020. Despite hopes for full live stream classes with all cameras on, frequently there was only one-way communication; only the instructor and a handful of students keep their cameras on. As a result, the internet was filled with cries for help from instructors.

A quick internet search will yield articles, opinion pieces, questions, and posts exploring how to keep students engaged enough to keep their cameras on or whether it is ethical to require that at all (e.g., Reed, 2020). Often, such pieces center on forcing students to attend to the live stream class session. For example, Spathis and Dey (2020) highlight Zoom’s attention tracking features, providing figures that show the relationship between students’ final grades and their average Zoom attentiveness score, between attentiveness score by chronologically-sorted class meeting, and number of views of recorded meetings by attentiveness scores of the students present for the live meeting. They accompany these figures with comprehensive instructions on how to enable, access, and analyze attentiveness scores. Yet, while helping live stream instructors to maximize their attentiveness-generating capacities, Spathis and Dey (2020) quietly acknowledge that “the limitations of synchronous instruction is equity in access to computers and reliable Internet access. It also requires students to feel comfortable about sharing their surrounding environment on camera” (p. 1). Thus, instructors are left with the question: ‘I can force my students to attend and keep their cameras on, but should I?’

Beyond discomfort with sharing learning environments on camera during a live stream class, a ‘cameras on’ policy comes with added financial and emotional costs that are invisible to instructors. The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics highlighted the differential impact of a forced cameras on policy on students via an interview with an instructor.

“…students who are less well off might not want to “share” their surroundings with classmates whose homes look very different… multiple siblings “could be sharing a kitchen table, some might be homeless and logging on from their car, while others have to go into their parents' work to sign into the class.” And she also noted that, for students who don’t have access to broadband and have to use cell phones for class, keeping the camera on at all times also has a real cost in terms of data usage. (Raicu, 2020)

 

It is in this context that we (Hill and Brown) began to wrestle with what it means to teach a live stream course in an equitable and compassionate way without sacrificing quality.

Hill and Brown Tackle Live Streaming

Both authors (Hill and Brown) committed at the beginning of the semester to avoiding a forced ‘cameras on’ policy. Hill did this by openly discussing the issues with her students and allowing the class to formulate their own policy. Hill’s class decided that cameras are optional except when speaking to the entire class or while completing small group work in breakout rooms. Despite the early class vote, very quickly all cameras turned off, except Hill’s, even when students spoke to the whole class or were in small groups. Similarly, Brown gave her students the choice of whether to keep their cameras on. The majority of her students decided to keep their cameras off for the entire class period.

Rather than passively accepting this state of affairs, Hill began searching the literature and reputable resources, such as those found on a university centers for teaching and learning websites. After searching and indexing resources, Hill found that the majority of strategies and techniques were either aimed at asynchronous online courses, focused on out-of-class work, or were overly broad, not providing any specific behaviors or techniques to foster rapport in live stream courses. For example, Toor (2020) suggested having students write weekly personal essays as a vehicle to build instructor-student rapport and a sense of community as a component of her live stream course. Despite the community-building focus of the article, only two techniques were described for use during a live stream session: allow for small group interactions and allow them to chat. These suggestions are valuable, but they were not accompanied by specific advice on implementation. In contrast, guides for live streamers are more specific about procedures and behaviors (e.g., The Emergence, n.d.).

It was in this context that Hill realized her live stream course was more similar to live streaming on Twitch, Facebook, or YouTube than to a traditional class. Of those platforms, only Twitch fosters interaction between the streamer and the viewer—Facebook and YouTube do not. For instance, interaction with viewers who are chatting is central to Twitch, and streamers are advised to frequently check the chat or else they will lose viewers or be considered rude (The Emergence, n.d.). Thus, Hill began observing Twitch Music to find outstanding examples of community building techniques. It was through this systematic observation and analysis that Hill encountered Elfving (Elfving, 2020) and interviewed him. Elfving has prior experience as an instructor and with audience-driven live musical performances (e.g., pub music). During the interview, the following themes emerged as applicable to live stream courses in higher education:

• Communication. The rich data provided by live interactions are absent in live streaming. Thus, it is imperative to utilize passive data to improve performance. For example, Elfving analyzes numbers of viewers and subscribers as part of his performance evaluation.
• Technology. Despite comfort with technology, Hill felt challenged in experiments with the Twitch interface. Elfving noted that practice with the format and having a backup person is essential for successful live streams. Having a backup person to handle technology challenges reduces the cognitive load of the live streamer. Hill has served in this capacity for a colleague during the fall 2020 semester, and the colleague expressed how useful it was (A. Doyle, personal communication, August 2020).
• Voluntary Viewer Participation. Instructors know the identities of their students and can require attendance or participation as part their grades. In contrast, on Twitch all viewing is voluntary and all viewers anonymous. Elfving highlighted that viewers are only numbers on a Twitch dashboard, but he recognizes that every number is a person—"these are living breathing people who are the main character in their own lives. They could be doing a million other things, but they are choosing to spend time with [him]” (Elfving, personal communication, September 2020). He finds their choice to spend time with him to be an honor.
• Social Presence During Live Streams. Elfving’s favorite instructors were those with no barriers. Thus, he refuses to use sheet music or have song lyrics displayed during his sessions because then his attention would be directed to those things rather than his viewers. An instructional application could include not having other documents open on the screen unless the instructor is sharing the screen with the class. He is attentive to the chat and responds to viewers/chatters by name.
• Organization as Social Presence. Elfving includes organization and preparation as part of social presence in a live stream. By knowing in advance what will happen, it allows the streamer to project confidence. Elfving uses his song list as the organizational pillar of his live stream sessions then gives choice to his viewers in how they navigate through the song list. For example, if a viewer makes a joke in the chat about geese and their honking noises, Elfving will incorporate that into his song, perhaps by replacing some of the lyrics with the word “honk.” He can engage in viewer-generated tangents then bring them back to the purpose for the live stream session by drawing attention to the song list.
• Live Stream Community. Elfving has central values that guide his community, including forbidding racism, sexism, and other forms of hatred or intolerance. He built a community that in which he would be comfortable. By maintaining those standards, encouraging viewers to maintain them, and quickly intervening when the standards are violated, Elfving has created a safe and comfortable community of viewers.
• Performance Improvement. Several trusted individuals serve as observers for Elfving’s live streams. He regularly gets feedback from them, including reviewing turns of phrase, posture, volume, expressions, and other relevant behaviors. Because he has no immediate auditory or visual feedback from viewers, Elfving heavily relies on feedback from trusted individuals.

Brown did not rely on learning other platforms. Instead, she gathered information from Utah Valley University’s Office of Teaching and Learning, the University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, and Oregon State University’s Center for Teaching and Learning and relied on her experience with young adults in mental distress. All resources emphasized the student’s need for candid and kind communication with classmates and instructor; varied forms of feedback on course participation and assignments; transparency in the course construction; and building a course as a safe space where students could respect their identities and those of others.

Looking at the many articles in The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed since March 2010, COVID-19, racial unrest, and political division, among others, add to students’ typical stressors. Brown does not believe that most students are in mental health crises but has found that many students are finding it difficult to focus as well as those in the recent past. From albeit limited experience Brown has with young adults experiencing mental health crises, she adopted an attitude of compassion with rigor, that is, managing expectations and performance, but not managing behavior.

Live Stream Rapport-Building Techniques to Try

Based on our own experiences and those garnered from Elfving, we suggest the following techniques to build rapport in your live stream courses:

• Embrace your freedom. Let go of preconceptions and inhibitions you have about teaching and embrace experimentation in this relatively new format (at least new to most college professors). You have a fantastic opportunity to challenge traditional elitist pedagogical tools and explore new equitable tools that can reach more students, without compromising rigor.
• Engage in purposeful practice. For each technique you learn, practice it while recording yourself—even if just your voice. Do this prior to the first class session in which you will use it. Review the recording, make notes on what you want to change, then repeat the process until you are satisfied with your implementation of the technique. This is uncomfortable. Do it anyway. In addition, make sure to have backup plans in case technology doesn’t work and practice those, too.
• Prepare and organize in advance. Prepare enough prior to the session to allow calm and assertive facilitation of the class session. Having a clear purpose for the session combined with an activity that clearly moves everyone toward the goal are the structural essentials that allow flexibility based on community needs. Brown uses the “macro-managing” principle to accomplish her session organization. She uses Canvas Modules to organize the topics and materials for each week, then uses questions to start discussion within Canvas. She encourages students to continue the discussion in the live stream class session and within the chat, which Brown also facilitates. The goal of Brown’s facilitation is to have students explore topics in ways that allow them to feel safe while they participate. Many students are afraid of offending their colleagues. Remind them that disagreeing with colleagues is what part of becoming more educated. Giving examples of “I-based” phrases to signal curiosity is helpful, too, such as, “I’ve never thought of it that way. Can we talk about it more?” and, “Can you explain that a bit more? I don’t think I understand what you mean.”
• Look at the camera NOT at the student. It seems very natural to look at the eyes of someone speaking in a virtual meeting or class. However, that is often perceived as looking away from the individual who is speaking or being spoken to. Instead, look at or just below your webcam. If you are live streaming from a classroom using a whiteboard, be cognizant of having your back to students. Instead, try to write from the side while still looking at the camera.
• Appear and sound calm and assertive. Do this by adopting a comfortable position, whether standing or sitting. Straighten your back and relax/drop your shoulders. Keep your chin in a middle position (not too high or low) and keep it tucked back rather than sticking it forward. Look at the camera while talking. Gesture with your arms and hands as normal, just make sure they are in view of the camera if they are needed to understand what you are saying. If you are nervous, relax your vocal cords so that the sound of your voice is not tight or high pitched as compared to your normal tone. Speak slightly more slowly than normal and at a moderate volume (i.e., don’t whisper or yell).
• Modulate your voice and change your facial expressions. Changes in auditory and visual stimuli attract attention involuntarily. By consciously modulating your volume and tone, you can maximize student attention. The same is true of moving your face, arms/hands, and body. Brown stands with a whiteboard while teaching, using the space in front of the camera for exaggerated movements when relevant. Humans also attend to changes in emotion, thus attempt to incorporate emotion into your live stream delivery. Consider telling relevant stories during the class session. Use what you know about attention to your advantage!
• Express enthusiasm. Emotional contagion is when a person expresses an emotion to another and that expression triggers the emotion in the other person. Also use this to your advantage! Express your excitement and enthusiasm for the topic of the class session. This will help your students feel excited, too. At the beginning of your class session, ask students what they found exciting or interesting about the reading. One way Hill approaches this is to ask students to share a meme or gif that relates to their pre-class preparations. Brown encourages her students to post interesting facts they have found in their research.
• Have a colleague serve as your backup during your first two or three classes. It is appropriate and allowable to have a backup person help you. Learning how to monitor all the sources of information and interaction in a live stream session can be quite demanding. Your backup person can let you know if your microphone goes out or if there is a hand up. They can help students solve technology difficulties so that you can focus on your delivery. If you can’t get a backup, be sure you understand how the chat function works so you can tell students your technology is down and to revert to the backup plan.
• Arrive Early. Begin your live stream 10 minutes early and start class exactly on time. This allows time for students to ensure that their technology is working as intended and provide time to interact informally with you. Hill has her UVU Mentor help warm up the class by engaging in small-talk with her prior to inviting the starting pre-class interactions with early-arriving students. Brown engages with students in her course and gets advice from them on the placement of the whiteboard, the organization of the module, and a feel for what class topics grabbed their attention. This period of the class isn’t recorded so that students feel freer in asking questions.
• Be explicit about expectations. If you have deal-breakers for behavior, share them early and often. For example, if you want to prohibit swearing in the chat, express your standard clearly at the beginning of each meeting for the first week. Should it occur, stop everything and respectfully address the incident. Reiterate your standard again. For example, Brown reminds students that as historians they belong to a profession with professional standards that encourage colleagues to engage in dialogue based on evidence, not personality. Once addressed, continue with the class session.
• Pay attention to the chat and respond to chatters quickly. Everyone enjoys when their comment is recognized. Rewarding them with recognition will encourage them to engage with you more. Moreover, recognizing relevant comments helps students understand acceptable standards of interaction in the chat. When possible use the student’s name and read their comment verbatim. Do this even if it interrupts what you were saying or doing. Brown asks her students to shout out pertinent chats, if she misses one.
• Manage behavior by ignoring irrelevant comments in the chat. Unless they are harmful or violate your community expectations, ignore irrelevant comments. If they grow too distracting,
• Embrace tangents. If you can make it relevant, embrace tangents inspired by student comments. Even if it’s not relevant, embrace tangents if they will build community. For example, during one class session, Hill experienced a fly constantly buzzing around her head. The class became amused and named the fly Joe. Joe the fly is now the unofficial mascot of the class.
• Embrace being you. Live streaming works best when you make it your own, as Elfving suggests. For example, Hill is a silly person who likes to laugh. When students weren’t responding by volunteering to answer questions, Hill tried calling on names from the participant list. No one liked this—not even Hill. Thus, she utilized an Elfving technique. Elfving will use the “Wheel of Musical Misfortune” to change how he sings a song (e.g., singing like Kermit the Frog’s voice), which the community loves. Hill began using WheelOfNames.com to call on students (see Figure 1 for a generic example provided by WheelOfNames.com). The WheelOfNames allowed a silly way to indicate random selection of students, including virtual confetti. Students are allowed to pass or say “I don’t know,” so it is a low-pressure experience. Even so, one student finds it very funny to protest the WheelOfNames in an exaggerated way. Figures 2 and 3 illustrate student-generated humor targeting the wheel (and I promise that the student truly finds it funny and also gave permission to share their humor with you). In the future, Hill plans to implement silly ways of having students deliver answers, such as by saying them in a robotic voice or purposefully giving an incorrect answer (see Figure 4).
• Give students space to be themselves. Take time to acknowledge and share with your students. Brown spends time at the beginning of each class to allow students time to decompress about whatever is concerning them. Recording begins after decompression. For one entire class, Brown started by asking students how many of their family members remembered the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 or the Great Depression. After establishing that no one had a living relative who could give them advice on how to handle the current climate, the class talked about what makes this pandemic and recession different than the past--all very relevant to a history course. The most helpful part of the class, however, was when students began talking about how to deal with the current historic situation. The class brainstormed on how students could take care of their mental health and authentically reach learning outcomes. As a result, Brown created ”soft deadlines” for assignments, offered additional substantive ways to get participation points outside class, and ensured students can resubmit assignments after receiving feedback.

Conclusion

Teaching synchronously has been an enormous adjustment for many faculty members. The change to remote formats has led many to struggle with reaching and evaluating students effectively. Faculty members who approach this time as an opportunity to learn new ways to engage with students may find their pedagogical methods are strengthened rather than undermined. They may also find that traditional, more elitist forms of pedagogy are rightfully banished to the dustbin of history as they make their content and skills more accessible to a variety of students.

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