Prior to returning to campus, some students have gotten into the habit of switching off their webcams during Zoom calls. Getting them to change their behavior is a cultural change. Luckily there is some management research that suggests ways to successfully make this change. "Change Recipients' Reactions to Organizational Change: A 60-Year Review of Quantitative Studies" posits that to effect meaningful change, organizations needs to create a supportive and trusting culture. The paper notes that "if perceived risks/costs outweigh benefits, change recipients will understandably tend to resist change." Bluntly put, students need to trust their professor and fellow students, and there needs to be a convincing reason for webcams to be turned on.

Lewin’s Force Field Analysis suggests that to successfully make a change in behavior you need to remove restraining forces. You need to remove the reasons why a student would not turn on their webcam.

So let us start with common actions to follow before a Flex or Online Hybrid course starts. The syllabus should be posted to D2L, and that D2L course made available early to students. The syllabus stresses camera and attendance policies for the course. These polices are college policies, with a clear expectation of how students behave in Flex and Online Hybrid courses. To ensure that students see this information, an email reminder should be sent before the first class (with a corresponding alert on the D2L homepage). If faculty are using an OLA (Online Learning Assistant), they should schedule time with that OLA to discuss their expectations of student behavior, and how the OLA can help during Zoom sessions.

The syllabus statement is available on the college's Teams site and is sent to faculty each quarter. Faculty can adapt this as they see fit. The syllabus statement also explains expected student etiquette.

However, faculty may have differing opinions to the college policy. Christopher Gilliard (Macomb Community College) presented a keynote at the 2022 Distance Teaching and Learning conference and stated that "as part of my broad-based rejection of surveillance, whenever possible I do not put images of myself on the internet. Also, I typically do not do on-camera events to destabilize the expectation that people *should* put their cameras on. I do this because there are many people -- whether due to disability, privacy reasons, or technical issues like insufficient bandwidth pr computing power, who might prefer to turn their cameras off but because of power differentials are unable to assert that right."

The first class is particularly important in setting expectations and understanding student reluctance in following these expectations. We recommend taking these actions:

• Explain why the policy is in place.
• Explain how the policy improves learning.
• (And your relationship with students).
• Explain how you will deal with infractions.
• Ask your students why they turn webcams off.

The last question is particularly important. By understanding the reasons why a student might want to turn off their webcam, we can find solutions that equitably meets their underlying needs.

The basic requirements of the college webcam policy are:

• Webcam on.
• Appropriate profile photograph and preferred name as on the university record.
• Virtual background (if students want to obscure their surroundings for privacy).

It might sound silly, but reminding students of these very basic requests goes a long way.

Students may not know how to change their name in Zoom, so explain that the way to do this is by going to "Settings" / "Profile" / "Edit My Profile" and making the change.

This is also where they can add a profile photograph and change their preferred pronouns.

To add a virtual background (or to blur their background) the student would click on the chevron next to “Stop Video/Start Video” and then click on “Choose Virtual Background.”

So, let us dig deeper into exploring potential forces against change, exploring why student cameras are not turned on. If we don’t, flocking effects can cause students to follow a negative trend and turn off their webcams. In our surveys, students have told us that they feel shortchanged if other students have their webcams off and they have theirs still on.

One valid reason why students might be reluctant to be on camera is down to their environment. They may be at home in a bedroom, or at work in a shared office. Possibly they may be with small children or traveling via car, bus, or train. These are environments that they want to keep private. The virtual background can fix most environmental factors.

However, it does not fix having small children within the camera frame. One solution is for the student to use a Zoom avatar. This will allow faculty to see student presence and movement but protects the privacy of the child (and any embarrassment factors to the parent). Here, the student clicks on the chevron next to “Stop Video/Start Video,” then “Choose Virtual Filter” and clicks on the “Avatar” tab. The student can select from an array of furry animals. This is not the perfect solution to faculty, but at least provides some visual feedback as the Zoom session proceeds.

Sometimes the students have deeper privacy concerns. They may feel particularly self-conscious, uncomfortable about being in the Zoom recording of class, or fearful than being on camera may provide evidence of harm.

There are a couple of suggestions here. Getting students to be aware of how camera angle impacts looking good on Zoom is a start. Ideally, the webcam should be at eye level. This results in a more aesthetically pleasing view of the student.

Additionally, settings within Zoom can be used to improve how the student looks on camera. “Touch Up My Appearance” can be found by clicking on the chevron next to “Stop Video/Start Video” and then clicking on “Video Settings.” This works a little like applying a soft focus, reducing facial lines and/or blotchiness.

If something more drastic is required, a virtual camera can be employed (such as Snap). After installing the virtual camera software, click on the Zoom chevron next to “Stop Video/Start Video” and select that virtual camera.

Some students have shared that whilst they are fine with their camera being on during a Zoom session, they particularly do not like having their faces being part of a class recording. Unfortunately, this is a presently the default in how Panopto automatically records Flex classes. For some faculty, avoiding sharing the automated Panopto recording circumnavigates this student concern.

Faculty can still record their classes with Zoom to the Cloud. This type of recording can bypass the Gallery View (where all the student faces show) up. The Zoom Cloud recording is available for 120 days but can be downloaded and added to D2L to be available for a longer time.

Some students may have low internet bandwidth at home or using cellular networks. There are some fixes to address this. First, is disabling HD video by clicking on the chevron next to “Stop Video/Start Video” and then clicking on “Video Settings.”

If that does not help, then the student can use an avatar, by clicking on the chevron next to “Stop Video/Start Video” and then “Choose Virtual Filter” and then clicking on “Avatar.” The avatar does not consume bandwidth the same way that uploading video images does.

Lastly, there are other strategies to increase engagement in class, such as:

• Arriving early and chatting to virtual students before class. Asking them how their day is going and talking off topic. This helps to break the ice and build trust.
• Using your OLA to contact students directly during class via chat to remind them to activate cameras.
• Clicking on “Ask to Start Video” for reticent students (your OLA can do this too).
• Actively inviting student participation (via presentations, screen sharing, etc.).
• Using breakout rooms to foster deeper engagement.
• Creating breaks, to give students a rest from Zoom.
• Participation points or penalties can be used as incentives.