Virtual Water Cooler Recap 10/19/20 - Livestreaming Updates
Our Soteria Solutions team hosted our October Virtual Water Cooler on Monday, October 19, 2020 to discuss some updates on livestreaming Bringing in the Bystander(R) College and High School. Thirty-four BITB license holders joined us in this one-hour conversation.
BITB College Livestreaming Updates
First, we discussed how folks are using the BITB College Virtual Guidelines. For many colleges and universities, prevention education efforts are on hold or are taking place via livestreaming for certain groups. We have heard from prevention educators that BITB College takes longer to facilitate via livestreaming but some educators are finding that they’re seeing students attend who might not have been able to do so in person.
BITB High School Livestreaming Guidelines Released
We also discussed the new BITB High School livestreaming guidelines that were recently released. The following were the big takeaways about the guidelines to adapt BITB High School for livestreaming:
More Teaching Modalities, More Trainer Flexibility - BITB High School uses more modes for teaching and student engagement than BITB College including some exercises that involve moving around the room. We’ve provided suggestions on how to adapt online with latitude for facilitators to use their creativity and technology available to them.
Suggestions for Shortening the Program - BITB High School is designed to be delivered across seven sections, and we know that isn’t feasible for everyone right now. Therefore, we’ve provided information on how to shorten the program, including at times eliminating entire modules.
The Challenges of Remote Teaching with Only One Facilitator - As we know that facilitators are often flying solo lately for high school teaching, we wanted to make sure to provide a version of BITB High School that was more streamlined for one facilitator. That said, it is always preferable to have at least two facilitators for online learning given all of the moving parts.
Preparing Handouts and Videos Ahead of Time - In order to maximize time and minimize anxiety, the guidelines also stress the importance of preparation, including determining how to share handouts and pre-loading videos. It is also helpful to practice facilitating the program online and using the tools in the web conferencing or web classroom program.
COVID-Specific Scenarios - The BITB High School livestreaming guidelines also include a set of scenarios designed with the COVID-19 reality in mind. There is an alternative Module 7 PowerPoint available that contains these scenarios for facilitators to easily swap out.
Study on Prevention and the COVID Reality
At the end of the Virtual Water Cooler, we discussed a survey that is in development between Soteria Solutions, Prevention Innovations Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, and the Campus Advocacy and Prevention Professionals Association to learn more about how college and university campus prevention efforts have shifted during COVID-19. The group discussed the difficulty of sharing prevention messages when there is so much public health messaging about COVID and so much happening in the world during this crisis even though rates of violence have likely increased.
Future Virtual Water Coolers
We will host our next Virtual Water Cooler in early 2021. We are grateful for everyone’s engagement in the eight Virtual Water Coolers that we have hosted since the start of COVID-19 and will continue these conversations on our listservs.