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Campus-to-campus (C2C) and campus-to-anywhere (C2A) are two of UW-Green Bay’s six teaching modalities. Both campus-to-campus and campus-to-anywhere courses pose the challenge of managing a class where some students are physically present in the room while the rest join remotely from another location. These two modalities also require classrooms with specialized technology so that all students can see, hear, and participate. A typical C2C or C2A room at UW-Green Bay might include:
- Voice-tracking cameras that make adjustments automatically based on who is speaking.
- Microphones for capturing room audio during lecture and discussion. The most common are “drop mics” that hang from the ceiling, but some spaces may also have a lapel mic that can be clipped to the instructor’s shirt, a fixed mic at the instructor podium, or push-to-talk mics located on students’ tables.
- Display monitors along the walls in the classroom that allow in-person students to see their remote peers.
- A desk or podium at the front of the classroom for the instructor. This desk will house a tablet configured to connect to your class meeting and control the room’s cameras, mics, and monitors. This desk will also include an HDMI cord so you can connect a personal device to the classroom projector or screen, or a university desktop computer that you can log into.
Teaching a C2C or C2A course can seem overwhelming at first, but with a bit of extra preparation, any instructor can confidently navigate these modalities. This post provides some tips on how to teach effectively in these modalities and their technology-rich classroom spaces.
C2C & C2A Definitions
According to the UWGB course catalog, a campus-to-campus course is a course in which “the instructor and some students attend in-person at one campus while the remaining students attend in-person at one or more other campuses.” This teaching mode uses two or more classrooms on different campuses that can connect virtually via Zoom, and all students must report to their assigned classroom to join the class session. In the UWGB schedule of classes, all sections of a campus-to-campus course use the 
(movie camera) icon and have a fixed time and location.
By contrast, a campus-to-anywhere course is one in which “the instructor and some students attend in-person at one campus while the remaining students attend online at the same time (synchronously).” In a C2A course, some students attend in person in the classroom with the instructor, while the rest join virtually from their own devices via Zoom. Students will register for either the “in-person” section or the “virtual” section and then must attend via that modality for the duration of the course. In the schedule of classes, the in-person section of a campus-to-anywhere course uses the 
(man with a half-globe) icon, and the section(s) that join remotely from their own devices use the 
(computer) icon. Both sections will have a fixed time listed, but only the in-person section will have a location (virtual sections have “Internet” listed as the location instead).
How should I prepare for my C2C/C2A class?
Ample preparation is key for success in any class, but C2C and C2A courses present some unique challenges. Consider the suggestions below to prepare for your class and keep things running smoothly.
Visit your classroom ahead of time to become more familiar with its technology.
If you can, CATL highly recommends testing out all equipment in your classroom before the start of the semester. It is important that you become familiar with important functions like how to connect to your course’s virtual meeting link, mute or unmute the classroom audio feed, or swap outputs for classroom display monitors. Academic Technology Services in GBIT is happy to meet with instructors and give them a quick classroom tech demo before the start of the semester (reach out to the Service Desk to set up a meeting with an ATS member).
If meeting with someone from ATS isn’t a possibility, you can still test out your room on your own. Ideally, you can have a peer or friend try joining the Zoom link to test out the audio, but even if you are alone, you can use a second device to join the Zoom link and get a sense for what remote students will see and hear. GBIT has helpful knowledge base articles on using the tablet control panels in the C2C rooms and the C2A rooms to get you started.
Before the start of each class, open all documents, links, and programs you will need to use.
To reduce wait time for students, we recommend opening all files, pages, videos, and/or programs that you will be accessing throughout class (and closing any applications or windows you will not be using). This can help you keep the class moving along smoothly, especially when switching between activities. You can open your instructional materials in advance on your own personal laptop (recommended) or by using the computer in the room. If you are using your own device(s) in the room to project, you can connect via ShareLink Pro, or preferably, with the HDMI cable in the room.
Align in-class activities with your learning outcomes.
Interactive tools like polls, digital whiteboards, and breakout rooms are great for engaging both your in-person and remote learners, but these activities are the most effective when they are clearly aligned with course learning outcomes (Howell, 2024; Raes et al., 2019). For example, if one of your learning outcomes is about thermodynamics, consider integrating a Zoom poll that checks for student understanding (i.e., which statement best represents the second law of thermodynamics?). When planning your lessons, keep your outcomes in mind to make sure your activities are relevant.
Be clear with students about your plan for class time.
Having a clear plan for what to expect in a given class period helps students prepare, whether it be reviewing their lecture notes from the last session or bringing a laptop to complete an activity in class. This also helps keep students on track if issues with connectivity arise, since students will know what they can work on and where to find materials applicable to the week or module. Consider proactively drafting an agenda for each class session and publishing it in Canvas, or using the announcements or inbox features to remind students when they need to bring their devices.
Create alternative ways of accessing materials when technological or logistical issues arise.
Access to instructional materials plays a critical part in the success of all students. Ensure that everyone can access course content, assignments, activities, discussion boards, and other class materials in a digital format by uploading course materials to your Canvas course shell. Make sure that your digital files have clear names and are organized in a logical fashion, such as topical or weekly modules.
How can I create equitable and engaging learning experiences for my remote learners?
One of the greatest challenges with any mixed-modality setting is ensuring that remote and in-person participants have equitable experiences. It can be easy to focus on our students in the classroom and by doing so, accidentally neglect the students who are joining remotely, so consider these strategies for keeping everyone in the loop.
Plan activities that involve both in‐person and remote students and promote their interaction.
When you are planning your classes, look for ways to incorporate your in-person and remote students equally (Barr and Luo, 2025). For example, if you are having a class discussion, you could alternate between calling on online and in‐person participants. Incorporating some community‐building can also help all students feel valued as members of the class, and often these activities don’t have to take much time (McGee & Reis, 2012). This could be as simple as a warm‐up activity designed to engage students in both modalities, like an online poll or a question of the day for students to answer in chat or out loud.
Create a system for monitoring chat and sharing their contributions.
Throughout a class session, be sure to incorporate time to check in on your remote students and read any questions in the chat. For large group discussions, consider having a student, or multiple students, monitor the chat so that interactions between remote and in‐person students can be as seamless as possible (Raes et al., 2020). When a student posts a question or comment in chat, repeat it aloud so that all students have context for the question. It is also a good practice to repeat and paraphrase questions shared out loud, whether it was shared by someone in the classroom or by a remote student. This can help ensure that everyone feels included and is on the same page.
Leverage technology designed for collaboration across modalities.
One of the key considerations for teaching in a mixed modality is how to engage both your in-person learners and those joining remotely (Bower et al., 2014). Use online tools such as Hypothesis, Microsoft 365, or Zoom whiteboards to create collaborative digital spaces for students to work together synchronously. If a tool requires a smartphone or laptop to use, remember to ask your in-person students to bring their own device.
Practice strategies for facilitating small group discussions.
When running small group discussions, it is always important to give clear directions, but even more so when some students are joining remotely. Before sending students to breakout rooms or small group discussions in their pods, provide clear instructions (ideally verbally and in chat for online students) with a concrete goal. You might consider having each group elect a leader, speaker, and/or notetaker to help facilitate reporting back to the larger class.
If you can, try popping in on the discussions both in person and online using a second device. (Note: You may need to step into the hallway when joining virtual groups to reduce noise bleed from the in-person student discussions.) When you come back together, offer time for online students to share with the in‐person students, and vice versa.
Gather real-time feedback and keep students engaged with online polling, quizzes, and games.
There is a wide variety of teaching technologies that you can use to get rapid responses from students, both in the room and far away. Zoom has built-in polling options that can be used to gather real-time feedback or check students’ knowledge. PlayPosit has a “broadcast” feature that you can use to push questions to your students’ devices while they watch a video in class. Meanwhile, Kahoot offers not only polling but also a wide variety of gameified interactive activities that students can easily join from a smartphone. Reach out to CATL if you would like to learn more about implementing any of these technologies in your class.
What are some common technological concerns I should be aware of?
Occasional tech issues are a reality for any distance education course. We can’t prepare for every tech snafu, but being aware of some common issues can help you mitigate their negative impact on your class.
Lag between muting, unmuting, and responding to questions or prompts
Expect a lag between asking questions of remote students and their responses. Practice patience in wait time to give ample opportunity for remote student participation. You can discuss the issue as an entire class, so that in‐person students know that you will wait before calling on anyone to respect that time delay.
Inaccurate position locking of voice‐tracking cameras
Cameras in the C2C and C2A classrooms use voice tracking to follow the speaker, but they sometimes lock in on someone who is not the intended primary speaker at the time. This is most likely to happen due to stray noise in the classroom. If this happens, the audio from the primary speaker may temporarily be less clear. To bring the camera back to the instructor or the student who is talking, try to reduce background noise (such as classroom chatter or music) and have the person speak a bit more loudly for a few seconds. The camera should re‐position itself on them.
Remote students are having difficulty hearing room audio
As mentioned above, the room cameras and mics will work together to try and filter out background noise and amplify the volume of the current speaker, but they’re not perfect. Students in the classroom may also not be used to speaking loudly and clearly enough for the mics to pick up, and if the speaker is changing often, sometimes the first part of their sentence may get clipped. Promote good communication by repeating or paraphrasing questions and/or answers from in‐person students, even when there are drop microphones in the room.
Unfamiliarity with Zoom’s customizable settings
There are default settings that every C2C or C2A Zoom meeting will use, but you can customize these settings as needed. These include: activating a “waiting room” that requires acceptance by the host to join, allowing or restricting screensharing, muting microphones, hiding profile photos, restricting chat, or even immediately suspending all participant activities. Familiarize yourself with these meeting settings and security controls so that you can make adjustments before or during the sessions, if needed.
Contact Us!
For assistance or discussion of pedagogical strategies and best practices related to teaching in these spaces, please reach out to CATL (CATL@uwgb.edu) to schedule a consultation. If you need physical access to a room or have an issue with the technology in it, please contact GBIT.
Do you have a tip for your peers on teaching in these classrooms? Please let us know by writing to CATL@uwgb.edu.