We expect all students to access our teaching, learning, collaboration and communication tools using their @gre.ac.uk account. All our students have active university IT accounts. Students who report having difficulty logging in or using their university account should contact the IT Service Desk.
In some cases, anonymity is required for recordings or is a function of the services we use. Our guidance balances an individual student's desire for anonymity with everyone's need to have a safe and positive online environment.
Students as attendees
Student capabilities within Teams meetings can be restricted to reduce the risk of inappropriate behaviour in online sessions. When participants are set to be attendees they cannot mute others, add or remove attendees or share content. An important step in preventing inappropriate behaviour.
Meetings created in a Class Team will automatically set lecturers as presenters and students as attendees. Click here for Moodle and Team integration guidance.
Authorised attendees
In the same way as you would check that a physical space has the correct people in it before starting, you can also make sure that your online space is only accessed by authorised attendees. By default, if a student or staff member is logged in with their university account, they will be able to join directly. Anyone joining from outside the university, or without logging in to their university account, will be held in the lobby until a Presenter admits them to the meeting.
Presenters will be alerted when someone is waiting in the lobby. If you see this alert, select View lobby to admit or deny them, or to see a list of everyone who is waiting. Only admit attendees you are expecting. This will make sure that everyone who joins the session is known to the meeting organisers and authorised to be there.
Mentimeter
Anonymous voting via Mentimeter can give a voice to students who rarely speak up or interact in sessions. Unfortunately, open contribution formats can also result in inappropriate responses. To reduce this risk, turn on the profanity filter and always keep in-presentation 'reactions' turned off.
If you are using Mentimeter with a new group, or if there are any concerns about trust within the group, avoid using wordcloud or open-text answers. When using these options with an established group, never share the comments until you have checked they are suitable for sharing. This can be done by using polls as a pre-session or post-session tool when teaching online, or by temporarily stopping the screen share or projector during live sessions. Before you start sharing, remember to lock the voting so new comments cannot be added.
Tracing Anonymous Comments
Our policy on student behaviour applies equally to online activities. We have a zero tolerance approach to all forms of sexual misconduct, bullying, harassment and discrimination.
If you experience or witness behaviour online from an "anonymous" individual, contact the IT Service Desk with full details of the session and the alias used for further investigation.
