Disability Services Office

Faculty guide for Zoom small group or 1:1 interpreted meetings

Note: Updated March 30, 2020

This guide is for situations where small group or one-on-one meetings happen with interpreters, but the Deaf participant and the interpreters are within the same zoom meeting. This would apply for small study groups, tutoring sessions, office hours or other non-class sessions.

Tips for Zoom classes with students who are deaf or hard of hearing

Please be flexible

First and most important: We all want this to be effective! We are all learning together so we ask you to please be flexible as problems are worked out.

  • Please remember that many of us (instructors, interpreters, and students) have never experienced Zoom as a classroom platform.
  • We are a team. Your feedback is important to share so we can figure out anything that may not be working.
Participants must be pinned

The host, the two interpreters, and the Deaf participant(s) need to “pin” themselves to the screen. Follow these steps:

  1. Go to the three dots at the top right hand corner of your pictures.
  2. Click on “pin video” from the menu. That should keep your video on screen.
  3. Do the same with the Deaf participant(s) and the host also.
  4. The “off” interpreter will hide their video when they are not interpreting or “off.”
Host view (settings) = Gallery View

The host should set the “gallery view,” otherwise whoever speaks (or makes a loud sound) their picture will take over, and everyone else will be in little boxes.

Video (on) for Deaf participants and Interpreters ONLY

All other participants must turn off self-video.

  • The host should request that everyone except the Deaf participants and the interpreters turn off their video.
  • This saves bandwidth and supports Deaf participant and the interpreters seeing each other clearly.
  • There may be instances where this isn’t necessary and the decision can be made on a case by case basis, but this is an issue that needs to be considered each time.
Audio MUTE for everyone with exception of host and Interpreters ONLY

Everyone needs to mute, except the host and the “on” interpreter. Anyone in the meeting can unmute themselves if they want to say something.

Chat feature is a wonderful tool!

The chat feature is great for people to ask questions or make a quick comment.

Send agenda and documents to Deaf participant and Interpreters before session.
  • Sending the agenda and copies of any documents, especially if you plan to screen share, is essential when available.
Show, then Pause

If you are showing different screens for an app, and you want to show how to do something, you must leave time for the interpreter to interpret what you are saying, and the Deaf participants to receive that message before you click on an icon to begin the process.

For example, “To get to the billing screen (pause…move mouse) click here (pause a couple of seconds, then click) and you will see the ……..”

Please contact Dimitri Azadi at dhhreq@uw.edu or (206-453-1415) if you have any questions or concerns regarding ASL interpreting services or CART services in your remote courses.