I realise I'm probably preaching to the choir here - we've been doing this nearly a year, on and off, now, but just in case.
For those who can't read my writing:
- Split the screen
- You get two for the price of one. You can do this by dragging the window to the side of the screen until the ghost box appears and then letting go. The window will "snap" to fill half your screen. Sometimes it gives you the option to just click on the other window you want and it automatically snaps to fill the remaining half, otherwise just repeat with the other side of the screen. You can adjust the proportions by dragging the bar in the middle as needed. SIMS tends take up a bit more space, not sure why.
- Pin what you're teaching from in the Meet window.
- You can see what you're doing (and what the students see) without having to keep the window itself open. Word of caution: you generally can't minimise the window without the shared image going blank, but you can have it open with a million windows in front of it without any problem.
- NB: Our students have to keep their cameras off at all times, so I don't need to worry about seeing them. Obviously, pinning your presentation prevents you from seeing the other participants' videos.
- Keep the chat open
- With this set-up I can see what I'm delivering/have delivered, what they're saying, and their work on the second half of my screen.
Basically, two screens would be great but I have neither the space, nor the money to have that, so this is the next best thing.
Have a good half term break!