All students deserve and some might even argue have a right to a graduation commencement ceremony. However, due to the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and the need for social distancing, a live, in-person graduation commencement just isn’t feasible right now. Although some schools and universities have chosen to simply postpone their graduation ceremony, many medical experts are warning that this virus is unpredictable, can have a second wave, and that social distancing initiatives will continue to be in place on some level for a long time to come (Rodriguez, 2020; Wood, 2020). This article will present key components of a good online graduation commencement ceremony and a few different ideas on the technicalities of actually accomplishing it.
A graduation ceremony is an important life event that is the culmination of years of hard work to obtain a prestigious degree, rank, or certification. In other words, it is a life milestone that has a powerful emotional connection not just for the student, but for their family and friends as well. As professors or administrators, we must work hard to remember that although we might have attended many of these due to our line of work, it is a very unique and particularly special event for the student. Because of this, we must treat the graduation ceremony properly and give it, especially online, the proper attention that it deserves.
Research has shown that online commencements can be done effectively and can be viewed favorably by students and their family/friends (Waldner, McDaniel, & Esteves, 2019). A key component as in anything when done online is the aspect of social presence/instructional presence and authenticity (Anders, 2017; Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000). Keep that in mind as the key elements of a commencement ceremony are described.
KEY ELEMENTS
Having worked in academia for over 20 years as a videographer, media consultant, and professor, I have seen and been a part of many graduation ceremonies. Here are the key elements that I have identified as important in order to have the best commencement possible:
- Leader Representation: This is an important event as seen that much more so when high-level administrators (School President) and professors are part of the commencement ceremony. Online this could be handled by high-level admin/professors co-hosting the event.
- Special Guest Speaker: Bring in an outside speaker and/or having the valedictorian give a speech makes the event that much more special and memorable. The more emotional and relevant the speaker and speech, the greater the impact. Online this could be done via the guest speaker pre-recording their speech, but it is important that this is done in high quality and edited in order to have the greatest impact and polished presentation.
- Personalization: A real graduation ceremony is specific to that event. So, most of it should be live, the date should be expressed and most importantly the names of each graduate should be read out loud. This is the culmination of that student, that family, those friends, long-felt desire to achieve this great accomplishment. Every opportunity should be made to make those students/family/friends feel like this ceremony is specifically for them. Online this could be addressed by having the event host read each graduate’s name by major.
- Interaction: Students, family, and friends want to be part of the ceremony. Whether that’s through cheering, clapping, an airhorn, holding up a sign, waving, or whatever else, they want to be part of the event. Online this could be addressed by giving viewers the ability to write comments, share pictures, or emote through emojis or animated gifs.
- Music: This might seem like a small detail, but music has a special way of changing the atmosphere and uplifting people’s emotions. Music should be carefully selected to enhance the special event. Online this could be accomplished by using music pre-recorded by the school’s band, orchestra, or other musical source. Special care should be given to use copyright free, creative commons, or music used with written permission.
- Keepsake: A commencement ceremony is an important memory, and one way to make that memory more real is via a keepsake such as a graduation program/pamphlet/bulletin /brochure. Many people (students or family) like to scrapbook, make shadow boxes, or just hold on to a physical representation of the special event. Online this could still be done. A properly designed and nicely put together graduation program/pamphlet could be made into a pdf document that viewers could download and either keep digitally or print out on their own.
TECHNICAL ASPECTS TO ACCOMPLISH
For some universities and large schools with fully developed video departments, the technical aspects of conducting a live webcast of the graduation ceremony wouldn’t be difficult. Yet for many schools and even large universities, those video departments can’t help them now in that everyone is quarantined at home. So how can a proper live webcast still occur? There are several ways to accomplish this, each with different levels of complexity and costs (from free to expensive).
Facebook Live: is listed first in that Facebook is extremely popular, free, and offers many features. An individual (such as the commencement master of ceremonies, the MC host) can start a Facebook live event and then let a specific viewer join in to be a co-host (such as the university president or a guest speaker). A Facebook Live event also allows for viewer interaction “Reactions, shares, comments, and other interactive features enable you to engage with your audience” (Facebook, 2020). The Facebook live video can be viewed through Facebook or embedded in a dedicated website.
YouTube Live: this is similar to Facebook in that it is also very popular, free, but has fewer features. A major drawback is that one can not simply allow an additional host to be part of the live webcast (YouTube, 2020). The YouTube Live video can be viewed through YouTube or embedded in a dedicated website as well.
Zoom: is a very powerful and versatile program that can do a lot to make a video webcast that much more compelling via its screen sharing function. This would allow the live event host to play a pre-recorded video (such as from a guest speaker). The problem with using the free version of Zoom to conduct a live webcast is that other viewers would have to watch it through the Zoom interface as well, the audience limit would max out at 100, and the video session would be limited to 40 minutes.
- Purchasing a licensed copy of Zoom (Pricing Plans: https://zoom.us/pricing) allows it to be easily integrated with Facebook Live or YouTube Live. This would allow for all the features of Zoom along with all the benefits of Facebook or YouTube (Zoom, 2020).
Mediasite: Although much more expensive than everything else listed, I’ve included Mediasite in that it is a super powerful live webcast tool and video management system. Having used it before, it is well worth the price in that it can do virtually anything and everything with video (Mediasite, 2020)
Open Broadcaster Software: I’ve included this free, open source software in that it can work in conjunction with Facebook and/or YouTube to allow for more advanced video broadcasting/webcasting (overlays, mixed video sources, text, etc.), (OBS, 2020). But it is a bit more complicated to learn and use.
Summary
Given the current situation of quarantine, and as an overall quick solution, I would recommend Facebook live. This solution is free, relatively simple to implement, would allow for multiple presenters, and allows for a high amount of viewer interaction. I would also highly recommend a dedicated school commencement webpage where additional messaging can be given, and specific information can be provided along with a download link to the graduation program/pamphlet keepsake. Also, be sure to advertise the special live commencement event to all students and their family members.
What are your thoughts? Please share your ideas about having a live commencement in the comments below.
Reference
Anders, B. (2017). How to enhance instructional presence: Research & experience based techniques to improve both online & face-to-face instruction. Manhattan, KS: Sovorel Publishing.
Facebook. (2020, April 23). Live stream an event on Facebook. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/help/publisher/626637251511853
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2001). Critical thinking, cognitive presence, and computer conferencing in distance education. American Journal of distance education, 15(1), 7-23.
OBS. (2020, April 24). Open Broadcaster Software. https://obsproject.com
Mediasite. (2020, April 24). Mediasite is everything you need to: Transform education. Mediasite. https://mediasite.com/education
Rodriguez, A. (2020, April 8). When will life return to normal? Expert says US testing is too far behind to know, expects second wave of cases. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/04/08/coronavirus-cases-how-long-social-distancing-marc-lipsitch/2963430001
Waldner, L., McDaniel, D., & Esteves, T. (2019). eCelebrations: Virtual Graduations to Celebrate Online Students. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 22(3), n3.
Wood, J. (2020, April 20). These Harvard scientists think we’ll have to socially distance until 2022. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-social-distancing-how-long
YouTube. (2020, April 23). Introduction to live streaming. YouTube. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2474026?hl=en
Zoom. (2020, April 22). Streaming a meeting or webinar on Facebook Live. Zoom Help Center. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115000350406-Streaming-a-meeting-or-webinar-on-Facebook-Live#h_610971dd-a956-4f34-93dc-b6aa9bff0f1d