Unit 1  Welcome to the course

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A modern conference room setting where a group of six individuals are seated around a rectangular wooden table. They are engaged in a hybrid meeting, combining in-person and virtual participation. On the wall in front of them is a large flat-screen monitor displaying a video call with six participants arranged in a grid layout. Each participant on the screen appears to be actively engaged, some gesturing or speaking.

Welcome to Are you on mute? Best practice in online meetings – a badged online course on how to improve your online meetings.

No doubt, on more than one occasion, you have found yourself sitting in endless meetings with distracted colleagues who appear to be doing their email – and that’s if they’ve even turned on their camera! Or meetings where the chair never lets anyone else speak. And then there are the meetings that become really uncomfortable because someone thinks they’re being funny when actually they’re just not being very nice…

This course is designed for anyone who uses online meetings for work purposes. Everything you will learn here is evidence based. The team who put it together were part of a multinational research project on equitable online meetings. There were researchers in Germany, Iceland, Spain and the UK, which is why the course is available in six different languages too.

The course will take you through a few different topics around online meetings that the team found to be important in making meetings more pleasant and more productive. In this first unit you’ll be introduced to the different units in the course, so you know what to expect as you work through it. The course will take approximately 18 hours to complete, however you can step away and come back at any point to resume where you left off.

Welcome from the course authors

Listen to the course authors introducing the course, themselves and sharing what they enjoyed most about the GEiO research project.

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Transcript

Lisa Lazard and Rose Capdevila

LISA LAZARD

Welcome to ‘Are you on mute? Best practice in online meetings’

This course has been created by a team of researchers in four different countries working with international businesses to study online meetings and how to get them right.

The project was funded by the European Union to investigate how to run inclusive and productive meetings online. It is called gender equitable interactions online project – which we call GEiO

We originally conceived of this during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when everyone had to rapidly get to grips with online meeting platforms and videoconferencing.

ROSE CAPDEVILA

You may remember those early days of bad connections, technical hitches and trying to find somewhere in your home that would help you make the right impression.

In this audio we would like to introduce you to the team that produced the course. First, we’ll start with the UK team that led the project. Then we’ll meet the teams from Germany, Iceland and Spain.

LISA LAZARD

My name is Lisa Lazard. I’m a professor of psychology at The Open University and I’m the project lead for GEiO. My favourite part of the project was discovering how seemingly taken for granted actions, the small things people say and do, can have a huge impact on how useful meetings turn out to be.

ROSE CAPDEVILA

My name is Rose Capdevila, and I am also a professor of psychology at The Open University and UK co-investigator on the project. What I enjoyed most about the project was working with colleagues from different countries and cultures. Learning about the differences and similarities in how we work was particularly fascinating for me.

Irmgard Tischner

IRMGARD TISCHNER

Hello! My name is Irmgard Tischner and I am the project lead for the German research group on GEiO. I am a professor for qualitative health and social research. What I enjoyed the most, apart from working with a great group of fellow researchers, was the mix of methods we employed.

Annadís Gréta Rúdólfsdóttir

ANNADÍS GRÉTA RÚDÓLFSDÓTTIR

Hi, my name is Annadís Gréta Rúdólfsdóttir and I'm a professor at the School of Education. My role in the project was to be the PI [Principle Investigator] in the Icelandic team. What I enjoyed the most was when we reached the stages where we were able to compare findings across countries, seeing similarities and differences.

Gyða Margrét Pétursdóttir

GYÐA MARGRÉT PÉTURSDÓTTIR

Hi, my name is Gyða Margrét Pétursdóttir. I'm a professor in Gender Studies at the University of Iceland and my role in the project is co-Principal Investigator or co-Pilot. I really enjoyed this project and what I found most joyful was disseminating the findings to the participants in the project.

Katrín Ólafsdóttir

KATRÍN ÓLAFSDÓTTIR

Hi, my name is Katrín Ólafsdóttir and I'm an assistant professor at the University of Iceland's School of Education and a co-PI on the Icelandic team for the project. My favourite part of the project was exploring new research methods and the creative process of collecting and interpreting data with my team.

Adriana Gil-Juárez

ADRIANA GIL-JUÁREZ

Hello, my name is Adriana Gil Juárez and I am Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education Science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. I'm the Principal Investigator at this university for the project Gender Equitable Interactions Online. What I have enjoyed most about the project has been working with different research partners.

They are an amazing group.

Barbara Biglia

BARBARA BIGLIA

Hi, my name is Barbara Biglia. I am an associate professor at [the] University of Rovira and Virgili in Tarragona, Catalonia where I am the URV Principal Investigator and Working Package 2 Coordinator in this research. Having the opportunity to share our project lessons with all of you and contribute to making videoconferencing a more equitable and safe space is undoubtedly what found most rewarding about this experience.

Jordi Bonet Martí

JORDI BONET MARTÍ

Hey everybody! I am Jordi Bonet Martí, associate professor of Sociology at the University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and Work Package 2 colleague with my colleague Barbara Biglia at the Rovira and Virgili University of Tarragona.

What I value most about GEiO is the opportunity to share knowledge and methods with researchers from different countries and to apply conversational analytic techniques to advance justice in the workplace, including in videoconferencing and other collaborative settings.

End transcript

 

Next, go to 1  The growing importance of online meetings.

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A conceptual illustration of a social network or interconnected system. It features multiple circular nodes arranged across a light background, each node containing a portrait image.

This course is a response to the changing nature of work where rapid technological developments have enabled an increase in remote and flexible working patterns in many sectors. With COVID-19 these working patterns intensified for many organisations and remain, to a greater or lesser extent, a routine feature of day-to-day working lives for many people.

At the same time, the globalisation of business has had an impact on the promotion of gender equity in the workplace through, for example, increased opportunities for women. However, existing research indicates that gender unequal practices continue to constrain those opportunities. For example, whilst there is an increased prominence of gender equity in workplace policy across Europe, there remains a lack of consideration of other inequalities that can and do intersect with gender. The integration of these concerns with a focus on digital work environments is a new and important area of attention. To this end, this course aims to shine a light on the ways in which digital videoconferencing innovations can be used to support or resist gender inequity at work.

There are six units to the course in total. These include the introductory unit you are working through right now, a course summary at the end, and four main topics that will be covered in Units 2–5. You are not expected to work through everything in one go and you can step away and come back later, or in a few days and your progress will be just where you left it.

Read through the summary of each unit next to get a flavour of what you’ll be learning about throughout the course.

Unit 1  Welcome to the course

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A modern conference room setting where a group of six individuals are seated around a rectangular wooden table. They are engaged in a hybrid meeting, combining in-person and virtual participation. On the wall in front of them is a large flat-screen monitor displaying a video call with six participants arranged in a grid layout. Each participant on the screen appears to be actively engaged, some gesturing or speaking.

This unit provides an introduction and background to the course and highlights why it’s important and why it’s needed. Overall, the aim is to make your work meetings more pleasant and more productive by making sure everyone is getting their say. This unit introduces the course and how the activities work.

You’ll also be introduced to the Social Identity Wheel interactive diagram, which helps users think about who they are and how this impacts the way they work.

Unit 2  Being a participant – how to play nicely!

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A group of individuals seated around a wooden table, each holding a large white puzzle piece.

Here you will learn about the various ways you can participate in online meetings. Do you participate actively or do you keep a low profile? Or, more likely, does it depend on the meeting and who’s there? The aim of this unit is to reflect on the many different ways you can participate in these meetings and how you can help create a fairer workplace where everyone feels comfortable to contribute.

You’ll learn about different communication styles, which ones are more effective and how communication becomes gendered, even when you don’t really notice. You’ll learn how to recognise these different styles and how you can respond to them.

Unit 3  Leading the way – effective chairing

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A modern office or collaborative workspace where a group of people are engaged in a hybrid meeting. Several individuals are seated on chairs and stools in a semi-circle, facing two large display screens mounted on wooden stands. Each screen shows a person participating remotely via video call. A person seated between the two screens appears to be facilitating the session, gesturing toward one of the screens.

Unit 3 is about chairing online meetings and how different approaches to leadership produce different types of chairing. In turn, you’ll see how the chair can impact a meeting to make it more or less effective and, equally, more or less enjoyable and interesting for all involved. You will also review different chairing practices and have the opportunity to reflect on how and why they work (or don’t work).

Good leadership and chairing should ensure that everyone has a chance to bring their best ideas to the table. But it’s not all about style; who the chair is can also affect the success of a meeting. This unit will explore the role of gender and stereotypes in leadership as well.

Unit 4  50 shades of humour

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A group of three individuals seated in a modern office setting, engaged in an informal discussion.

It may not all be fun and games… but some of it is. This unit is about being funny in online meetings. Yes, you can! Humour is a common workplace feature that helps to build relationships among colleagues and teams. It can diffuse tension, lighten the mood and make people more comfortable, but it can be negative as well as positive.

Humour can be gendered, and it can be used to reinforce stereotypes and put people in their place. This unit will cover humour in online meetings and what a powerful tool it can be.

Unit 5  Could this meeting be an email?

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A person seated at a wooden desk working on a laptop. On the desk, there is a white notebook or paper placed near the laptop, suggesting a work or study environment. In the background, a child is visible sitting on the floor, engaged in play with a colourful toy structure.

‘Why am I sitting in this meeting when they could have just sent an email?’ Yours and other people’s time is a limited and valuable resource, and you don’t want to be wasting it. What you may also have noticed is that time doesn’t impact us all equally. Some of us have more time available than others. And time is gendered.

This unit will look at how time pressures affect men and women differently. Good time policies can contribute to gender equality and to improving the wellbeing of our co-workers.

Unit 6  What you’ve learned and farewell

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A person seated at a table in a casual indoor setting, smiling and raising one hand as if participating in a discussion or waving to say ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’.

This unit brings us to the end of the course and reflects on what you have learned across the units. It will go back to some of the ideas you had at the beginning of the course to see what may have changed. You’ll also revisit the Social Identity Wheel and consider how it might be a useful tool for others who participate in online meetings.

Finally, you will review what you’ve learned about leading and being part of online meetings to improve your practice and experience.

To give you a flavour of what you will learn about, click on the topics below.

Throughout each unit you will work through text, video, images, interactive media and engaging activities to test yourself as you consider the different ideas and evidence presented to you.

Here are some examples from each of the units:

Unit 2  Communication styles interactive (Figure 2 screenshot)

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A screenshot of Figure 2 ‘Communication styles’ interactive from Unit 2 Section 2. A circle divided into four equal quadrants by a vertical and horizontal line. Each quadrant is a different color and labeled with a communication style: top left ‘Submissive’ (purple), top right ‘Confrontational’ (light pink), bottom left ‘Cooperative’ (teal), and bottom right ‘Assertive’ (blue).

Unit 2  Communication styles interactive (Figure 2 screenshot)

Unit 3  Ensuring inclusive online meetings flip cards (screenshot)

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A screenshot of the ‘Ensuring inclusive online meetings’ flip cards interactive from Unit 3 Section 5. A grid of six white square cards with blue borders, arranged in two rows of three. The top row is labeled ‘Access requirements’, ‘Assistive technology’, and ‘Agenda’. The bottom row contains cards labeled ‘Introductions’, ‘Unfamiliar names’, and ‘Pronouns’.

Unit 3  Ensuring inclusive online meetings flip cards (screenshot)

Unit 4  Using humour in a positive way (screenshot)

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A screenshot of ‘Using humour in a positive way’ (Video 1) from Unit 4 Activity 2. A screenshot of an online team meeting with six participants displayed in a 3×2 grid. Each participant appears in their own video window, with their names shown on labels beneath each window. The meeting interface includes standard video call controls along the bottom, such as camera, microphone, screen share, chat, participants, and leave meeting buttons.

Unit 4  Using humour in a positive way (screenshot)

Unit 5  Meeting or email decision tree (screenshot)

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A screenshot of ‘Decision tree: meeting or email?’ from Unit 5 Activity 1. An illustration of a stylised tree with light purple branches and leaves. Beneath the tree is the question ‘Is this a communication or decision that needs to be made urgently?’ Two purple buttons labelled ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ are shown below the question.

Unit 5  Meeting or email decision tree (screenshot)

Next, you’ll be introduced to the Social Identity Wheel which is a key tool used throughout the course to help you consider some of the nuanced aspects in online meeting scenarios.

People have many social identities. Your gender is one. But there are many others like your ethnicity, sexual orientation, age and class that are also examples of the multiple identities a person may have. A social identity is one you get from being part of a group and we are all part of many groups. These are not necessarily within our control.

The Social Identity Wheel is a resource developed by the University of Michigan that helps you reflect on how your identities impact the ways in which you experience the world and how others might see and treat you.

You will come across the Social Identity Wheel in each unit to consider the relevance of social identity on each of the topics you will explore. It will help you gain insight into how privilege can normalise some identities over others. For instance, in a meeting with colleagues from different countries, if you are someone who speaks English as your first language you probably don’t often have to think about that as being part of your identity. However, colleagues for whom English is a second language will likely be very aware of it.

Introducing the Social Identity Wheel

To begin, click on each segment of the wheel to reveal a description of each identity.

This first unit has been a course overview that covers why it’s important and timely to study this topic. You’ve looked at what will be covered in each unit and have been introduced to some of the tools you will use in the course. We hope you will find the learning useful and that it supports you and your colleagues in making best use of your online meetings.

End-of-unit practice quizzes and end-of-course quiz

At the end of each unit you will have a chance to test your learning with a practice quiz. These are for your own learning and you will be able to go back to them whenever you like.

A free Open University ‘Best practice in online meetings’ digital badge is awarded for completing all units of the course and successfully passing the end-of-course quiz with a grade of 80% or more. You can have further attempts at the end-of-course quiz if you don't pass initially.

Your badge and statement of participation are downloadable from your OpenLearn Profile and can be shared on social media and displayed on LinkedIn or other e-portfolio platforms. For more information see Badged courses.

Unit 1 practice quiz

Now have a go at the Unit 1 practice quiz to test your understanding of this unit – you can attempt the quiz as many times as you like.

After you have completed the Unit 1 practice quiz move onto Unit 2  Being a participant – how to play nicely!

Abdoo, P. M. (2020) Social Identity Wheel. Available at: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/equitable-teaching/social-identity-wheel/ (Accessed: 1 September 2025).