Virtual Thesis Defense with BlueJeans

Step-by-Step Procedure for Virtual Thesis Defenses
  • PSOM AV will set-up and provide the Meeting URL and the Meeting ID, as well as moderate the meeting.
  • The Program Coordinator will share the information with the Student’s mentor(s) and thesis committee, as well as publicly through the thesis defense announcements.
  • Students will receive a moderator code that will enable them to communicate with the moderator, PSOM AV.
  • The PSOM AV person will need the cell phone numbers of the program coordinator, the student, and the mentor.
  • The Program Coordinator will facilitate questions with the student, mentor, committee, and the PSOM AV person in the week leading up to the thesis defense. The student will be able to schedule practice sessions with PSOM AV.
  • On the day of the defense, the student and mentor will be asked to join the BlueJeans Thesis Defense ~30 minutes prior to its start (and committee ~15 minute prior).
  • Participants will be asked to make sure their audio and video are disabled, if not already. The moderator will also have the ability to disable audio/visual for anyone.
  • Defenses will proceed as they normally would, with the mentor starting off by giving an introduction, the student’s presentation, a Q&A portion, and then the closed examination session.
  • For the Q&A portion, participants will be asked to submit questions through the chat feature, and student can answer without having to navigate to the BlueJeans application.
  • When the Q&A portion ends, the mentor will ask everyone to leave except the student and the thesis committee.
  • The moderator will ensure everyone except the student, mentor, and thesis committee are dropped from the call.
  • The Program Coordinator will set up a backup BlueJeans meeting in case there is any problem with the closed session.

The public portion of the thesis defense will also be recorded for family and friends to view at a later time. This recording will be shared with the student as a link a few days after the defense.