Teaching from home strategies and platforms

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Our University is shut down for 3 weeks because of the pandemic. Aside from attending previously scheduled degree recitals while practicing social distancing in a 150 seat hall where only 10 or less are authorized to be present, we are encouraged to teach our classes online for the next 3 weeks, at which point we will reassess.

Personally, I think this is a good thing, and for once our state is ahead of the curve to try to keep people safe. No issues there.

As far as the teaching from home part, I have 10 private students in my studio at the U, and a few of them use IOS, so we can Face Time lessons. Our university's Blackboard support includes a video platform called Panopto, and my two large classes use course packs and regularly turn in HW online for completion anyway, so I am ahead of the game on that front assuming that I can figure Panopto out reasonably well in the next 3-4 days to deliver the video content that will enable them to be able to complete the HW.

But for the students in my studio who use the Android platform, what's the best current platform for video conferencing? The university uses Outlook 365, and there may be a platform on that, but what video apps are most 20 somethings most likely to be able to use easily on their phones? Skype? Discord? Other?

Enquiring mind wants to know.

 

[Alkali Ike]

There are plenty of options. Google Duo sounds the simplest but I’ve never used it.

10 best alternatives to FaceTime on Android!

 

[fdeck]

A friend of mine, now retired from teaching, is a "snow bird." He taught reeds, and started teaching via Skype while wintering in Florida. He said the students got used to it quite quickly.

If it were anything but music, such as math & such, I'd just hang a web cam over a pad of paper.

 

[19bassman70]

Anything work better than Skype or Zoom?
Thanks

 

[fdeck]

We've had a learning over the past couple of days. First of all, right when we went into lockdown, I realized that 4 people working from home was going to overwhelm our 2 Mbps DSL internet service. (2 work, 1 college, 1 high school). I was able to order a data-only broadband cable service that wasn't exorbitant. When all is said and done, we'll cancel the DSL, and move our home phone number to a Tracfone.

There must be a lot of people doing this, because I'm seeing the familiar orange wire on my walks.

Meanwhile, we've found that the home WiFi router has really limited range, and your data speeds are affected by the signal quality. (WiFi automatically negotiates a varying connection speed based on signal to noise ratio). So I've made some changes that have improved things a lot, and a new router with bigger antennas is on the way:

1. Run wired connections wherever possible. It's more reliable and will take load off your WiFi. Right now I've got Ethernet cables snaking around my basement office / lab.

2. Get close to the router if you need more speed and can't run a wire.

3. Possibly, move the router to a different part of the house. One possibility is the basement underneath your work room if that avoids having to drill holes for wiring.

 

[MJ5150]

Microsoft Teams is part of the Office suite.
They have an Android app that is very simple to use. I use it every morning from my Android phone.

-Mike

 

[fdeck]

It's my guess that there's no fundamental technological difference that would make any of the online services work faster than any of the others. Problems are likely due to local conditions at your end, or at the other person's end. For instance we have a place right next to the router where we now take turns for music lessons.

 

[fdeck]

+1 for Teams. My employer uses it, and it's really nice and easy.

 

[TOOL460002]

Our University is shut down for 3 weeks because of the pandemic. Aside from attending previously scheduled degree recitals while practicing social distancing in a 150 seat hall where only 10 or less are authorized to be present, we are encouraged to teach our classes online for the next 3 weeks, at which point we will reassess.

Personally, I think this is a good thing, and for once our state is ahead of the curve to try to keep people safe. No issues there.

As far as the teaching from home part, I have 10 private students in my studio at the U, and a few of them use IOS, so we can Face Time lessons. Our university's Blackboard support includes a video platform called Panopto, and my two large classes use course packs and regularly turn in HW online for completion anyway, so I am ahead of the game on that front assuming that I can figure Panopto out reasonably well in the next 3-4 days to deliver the video content that will enable them to be able to complete the HW.

But for the students in my studio who use the Android platform, what's the best current platform for video conferencing? The university uses Outlook 365, and there may be a platform on that, but what video apps are most 20 somethings most likely to be able to use easily on their phones? Skype? Discord? Other?

Enquiring mind wants to know.

Discord is reliable for me and a good way to admit as a teacher. Eventually all students should have digital pen pads (Wacom usb) to show work. Neat dream. Be well.

 

[fdeck]

Discord is reliable for me and a good way to admit as a teacher. Eventually all students should have digital pen pads (Wacom usb) to show work. Neat dream. Be well.

I dream of students showing their work in a Jupyter notebook. But alas for the moment, pencil and paper still has the efficiency advantage. They could always send in a cell phone picture. Some of my son's teachers are doing that.