Resting cam face and the endless freeze…
So, you’ve survived your first two weeks of online meetings. It’s been fun hasn’t it? Highlights might have included watching people speak silently after forgetting to un-mute their microphones. All those webcams angled directly up peoples noses or accidentally left on to capture things that colleagues really don’t need to see. The relaxing background noise of someone’s partner blending a smoothie or a young child trying to lovingly murder their sibling. Let’s not mention ‘resting-cam-face.’
I joke but these are some of the realties you have to plan for with online teaching. Once or twice I’ve watched back some of the recordings of my online lessons and I have pretty much made every set-up mistake in the book. So again, here’s some lessons learned and shared in case they’re useful.
Internet speed
Before you do any of this, it’s worth testing your Internet connection speed. Working on camera might need more bandwidth than you normally need at home. You’re going to need at least 28.8 Mbps. 100 Mbps should by plenty.
That said, if anyone else in your house is working from home, be aware things can get shaky. I’ve found my connection is patchy if my partner is also on a video call. It’s always worth investigating if you can connect directly to your router using Ethernet.
Browsers
You’ll need the right browser. You can find details of the browser compatibility for Blackboard here. Firefox or Chrome are surefire, Safari is hit and miss. It’s worth mentioning they also recommend at least 20 MB free disk space. With any luck, you have that. If your Mac has been making that wheezing sound when performing basic tasks lately, it’s worth checking your available disk space.
Headsets…?
Built-in computer microphones are not the best for quality, clear audio and they can have feedback issues. If you can bring yourself to embrace call-centre chic then a headset with a microphone is actually the best option for good quality audio.
Being onscreen
An online session with no video is not a particularly engaging experience for anyone. So unless you’re having connection issues or you’ve set some time ‘offscreen’ for the students to work on a task, try to be on camera as much as possible in the session.
It’s good to get your camera up to eye-level. I generally sit it on a stack of books to do this. You might have a more elegant solution. It’s also good to sit up straight, at a table and look directly into the camera. While it can be tempting to teach from your sofa. I wouldn’t. We don’t all have perfect set ups at home but keeping it as formal as you can is a good idea. There’s definitely such a thing as too laid back.
Lighting
If you can, position a lamp or light on the desk in front of you to light your face. Try not to sit in front of any windows or bright light sources; you’ll just appear as a spooky silhouette. I’ve got windows directly behind me when I’m sat at my desk (also dining/living room table) so I always have to lower the blinds a bit to avoid the silhouette situation.
Background noise
It’s also a good idea to close the door to the room for the duration of the session. This is not always possible but the sounds someone crashing about in the background can really derail a session. Again, not always possible. Just do what you can.
Worst case
Believe it or not, I’ve been in situations where none of the above was possible. I once had to teach an online class with my computer in my lap on a coach on a Belgian motorway while tethering from my iPhone. It was less-than-ideal (and the phone bill was more than I was paid for the session), but amazingly, it worked. In truth, we all had a good giggle about it and I think the students appreciated the effort. These are strange times and nobody reasonable is expecting a perfect performance but hopefully these tips will help you feel prepared with some of the basics.