MEI’s Jo Sibley, who has lots of experience in delivering online tuition, has made a series of videos to help anyone preparing to teach from home. Although they use the BigBlueButton platform, the advice is relevant to users of other platforms.
Equipment: Jo looks at the basics a teacher might need in order to set up to teach at home, including dealing with audio – types of headset, earphones, microphones. Do you want your students to be able to talk? How to deal with online chat. Types of internet access. To cam or not to cam? Bandwidth issues.
Resources: How to prepare your resources for online classroom use, using PowerPoint as an example. Types of activity and content which work well online. How to save as a PDF and loading a PDF into an online classroom.
Features: Jo gives a tour of some of the features of an online classroom. Presentations, chat, user list, permissions for teachers and students, how to know if students can hear/speak, muting/unmuting microphones. Chat on a mobile device. Using status icons.
Audio issues: Dealing with students who can’t hear you – advice on how to check audio, leave and re-join audio, refresh the room, check on equipment status. Using the chat to communicate with students who can’t hear you.
General: Things to consider in planning for emergency use of online classrooms. Some hints and tips from our experience, for both school management and teachers. Getting in touch with us, and with other teachers who are using online classrooms.
