There was an elluminate meeting last night to discuss strategies for managing technology glitches in online education. The meeting started with everyone marking on the map below where they were connecting to the session from. Most of the group were people enrolled in the Facilitating e-learning communities course, although Derek Chirnside from the TALO email group also attended (from Sydney).
After that initial ice-breaker everyone collaborated to
1. Create a list of technologies which they are using or planning to use in their teaching.
2. Make a mark next to the technologies which each individual is planning to use in their teaching
As you can see from the diagram below most people are either using or are planning to use most of the technologies on the list.
Technologies such as flikr, youtube, video conferencing, slideshare, podcasting were less popular probably due to lack of familiarity. These are all technologies that we haven’t really investigated in any great depth in the course so far.
After this primer, we discussed the different technology glitches that could occur when using the above technologies and strategies that could be used to manage them. A summary of the strategies follows.
Strategies for managing technology risk
Have plan A & plan B (& also maybe plan C)
Back-up communication channel
- Skype
- Audioconferencing(http://www.arkadin.com/)
- check with OP Property & services
- Email-groups
- Point of contact in case of emergency
Prepare for technology use
- Making sure students and staff download and are able to access tech well before use
- Practice & play with the tools before you use them
Managing server risk – communication channel with people who look after the server
Having a 2nd person involved
The first two strategies are quite strongly related. It’s quite important that if everything turns to custard there is a back up plan. A back up plan might be to use a secondary communication channel if the original proves to be un-usable, although there are other options.
Skype, audio-conferencing, and email-groups were all mentioned as possible back-up communication channels.
Skype worked quite well for some of the class last time, and the synchronous nature of the communication is probably quite well suited to salvaging a synchronous elluminate session or something similar.
The benefit of audio-conferencing is that it is independent of the computer, so if there were network connection problems, audio-conferencing would still be able to be used. The downside of audio-conferencing is that there is generally a reasonable cost associated with it’s use, and that network problems are likely to only affect a couple of participants.
For a back-up communication channel to be effective, all participants must be clearly informed that if the primary channel fails for some reason the back-up channel is to be used. It’s also a good idea to have a point of contact for someone in an emergency situation (e.g. if a student has a problem with their local connection).
Preparing for technology use is also fairly important. If Skype is to be used in a teaching session, all participants must have downloaded & installed Skype before participating in the session. It’s also a good idea to have time to play with and get familiar with the technology before using it for an important session.
Having a second person involved in teaching/facilitation was mentioned as a strategy that might be useful in managing technology glitches. Using Elluminate as an example, if the facilitator’s connection went down for some reason it’d be handy to have a second person on hand to continue the facilitation of the lecture.
When technology issues are related to the server (e.g. Elluminate), it’s probably a good idea to have clear communication channels between the server managers and the academic staff who are using applications that are server dependent.
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October 9, 2007 at 10:05 am
bronwyn hegarty
this is an excellent description of the session David. There was also a comment made by Derek, if you recall, that he always has everyone’s phone numbers so he can get in touch if plan A fails. I think having cell phone nos would be good – then you can send out a bulk text alert.
Bronwyn
October 9, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Yvonne
Hi David
Sorry that I couldn’t make the session on Monday but thanks for this useful summary. It’s interesting that software like Word and Excel (or similar) didn’t make the list of technology although I suppose the online versions such as Google Docs would make more sense for collaboration purposes.
People tend to be anxious about possible glitches and one of the issues is that they don’t know what caused the problem or how to go about fixing it. So perhaps students should be given a quick run down of why the technology can fail (and reassured that it’s not down to them) and what can be done to avoid common problems. If students understand that technology does fail sometimes they may be less likely to have a negative experience.
Cheers
Yvonne
October 12, 2007 at 3:13 am
veronique
Hi there David
This was a very useful session and nice summary. Unfortunately glitches do happen, often at the most inconvenient times, but having a back-up plan and students aware that it sometimes happens should make it a little less stressful for everyone. It was also a good demonstration of the collaborate use of Elluminate, which I’m very interested in using in my own teaching when I get the opportunity. I also liked those little snapshots you included here, how do you do that? Thanks.
Veronique
October 12, 2007 at 3:30 am
davidmcquillan
Hi Veronique,
In Elluminate you’re able to save or print (can’t remember) the screens to .pdf format. You may be able to save to some other formats that are a bit easier?
My process
1) Saved them to .pdf
2) Opened the file using Adobe Acrobat
3) Copied the part of the image that I wanted to use with the snapshot tool (on the tool bar)
4) Pasted the images into Paint Shop Pro
5) Saved as an image file (.jpg)
October 14, 2007 at 4:20 am
midwikied
Sorry I didn’t make the session on Monday David and thanks for this feedback from it. I think the idea of having cell phone numbers for participants so that they can be contacted quickly in the event of equipment failure is a good one. I wonder, if there is a guest speaker involved, if it would be a good idea to record an interview with the speaker anyway, if that is possible, which can then be played back to course participants later. Perhaps having another alternative activity prepared that will not involve online communication with the group would be good idea. For example direct the group members to a web site to explore and reflect on. Maybe having some pre-prepared slideshare broadcasts or podcasts that they could go to.
October 14, 2007 at 4:21 am
midwikied
Oh also thanks for your help when i was freaking out yesterday trying to get my video going.
Cheers
Carolyn
October 15, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Kerry Brown
Hi Dave,
Missed your session last week but thanks for the summary. I don’t have elluminate on my home computer (need to upgrade) but like the idea of contact by cellphone. We, re planning to send bulk texts out to my students re assessments and the like, but don’t actually do an online community building like this course due to lack of access to computers, some don’t have one. I’ve had to do contact ICT help a couple of times when things don’t work during my night classes and its good to know that they’re available when needed.
October 16, 2007 at 8:14 am
Linda Robertson
Hi David,
Good to know that it is possible to take an elluminate session – also reassuring that you did have a few glitches! ! am interested to see how cleverly you have presented the screens.