The Zoom (and related systems) Learning Curve...

[spork]

This seems to be the best place for this information: Webex, when accessed via LMS, is experiencing an intermittent degradation in performance as well as service interruptions. I suspect this is because of an inability to handle the increased demand.

I would not be surprised if Webex, Zoom, etc. get overwhelmed soon.

[apl68]

I chatted a bit recently with the daughter of a staff member who has been pitched out of the college classroom and into her first online class.  She said that it was a mess--all sorts of glitches, lots of trouble getting everybody onto the same page, and an unscheduled onscreen appearance by one student's little brother.  I told her that in my experience online classes tend to get off to a rocky start, and then settle down once everybody gets up and running.

[polly_mer]

IHE has an article with some tips on locking down Zoom so that students (and random passersby) cannot do as many oddities

Our current best recommendations for our WebEx gatherings include not having the camera on unless we're the speaker and don't go through the VPN to preserve bandwidth. WebEx meetings have improved with people following those instructions.  Of course, then they are much more like regular phone calls as we watch one person's screen, but it's pretty good in terms of one-to-many communication.

[wellfleet]

My new graduate writing classes start Monday, but I've been having optional 30-minute Zoom hangouts since yesterday to allow students to check their devices, say hi, ask questions, etc.. So far, I've had about 70% take advantage of one of those, with one more session scheduled for tomorrow. They seem grateful for the chance to try stuff out ahead of time.

I've also told all of my students not to worry at all about occasional on-screen visits from kids, pets, etc.. It's good to know how to set backgrounds for privacy/blur backgrounds/etc., but I think it's also important to understand that none of these folks signed up for online education and we are, pretty directly, pushing ourselves into their homes. Hospitality and flexibility are both going to be really important here. I'm also teaching from my dining room table and I live with other people, too.

[mamselle]

There are apparently some problems now (says my friend who's the online teaching specialist at her school) with hackers breaking into course Zoom accounts, attending for free, or mounting pornograhy, etc. on the screen.

I believe she said there are resources for preventing that; I didn't ask what they were but will be talking with her tomorrow if anyone wants to know and is interested; I'll ask and post whatever she suggests--an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure....

M.

[apostrophe]

Another Zoom tip that I don't think has come up so far--you can keep all audio muted even during discussions and just have the current speaker hit the space bar. Once you release the space bar, mute resumes.

Oh my goodness, can you tell me how to set this up? That sounds like an amazing trick!

There's no set-up. Just have everyone mute their own audio (which you do by selecting the option in the square with your face in it). When they want to speak, they hold down the space bar. When they are finished, they release the space bar.

[Cheerful]

There are apparently some problems now (says my friend who's the online teaching specialist at her school) with hackers breaking into course Zoom accounts, attending for free, or mounting pornograhy, etc. on the screen.

I believe she said there are resources for preventing that; I didn't ask what they were but will be talking with her tomorrow if anyone wants to know and is interested; I'll ask and post whatever she suggests--an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure....

M.

Yes, it's called Zoombombing.

Despite the current Zoom Mania, Zoom is not a panacea.

[polly_mer]

There are apparently some problems now (says my friend who's the online teaching specialist at her school) with hackers breaking into course Zoom accounts, attending for free, or mounting pornograhy, etc. on the screen.

I believe she said there are resources for preventing that; I didn't ask what they were but will be talking with her tomorrow if anyone wants to know and is interested; I'll ask and post whatever she suggests--an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure....

M.

Yes, it's called Zoombombing.

Despite the current Zoom Mania, Zoom is not a panacea.

My last post contains a link to an IHE article on Zoombombing that also contains tips on preventing it.

[polly_mer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMOOG7rWTPg is a funny take for those who haven't seen it yet.