Low Band-Width Options

[wareagle]

I'm sure we all have students with sketchy Internet access.  I'm wondering what ideas we have to put class materials out there that could still be accessed via some dinosaur-like dial-up connections or weak wi-fi.

I am no tech expert.  But how about stuff like voice-over PPTs instead of having to stream video? 

Audio-only options? 

Other thoughts?

[Parasaurolophus]

Yeah, voice-over-powerpoint, and try to keep the files small--like, tenish slides. Although if you can also just post the PDF of the slides, that might help, since VOPP files can still get relatively large.

[downer]

It's an interesting question. On the one hand, I think having band-width is like being able to get the textbook. Students should budget for that, and I'm not particularly sympathetic to their claims that they can't afford it.

Pre-COVID, it was also pretty easy to find places where you can find free wi-fi. (This is something I do myself because I use a pre-paid phone plan and minimize my use of data as much as possible.) Now it is not quite so easy, because it is harder to hang out in those public or commercial.

I try to avoid any big files because I do nearly all my teaching prep and teaching on a cheap Chromebook. I have a colleague who uploads huge Powerpoint files with video up to Blackboard, and I encounter all sorts of problems in trying to view them.

I make slides with audio for some classes, and 10 minute videos that I upload to YouTube. So far I've had no problems with students saying they had trouble with the files.

[mamselle]

It's not always about affordability, although that can also be a problem if a family member ran up a huge bill, service was cut off, and it won't be restored until the bill is paid...not the student's fault or in their purview to fix, and that actually was an issue for a student I had.

Some regions of the country also simply don't have the kind of bandwidth needed. A friend living out COVID with her 2 aged parents in Mississippi has to sit in one corner of one room of their house to send emails and use the internet--when the region's power is up to it.

Unless you're divinely able to actually heal someone, it's nothing but cruel to impose a "rise, take up your bed, and walk" mentality on people whose inability to command what may appear to be basic necessities (to those of us so blessed) is an inconvenience or requires more "outside-the-box" thinking/empathy in coming up with workarounds.

I don't mean that personally, it's an emerging concept for many--as it was for those who didn't understand that LBJ'S biggest appeal to some Texans was that he got the electrical companies to go deep into the backwoods areas of the state and set up service for those who'd waited 20-40 years for it.

M.

[apl68]

We live in one of those regions where adequate bandwidth still can't be taken for granted everywhere.  It was only last year that we were able to get the library's connection speed up to a truly adequate level for patron needs.  There are still parts of the building where wireless signals aren't good.  And then you get out of town. 

[Dimple_Dumpling72]

It's not always about affordability, although that can also be a problem if a family member ran up a huge bill, service was cut off, and it won't be restored until the bill is paid...not the student's fault or in their purview to fix, and that actually was an issue for a student I had.

Some regions of the country also simply don't have the kind of bandwidth needed. A friend living out COVID with her 2 aged parents in Mississippi has to sit in one corner of one room of their house to send emails and use the internet--when the region's power is up to it.

Unless you're divinely able to actually heal someone, it's nothing but cruel to impose a "rise, take up your bed, and walk" mentality on people whose inability to command what may appear to be basic necessities (to those of us so blessed) is an inconvenience or requires more "outside-the-box" thinking/empathy in coming up with workarounds.

I don't mean that personally, it's an emerging concept for many--as it was for those who didn't understand that LBJ'S biggest appeal to some Texans was that he got the electrical companies to go deep into the backwoods areas of the state and set up service for those who'd waited 20-40 years for it.

M.

+1

[spork]

Keep files small. Some formats do a better job of this than others. Don't expect anyone to download an hour-long video that is 4K resolution.

I like putting pdfs on Canvas so that students can read them through their web browser via the Canvas document viewer instead of having to download the files. 

[jerseyjay]

I suppose to some degree this depends on the type of school (although I know that even at Harvard not all students are well off).

That said, at my school, I do think that money is a real issue; many of my students are barely making it, and many are unemployed or their parents are unemployed. But even for those for whom it is not an economic issue, there are lots of other possible issues that could make bandwith an issue. For me personally, with a relatively decent income in one of the more dense and advanced areas in the United States, my internet sometimes goes in and out--because of the way my apartment is designed, because my ISP is a monopoly that provides poor service, because sometimes I have a dozen devices attached to the wifi. I used to go to the local coffee shop or library to work sometimes, but that was before COVID.

Thus I find the suggestions in this thread useful.