What would be a reasonable approach to classroom teaching in the fall?

[spork]

[. . .]

much of the writing about teaching amidst the pandemic focuses on lecture and testing. While many professors may teach in that way, many of us also seek to create interactive classrooms where we teach critical engagement with ideas through discussion.

[. . . ]

http://activelearningps.com/2020/06/22/simulating-covid-19-classroom-conditions/

[. . . ]

The more workable version is that the class is recorded and then posted online.

Starting from there, some of the problems seem very fixable. It isn't like nobody has ever recorded lectures from class and posted them before.

Accepted best practice is that educational video content should be in 4-10 minute segments. The average college student is not going to pay attention to a recorded video of someone reciting a lecture for 50-75 minutes. What proportion of colleges and universities have the financial resources to edit video recordings as soon as they are made for all classes for an entire semester?

If the recordings aren't picking up the professor's voice well enough, then they probably should not be relying on microphones on the ceiling. A lapel mike might work, or perhaps one on the podium. All of our classrooms have built in podium mikes already.

What proportion of colleges and universities have the financial resources to install microphones in all podiums in all classrooms (assuming all classrooms have podiums), and train all instructors in how to use them properly? Same for lapel mics.

And if the instructor has a mic, how is that going to capture in-classroom discussion between students or between students and the instructor in a way that is audible on a recorded video that remote students are supposed to watch? Are there mics for all students? How much will that cost?

In general, I don't really buy that it is going to particularly difficult to screen share from the laptop to the recording. It seems like there is some particular problem with Webex and the college's system. So try Zoom and see if it works better? Or if that isn't an option, get classroom support on it.

[. . . ]

How many colleges and university have adequate classroom tech support that can quickly resolve problems as they happen across an entire campus once the semester starts? Where I work, it takes at least ten minutes for a work-study student to show up, and all that person knows how to do is turn a piece of equipment off and on, which is the first thing the instructor tries whenever something isn't working at the start of class. Then it's an additional ten minutes minimum for an employee to show up, who tries the same thing. Odds are the entire class is wasted if it's totally dependent on a technological system.

[dr_codex]

I taught in a classroom that had a weird "dead zone" in the back. No matter where you stood in the front, nobody could hear you in a 4 x 4 foot area. About 4 desks. The entire room was probably 120 square feet. So, about 30 seats in total.

People had probably taught in the same space for 75 years or more, without change. Only with a major renovation was a drop ceiling installed, mostly to run conduit for other purposes. Finally, the dead zone was gone.

YMMV, but it took almost a century for my place to address acoustic issues in one classroom. By accident.

My bold experiments in hyflex delivery, planned for the Fall, are coming to a screeching halt as I realize that we haven't the time, expertise, or attention to detail that would get it to work. I don't have 10 G's to play with, and even if I did the software would be obsolete before the tech was out fo the boxes. I thought that Zoom would solve my problems, but the last 4 months have disabused me of that notion.

If you need me in September, I'll probably be in my bunker.

[Caracal]

[. . .]

much of the writing about teaching amidst the pandemic focuses on lecture and testing. While many professors may teach in that way, many of us also seek to create interactive classrooms where we teach critical engagement with ideas through discussion.

[. . . ]

http://activelearningps.com/2020/06/22/simulating-covid-19-classroom-conditions/

[. . . ]

The more workable version is that the class is recorded and then posted online.

Starting from there, some of the problems seem very fixable. It isn't like nobody has ever recorded lectures from class and posted them before.

Accepted best practice is that educational video content should be in 4-10 minute segments. The average college student is not going to pay attention to a recorded video of someone reciting a lecture for 50-75 minutes. What proportion of colleges and universities have the financial resources to edit video recordings as soon as they are made for all classes for an entire semester?

If the recordings aren't picking up the professor's voice well enough, then they probably should not be relying on microphones on the ceiling. A lapel mike might work, or perhaps one on the podium. All of our classrooms have built in podium mikes already.

What proportion of colleges and universities have the financial resources to install microphones in all podiums in all classrooms (assuming all classrooms have podiums), and train all instructors in how to use them properly? Same for lapel mics.

I teach at a regional state school which is not lavishly resourced and we have all these things. Technology support is quite variable, but I don't think this is some wild dream.

[downer]

The community college where I teach has very basic computers. I think they run Windows 8, and they literally take about 5 minutes  or more to boot up. They use Blackboard 9.1, with few of the optional plug ins that cost money. If they want to run some kind of audio/video conferencing during class, they would need to replace all the computers with ones that would not crash when asked to do a lot more than run a web browser. Their IT dept seems barely competent judging from my interactions with them.

The little struggling college I teach for does not even have computer monitors -- the only screen the prof can see is the same one as the students, projected onto the wall. Planning ahead is not their strong point -- they still haven't got a full academic calendar up for the fall. They do have a couple of designated computer rooms that have better tech but obviously is not enough.

But the city school I teach for has all the video conferencing already set up in most classrooms.

So my first guess is that maybe half of schools might be able to get the technology together to set up any live streaming of classes.

The goal that there would be successful recording of classes for students to watch later seems further off. They all use Office 365 and OneDrive for cloud storing of documents. We know how well that works. And if you have every tried to get big files on or off Blackboard, that doesn't seem promising either.

[spork]

[. . . ]

I teach at a regional state school which is not lavishly resourced and we have all these things. Technology support is quite variable, but I don't think this is some wild dream.

Your experience is unrepresentative of a large portion of higher ed. See what downer wrote above, and third paragraph from the bottom:

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/building-pivot.

[Caracal]

The community college where I teach has very basic computers. I think they run Windows 8, and they literally take about 5 minutes  or more to boot up. They use Blackboard 9.1, with few of the optional plug ins that cost money. If they want to run some kind of audio/video conferencing during class, they would need to replace all the computers with ones that would not crash when asked to do a lot more than run a web browser. Their IT dept seems barely competent judging from my interactions with them.

The little struggling college I teach for does not even have computer monitors -- the only screen the prof can see is the same one as the students, projected onto the wall. Planning ahead is not their strong point -- they still haven't got a full academic calendar up for the fall. They do have a couple of designated computer rooms that have better tech but obviously is not enough.

But the city school I teach for has all the video conferencing already set up in most classrooms.

So my first guess is that maybe half of schools might be able to get the technology together to set up any live streaming of classes.

The goal that there would be successful recording of classes for students to watch later seems further off. They all use Office 365 and OneDrive for cloud storing of documents. We know how well that works. And if you have every tried to get big files on or off Blackboard, that doesn't seem promising either.

Yeah, that's probably right in terms of percentages. I found Zoom to be much easier for recording than anything else. Can't speak to Blackboard, but Canvas is pretty easy to upload things to. At least for my school, I'm not really worried about any of it being technically unfeasible. I will want to go into a classroom a week or so before class and make sure Zoom is on the computer, try recording it and uploading a file and make sure everything works. I wouldn't be shocked if there's some sort of issue, but I can probably work it out with tech support. I just don't want to be doing that in the middle of class the first day. I imagine I can get it to work ok. Does that mean there will never be problems and that it will be ideal in every respect? Of course not. But, this semester will be a mess. I'm just trying to find ways to create something workable for students that doesn't involve me creating a brand new class in the midst of a pandemic.

[downer]

For an audio recording for a class, it is porbably possible to keep it under 50Mb. That's easy enough to upload and download.

But for video files of classes, you are soon going to get into 1Gb or more You really want to avoid downloading files that size on a frequent basis, unless you have a fast internet connection and plenty of storage. Most students don't.

It will be much better if those vids are streamable from home. Zoom and Webex do offer direct recording to the cloud. So that should not be a big problem so long as you have those.

My CC does not have Zoom or Webex as far as I can tell. They recommend using Camtasia.

Of course, it is possible to upload videos to YouTube and that's a good solution. So with some persistence it might be possible to sort out the recording of classes whatever the college's situation. It's a learning curve though.

I would note that for those of us who teach at several places, there's less time to devote to learning how to do it at each place.

[Caracal]

For an audio recording for a class, it is porbably possible to keep it under 50Mb. That's easy enough to upload and download.

But for video files of classes, you are soon going to get into 1Gb or more You really want to avoid downloading files that size on a frequent basis, unless you have a fast internet connection and plenty of storage. Most students don't.

It will be much better if those vids are streamable from home. Zoom and Webex do offer direct recording to the cloud. So that should not be a big problem so long as you have those.

My CC does not have Zoom or Webex as far as I can tell. They recommend using Camtasia.

Of course, it is possible to upload videos to YouTube and that's a good solution. So with some persistence it might be possible to sort out the recording of classes whatever the college's situation. It's a learning curve though.

I would note that for those of us who teach at several places, there's less time to devote to learning how to do it at each place.

Your mileage may vary, but I found it to be a lot easier to record to my computer and then upload using Zoom.  On Canvas, those files then live on the Canvas server and students can stream them there with no need to download. I'll have to see how that translates to school computers. You're right about the learning curve and the point about multiple institutions is fair. I'm also lucky that our IT is just well run and competent. They are the only branch of administration outside of my department I deal with who actually seem to think their job is to fix problems instructors are having.

[the_geneticist]

For an audio recording for a class, it is porbably possible to keep it under 50Mb. That's easy enough to upload and download.

But for video files of classes, you are soon going to get into 1Gb or more You really want to avoid downloading files that size on a frequent basis, unless you have a fast internet connection and plenty of storage. Most students don't.

It will be much better if those vids are streamable from home. Zoom and Webex do offer direct recording to the cloud. So that should not be a big problem so long as you have those.

My CC does not have Zoom or Webex as far as I can tell. They recommend using Camtasia.

Of course, it is possible to upload videos to YouTube and that's a good solution. So with some persistence it might be possible to sort out the recording of classes whatever the college's situation. It's a learning curve though.

I would note that for those of us who teach at several places, there's less time to devote to learning how to do it at each place.

Your mileage may vary, but I found it to be a lot easier to record to my computer and then upload using Zoom.  On Canvas, those files then live on the Canvas server and students can stream them there with no need to download. I'll have to see how that translates to school computers. You're right about the learning curve and the point about multiple institutions is fair. I'm also lucky that our IT is just well run and competent. They are the only branch of administration outside of my department I deal with who actually seem to think their job is to fix problems instructors are having.

Might want to check with your IT folks about how much storage space you are allowed on Canvas.  We ran into a problem in a few classes when it turns out that the "unlimited" storage actually had a limit.

[Caracal]

For an audio recording for a class, it is porbably possible to keep it under 50Mb. That's easy enough to upload and download.

But for video files of classes, you are soon going to get into 1Gb or more You really want to avoid downloading files that size on a frequent basis, unless you have a fast internet connection and plenty of storage. Most students don't.

It will be much better if those vids are streamable from home. Zoom and Webex do offer direct recording to the cloud. So that should not be a big problem so long as you have those.

My CC does not have Zoom or Webex as far as I can tell. They recommend using Camtasia.

Of course, it is possible to upload videos to YouTube and that's a good solution. So with some persistence it might be possible to sort out the recording of classes whatever the college's situation. It's a learning curve though.

I would note that for those of us who teach at several places, there's less time to devote to learning how to do it at each place.

Your mileage may vary, but I found it to be a lot easier to record to my computer and then upload using Zoom.  On Canvas, those files then live on the Canvas server and students can stream them there with no need to download. I'll have to see how that translates to school computers. You're right about the learning curve and the point about multiple institutions is fair. I'm also lucky that our IT is just well run and competent. They are the only branch of administration outside of my department I deal with who actually seem to think their job is to fix problems instructors are having.

Might want to check with your IT folks about how much storage space you are allowed on Canvas.  We ran into a problem in a few classes when it turns out that the "unlimited" storage actually had a limit.

No problems with that last semester and I had three separate classes with two lectures a week.

[mamselle]

Audio-only recording on (free, downloadable) Audacity also works well.

In doing tape transcription from both a Zoom recording and the Audacity file (which has equalizers, two-track controls, and lets you set both mic and playback levels) the Zoom was often muddy/mushy, the Audacity was much clearer.

Just FYI.

M.

[mleok]

I use OBS to prerecord my lectures, and Avidemux to splice or crop them if necessary. They're both free and available on numerous platforms. I then upload these to YouTube as unlisted videos, and link to them on Canvas as an external link.

[downer]

I use OBS to prerecord my lectures, and Avidemux to splice or crop them if necessary. They're both free and available on numerous platforms. I then upload these to YouTube as unlisted videos, and link to them on Canvas as an external link.

Do you provide a text version for hearing impaired students?

[mamselle]

Avidemux looks interesting.

It also looks to be French--any problems with US-based files?

I realize most stuff is translatable but my favorite of all favorites <<Transcription>> files wouldn't open in my US based computers and I had trouble with the downloads.

Ditto <<Gregoire>> when it was the only music software with stemless noteheads for notating early music from various eras for publication.

I ended up having to go to Adobe and construct the noteheads, staves, and clef/accidental signs one by one on various layers until some of the other more standard software programs got "woke" and offered early music alternatives....

So--just checking.

M.

[spork]

In my role as a senior faculty member who mentors colleagues, I'm being asked to provide advice on how to teach a fall course under these kinds of conditions:

• Class held in an auditorium with fixed seating, to accommodate social distancing requirements.
• 25 students in the room, all masked.
• 2 students who are connected remotely are supposed to get the "same experience" as those in the room.
• Instructor at the front of the room, masked.
• Given that the subject of the course is literature, classroom sessions in the past have been entirely discussion-based. The faculty member does not lecture.

Suggestions?