Evolving as a digital teacher: Tools of the trade - Part 3

Here at DWU, we have talked about online learning for several years now. Several workshops and seminars were conducted all in an effort to upskill academics in the area of online learning. One of the workshops I remember attending was with A/Professor Dr. Susan Crichton from University of British Columbia (UBC) back in 2015. There were quite a number of tools introduced during the week-long session.

Since then we've had lengthy discussions and musings over the pros and cons of online teaching among other things e-learning. Discussions continue to evolve on our university broadcast surrounding this topic as several staff already using various tools share through blog posts (like this post itself) and Youtube videos such as this and others shared by Bernard Yegiora (a DWU staff who also shares some digital teaching tutorials on his blog). We even had a separate Moodle site set up by ICT to experiment with online learning. This site unfortunately has been decommissioned recently this year. Initially not many were keen on taking on the idea of online teaching. In fact only two or three people used the DMS Moodle platform setup specifically for online learning. Reasons as to why academics did not take the challenge to at least offer a unit online are unknown.

DWU however does have a well established e-learning environment using Moodle established several years ago which has gone through various updates with one done recently beginning of this year adding additional features and plugins to allow for more functionality. This university-wide learning platform has been used for both its undergraduate programs and flexible mode programs. Use of Moodle in this case has been mainly for blended learning where lecturers upload resources and post assignments for student to access and for students to post task submissions for feedback. It was not used for full online learning programs. The traditional approach of face-to-face classroom style seminars and lectures is still the norm for most of our programs.

The idea of online teaching using video,web and audio conferencing tools for remote learning was there but somewhat shelved every time it came up in discussions for various reasons. 

Anyhow, it now seems the COVID-19 may well 'force' academics to start using the vast array of tools online that allow for remote learning. At least that is the approach taken now in many universities across the globe given the outbreak of this pandemic as this article suggests among many other similar articles.

• Shift to online learning due to COVID-19 requires rethink of teaching: experts
• The COVID-19 online pivot: Adapting university teaching to social distancing

This post will not talk about how you can move your classroom online, an expert at Harvard Business School has done that already and is sharing his expertise and experience by hosting several webinars like this one which you can sign up to attend or download recordings. Harvard Business Publishing also share some great resources on Moving Your Classroom Online.

In this post, I share with you briefly three online delivery options I have been using and which I am familiar with. I use all three of these tools at various times in the Graduate Certificate in Data Networking program that I teach for 14 weeks fully online (remotely) and 1 week face-to-face on campus.

Option 1. Zoom

I am currently using the Basic package which is great to start with however has a 40-minute time limit on meetings with 3 or more participants. You can add up to 100 participants however time limit will be 40 minutes. Find Zoom here.

There is option to record meetings locally on your computer so you can share thru other means for those who cannot join the meeting.

Important Notice:

Due to increased demand, dial-in by phone audio conferencing capabilities may be temporarily removed from your free Basic account. During this time, we strongly recommend using our computer audio capabilities. If you require dial-in by phone audio conferencing, please see our other package options.

For Pricing options see this link https://zoom.us/pricing

Option 2. Cisco Webex

Have been using this option especially for the Cisco program I teach online. Great option however requires a Cisco account and creating it now will be a tedious task. In the recent 72 hours over 90,000 sign-ups and it’s pretty slow at the moment.

No time-limit for the free account and you get to store recordings offline/locally.

You can find out more about webex here.

Option 3: Facebook Live Stream

This third option is the easiest to use in my opinion. Create a live stream for students to join and watch the lecture. Staff can create private groups to ensure only students of that particular class can join the learning environment.

Live stream is stored online, learners can access it later. Facebook is easily accessible platform for many users.

Challenges

Please note that there are some challenges for us in terms of using these tools.

Internet access for teachers/learners - For us in Papua New Guinea where quality and affordable internet is still a challenge as alluded to in this article on DevPolicy blog, your learners/participants may not be able in some cases to even attend your online webinars. Where city-wide/metropolitan wireless networks, or wireless hotspots are not easily available people resort to mobile data and given the high mobile data rates in PNG as indicated by the GSMA's Mobile Connectivity Index (compared to other neighboring Pacific countries) you can be sure not everyone will have access.

 

At DWU's Madang campus, we do have an exceptional network infrastructure that allows for both wired/wireless connectivity for internet, email, Moodle access and other communication services that gives that added bonus. However, it may not be so for learners outside of the campus. Remote learning in this case is still a challenge.

Steep learning curve - For many teachers/learners here online learning is still a new thing and it can take a great deal of time and continuous use to get used to the software and tools used to deliver online learning. 

Can you think of other challenges?

You may also be using some tools that might be helpful.

Please leave a comment below to let me know what tools you are using and how helpful they have been to you.

Evolving as a digital teacher: Tools of the trade - Part 4