
How I Teach Classes Remotely - solresol
http://blog.ifost.org.au/2020/03/how-i-teach-classes-remotely.html
======
wdroz
I personally use OBS with the v4l2sink plugin to stream into a fake webcam
(v4l2loopback). Then you tell [INSERT_YOUR_VIDEOCONF_SOFTWARE] that the dummy
webcam is your webcam.

What I like with this approach is that you can fully control your scene.

~~~
Seirdy
Nice; this could combine well with pretty much any videoconf software (e.g.,
Jitsi). Just one URL and everybody's seeing your OBS recording!

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movedx
I commented on the blog post, but:

> If you are presenting a computer desktop (e.g. I teach programming classes,
> so I do a lot of this), then get your IT department to organise an Amazon
> Workspace for you. Join the conference call from twice — once from your
> laptop, and once from the Workspaces session. Share the Workspaces screen,
> not your home laptop. That way, if a message pops up on your screen, the
> students won’t see it.

I can recommend a better option (in my opinion): use a VM to "house" the work
you're doing and then using OBS to broadcast that VM's window to Zoom/whatever
using a OBS->Webcam plugin.

I do this and if you get in touch (I'm in Australia too; Brisbane) I'd be
happy to share my setup and show you an example of the work it renders.

~~~
ajphdiv
I would find this helpful can you post a link to an OBS plugin for VMs. Thanks

~~~
thunderbong
OBS is "Open Broadcaster Software"
[https://obsproject.com/](https://obsproject.com/)

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vhiremath4
I would like to plug Loom as well as a way to create asynchronous video
messages. You can record anything with it (even meetings or presentations). We
currently power over 52,000 companies around the world and our tool is free
for education forever. No strings attached.

[https://www.loom.com](https://www.loom.com)

disclaimer: I'm a founder

~~~
jashmenn
I LOVE Loom and am a paying customer.

But your current versions have one critical flaw: you'll lose data if you're
on a spotty internet connection. After a month of having to email your support
to "restore my videos" I just gave up and switched to using OBS and Dropbox to
share these videos.

I love, love your product. But without a more reliable upload (or being able
to access my recording locally) it's too big of a gamble to use on a regular
basis.

Any chance fixing this (for spotty connection folks) is on the roadmap? I'd be
fine if I could just upload my own videos as well.

In any case I (almost) love your product. I expect you'll be really, really
big. It's a good experience overall (when it works).

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syndacks
OP, I'd be curious to hear more how you structure your lessons for an online
environment. This post mostly details how you [technically] teach online
classes. For the many teachers who are now in a remote environment, what
should they know about online learning vs traditional classroom learning?

~~~
pdm55
NSTA teachers have been given some advice

[http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2020/03/teache...](http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2020/03/teachers_sharing_resources_online_coronavirus.html)

One tip was "Teachers are using the hashtag #virtualschool on Twitter to share
resources."

Other tips from [https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-teachers-china-have-
le...](https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-teachers-china-have-learned-past-
month) were

\-- Start by continuing to use lessons that are clear and simple, and don’t
introduce new programs for teachers and students to learn if you can help it.

\-- When building digital lessons, it’s helpful to reduce the number of
external links on your online learning platform. For example, if you want
students to read an article, it’s safer to upload a PDF (to OneDrive or
GoogleDrive), rather than a link to an external site that may or may not work.

\-- Many of our classes at school intentionally used workbooks and paper-based
tasks instead of laptops to reduce students’ screen time.

~~~
pdm55
I recall listening on the radio recently to an adult learner describing her
positive online experience. She said (1) the collegiate atmosphere was what
made it so "wonderful", aided by initial exercises they did which were about
cooperating with other students; (2) she liked being able to fit in her
learning around being a mother; and (3) doing peer assessment of other
students' draft assignments really helped the students to bond.

I had a similar experience to point (3) when an online course I did included
being given other students' short computer programs to comment on and make
suggestions about.

~~~
pdm55
I have been thinking about the simplest, quickest way to tutor online. It
might be some adaption of what I have been doing 1-on-1, face to face. There
would usually be some problem that couldn't be worked out in the tutoring
session, so I would go home and write out the solution on paper (using
pencil), scan it into my computer, put it in OneDrive and send my tutee a
link. Anything else took too long.

~~~
pdm55
Smart videos for curious kids (curated site)
[https://thekidshouldseethis.com/](https://thekidshouldseethis.com/)

~~~
pdm55
Resources for shifting instruction online
[https://illustrativemathematics.blog/2020/03/14/links-to-
res...](https://illustrativemathematics.blog/2020/03/14/links-to-resources-
for-shifting-instruction-online/)

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unwoundmouse
This appears to be a sales post, with a bunch of affiliate links.

Perhaps the actual products are good, but the credibility drops substantially
as he has monetary incentive to list these things.

edit: It seems like the post author is acting in good faith

~~~
movedx
I think that's unfair.

He's providing valuable knowledge, and sharing his extensive experience,
during a time when it's beginning to be really rather quite important.
Affiliate links are a perfectly acceptable norm and, frankly, don't
disadvantage you in the slightest (in fact they give you an advantage in some
cases: discounts, free months of services, and more.)

~~~
smoyer
Plus he's here in this thread and adding to the conversation. What does it
hurt if you get the product for the same price and an affiliate makes some
money?

~~~
GauntletWizard
It can hurt a lot, see nearly any quack peddling homeopathy. But no, self-
serving posts are not against the rules of this forum, nor inherently evil.

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gnicholas
My wife is a university professor and is being told she needs to record
lectures going forward. I'm wondering how she can easily record a lecture
video and then splice in powerpoint slides later. The best I can think is to
record yourself on a computer, while flipping through slides on an iPad right
next to your screen. Then afterward go through and take screenshots of the
Powerpoint and insert them into the video (using iMovie?). This would probably
take me 30 mins for a 45 min lecture, and I'm experienced with iMovie. If
there are transitions to preserve, it would take much longer.

Are there other solutions? Seems like something that Zoom should be able to do
— you share your screen and video your face on a recorded session. Then
afterward you can go back and choose which stream (face or screen) is used at
any given point in time.

~~~
Angostura
I work at a large school and have been experimenting with cheap and cheerful
solutions. If on Windows 10 check out the built-in Game Bar (designed your let
you record games) if on Mac Qicktime will let you record the screen and mic.

~~~
gnicholas
Yeah, Quicktime does seem like a good option if just recording screen with mic
audio is desired. I think that there would be some benefit to being able to
see the professor at least from time to time, to make the experience more
personal. But perhaps this could be accomplished just by having a small photo
of the prof in the corner, by the course name or something.

~~~
pdm55
I use screencast-o-matic, because it is so easy to use and very affordable, to
make videos that I upload to Youtube. I have a dynamic microphone, Audio-
Technica ATR2100-USB, which has been working well for years.

[https://screencast-o-matic.com/tutorial/welcome-to-
screencas...](https://screencast-o-matic.com/tutorial/welcome-to-screencast-o-
matic)

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arthurcolle
What apps exist to allow for directional "paper" where both (say, given an
iPad) can do collaborative writing, if you're doing something like math which
needs birectional communication?

My father runs a tutoring business and most students want to move to skyping
but I know my father wants to be able to write on something (paper would be
ideal, but obviously not practical given the current environment, but an iPad
would work) and have the student see it in real time, and then the student
also writes in real time and have my father see it in real time.

What did Khan Academy guy Sal do in the early years to do collaborative
lessons?

Thanks

~~~
greeneggs
There are many online collaborative whiteboards. Those are the keywords you
need to search for. I can't really recommend one since they all seem to have
serious flaws. But for your use case, one might suffice.

~~~
arthurcolle
Thanks for the keywords, that's what I was kind of lookin for. I appreciate
your response.

~~~
rubatuga
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22591573](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22591573)

This has a two way whiteboard system, and is also open source!

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maher_au
Here is a analysis of the options we have enterprise access to (but common
tools) in a simple chart I made for my university.

[https://sites.rmit.edu.au/sister/2020/02/28/which-
recording-...](https://sites.rmit.edu.au/sister/2020/02/28/which-recording-
tool-is-suitable-for-my-online-delivery/)

It also links to how to guides

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wbillingsley
Personally, I use a bit of an ecclectic mix depending on the class. Online
classes can be nicely informal in some ways. (I used to teach for an
Australian metro uni, but have been teaching mixed on-campus / online classes
at a smaller regional uni for 5+ years)

Hmm, maybe to explain how informal, I should post links to some bits of my
units that can be seen outside the uni:

On the low-end, this has the first couple of weeks of my Scala unit, taught to
a small on-campus and larger online cohort. (Minus quizzes and assessment).
[https://theintelligentbook.com/willscala/](https://theintelligentbook.com/willscala/)
So far, so traditional (but you'll already spot a mix of desktop recordings
and in-class recordings).

This is some stuff I've been putting together as "outreach" that goes
alongside another of our courses (try in Chrome, slow in Firefox):
[https://theintelligentbook.com/circuitsup/](https://theintelligentbook.com/circuitsup/)
Though that's partly just me doing a "redux" on interactive smart materials
from my PhD many years ago

For more "social" courses (HCI, Software Development Studio), I have an open
source (but badly documented) system I built for students to submit videos to
each other for critique. 2016 paper describing it here:
[http://2016conference.ascilite.org/wp-
content/uploads/ascili...](http://2016conference.ascilite.org/wp-
content/uploads/ascilite2016_billingsley_concise.pdf)

I also use Slack extensively in some units.

Desktop recording usually via OBS, though I used to just use Quicktime when
recording on my Macbook Pro. On the "what do you desktop-record with?" side, I
tend to use an AudioTechnica AT2020 condenser microphone via a Scarlett 2i2
into the computer. That way it rarely needs any post-production as it's fairly
clear in the raw recording.

The main thing is to remember that although they like you to be somewhat
watchable, they're usually more led by what you want them to do. Assessments,
tutorials, etc. It's not watched end-to-end like Netflix shows. So be
personable, but don't feel you need to panic too much about high production
values.

Pardon that being a quick and rough post - there's lots of good comments on
here already.

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RMPR
As a student, I wasn't at first interested in reading this post because of the
title, but I ended up opening it anyway, and the first point (krisp.ai) is
something so useful that I wonder why I didn't hear about it before, does
anyone know a good FOSS alternative?

~~~
davitb
For the next 6 months, Krisp is free for all students, teachers, hospital and
government workers.

Also, it just went Freemium, comes with 120min/week free noise cancellation.

More here:
[https://krisp.ai/blog/covid19-response/](https://krisp.ai/blog/covid19-response/)

(I'm the CEO & Co-Founder)

~~~
newsbinator
Just signed up to try it. The Mac menubar window footer says my free
subscription expires on April 1, 2020?

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jestinjoy1
I am looking at moving my programming course online due to COVID-19. Any
suggestions on a low cost touch enabled tablet for recording lecture sessions.
I am looking at creating content like khan academy classes.

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
> low cost touch enabled tablet

This has different context depending on what you mean... is it a drawing
tablet or some sort of Android tablet?

~~~
jestinjoy1
Anything that help me to draw figures and write equations on screen

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WrtCdEvrydy
Okay, that's a drawing tablet... monoprice some basic ones I've used in the
past (in the $60 range), but you can find some SEO spam articles like these
([https://tabletunderbudget.com/best-drawing-
tablets/](https://tabletunderbudget.com/best-drawing-tablets/)) with better
recommendations

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RasmusSoerensen
What about note taking. How do you do that? You could test out :
[https://focusonlistening.com/en/](https://focusonlistening.com/en/)

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mc3
Who has used the mentioned Amazon Workspaces? It looks cool I'd like to try
it. Any good for this sort of thing?

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malhaar
A big shout out to Krisp. It is an awesome product. I have used the free
trail, and it works so amazingly well.

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dagi3d
Remember to double check you closed all incognito windows. You know what I
mean.

~~~
k__
Somehow that whole incognito meme never caught on with me.

It is really so much safer to watch pr0n in incognito tabs?

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krtkush
No its is not. You can still be tracked; I have personally experienced it.

Incognito mode is for keeping your browsing history "clean" on your end. So
that if your friend or relative uses your computer, he/she does not stumble
upon stuff you don't wont to see.

~~~
k__
Ah, okay

Somehow I never had an issue with that.

~~~
crazygringo
To be clear, someone doesn't need to actively search your browsing history.

It's especially to prevent it from showing up in autocomplete. Imagine you
tell your mother to look up a plane ticket on Priceline, she types "p" into
the address bar, and all of a sudden 8 different porn videos show up as the
top 8 autocomplete suggestions.

Now if she's polite she probably won't say anything and you'll never know.
But...

~~~
k__
Sure, I understand that issue.

I just never had a problem with my family or friends to see that I watch porn.

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billars
the elefant in the room here is how he does the streaming?

