Teaching over the Internet / help with choice of hardware

[PsB]

My wife has agreed to do some language teaching over the internet. She is a very experienced language teacher, but she admits to not being the most technically adept person (she's right). So she's very nervous about the IT side. I've agreed to give her a hand on the technical set-up, in a one-eyed leading the blind sort of way, as I've actually used Zoom and Teams and stuff for business meetings. Her first class in next Monday...

The machine provided by the school is a Surface Pro Lenovo ThinkPad L390 Yoga (I haven't seen it yet). I'm thinking she will be needing:
- a good quality headset (to avoid interaction between mic and speakers which is always problematic in my limited experience)
- at least one extra and larger screen where she can see the mosaic with all the students (Zoom presumably). No idea what to get there, as there is a bewildering number of models on the market, apart from the fact non-reflecting would be good. Would 2 extra be better? One vertically mounted to display her content and the other one for the mosaic). Or would a single even larger screen be better?
- a dedicated camera that can be positioned a bit further up, next to the extra screen
- some form of LED light, preferably dimmable, positioned close to the camera.

Would anybody on here have any practical experience of doing this sort of thing with 15-25 students, with a lot of interaction required?

 

[gavreid]

I don't have direct experience but I have set the house up for my wife who has been working at home for 18 months now, with the kids having home schooling concurrently etc. Often they had simultaneous live meetings. The broadband is the major bottle neck of course but don't underestimate the wifi/network hardware within the house. A decent router with QoS settings makes a big difference. I think you've identified the important items - headset, 2 screens, lighting. Camera is much less important, people got used to using what they had as cameras were unobtainable for quite a while. High quality video is rarely possible over home BB - at that point you're talking live YouTube streaming kind of thing, which is a skillset of its own and much the next level up, 2 computers separate audio etc.

No doubt people will be along with equipment recommendations but screen and resolution will depend very much on the spec of the computer.

 

[paulfromcamden]

Good point about the wi-fi. You're in the hands of the broadband gods to some degree but a wired connection direct to the router is a good idea if it's practical in your home.

The Logitech C920 webcam has been around for donkeys years but is still a top seller and well-regarded. You can spend x10 the price but as Gav says your broadband will be the limiting factor.

I don't have much experience with headsets except being on the receiving end of people using them. They're sometimes not great for plosives if the mic is right in front of the mouth and some of them just don't sound that great. I know some folk here like Jabra gear but you may find something like some Apple earbuds with their built-in mic are just as acceptable.

 

[paulfromcamden]

One other top tip: place the webcam close to where the speaker will be looking. Sounds silly but as a student it makes for a better experience if the tutor is looking vaguely towards me rather than to the left or the right or apparently gazing at my navel!

 

[Big Tabs]

My wife has agreed to do some language teaching over the internet. She is a very experienced language teacher, but she admits to not being the most technically adept person (she's right). So she's very nervous about the IT side. I've agreed to give her a hand on the technical set-up, in an one-eyed leading the blind sort of way, as I've actually used Zoom and Teams and stuff for business meetings. Her first class in next Monday...

The machine provided by the school is a Surface Pro of some sort (I haven't seen it yet). I'm thinking she will be needing:
- a good quality headset (to avoid interaction between mic and speakers which is always problematic in my limited experience)
- at least one extra and larger screen where she can see the mosaic with all the students (Zoom presumably). No idea what to get there, as there is a bewildering number of models on the market, apart from the fact non-reflecting would be good. Would 2 extra be better? One vertically mounted to display her content and the other one for the mosaic). Or would a single even larger screen be better?
- a dedicated camera that can be positioned a bit further up, next to the extra screen
- some form of LED light, preferably dimmable, positioned close to the camera.

Would anybody on here have any practical experience of doing this sort of thing with 15-25 students, with a lot of interaction required?

I will ask The Wife. She did a course on using Zoom for her work and found it very useful.

 

[slavedata]

I would recommend a Logitech USB headset. Easy to setup mic and earpieces without mutiple sockets. Sound quality is pretty good.

 

[SteveG]

My wife is also a teacher and she uses her own Lenova Yoga in preference to the kit the school would provide (which would be a Mac). I've set her up with a 24" Samsung wide-screen monitor plus and external mouse and keyboard and a USB-C docking station. She has an external webcam as well (although she doesn't always use it, instead just using the one in her laptop) and while we do have various headsets (mostly Jabra ones) she tends to just use her Bose headphones as they have a mic.

From a bandwidth point of view she's been fine with both the basic fibre broadband that is all we can get in our place in the Cairngorms (60Mb or so I think) as well as the 500Mb we have with fibre to the door in our main house. Her laptop doesn't have an ethernet socket (but has an adaptor) and she's not had any problems just using wireless.

 

[mandryka]

My wife has agreed to do some language teaching over the internet. She is a very experienced language teacher, but she admits to not being the most technically adept person (she's right). So she's very nervous about the IT side. I've agreed to give her a hand on the technical set-up, in an one-eyed leading the blind sort of way, as I've actually used Zoom and Teams and stuff for business meetings. Her first class in next Monday...

The machine provided by the school is a Surface Pro of some sort (I haven't seen it yet). I'm thinking she will be needing:
- a good quality headset (to avoid interaction between mic and speakers which is always problematic in my limited experience)
- at least one extra and larger screen where she can see the mosaic with all the students (Zoom presumably). No idea what to get there, as there is a bewildering number of models on the market, apart from the fact non-reflecting would be good. Would 2 extra be better? One vertically mounted to display her content and the other one for the mosaic). Or would a single even larger screen be better?
- a dedicated camera that can be positioned a bit further up, next to the extra screen
- some form of LED light, preferably dimmable, positioned close to the camera.

Would anybody on here have any practical experience of doing this sort of thing with 15-25 students, with a lot of interaction required?

The problem for me has been the internet link, it can become very slow and make it practically impossible to continue the lesson. I don't know how to address this, but it is by far the most serious difficulty. I use a logitec webcam on an acer monitor, it's fine for large classes, 15 or so. She will quickly get used to switching between the mosaic and a presentation or a video -- that's not a problem. But the internet link speed can be a real pain.

Oh one other thing -- make sure that she's not using a room with a lot of ambient noise -- builders, traffic etc.

 

[PsB]

Many thanks for all the advice. Regarding the broadband we have fibre with decent speeds up and down even through WiFi, AFAICT through speed tests. I’m more concerned about the occasional cuts.

 

[JensenHealey]

My wife and I have both been working from home for 18 months. Normal 60 to 80M broadband. We are both connected only by wifi - no problems.

I have two extra screens (easy with HDMI) and a cheap USB combined microphone/HD camera that clips on to the top of one of the big screens and I use a USB speaker - so I am not using headphones. She has one extra screen, uses the laptop camera and her Apple earbuds with microphone, wired type. It all works fine.

Sometimes we have teenagers elsewhere in the house streaming two other netflix channels at the same time - and we still keep up just fine. If I am not on a call I might have Roon streaming some music too.

It really is pretty easy these days. My S-I-L is a semi retired language teacher and works online only now. But she only does one on one tutoring, catch up, remedial and A level specialist stuff for around 20 clients a week. She is not remotely techy - but still finds it easy to do. And she lives out in the sticks with quite a slow connection, meanwhile her husband is doing a 4-screen job running a business from the kitchen at the same time. He is an accountant for small IT services company - although not techy himself.

 

[SteveG]

Many thanks for all the advice. Regarding the broadband we have fibre with decent speeds up and down even through WiFi, AFAICT through speed tests. I’m more concerned about the occasional cuts.

We have a MiFi box which we use as a backup in case of internet issues (which were occasionally getting at the start of lockdown but haven't had for a while) and that's been fine even for moderate video calls if in a decent reception area.

We didn't buy it specifically for that job (we use it for mobile internet when we're out and about in our motorhome) but it's been pretty useful having it.

 

[gintonic]

Nice logitech camera - mine is mounted on a camera tripod. Logitech C930e or even a Brio Stream - I've equipped pretty much my whole department with these for teaching.

Headsets are very personal and can be uncomfortable and sweaty when used for extended periods. Most of my colleagues have been choosing Jabra 510 for teaching with. I used a Jabra 710 for teaching as well.

 

[gintonic]

Would 2 extra be better? One vertically mounted to display her content and the other one for the mosaic). Or would a single even larger screen be better?

get one ultra wide monitor. Some of my lectures are live to over 1000 students.

Hopefully she can record the classes so students can watch it back after.

 

[Woodface]

Teams is very good, the chat box is excellent for interaction & questions. Ultimately have a think about the parameters. Does she want everyone to be on camera? This can slow things down. Should the class be on mute?

Lessons will have to be adapted to the media rather than expecting it to be the same as a classroom.

I wish her the best of luck & it will take a bit of practice. My other half has done all school assemblies via Teams so it can be done.

 

[PsB]

Thank you all. The laptop they gave her is a Lenovo Thinkpad L390 Yoga (not a Surface Pro), which looks like a solid machine with enough connectors dotted along the sides to get started.

 

[PsB]

get one ultra wide monitor. Some of my lectures are live to over 1000 students.

Hopefully she can record the classes so students can watch it back after.

How wide is ultra-wide in your scheme of things?

 

[gintonic]

How wide is ultra-wide in your scheme of things?

from memory my main one is 39" I'm away so I can't confirm. or maybe it was 34. can't remember

But I have found ultra wide better for workflow than 2 smaller

I do use another 29" mounted vertically for a very specific bit of sw.

 

[PsB]

OK, that wide...

 

[Brian]

I use a surface pro ( i see that isn’t what she has after all ) with Teams in meetings of between 5 to over 100 people.

I haven’t seen a chair mentioned, she needs a good one. I can’t link to mine as it is now not available.

Items I have are:
USB hub expander
Logitech headset
Wireless keyboard and mouse
monitor
decent size desk if she needs space around the area.

I can’t find the camera in my amazon orders, but I use it in preference to the built in as it has a mic if I don’t want to use the headset.

I also bought a floor covering for carpet, as I set this up in a spare bedroom.

 

[Seanm]

I wouldn’t get hung up on the tech: I’ve got by with the camera and screen of my (old) MacBook Pro and apple earphones. Good broadband is important as others have pointed out. It’s probably not realistic to expect to engage visually with a lot of students at once, so wouldn’t worry too much about that either: in my experience (and that of colleagues) many students prefer to keep their cameras off but language teaching might be different (mature students generally more willing to keep camera on).

On the tech side I think familiarity with the platform is more important than the hardware, so a bit of practice there would be good. The most useful tricks for me have been sharing screen/files, and organising breakout rooms: I’ve leaned heavily on the latter when students have been too nervous or despondent to engage with a large group.

The main thing though, I’ve found, is to bear in mind that most students are bringing lots of patience and goodwill to the situation, and to reflect this back to them, and in particular not to panic if students are more reticent than usual.

Apologies, I’m aware you asked for technical advice and not all this but IME v basic tech is adequate. Speaking here as someone who was very apprehensive about online teaching and made lots of technical mistakes in the early days. She’ll be grand .