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Patrick Andrews

Sound difficulties on OU Live

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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Wednesday, 11 Nov 2015, 14:49

I am still rather concerned about the fragility of OU Live.  One student said my sound kept cutting in and out in an OU Live session last night but students this morning seem to have found the sound quality good.  There seems to be too much unreliability for OU Live to be an integral part of courses.

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Patrick Andrews

Tutorial times

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The default time that seems to be suggested for evening OU Live tutorials seems to be 7pm but I have the impression many students would prefer later times.  For example, last week, I had a student saying she could listen and type but not speak as she was eating.  Another student was interrupted by her young child.

It is impossible to please all students and cater for each person's circumstances.  However, when I have autonomy to suggest times to students, I tend to find that 9 pm is the most popular time.

Does anyone have thoughts?

Permalink 6 comments (latest comment by Patrick Andrews, Friday, 6 Nov 2015, 09:54)
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Patrick Andrews

OU Live

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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Monday, 26 Jan 2015, 15:26

I did an E303 session last night.  It seems to be working much better now after a lot of problems in December.  It seemed to run smoothly last night except for some delay in Sharing Screen, which seemed slow but worked eventually.

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Patrick Andrews

OU Live

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It was working better for me last night.  However, one of the students did not seem to be able to speak and another kept getting thrown out of the room.  It is a very stressful and concentrated platform for teaching when the teacher needs to notice who is in the room, check whether participants can speak as well as think about what they want to do in terms of content.

Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Patrick Andrews, Friday, 19 Dec 2014, 18:24)
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Patrick Andrews

OU Live

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OU Live seems to be working extremely poorly at the moment in terms of reliability and stability.  I had several students who were unable to access tonight's session and I was also thrown out of the room several times.  It has been very frustrating.

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Patrick Andrews

An "intense" OU Live session

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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Wednesday, 27 Aug 2014, 13:23

I had an OU Live meeting last night which seemed particularly intense in terms of the demands that I was under.  One of the students was having problems with sound so was typing about this problem in the chat box.  I was feeling under pressure to support her as I also spoke and manipulated the white board and also tried to encourage engagement from the other students in the group.  Sometimes the demands on tutors can be quite extreme when doing OU Live sessions.

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Patrick Andrews

OU Live for LB160

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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Thursday, 24 Apr 2014, 21:45

OU Live is being used for LB160 for the first time this presentation.  We had the first two sessions last week.  Students in one group needed help getting used to the technology but those in the second group were already familiar with similar systems which meant we could concentrate on the content of the session.

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Patrick Andrews

Committed students (continued)

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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Saturday, 29 Mar 2014, 22:15

I have commented before on the inspiring commitment of many students and this was underlined again this week by the example of a student who woke up for an OU Live tutorial at 4 am where he lives.

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Patrick Andrews

Creativity in OU Live

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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Sunday, 26 Jan 2014, 12:49

Several students have referred to creativity in OU Live sessions.  This often seems to occur when switching between chat at the beginning (while waiting to see if other students will come) and starting on the content of the sessions.  I would be interested in examples people notice.

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Patrick Andrews

"Intensity" in OU Live

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The term "intensity" came up in an OU Live session yesterday where some students commented on how busy the tools.  They commented on how they were listening, speaking and also writing in the text box as well as reading the comments and looking at the whiteboard.

It is hard for the tutor and the participants to follow some of the strands that are going on.  I suppose there is a tendency to ensure that the sessions are seen as being valuable.

Permalink 6 comments (latest comment by Patrick Andrews, Sunday, 26 Jan 2014, 14:18)
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Patrick Andrews

OU Live continued

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Still finding some problems with students' sound quality although they report that my sound quality is good.

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Patrick Andrews

OU Live

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My first experience of OU Live today (an E301 tutorial).  Overall, it seemed quite similar to Elluminate but more people seemed to have problems with sound quality.  However, this might have been chance.

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