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What Twitter is telling us about students’ experience with remote teaching

Veletsianos and Kimmons recently published an early analysis of Twitter feeds of students talking about their online experience. The researchers recognized interesting themes coming from these tweets:

  • Students appreciate faculty who remain positive and calm
  • Students would like faculty to maintain a proper perspective
  • Students appreciate faculty who are empathetic, who are flexible, and who have reasonable expectations
  • Professional behavior norms benefit students as well as faculty
  • Students want faculty to be comfortable with technology
  • Not all students are tech-savvy and connected

Student Ed Tech Challenges in COVID-19 Times

EDUCAUSE has published the results of a nation-wide survey for higher education organizations to start assessing the perceived impact of this transition to remote learning. Access to broadband internet and appropriate equipment are mentioned by more than half of the institutions. Access to internship opportunities along with health services are equally recognized as important issues. To take a closer look at the survey’s results visit Educause’s Website

Improving your Videoconferencing Experience Tips

These tips should be helpful for you as you try to improve your meeting technical quality

  1. Split Audio and Video: Zoom and other platforms allow you to connect to the audio component of your conference with your phone. Look at the phone number and conference ID on the meeting invite, and use your phone for audio, and your computer only for video connection.
  2. Turn off video (unless necessary). Video increases bandwidth demands, even more if multiple people are sharing their video at the same time. A good practice is to use video at the beginning, but you can ask people to cut their video for all but the presenter/host.
  3. Check your environment.
    • Not a good idea for you or anyone else in your household to be streaming great Netflix programs like the Tiger King while simultaneously trying to stream your class Zoom session.
    • Be aware of how many people are using the internet in your household.   The more people actively using the same internet connection will experience more problems.
    • How far are you from your router? Could there be any interference from other devices (Microwave ovens are a frequent culprit).
  4. WiFi is less reliable and inconsistent especially for streaming.   If at all possible, plug directly into your cable modem with an ethernet cable..
  5. Check your technology:
    • Sometimes one will need to reboot their computer to get better performance.
    • Sometimes rebooting one’s internet router will improve performance.  Contact your internet service provider for specific instructions on how best to do this if you aren’t already familiar with this process.
    • Some older computers might not be able to handle the video requirements to adequately process Zoom video streams.
      • Check if you have other open software that may be accessing the web. It  may be useful to close any other non-essential applications
      • You might consider using another computer/laptop or replacing your existing computer/laptop.
  6. How about your home network?
    • Sometimes people have lower level’s of internet service.   They may need to call their internet service provider to see if there is an option for faster service.   Sometimes increasing speed is a switch they flip on their end that will magically increase speed (most likely for an increased fee).  Sometimes they may need to send out new equipment and/or a tech to increase speed.  Sometimes faster options aren’t available in your area.   You may need to explore other internet providers.
    • Mobile hotspotting is a notoriously bad and inconsistent internet connection, especially now that so many people are at home relying on it.   Consider getting cable/DSL/fiber options with either Comcast or Centurylink
    • If your router is more than 6 years old, you may benefit of updating it to a newer model.

Zoom Security Updates

UW Zoom Team Message:

Greetings, UW Zoom users.
We are writing to address recent concerns about privacy in Zoom and to reassure and educate UW Zoom users about how to use Zoom with confidence. This message contains information about:

·    New UW Zoom privacy FAQs

·    Changes to UW Zoom screen sharing

·    Changes to Zoom app in Canvas meeting notifications

·    Zoom login on iOS with Facebook
New UW Zoom privacy FAQs
The UW takes the privacy of those who use our online enterprise software very seriously. UW-IT and the UW Privacy Office have crafted an FAQ that describes how privacy and data are protected when using Zoom. Please consult the UW Zoom privacy FAQs to learn more.
UW Zoom screen sharing
Last week, based on feedback from the education community, Zoom changed the default settings for sharing a screen during a meeting. Zoom made this change as a security measure in response to reported incidents of unauthorized users gaining access to the meeting URL or ID, entering the meeting and sharing inappropriate content. In an effort to protect users, Zoom changed the default setting so that only meeting hosts could share their screen during a meeting. Unfortunately, Zoom did not communicate this change to users before making it.

You can change this default setting to again enable meeting participants to share their screens. To change meeting settings, you need to be signed into Zoom so that you are recognized as the meeting host.

Changing the default screen sharing settings should be coupled with additional meeting security settings. We strongly recommend that you enable the Waiting room and disable Join before host in your meeting settings.
Change default screen sharing settings
First, sign into the UW Zoom web portal at washington.zoom.us.

To change settings for all future meetings:

1.  After signing into Zoom, in the left sidebar, click Settings, then click In Meeting (Basic).

2.  Scroll down to the heading Screen Sharing.

3.  Under Who can share? select All participants.

All future meetings scheduled in this account will have the ability for everyone to share their screen unless you change the setting within an individual meeting.

To change settings for an individual meeting:

1.  In your Zoom meeting, at the bottom of the screen, to the right of the green Share button, click the up-arrow.

2.  On the menu that appears, click Advanced Sharing Options and then change Who can share to All participants.

3.  Close out of the Advanced Sharing Options. The new options will be updated.

You can change additional settings to further protect your Zoom meeting space.
Zoom app in Canvas meeting notifications
In response to requests from instructors, UW-IT has turned off meeting notifications in the Zoom app in Canvas. Previously, the Zoom app in Canvas would send meeting notifications via Canvas conversations every time a meeting was created, edited, or deleted. Students will no longer receive notifications when meetings are created, edited, or deleted. Please direct your students to check their Canvas calendar for UW Zoom meeting times, and review their Calendar notification settings.
Zoom login on iOS client with Facebook 
Recently, the media has reported concerns about Zoom’s “Login with Facebook” feature. Zoom originally implemented the “Login with Facebook” feature using the Facebook SDK for iOS (Software Development Kit) in order to provide users with another convenient way to access the platform. However, Zoom was made aware on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, that the Facebook SDK was collecting device information unnecessary for providing the services. To prevent this, Zoom removed the Facebook SDK from their iOS client. Read Zoom’s statement about the Facebook SDK to learn how to update your iOS client.
Please contact help@uw.edu with questions.The UW Zoom team