Dubai has suspended all classes in schools, colleges and Universities till April 5. My University has decided to go with GoToMeeting online tool for our online classes. (1/n)
I had my first online class yesterday for MBA students. I did it in an empty classroom (even though I could have done it from anywhere). And I stood and talked for the entire 3 hours as if I was in front of a live audience. (2/n)
Well, I was in front of an audience but they were not present in front of me - they were dispersed across Dubai and beyond. Some were logging in from a coffee shop!(3/n)
The Gotomeeting app allows me to share my computer screen or use a video which shows me but, more importantly, shows what I write on the whiteboard. My students had kept their videos off and their mics on mute. They unmuted their mics to ask questions, to comment (4/n)
GoToMeeting (GTM) allowed me to record the whole lecture. When my recording was available, GTM sent me an email with info about the location of the recording. I can now make it available to students. (5/n)
It was probably not a bad experience for the students - the number of students who had logged in to the lecture did not dwindle as the lecture progressed! (6/n)
My first experience was not as bad as I had feared. Specifically, I was worried that the material I had prepared for the lecture might get completed in a very short time in the absence of interaction with students. (7/n)
It turned out that there was a lot of interaction though probably not as much as in a face-to-face lecture. But yesterday's class was with a small group of about 20 MBA students which perhaps made it more easily manageable (8/n)
The real challenge will be next week when I have to lecture to about 60-70 First Year students - all of them about 18 year old!! It's a scary thought but the first experience has given me some courage. (9/9).
@threadreaderapp please unroll
