Report on ELive Training Oct 24

REPORT ON ELIVE TRAINING WITH STUDENTS
Kimberly Butt

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 (8:55-10:15am)
Paula’s class – 14 students


TECHNOLOGICAL GLITCHES/PROBLEMS

From the beginning of this training session, there was a delay and an echo, in which I could hear everything that I said to the students at the same time that they were hearing me. While this was a nuisance, it was also useful, because I knew that students were still listening to what I said, and therefore their delayed response was predictable. This was only possible, however, when at least one student’s microphone was turned on.

For one student, there was a very loud humming sound whenever she turned on her mic. I could hear myself perfectly, but could not hear her at all. I spoke to her in English to explain this problem, and instructed her to see if she had plugged in her headset correctly. I am not sure at this time, but I think Paula helped her with this. After several minutes, the problem was fixed and I could hear her as well as I could hear the others.

For about four or five students, I needed to instruct them (in English) to move their microphones away from their mouths, and to lower the sound for their mics. This seemed to improve the voice quality when students’ voices sounded mumbled and muffled. When these changes are made, it is easier to hear what they are saying.


STUDENT BEHAVIOURS

I observed two students attempting to use direct messaging (DM) while they were in the brief breakout room session, despite the fact that I had not given them DM privileges. I knew that this was happening because a yellow circle appears in the DM column across from the student’s name. I need to recheck the ELive manual, because I had thought that it was impossible for them to use DM without privileges. However, maybe it is possible to use DM privately even without privileges.

One child in the same group continually raised his hand, starting within the first minute of entering. At first I ignored it. However, later in the session, I asked him if he had a question. When he said “no”, I explained that by clicking the raise hand icon, it seemed that he needed to ask me a question, because that is what it’s there for. He said that he hadn’t been clicking it. I dropped the subject. However, no other child, before or since, has had a problem with the mysteriously raising hand!

Two other students, I observed, did not seem to communicate during their breakout session. I know this because I can see, whether I am in the breakout room or not, whether the students have turned on their microphones, because a yellow circle highlights the microphone icons next to their names when they do. Perhaps they did not understand the question that I prompted them to ask each other (Demandez à l’autre ce qu’il/elle n’aime pas). In fact, I have noticed that many students in all the classes so far have had difficulty with this prompt. Usually, I enter the breakout rooms and rephrase the prompt (Eg: Jane, complete la phrase: Susie n’aime pas…). Sometimes I do this during the wrap-up back in the main room, where students can first hear the model from their classmates.

Also, I have noticed that (perhaps due to not understanding the prompt) students often ask each other different questions in the breakout rooms, such as “Où est-ce que tu habites?” When they do, I accept whatever they say because I don’t want to discourage their use of French.

Two students who were in a group of two seemed very reluctant to respond in ELive. Even though their microphones were turned on and I had determined that they could hear me and that I could hear them, they would not respond to the questions, both in the main room and in the breakout room. In case they could not understand what I was saying in French, I spoke in English to them on several occasions, but they were still reluctant to reply. Additionally, one of them began writing in DM in English. I explained to him that students were only allowed to use French in DM, and he seemed to accept this.


TIME

I trained fourteen students (three groups of four and one group of two) from 8:55 to 10:15 – that is one hour and twenty minutes, and we finished just in time. This averages out to twenty minutes per group.