social distancing and classroom tools

[Zagros]

Hi All

I am wondering if you have had an experience of

having cheaper option than Telepresence Robot to stream normal class via meet

for a absent students ?

 

your thought appreciated

 

 

[h=1][/h]

[Steve21]

Seems a large waste of money for something that can be done with a webcam and cloud service (google/o365)?

 

End of day the camera should be on the staff/projecting screen, not moving around to other students etc.

 

What do you hope to solve by using a robot over those?

 

Steve

[mavhc]

Modern Family style compilation clips mostly

[dhicks]

I am wondering if you have had an experience of having cheaper option than Telepresence Robot to stream normal class via meet for a absent students ?

 

There's been a couple of other similar discussions on here this week. A decent webcam, mounted above the front-of-classroom display, is probably the easiest (and cheapest) option - can be pretty securly attached, less likely to wander off. Not sure if anyone's tried yet having multiple webcams plugged in so the teacher can switch camera angles (one for front-of-class, one for the teascher's chair, maybe one in a breakout area or practical work area for science or similar, etc).

 

If you want something that can be moved around, then I'm thinking a basic mic stand (in my experience, these work well - less moving parts / rubber bits to break / fall off, stackable, easy to height-adjust, £15 each) with a tablet / phone holder (£10?) on top. If teachers don't already have suitible devices then a cheap Android phone (£100?) could be all that's needed as a video conference device. I would also suggest an external, rechargable battery pack (£30?) cable-tied to the stand if it's going to be used all day.

 

I still think someone could do with making a mic stand similar to above but with a battery built in to the bottom stand, giving it weight and stability and a power supply, all-in-one.

 

Google do actually have some hardware solutions availble, including integrated mic / speaker units and PTZ-capable cameras. I know someone who's trying a set out in a specific location (science lab, with the remote-controlled PTZ camera set to point at pre-set locations including a fume cupboard for practical demonstrations). That's getting a bit pricy at around £2,000, though, so might not be practical for every classroom.

[Rob_D]

What about getting some cheap netbooks and setting them up to face the front of the class?

[mavhc]

Audio is always the issue, microphones are weird, even before feedback loops