Delays in Live Streamed Video Can Cause Problems for Clicker Quizzes

Livia Lam, & Tom Worthington,
hosting the Govhack 2022 Trivia, 
still from livestream, 20 August 2022

For months I have been taking part in weekly video conferences, helping prepare Govhack 2022. During that time I managed to avoid taking on more roles that the one I volunteered for: Government & Education Liaison. But during the last meeting before the event my video link stopped, & when I reconnected I discovered I was the co-host, Livia Lam, for the streamed Trivia event. We did this from a classroom at Torrens University's Sydney CDB campus. The format was much as used for live classroom quizzes, as was the technology used. 

Myself and the co-host were on Zoom, which was relayed to a Facebook live stream. The participants used a QR code to get to the software asking the questions. One problem was the delay of several seconds between us speaking, and when we were heard. The application used for the questions did not have the delay, so the questions we were reading out were after the participants had already answered. The delay was longer than just with Zoom, as the video then had to go via Facebook's system. Perhaps the makers of the quiz system could build a delay into it. 

Online Tools for Education: OBS More Than I Need

One of the tools it has been suggested I use for streaming education in response to the of the COVID-19 Coronavirus, is Open Broadcast Software (OBS). Before I could install the software I had to upgrade the operating system on my laptop, which proved a challenge. But with that done, OBS was easy to install. What was harder to do was work out exactly how to use it. OBS handles video for recording, or as a front end for streaming, but doesn't actually do the streaming. Instead OBS has to send the video to a streaming service such as Twitch. OBS ran a test of my setup to see what I could stream and came up with a recommendation of 767 x 431 pixels, at 30 frames per second. The video would be sent from my computer, and recorded at a higher Standard HD resolution (1280×720 pixels), but then down sampled for streaming. I suspect that OBS is intended a more complex problem than I have, and I would be better off with a video conference  system, such as Zoom.

Australian Has Been Doing Distance Educaiton for 100 Years

A timely article  today on "Online schooling and distance ed? Don’t be afraid, we’ve been doing and improving it for 100 years" by Philip Roberts and Natalie Downes (Edu Research Matters, 23 March 2020). I was talking about this on ABC Radio Canberra this-morning, reassuring students and parents that distance and online education is not completely new in Australia. However, there will be frustrations for students, parents and teachers. One thing I did, as an international online student of distance education was to keep a personal journal. In my journal I expressed my frustrations with the course, the teachers, my fellow students, and the world in general. Much better than lashing out in a class, or public forum. ;-)

Don't Depend on Live Video for Teaching: Flip It

I suggest a flipped approach for on-line educaiton, which supplements text and pre-recorded material with live participation. While video conferences, webinars, and live streaming of video with synchronous participation are popular, these makes demands on the national network infrastructure, which may not be sustainable over the coming months. This not to say don't use video conferences and live streaming, but don't depend on them working.

ps: Last year I had a project for streaming with synchronous participation, in a way which would be tolerant of network problems. Unfortunately this work has been suspended due to the pandemic emergency, so I don't have a usable product.