Paranoia
Currently, I am under contract with two online universities who have adopted the live seminar platform to teach online classes. This means that the class is in real time with an audio feed.
Students have become accustomed to having the instructor lead the class through live audio in which they can have their questions answered. If the students don't hear my voice within a few seconds, they immediately think that I have fallen into the abyss.
Since my technical meltdown a few weeks ago, I am determined to be prepared for the next time this happens. I now have two computers connected to the class at the same time. If my laptop goes out, I can use the desktop to teach the class. I guess you could say that I have officially entered the paranoia zone. During my last this past week, I lost my Internet connection with my laptop. I went into my Bluetooth wireless connection with my laptop. I got a signal for a few minutes and then I lost the connection. So, I went to the desktop and started teaching the last from the desktop. The only problem with this is that I could not get the audio to function. The PowerPoint was up and running in the class but no audio. The students started typing in frantic messages: "Professor are you there." "We can see the PowerPoint but we cannot hear you." Oh, no this is not how my backup to the backup plan was supposed to work. I typed in a reply in the course room to let them know that I was experiencing audio problems.
By this time, the Internet connection to my laptop was restored and I was able to use audio from my laptop. This lasted for a few minutes and then I received that horrible message "You are not connected to the Internet." So, I switched back to the desktop and informed the class that we would not have audio for the rest of the class. They were disappointed but understood that these things happen. Of course, I was not OK. I could not believe that all my preparation for a technical meltdown did not work that way I thought. My motto is to prepare for the worst. Maybe I need a new motto. Or maybe I could just relax and realize that there things beyond my control. See you next time for more adventures with online teaching.