
Last night was the Weavolution Triple Play class: Repeat Patterns for Dobby Weaving with Repper, Photoshop, and any weaving program. Click on the above screen shot to enlarge.
This is the fourth time I've engaged in online teaching. The first three were multi-session classes on Liftplan Connection and Network Drafting, and last night's class was a one-time two-hour session. This is a good time to pause and take stock.
First of all—do I like teaching online? A definite yes.The advantages are many. From a teacher's point of view, I value not having to travel long distances, endure the indignities of TSA inspections, shlepp computers and boxes of samples, and spend travel days out of the studio when I'd rather be weaving. I love the idea of teaching a group of students who are in three or more time zones at once but all present in the same virtual classroom.
There are some negatives. The technology is not yet where it needs to be. I ask students to turn off their video in order to conserve bandwidth. Audio feedback from microphones is annoying, and I have to remind students to turn off their microphones except when they have a question. But when the students' video and mics are turned off, I have no feedback from students while I am talking. I don't see their puzzled faces when a concept is poorly explained, and I don't see the bright light of joy when they have an "aha" moment. So I'm flying blind. I trust that they will turn on the mic and ask a question when that is warranted. And they do.
Another negative is the video parallax. Video transmission lags seriously behind real time when sharing bandwidth-hungry applications like Repper. So I have to remember to speak slowly and take long pauses when I am demo-ing Repper or Photoshop, and wait for the students' screens to catch up.
But now back to the positives. Teaching an online class is an activity that can dramatically shorten the lead time for disseminating information. From the first time I heard about Repper, through the time I developed a system for using it in weaving, to the time when I wrote a course proposal and had it accepted by the good folks at Weavolution, to the time I actually presented the class online, was less than two months!!! Compare that to writing a book, or teaching at a regional or national conference, and you will agree that the time from concept to event is awesomely short.
If you have taken an online class, from Weavolution or from other providers, I would love to hear about your experiences from the student's point of view. Click on comments. It's free!