Law Faculty: First Online Lecture [‘Live Lecture’ within iKamva] – Extensive Planning

Law Faculty: First Online Lecture [‘Live Lecture’ within iKamva] – Extensive Planning

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Lecturers Ratula Beukman, Roger Ronnie and Education Administrator, Tenille Constance from the Law Faculty (engaged in Postgraduate Diploma in Labour Law Programme),  requested an online advisory meeting with the CIECT Instructional Design team to discuss how classes can be taught online, in ‘real-time’.

The online meeting was conducted, making use of the BigBlueButton eTool in iKamva.  During the online meeting the staff members joined the session to familiarise themselves with the functionality and effective use of the BBB eTool. Lecturers could see each other, as they all logged in using their web-cameras.

This 55 minute online session was recorded; and can be viewed at any time by all the participants. The Lecturers and the CIECT team discussed the affordances of the eTool for online teaching purposes. Tips were provided, including:

• Keep sessions short
• Request that students engage in pre-reading or watch a relevant video prior to joining the online ‘live session’

 The CIECT team member facilitated the online advisory session and all were able to:

• View the shared presentation
• Discuss and ask questions related to the specific settings of the live lecture
• Engage in public chat which is visible to all users in class
• Send private messages to the facilitator
• View shared showcase on how to set-up an online lecture (within their specific modules)
• Identify roles/rights within online lecture (showcase, present, mute others, lock participants)

Way-Forward: Planning for First Online Class (48 students)

The lecturers will conduct their first online class on Saturday morning from 09:00-10:30. Currently there are 48 students enrolled in this class. 

Challenges: Need for Sufficient Data

It should be noted that the CIECT team member/facilitator made use of the Telkom Network Provider and used 435 Mb of data during the 55 minute session.

NB: The University is negotiating with various service providers regarding zero-rate policies (free access to sites such as iKamva; and BigBlue Button).