Skype is a great idea, although there are some difficulties that come with online teaching.
Firstly, in any class larger than 5 or so students, it becomes necessary to mute everyone but the teacher due to background noise, similar to a conference call. Once everyone is muted, it is incredibly awkward to deliver a lesson; it feels like you are talking to yourself. You must plan breaks to unmute everyone for Q&A periodically, but in between those segments you have absolutly no feedback. Am I going too fast? Too slow? Are they bored? Completely lost? It definitely takes getting used to. Secondly, students in an online course will ask fewer questions. I'm not sure why, but the same group of adult students, learning on the same topic, will be more active and inquisitive in a personal setting than an online one. Don't take a lack of questions personally, and offer to take students in one-on-one calls after the class. I think perhaps they are more nervous about asking a stupid question in front of others when they have no body language cues to see that everyone else is confused too. Alternatively, lessons can be pre-recorded and thrown onto YouTube, for anyone to peruse at will. These must be edited, speeding past or skipping the repetitive parts. In a normal class, you may repeat a concept several times. In a video, people can simply pause the video to think, or watch it again. It's far better to go too fast than too slow in a pre-recorded video. Skype, Google Hangouts, and YouTube are free, and all you need is a $30 webcam. It may be difficult to position the webcam so that the pillow and bobbins can be seen clearly, and you'll want to work with a very thick thread like Pearl Cotton 3 or 5, in order for it to be visible. -- Katelyn Schreyer krschre...@gmail.com - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
