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or GoToMeeting, or others. With an in-person
class, students and teachers gather in a class-
room and interact there. With a Virtual class, we
interact through our computer Clients (apps)
which are then gathered together in a Server.
(Remember Client-Server Technology?) Each of
our computers is connected to the server via the
internet, and it is the Server software that pro-
vides the magic that lets us all share the Video
and Audio from our client computer’s cameras
and microphones. The popular servers support
many different clients. You can attend a virtual
class using almost any device such as a Win-
dows computer, an Apple computer or an iPhone
or iPod, an Android phone or tablet, a Chrome-
book, or even a Linux computer. A reliable, fast
internet connection will greatly improve the expe-
rience. A wired connection to your router may be
desirable, but not very common. Fortunately,
modern wi-fi is typically more than adequate.
(But unfortunately, not everyone has the latest wi
-fi, especially if it is being supplied by
the Internet Service Provider.)
The internet connections to the server in the
cloud allow us to interact “virtually” and avoid
gathering together. The server “connects” each
of us to each other. And the server presents a
classroom presentation to each of us (the Users)
so we can see who is participating in the virtual
class. (There are controls on the Users screen
that allow the Video and Audio, separately, to be
turned on or off. The audio control is the “mute”
control, mute turns the audio off, and un-mute
turns the audio on. The video control is typically
just Video on or off, though initially, it might show
up as “join with Video”.)
The classroom presentation also has some dif-
ferent ways of showing the group of participants.
Gallery view, as it is sometimes called, shows
each of the participants (if their video is on) in a
box on the screen. (If a Participant’s video is off,
the box will just have the User Determined
name.) The screen is divided among the number
of participants, so as the number of participants
gets larger it might be harder to determine who is
in attendance, though each participant box does
show the name. Another classroom presentation
shows predominantly the person who is speaking
with others shown in small boxes to the side or
bottom, sometimes called “speaker view”. If there
are a lot of speakers this might be helpful,
though if someone has a slow internet connec-
tion, it might end up less helpful, due to the de-
lay.
November 2020
For any Virtual class, a very comprehensive Pow-
erPoint presentation would be recommended, in
general, to guide the class through the subject
matter. Some classes readily lend themselves to
the Virtual format. These are the “lecture” type of
classes where there are no “hands-on exercises”
to be undertaken. Demonstrations of hardware or
software can mostly be accomplished using a
“Share screen” feature that lets the instructor share
the contents of his computer screen with all the
participants. (Software on a particular device can
be easily demonstrated by having that device as
another class participant and allowing it to share
its screen.) When the instructor does this, the in-
structor’s screen shows up on every participant's
screen.
So, it’s just like watching the big screen TV in front
of the classroom, only everyone sees the teacher’s
screen on their computer screen, at their location.
A class like “Cut the Cord” works well as a virtual
class because it is mostly lecture. Other classes,
that are more interactive, may not lend themselves
as easily. A class that requires a lot of interaction
may be difficult as a virtual class. This type of
class may be more like a discussion group and
maybe more dependent on having a definite agen-
da and a very strong moderator/instructor. Smaller
class sizes may help this type of class be success-
ful. The Special Interest Group on smartphones is
an example of this type of class. All the partici-
pants of this class are encouraged to bring ques-
tions and ideas to the class for discussion, and it is
anticipated that everyone will have an opportunity
to speak. Questions from the class participants in
any class are handled with either a “Chat” feature
where the question can go to all participants or a
specific participant or a “Raise Hand” feature that
shows up on the screens to get the participant’s
attention.
Hopefully, this brief description (and time spent
watching YouTube videos on the subject) will give
you the courage to participate in a virtual class the
next time an interesting one is offered.
By Phil Sorrentino,
Contributing Writer, Sun City Center Computer Club
www.scccomputerclub.org
philsorr (at) yahoo.com
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