Teaching Online at UTAS

If your lecturer has set up the lectures or workshops for ‘Live Streaming’ this means you may be able to access and watch the lecture/workshop live as it is presented, potentially able to also ask questions that the lecturer will see or participate in some of the activities if any are made available.  Students can access the live stream from a desktop computer but there is currently only limited access from mobile devices (some further instruction below).

Accessing Live Lecture Streams

To access the Live Stream you will need to click on the link provided by your lecturer in MyLO -OR- go to the Echo360.org.au link and find your class. You will see an icon for [Live] next to any presentation that is to be made live. If you click on the link before it has started it will show a countdown until the live feed starts.

Once the start time has been reached, click “Show Live Stream” to start the live feed. Note it can take some time to start once you have clicked this button, depending on your internet connection speed and computer.

For the purposes of this help document you should know the difference between the Live Feed and the Presentation Slides.

Live Feed – This is a VIDEO delivered/streamed to your computer/device as it is being delivered in the classroom. It appears in a window area to the left of the Echo360 area when you click ‘Start Live Stream’.

Presentation Slides  – If slides and/or activities are loaded to this class they will be available also – however they do not contain any audio (you need to start the video/live stream for audio) and will not follow along with the lecturer, you’ll need to navigate to the correct slides for any activity participation yourself. The slides will appear in a window to the left when you click the thumbnail for the presentation.

Participation in Chat/Questions

While the Live stream is running you can open a side-bar to see the ‘Q&A’ questions and answers area. The ‘chat’ icon is at the top of the window. To type a question click ‘new question’ and type your question then click ‘Post Question’. Your lecturer may or may not see this question right away, and you might be some seconds behind due to lag – so avoid typing the same question over and over if you’re not getting a response right away. The lecturer may have opted to answer questions in bulk during specific parts of the lecture, or they may have moved on already. If you see a question from another student you know the answer you can also answer it.

(Presentations with Slides and Interactive Activities will be covered in another document)

IMPORTANT: You must have entered your mobile phone number in your account profile to use the SMS option. Please note that you must have accessed the class’s Echo360 page prior to the class starting. If you are watching from the live stream you will already have done so, those watching live in class will also need to ensure they have clicked through to the Echo360 from the MyLO site at some point prior to the class. Otherwise you will receive an error message. Data/Text message rates will apply.

You can return to the Live Feed at any time by clicking on the thumbnail. If you’re having problems getting back from the slides page just go back to the classes page (by clicking on the unit name at the top right of the screen) and then load the stream again.

Access and Issues with Mobile Devices and Access

According to the Echo360 site, support for Live Feed on Android Devices currently unavailable.

Mobile devices may have limited ability to play the live feed. You will need to install the ‘Blackboard Classroom’ app available from the appstore. The instruction on using the app makes the point that to use the app you will need to have clicked through to the Echo360 Recordings from your MyLO unit FIRST for each unit. It will ask you to set up a password for Echo360, your username will be your MyLO username (that is: your entire email address).

Official Help for the App on Echo360.org site – Apple Store Link for App.

When Echo360 detects you are viewing a live stream from a mobile device, it automatically buffers 40 seconds of the stream to ensure smooth playback. This means you may experience a delay in the start of the stream, and that your view will lag anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute behind the real-time action.

Please note the app has very low reviews and many problems have been indicated by the users. If you are able to get to a desktop PC/Mac instead of mobile you will have better chance of it working well, however sending feedback to the app developers of issues you’ve had if any will help hopefully make the app more reliable in future. (wouldn’t hold your breath all the negative reviews are a few years old now and it doesn’t look like anything has changed).