Hybrid Update #7: Dual Mode Pending & Student Feedback

It’s feeling a bit too long since our last update so apologies for the gap. Today I’d like to give a brief update about where we are with Dual Mode installations and share more of the feedback we’re getting from students both from a technical and teaching perspective. Look out next week for another update focusing on the fascinating work that’s been going on in the background to get us ready for Dual Mode – it’s a topic worthy of its own update so stay tuned! For now, read on and comment below if you want to feedback, observe, or just say hello 😊.

Dual Mode Pending

One of the key constraints of the current Capture & Stream mode is the lack of two-way communication between in-room and online participants. This is not part of the C&S design and where Dual Mode represents the move to true Hybrid functionality. As such we’re impatient to get Dual Mode out there and available to lecturers and their students.

Luckily, we’re nearly at a point where we can share dates. So much work has already been done and if you go into one of the designated Hybrid Teaching Spaces you will likely find two weird-looking cameras and an odd-looking square-framed ‘X’ on the roof (a microphone) along with a large screen at the back of the room. The missing physical component is the brand-new desks which will come with all new hardware for managing the video, audio, and other devices as well as a new computer and dual-monitor set-up. These desks are the final component that will go in.

So, what’s the hold-up? The final piece to the puzzle is the all-important control panel. We’re designing a custom interface for the (also-new) touch screen interfaces that will control the whole experience. This key component is not something we’re happy to rush as the best kit in the world means nothing without intuitive controls, that add value to the user experience rather than detract from it. Positively, we are meeting with our partners in Streamtec and a programmer from the panel supplier, Crestron, today to hammer out a timetable for getting this final piece in place.

If you’re interested in getting a early peak at what the control panels might look like, you can have a go with one of our early prototypes here:

Once we get that figured out, we will be able to publish more details of the roll-out of Dual

Student Feedback

Our previous post spoke a little about the early feedback from remote students regarding Hybrid and with the recent Student Pulse Survey (Teams link for UoD staff only), I thought it would be good to share more details here.

How the feedback is being gathered

We are posting a fortnightly poll to all students who are registered as remote students. This survey appears as a pop-up on My Dundee to that specific group on the Friday morning of every second week of term and remains there until the following Monday or if it is dismissed manually by the student. The survey does not collect any identifiable data, including IP address or other digital imprint.

The story so far…

Up to this point, we have had three feedback releases (covering weeks 1/2,  3/4 and 5/6, respectively) and you can view the summaries for all three batches below. Note that I’ve omitted free text comments:

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from the above but overall i think this represents a very positive start for the teaching community using this mode, especially considering the interim nature of the current Capture & Stream setup. It’s obviously great to get mostly good feedback from the projects perspective, but it’s the teaching deliver/design that makes or breaks these sessions.

There is obviously a lot more to be drawn out of this data and more data to come but i hope it’s useful. I’m out of time to reflect further and include some analysis of the free text but i promise i’ll come back to it in a future post. Let me leave you with a few choice comments made in response to the question “What would you change about your online teaching this week?”. Please note again that this feed back is completely anonymous and untraceable:

I am very satisfied with the online teaching so far. The experience has being very good. I still get to interact with the lecturers and other students.

The hybrid classes are difficult. This difficulty arises from the fact that I cannot hear anything the rest of the class is saying and I have a hybrid seminar in which viewpoints are discussed among the class. This really is a problem as I cannot hear the rest of the class. It affects my understanding and learning and integration with the rest of the class.

A great experience. For international students, I hope that the second semester can also be taught and tested online

Nothing. The lecturers were all very considerate of those learning remotely and took the time to often check the chat and to allow those online to chip in and join the conversation.

I would like to have a buddy (another student doing the same course, from a higher year) who can help and give me more contact and guidance with my studies because it feels very lonely being remote at times.

As always i hope this post finds you well and happy. Have a great day whatever you’re doing .