for tutors and prospective tutors…

This inform­a­tion is for tutors and potential tutors who would like to supple­ment their face to face course with rich online resources, or present their entire course online. You can now edit your own page in Class Notes if you like. You can deliver your course, or some of it, via Zoom video meetings. 

Face-to ‑face contact courses are the core of U3A but here are some quite powerful and flexible ways of getting a course message across using the online resources of this website and by using video meetings. I am happy to work with inter­ested tutors by phone, email and Zoom to tutor people. You don’t need high level computer skills. Tutors can manage their own web page on this site and display a wide range of resources.

John Travers, Web Manager

Contact: jtravers@gmail.com ph 0427282748

This page is supported by the Learning Stories blog where all members are invited to share stories of learning. There is a category for Zoom items.

1. Text to print web pages
2. Magazine type web pages
3. Zoom Video meetings 
4. Webinar video seminars

Text-to-print web pages

There are many of these pages in Class Notes: resources designed to be printed by class members. Just send the material to me and it will be posted. But, printing is an expense and there are iPads which are portable and display any material very well. These days it is very easy to include images in present­a­tion material and make make your resources. It is very easy to photo­graph diagrams and documents and include these in present­a­tions. Material can be copied from the web in seconds 

Magazine type web pages

We are used to seeing very good graphics these days, espe­cially on the internet, and it is now relat­ively easy to create your own using some simpli­fied tools. The editing of pages like this one (WordPress) is very simpli­fied and can be learned in about 30 minutes. It allows various ‘blocks’ — para­graphs, headings, images, galleries, lists, tables etc, to be included and move at will. This page shows the main features, with lots of images to support the text . See a gallery to support my imaginary course Autumn in Adelaide.

Or a slide show from a course on trav­el­ling in China in the ‘80s. (Swipe left or right)

While editing a page is relat­ively simple, to be honest, it can be quite addictive, so can take lots of time. If you would like to have a tutorial to see if you are inter­ested in editing your own course page, contact me.

Voice record­ings are very easy these days. A mobile phone has good quality recording facility as does an iPad. If this suits you I would suggest making a series of about 2 minute record­ings, maybe in conjunc­tion with text and images. Audio can be much more expressive than text and can relate to on the screen images. Play the example above. 

Zoom video meetings

Zoom (and other video meeting services) has exploded on the internet since the pandemic arrived and forced workers and school children to stay home. It has proved to be highly effective in allowing people to commu­nicate remotely. 

Video meeting is idea for online learning. Skype is a long­standing player and Zoom is now domin­ating, with Microsoft Teams an important compet­itor. Group video discus­sions take place outside this website. This medium is under huge use by business, families and education during the coronavirus shutdown. Many members are familiar with this commu­nic­a­tion which is very natural and allows some good use of visual inform­a­tion. These video classes can be supported by resources provided on this website. 

Webinar video seminars

Webinars [web-seminars] have been around for years, but with the the arrival of simple to operate video meetings and offices and schools closed, they have come to the fore­ground. Zoom’s Business plans offer a simple webinar add-on which could be very useful to U3As. 

In brief, what they offer is the ability to advertise an event by email to a large audience, people respond saying they want to attend, and at the set time they simply join the event at Zoom, and then 20, 30 or 90 people join the discus­sion by a panel, or indi­vidual, including a Q and A session. It has great potential for a tutor intro­du­cing a new course, or a general meeting where the Board explains proced­ures for a return to regular classes, or maybe a new type of one-off course. The convenor simply checks that the attendees are members.

Want to discuss some options? Contact John Travers at 0427282748 or jtravers@gmail.com