This semester in particular but previous ones as well have been fraught with technology mishaps and I find myself continuing to try the same things over and over hoping that this is the time what I want to work will. Example: I use Polleverywhere (I’ve said this in a few posts) I have the app for PowerPoint so supposedly when I am using that presentation the students poll results will automatically update in real time. For me that’s is not what happens when I use the computer in the room but still I try… I’ve even brought my own laptop in to use when I have topics that I use this resource and while the results do populate the slides won’t project correctly so only partial results are visible. Or another example is I have hyperlinks to video’s that I have uploaded to my OneDrive embedded in a couple of my presentations, when I click the hyperlink the video does play but only the audio plays. If I go directly to OneDrive and open the videos they play fine. So I just exit out of the presentation view and open the queued up videos as I need them and then go back to the presentation.
My take away is I use this as a teachable moment with the students, I don’t get all flustered or angry I simply look for a viable alternative and use that. If I can’t find one one that uses a different technologic tool I choose to teach the topic in a non-technology way or poll the students using old school polling mechanism that uses paper. Hopefully the students learn that “stuff happens” and the stress comes from your reaction.