The key to a truly meaningful online learning experience is when you hear it well, see it clearly and interact easily and frequently. The basic necessities are quality speakers to hear the mumblings of another participant, well directed ambient lighting to get the most of your small web camera, and a sensitive microphone that will transmit your mellifluous tones into the world wide web.
The sky is the limit for these devices in both pricing and sophistication. Let us look at some of the most functional and accessible options that will give you the best experience.
Hear me out
You can get a low cost pair of speakers and a microphone that will provide you with good quality audio easily. Most laptops come with both these built and they should suffice. However, the speakers might bother people around you and the microphone might pick up extraneous sounds. A good quality headset with a microphone, you don’t need the smallest and lightest, is a very good alternative. You can talk in whisper low tones and receive high quality audio that only you hear.
See you soon
2 megapixels or higher webcams are ideal to transmit a high quality image both in a live classroom or for a kapsule. Most web cams use a wide angle lens and these distort facial features if you are up close. So keep your distance. The commonly neglected aspect of transmitting good video is the lighting. You will be seen in silhouette if you are lit from behind. Have a bright diffused light source in the room and ensure your face is lit brighter than your background.
Just a click away
Wireless mice and keyboards give you freedom to get comfortable for those longer online sessions. Make sure you have the batteries charged as they notoriously run out five minutes into your kapsule or class!
Pay attention to these ahead of time so you don’t have to when you are putting together that last minute kapsule or getting onto that important online class!
Tags: accesories, microphone, webcam