Nerve-Racking Live Broadcast

On Friday, June 8^th, I made my first live official broadcast that can be viewed on Ustream.  I discussed using mobile devices in the classroom. 

It was nerve-racking, exciting, and worrisome all at the same time.  I’ve been teaching for 7 years and you might have thought it was my first day in the classroom all over again.  Being in front of a camera and seeing myself was not an easy task.  I practiced numerous times, but I still stumbled over my words.  I think creating a few more live broadcasts will make me more confident in front of the camera.

As far as the process of broadcasting, I choose Ustream, because it as easy to navigate through.  As soon as I signed in I was able to create my channel, create an event, figure out how to record, activate my microphone, and create polls,   I began a few practice runs with audio and the camera on me the entire time and then I viewed some of my classmates broadcasts.  With the help of classmate, Chad, I was able to learn how to use Ustream Producer to also create a couple slides in active studio to view along with me speaking.  I contacted Chad through e-mail and he explained that I needed to download Ustream Producer and make sure that the desktop presenter was activated while using the program.  He even created a live broadcast as a tutorial for me, which I really appreciated. 

Then, I did a few more test runs.  I added a screen shot, so I was able to click back and forth between my live video feed and my viewers viewing my active studio presentation.  I ran into a few bumps when some of my audio was not recording with the camera, but it would when I clicked on active studio.  I learned that I needed to select a certain microphone each time I changed between the two settings.  I also had a few problems using my laptop with the screen resolution.  For some reason, my presentation would turn blurring sometimes and a pop up would say that my computer is performing with a low resolution.  I am still working on how to fix that problem, because it only happened half the time.  I also had difficulty with the feed turning to a blank screen when I was recording.  That only happened twice and of course it had to happen during my live presentation instead of a practice run.  The funny thing is that I am not aware of it happening until I watch the recorded broadcast, because the screen did not change while I was recording.  I do not have the answer to that question yet either.

I promoted my broadcast through e-mailing my classmates, posting on my blog, and I also invited my department to watch.  However, being that it was the last day of school, I understood that many of them had odds and ends to finish.  I do know a few of my colleagues in the classroom next to me were watching and as soon as I signed off my live broadcast, I ran over and said “thank god that is over, I stunk.”

I am still trying to work out a few kinks in live broadcasting, one especially are my nerves.  I hope to get past the feeling that “I stink.”  Hopefully I will feel more comfortable broadcasting live when I use this next school year when I use it to record live broadcasts of reviews before tests.