Hi Ravi,

Sorry for the late reply. What I have in mind is similar to what we were discussing on this thread. Software requirements for teaching a course online involves much more than videoconferencing. Although some people may realize that using a proprietary software for conducting a live class is harmful, they may still keep using non-free softwares for other activities. My teaching experience during the lockdown and afterwards has made me aware of several such things:

1. One needs a platform where course material (recorded videos, notes, assignments etc) could be put. Students would then access the material from their. Fortunately, our dept has been using Moodle for this since 2012 or so. However, most teachers I know use Google drive, Google docs, Dropbox or something similar and also force the students to use these.

2. One also needs a way to conduct short exams. Again, although we use Moodle for this as well, people tend to use services like Google classroom.

3. For recording the videos, one may need a recorder that either records the whole screen independently of the videoconferencing service being used (Like simplescreenrecorder). Some people even in our department tend to use dropbox + jitsi combo.

4. A digital writing pad has become a regular thing since often a teacher needs to quickly draw or write something (similar to writing on a whiteboard). For many such pads, there needs to be something on the screen to "draw on". I have seen people using Microsoft Paint or similar non-free programs. (People at our place use a Free Software called Xournal. I am sure people on this group know better options.)

5. Although a sizeable fraction of teachers uses GNU-Linux for teaching related activities, most don't. This goes beyond videoconferencing. For example, for subjects that need programming, teachers always tend to recommend the use of non-free IDEs that are developed specifically for operating systems like Microsoft Windows or MacOS. While I agree that most students learn one of these as their first OS, there is no reason to continue the use of these even for advanced coding courses. Added to this, there are OS specific browsers (our university specifically recommends Google chrome at several places including filling exam forms).

6. Seldom student consent is taken when it comes to contacting them using instant messengers, and WhatsApp seems to be the de facto choice. In many colleges, no other option is even provided. It is simply assumed that everybody uses it, and it is fine to use it. Even important announcements (exam dates, change of schedule) are communicated through it. A free software option like Signalapp, or even better Quicksy is not used at most places. A student either joins the WhatsApp group or misses everything. The same can be said about Google forms, YouTube and so on.

I feel that it is important to raise awareness about such issues apart from Videoconferencing tools being used. I hope that people on this list would agree with these points, and we will collectively come up with a document similar to the one that was recently prepared.

Thanks and regards,
SS

--
 Snehal M Shekatkar
Pune, India
https://inferred.co



Feb 13, 2021, 00:00 by ravi@anche.no:
I would be happy to participate in future meetings related to the use of free software in academia.

I request you to suggest topics on which we can publish.

--
Ravi Dwivedi
My PGP key https://keys.openpgp.org/vks/v1/by-fingerprint/430F5BE41D681CD30711B9AE4D03223060B98062
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