With increasing technologies being used to facilitate global learning experiences (GLE) and guest participants in the classroom, technical difficulties are inevitable (as with any technology). Such unplanned technological mishaps often lie beyond the control of participants and instructors, so as with any collaborative effort to meet, it is best to prepare for common scenarios.

Consider the following scenario: You have invited a remote guest speaker in Germany for an hour-long class lecture. Since this lecture is a big deal due to the labor-intensive logistics planning (which include coordinating time zone differences, course scheduling, language coordination, appointments with the instructional technology support at your institution, and much emphasis for participation from your students), you are very much hoping that the videoconferencing tool you’ve selected will work. 

Despite your careful planning, testing, and prior use of the technologies at hand, sometimes, things just won’t work out. When things do not work out, here are some ways to save your videoconferencing event.

Problem: Video without Audio

Description: You can see your guest participant in a video feed, but you cannot hear them (audio in the tool does not work).

Likely Issue: Your participant may have muted their microphone in the videoconferencing tool, selected a different microphone or audio source in their computer settings, unplugged an external microphone from the computer, or have their microphone muted on the computer. Here, building in 7-10 minutes before the start of the event to go through this troubleshooting list would probably help resolve issues and anxieties.

Workaround: Use a different tool to receive audio feed to augment the video.

1. Stay in your tool’s meeting or call to maintain the video.
2. Using a smartphone, dial your guest using WhatsApp.
3. Plug your smartphone into the headphone jack of your classroom audio.
4. Proceed with your meeting, making note that you have 2 concurrent calls on 2 different tools (one in the videoconferencing tool, the other in WhatsApp).

Problem: Audio without Video

Description: You can hear your guest participant, but you cannot see them (the video in the tool does not work).

Likely Issue: Your participant may have muted their video in the videoconferencing tool, unplugged an external camera from the computer, or has their device camera disabled. Again, building in about 10 minutes before the start of the event to go through this troubleshooting list will help to resolve issues and anxieties before the event goes live.

Workaround: If the troubleshooting does not resolve the problem, you may have to do without seeing the participant’s person. To avoid losing all visual materials intended for the event, request media or document files to be shared during the event in advance. Having your participant send presentation slides, meeting agendas, or the like as an attachment via email or as a shared file in cloud storage will have your audience prepared to engage with the speaker, despite not being able to see them.

Problem: Participant Problems

Description: Your participant is experiencing technical difficulties from their end that are beyond your control.

Likely Issue: Perhaps instead of using the same equipment, tools, space, and connectivity from your trial run, your partner is trying to enter your event using a different setup. In this instance, it will be helpful to have an alternate means of synchronous contact (such as phone, WhatsApp, WeChat, or Facebook Messenger) so that you can communicate troubleshooting solutions (such as given in the above scenarios) in real time.

Workaround: If the event is already taking place, the recommendation is to be prepared with a headphone jack to your machine and the materials for the event to be sent via email. You can project the materials on your own machine, and then have the participant call or join via your alternate means of synchronous contact.

Best Practices

• Let the pedagogy choose your technology. It is easy to be attracted to snappy new tools that offer a lot of options and buttons for you to employ, but unless you are prepared to explain how those options and buttons work (and also know what to do when they don’t work as intended), they will probably interfere with your actual learning objectives. As such, stick to your goals for the lesson and let those goals guide your choice of technological tool. What will accomplish your needs for that event? A simpler interface that is accessible to more users might be the more viable option in the interest of the learners.
• Choose and prepare an environment that uses the most reliable technology available. If you know that your technological tool depends on a steady internet connection, certain hardware equipment, and a particular classroom, be sure to have those in place and replicable for your event. Changing such environmental factors may change the likelihood for success in your event.
• Dry run your technologies through trial testing before your planned event.  
• Plan with problems in mind. To avoid problems before they arise during your event, try to meet your participant early so that common issues can be troubleshooted before the event begins. Always have an alternative means of contact and materials prepared just in case something does not go as planned.