One Simple Thing #6 – Practice
Craig Shibley, MBA, CTS
We think about practice a lot in terms of sports, musical ability, and games. I’m sure we think about it a lot in our professional lives for presentations, making proposals, and even negotiations. From what I’ve seen, the idea of practice hasn’t been promoted enough when it comes to technology in our educational environments. Testing? Sure, we do that a lot, and faculty may even come in early to test it, but what about practice?
A year ago, many professors adapted to the pandemic teaching a brand-new way from their homes or offices. At my university, they came back to campus for Spring of 2021 to teach from classrooms to remote students. There was some frustration that things didn’t work the same as they did at home, or that things didn’t have the same functionality as their office. Many were great about coming into the rooms and asking for training or testing the equipment prior to their class starting.
One thing that didn’t take place as much as it should have was practice! It’s easy to think “I’ve tested this. It will work just like training.” Which, yes, that’s the idea. Sometimes with technology, it’s not always that easy to remember. Going through the motions of connecting devices, turning the equipment off and on, switching programs in the presentation, etc. all take their own skill. Going through the motions, and working through issues that may arise mid-presentation will help create a smooth transition when instruction is taking place.
If you are faculty/staff, set aside the time to not only test the technology in rooms but to go through the repetitions of powering on, setting up devices, switching programs…and then do it again…and again. If you are a tech manager, work practice time into trainings, and emphasize practice use of any open spaces that can be used.
Practicing going through your setup will allow for more confidence in class, and will help any issues that come up when it’s time for class. Repetition is key in most things, and getting your reps in when it comes to classroom technology will improve your skills and fluidity with the equipment whether you are faculty, a tech manager, or any other potential user.
Get to Know Craig Shibley
Craig Shibley has been in the AV industry for twenty years, and in higher education for ten. He currently serves as the Director of Multimedia Services for California Baptist University in Riverside, CA. Craig is a HETMA steering committee member and the founder of CheckMyAV.com, an all-in-one AV testing resource and blog. He holds an MBA from California Baptist University and CTS certification from AVIXA. Connect with Craig through the social links below.
CheckmyAV was started in order to give AV techs a quick and easy resource to check their audio-visual systems. Tired of going to video sites and dealing with ads embedded in videos and inconsistent content, checkmyAV was created to give techs useful video and audio files to check their setup while being ad-free and user friendly. checkmyAV content is created by Craig Shibley.