Live Online Classes - Off Campus
No need to spend wasted time commuting to Campus.
Enjoy live weekly online classes, off campus from the comfort of your own home.
Talk to fellow students, meet your teacher, attend weekly live sessions and watch recordings of classes you may have missed.
Features
- Live online classes
- Recorded for playback
- Camera facility to see teacher and fellow students
- Open microphone to talk to teacher or fellow students
- Chat box to contribute or ask questions during class
- Interactive quiz polls
- Break out rooms to do timed tasks with fellow students
With CMI Online learning courses, you will enjoy an interactive learning environment on our exclusive and unique learning platform. Enjoy face to face interaction with your teacher and classmates, chat via comments boxes, enjoy a full online class which is recorded for playback purposes.
Access a full range of live classes and recordings, online resources, including E textbook, E-library, interactive quizzes and weekly updated content, all from the comfort of your home.
The Virtual Classroom
How it works
Each week, your teacher will log on to a virtual classroom. This is an online space where teachers and learners can interact with one another. The teacher can present material using a slide show, and provide audio commentary.
As a learner, you will be able to listen along with your teacher, and interact via audio (using your own microphone), own camera /video or the public chat system. In this way, you will be able to ask questions or contribute to discussions in real time. Each live lecture will be recorded, so you will be able to listen back at a later point.
What you’ll need
Hardware and Software
– For computer, you need a laptop or desktop computer with (at least) 4G of memory and a 2+ Ghz processor (any computer bought in the last three years should be fine), or any Chromebook with 4G of memory and a 1.5+ Ghz processor.
– For bandwidth, you must have at least 1.0 Mbits/second upstream and 2 Mbits/second downstream. To check bandwidth use, https://speedtest.net/.
– For browsers, we recommend Google Chrome, Mozilla FireFox or Microsoft Edge.
– For audio, we strongly recommend using a headset. A headset will ensure that others can hear your voice clearly and you don’t cause echo or background noise for others. You do not need to buy an expensive one — any basic headset with a built-in microphone will work.
– A laptop with a built-in webcam and microphone will be sufficient as well if you’re in a quiet area.
Additional recommendations for Moderator/Presenters:
– Moderators and Presenters have the same requirements as viewers. For screen sharing, we recommend using Chrome (preferred) or Firefox, Edge for the best results.
– Screen sharing uses more bandwidth than sharing a webcam. To broadcast screen sharing takes about 1 Mbits/sec of upstream bandwidth. Therefor, for the current presenter — such as when a viewer (student) is made presenter by a moderator — we recommend the presenter have upstream bandwidth of at least 2 Mbits/sec.
– We recommend moderators or presenters connect through a wired network (not wireless) if possible. If connecting from a wireless network that is not reliable, you may experience periodic disconnects or gaps in your audio.
Accessing the virtual classroom
You can access each lecture each week through the online platform Moodle. Past recording will also be available each week a few hours after each online class.
What you’ll need
You will need an internet-enabled device (e.g., a laptop, PC, tablet or smart phone) and a connection to the internet. E – learning and pre-recorded classes are hosted on Moodle, so you will also need an internet browser on your device. We recommend using Google Chrome or Firefox as these browsers seems to work best with the software for E-learning.
Hardware
- Disk space: 1GB is probably a realistic minimum.
- Processor: 1GHz (min), 2GHz dual core or more recommended.
- Memory: 512MB (min), 1GB or more
All the above requirements will vary depending on specific hardware and software combinations as well as the type of use and load; busy sites may well require additional resources.
Requirements for participating in Online Learning:
To participate in online learning, learners will require at minimum:
- An internet-enabled device, such as a laptop, tablet, or smart phone
- A widely supported browser such as Chrome (recommended), Firefox, Opera, or Safari
- A minimum connection speed of 600 kb/s with a recommended speed of 1.5 mb/s
- A microphone
Learners using work devices may experience issues with their microphones due to firewall settings blocking access to the device hardware. To resolve this, those learners (or their IT support) will require either to add the CMI BigBlueButton server as an exception to their firewall settings or to move to a different device.
Participating (Microphone or listen only)
When you first access the online classroom, you will be asked how you would like to join the audio, with two options:
Microphone
This option will allow you to use the microphone on your device to take part in the lecture To use this option, you will need to have a microphone enabled on your device, and a quiet location in which to watch the lecture. Please be conscious of your teacher and fellow students, and avoid disruptive noises. (For example, on a tablet or laptop with integrated microphone, using the mousepad or touch screen will likely produce audible noises that could be disruptive.)
Listen only
Selecting this option will allow you to listen in to the lecture without contributing audio. When using this option, you will still have the option to interact via Public Chat.
At any point during the online class , you can switch between these two options by clicking the small headset button at the bottom of the screen. Note that, depending on the speed of your internet connection, using your microphone (or webcam—see below) could impact on the quality of the lecture.
If you find that you are experiencing a slow or choppy connection, try disabling your microphone to see if this improves the quality of your experience. They can be reactivated at any time using the buttons along the bottom of the screen.
Public Chat
Public Chat is located along the left side of the screen—use this space to join in discussions or ask questions to your lecturer or classmates.
Webcams
You can activate the webcam on your device by clicking the small camera icon at the bottom of the screen. However, as it will take up bandwidth for the classroom and could have a negative impact on the quality of the distance lecture for yourself and other students, limited use is recommended.
Break out Rooms
Participate in break out rooms in groups with fellow students for a fixed duration , to work on tasks assigned by your teacher.
Recordings
Each lecture will be recorded to allow students to revisit and especially useful for revision. Recordings include the slide show, all audio and webcam components of the lecture (including those of students if enabled), and any comments entered into Public Chat.
