How to Hold Virtual Office Hours

Transcription

1 How to Hold Virtual Office Hours Thanks to technology, you can now help students troubleshoot bugs by observing or sharing control of their screen while chatting with them via IM or VOIP, no matter where you are on campus (or beyond). This document explains how to hold virtual office hours in CS 50 s virtual terminal room. The virtual terminal room does offer features beyond those described herein; do feel free to play. Entering the Virtual Terminal Room Follow the link to the virtual terminal room on the left-hand side of the course s website at You will be advised to confirm that your computer meets minimum system requirements. You will also be informed as to whether your computer appears to have the required software installed; if it does not, you will be provided with directions on how to download and install the software (for free). Enter the virtual terminal room by clicking the button labeled Enter. If prompted thereafter to click one or more other buttons in order to open, trust, or unblock the software, do so. Within a few seconds, the virtual terminal room should open in a separate window, like the below. If you are not granted moderator privileges automatically, let me know immediately, else you will not be able to hold virtual office hours effectively. 1 of 10

2 Responding to Raised Hands By default, students will be in the Main Room, as in the below. Anytime a hand goes up, not only should you hear a beep, the number of hands up will start flashing, as in the below. Moreover, students will be numbered and sorted according to the order in which their hands went up. If you wish to stop the flashing, simply click the flashing blue rectangle. To work with a student one-on-one (e.g., Ron Weasley, since his hand went up first), first click your name and his while holding Ctrl to highlight both, then right-click (on a PC) or Ctrl-click (on a Mac) either of your names, and select Send to Breakout Room New Private Breakout Room. (You can pull multiple students into the same room by highlighting them too.) Click the number to 2 of 10

3 the left of the student s name so as to lower his hand (so that other students know they re moving up in the queue). The result will resemble the below. Anything you do or say in this private room will only be seen or heard by the student(s) that you have pulled into it. 3 of 10

4 Sharing Control of a Student s Computer To request control of a student s computer, be sure to pull him or her into a private room with you first. Next, click his or her name to highlight it, then right-click (on a PC) or Ctrl-click (on a Mac) his or her name, and select Request Desktop Control. The student will then be prompted with a window like the below. Provided the student clicks Yes, you will then have shared control of the student s computer. (However, students can, for privacy s sake, share one or more windows as opposed to their whole desktop, in which case you might receive control of just those windows.) Do respect students privacy and do not, even in jest, start poking around their computers, lest they become reluctant to return to virtual office hours in the future. Note that the virtual terminal room s layout might change when you take control of the student s computer. To restore its original layout, select View Layouts Default Layout. 4 of 10

5 Using the Whiteboard By default, the whiteboard simply welcomes students to the virtual terminal room. However, you can post images to the whiteboard, draw on it, and more, especially in private rooms whose whiteboards are blank by default. Anyone in the same room as you can see what you do with the whiteboard. Hover over each of the whiteboard s tools to get a sense of the whiteboard s features. Depicted below is a private room s blank whiteboard. 5 of 10

6 Talking to Students Talking to students via IM is pretty straightforward. You can IM students in all rooms, students in the room you re in, students in another room altogether, individual students, etc. You can also filter your history of IMs. The below depicts how you might inform everyone that you need to step out for a few minutes. Talking to students via VOIP is also pretty straightforward, provided you and they have decent audio setups. Headsets are ideal, though microphones and speakers built into your computers can also work. To talk to the student(s) in the room that you are in, simply click Talk, as in the below. By default, only one person can talk at a time, so be sure not to leave Talk depressed if you expect a student to talk back (or your roommate to say something embarrassing). You can allow multiple people to talk at once by selecting Tools Audio Allow Simultaneous Talkers... 6 of 10

7 Getting a Student s Attention If a student doesn t seem to be paying attention, you can not only IM him or her privately but also trigger a pop-up on his or her screen by depressing the Chat area s megaphone before sending your message, as in the below. Alternatively, though it s a bit of a hack, you can compel the student s computer to beep (assuming the student s volume is up) by selecting Tools Timer Start Timer... and starting an audible 1-second timer, as in the below. 7 of 10

8 Stepping Away If you need to step away from your computer altogether during virtual office hours, do indicate as much by clicking the door icon in the Participants area, per the below. 8 of 10

9 Juggling Multiple Students at Once For efficiency s sake, you might want to try helping multiple students simultaneously. Although students cannot move from room to room on their own, you, as a moderator, can bounce from room to room. You might, then, want to put a few students at once into a few different rooms so that they can all start sharing their terminal windows even if they re to be in the rooms alone most of the time. Ideally, they ll at least be ready to show you what they re working on when you do pop into the room. The below captures this sort of multitasking. Just realize that if you put multiple students in the same room, they can technically see what s on each other s screen, which probably isn t your goal. To return a student to the Main Room once you re done helping him or her, first highlight his or her name, then right-click (on a PC) or Ctrl-click (on a Mac) their name, and select Send to Breakout Room Main Room. Be careful not to select Return Everyone to Main Room, lest you destroy another teaching fellow s private rooms. In any case, it s fine to leave students in private rooms, even with their hands down, unless you want them to be able to chat with other students in the Main Room. To move yourself from room to room simply highlight your name, then right-click (on a PC) or Ctrl-click (on a Mac) your name, and select Send to Breakout Room, followed by the name of the private room that you would like to enter. Alternatively, you can log yourself into the virtual terminal multiple times, the upside of which is multiple windows. Name-wise, you ll be logged in as David J. Malan, David J. Malan 1, David J. Malan 2, and so forth, at least if you re me. Before clicking Enter again on the course s website, though, open a brand-new browser window by clicking your browser s icon so that your browser passes a different cookie to the virtual terminal room. 9 of 10

10 For More Information Again, do feel free to play, as the virtual terminal room does offer more features than those described herein. Do pass along your findings (plus any tips or tricks) to other teaching fellows. For additional answers to questions of the form How do I...?, visit You re welcome to register for free online training as well at A number of recorded demonstrations and events are available at And don t hesitate to call , option 2, if you d like your questions answered by actual humans! 10 of 10