New Virtual Reality

The last couple of weeks I’ve been in learning mode, searching how to do things differently. My in person teaching and lecturing events have been postponed at least through June, but one guild asked me if I could do my visit with them virtually with both a lecture and a workshop.

Of course I said yes, and then I set out on an odyssey of figuring it out–Zoom protocols, teaching platforms, making videos. The learning curve on some things was fairly mild–I had participated in lots of Zoom meetings over the years, although I had never hosted one. So that was relatively easy. But I didn’t know anything about teaching online or making videos at home. I had to repurpose the small table from my show booth as a podium and stack some thick books on top of it so I could set up my adjustable tripod to hold the phone in front of the design wall. You can see that setup in the photo above.

POSIBLES EFECTOS SECUNDARIOS
Como todos los medicamentos, Levitra puede causar efectos secundarios, aunque no todas las personas los experimentan. Los efectos son en su mayoría leves o moderados.
Algunos pacientes han experimentado una disminución o pérdida de visión parcial, repentina, temporal o permanente, de uno o ambos ojos.

One really great thing in all of this is the availability of all kinds of information on the Internet. I was able to research teaching platforms and teach myself how to make instructional videos all online. Especially with the videos, there was lots of trial and error–mostly error–while I worked through the process, but I eventually got there in time!

The virtual lecture was last week, and it went surprisingly well.

One positive thing about a virtual PowerPoint presentation is that each participant is likely able to see the slides and get the detail better on their screens than is sometimes possible in a large room setting. I set up a Zoom meeting and people signed in individually. I was able to share my screen to present the PowerPoint, and answer questions afterward, just like I would have in person. I was pretty nervous initially, just because of the technology and the potential for things to go wrong, but it actually went very smoothly. Participants could see my slides and see me speaking in a small square in the upper right of their screens, so it wasn’t like I was just a disembodied voice. Of course, I usually bring some of the actual quilts to share when I do a lecture like this and that part couldn’t happen. All in all, I think it was a positive experience though–many thanks to Northern Star Quilters Guild for giving me the opportunity!

The next day I had 21 students signed up for my Improv Puzzle workshop. I talked to a friend who was doing her painting classes live on Zoom, but she was able to break them down into two hour classes over a period of time. My workshop is normally six hours, and I didn’t think either I or my students wanted to be on Zoom for that long in one day. So I listened to webinars about teaching online and read posts about it from people who had done it, and decided to take a hybrid approach. I created a digital class on the teaching platform https://coursecraft.net/ and I scheduled two Zoom meetings with my students–one before class started and another two days later. The class was set up as a series of lessons going step by step through my process using instructional videos, text, and still photos. Students could access the class and work through the lessons at their own speed, and I was available via email for questions as they went along. We had a slight hiccup when the platform was hit by a denial of service malware attack on the second day after the class went live, so students couldn’t get on for a few hours, but the problem got resolved fairly quickly. I also set up a private Facebook group so students could share their progress. That’s been fun–I might do that for other classes in the future.

The CourseCraft teaching platform was easy to use as a teacher to set up the classes and my students found it user-friendly as well. I’d recommend it!

I designed a new small quilt for the class–I’m calling it “Neon Tetris” for now–maybe I’ll come up with a different name later. Students had the option of making a quilt similar to mine, or using the techniques to create their own original design–just like in my in person workshops. In the second Zoom meeting a couple of days after the class started, it looks like most of them are going in their own directions, which is good!

I won’t be offering this class generally, since I have other guilds that have requested it in person when we can do that again.

But I am nearly finished with another class that isn’t one I teach at guilds that I hope to be able to offer at the end of this week! I decided to select a quilt from my Artful Improv book and write a class that would cover three of the techniques I teach. It’s called “Improv Intro – Blocks, Stripes, and Curves” and it features a new version of the Aztec Autumn quilt above. I remade it in a slightly different colorway for the class. Below is a peek at the central section in process.

I’ll keep you posted when it’s ready! If there’s another quilt or process from my book that you’d like to see in a virtual class, let me know in the comments.

Another fun thing I got to do last week was an interview with Pokey Bolton on Instagram Live. She has a live broadcast every day at 1 PM PDT, 4 PM EDT and it’s a lot of fun! You can see my interview, plus others on her YouTube channel here. And if you’re on Instagram, consider following Pokey @pokeybolton and tuning in.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end. If you’d like to have me give a virtual lecture or workshop for your guild or group, send me an email at [email protected] and we can chat!