Google Hangouts on Air allows you to live stream your review session to all students via YouTube! Visit this link to start your own Hangout on Air!
Last week, I was unable to stay after school for my typical midterm review sessions due to other commitments and was looking for a way to still help my students. The basic Google Hangouts only allows for a maximum of 15 viewers that you are able to see via webcam and speak to in a group discussion. With around 140 students, I knew that holding numerous mini review sessions would not be an effective way to communicate on a topic that many wanted to discuss. Google Hangouts on Air, however, allows an unlimited number of people to watch your broadcast live via your YouTube channel. This was the answer!
Earlier in the day. I shared a Google Doc with all of my classes asking for any questions they would like me to review that evening. Students typed in numerous questions on a variety of topics that I previewed before the start of the Hangout on Air. After school, I sent a text via Remind letting students know I appreciated the questions that had been contributed and to be sure to post any more questions they had before that evening. What is Remind? Find information here!
Prior to the live stream, I did a practice run with a "test" Hangout on Air to see if some of my students were able to see and hear me. Students were more than willing to help make sure the logistics were in place. I would highly recommend doing the test run as I learned my internal microphone was not detected and needed to restart my computer.
I scheduled the Hangout on Air to begin at 7:30pm and when students use the YouTube link you provide, it will show them a countdown to when your stream will become live. This gives your stream a very official look and makes the students very eager as they were sending me countdown emails in excitement!
Once students began watching the live stream, they added questions to the bottom of the Google Doc throughout the review session as they thought of them. They were even helping each other in the chat window if they needed additional clarification. It was empowering as a teacher to see them explain content to one another and to be engaged in the review! It is important to have a Doc set up as Google Hangouts on Air is one-way communication and Docs allows you to make sure your students understand your explanations correctly and communicate with them in text.
An appealing feature of Hangouts on Air it that it records your broadcast and immediately publishes to your YouTube page for students who were unable to attend in live time. This way, all students are being served and can be a part of the review session. Here is my recorded review session on YouTube. At one point in the broadcast, I had 135 viewers watching at the same time! The next day, I had students tell me they shared the YouTube link with other Spanish 1 students who I do not have in class and even students from other schools that are taking Spanish 1! As a department, you could divide up units covered and schedule a live stream with a different teacher for each summative assessment to help a large number of students!
If you would like any help in setting up Hangouts on Air for your classes, please do not hesitate to ask me any questions. Every single student who participated said they would like to do this again in the future and some even asked for it again the next evening! Students seemed genuinely appreciative for the time to host the virtual review session and more confident on the unit topics covered. As a teacher, I felt like I was able to reach more students than any other review session I had conducted in the past. Let's change the concept of a review session with Hangouts on Air!
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