Many of us, the language teachers, have experienced online real-time teaching in environments such as Adobe Connect or Big Blue Button. It might have occurred to many of us that running such classes does not always appear to be smooth due to some technical glitches. In what follows, one of the commonly experienced technical problems in online classes and the possible ways for overcoming it are explained.
I have echoes when I speak through my microphone. What are the possible reasons behind it? How can I overcome this problem?
1. It might be due to the fact that you have activated the microphone of one of the students to enable him/her to talk, but s/he has forgotten to mute the microphone. Now, there are more than one active mics and this causes echoes. Generally speaking, it is recommended to have only one active microphone in online classes to avoid echoes.
2. If you log into the class from two browsers simultaneously (i.e., from Google Chrome and Firefox at the same time) and you can see your name repeated in the host section of the class (e.g., F. Nami, F. Nami2), it may cause echoes because your voice is streamed from two active browser windows. Simply close one of the browsers to overcome the problem.
3. If you log into the class via your smartphone and you are using hands-free, keep in mind that you need to wear both power beats. If you leave one of them hanging and wear only one, the voice reflected through the hanging power beat is caught by the speaker of your hands free and this will cause echoes when you speak online.
4. If you are sure the cause is not one of the previous three reasons, it is most probably related to your headphone and system. In other words, it might be a hardware problem and you should consult with an IT specialist.