Viable Solution to the Lab's Power Outage

The power outage resulting in the cancellation of a lab has a number of alternative solutions. I'm going to discuss one that I believe would be both effective and efficient.

• Some sort of groupware can be used such as Skype or IM
• Once informed on the cancellation students can sign up for a time to partake in a webcast with their own personal computer
• An email will be sent out to all students in that lab providing them with the link to download the groupware the TA chooses
• Once a student is apart of the webcast or web-chat the TA will go through the material and instruct as they normally would in the lab
• With these programs (Skype or IM) there is a broadcast screen option which would allow the students to see exactly what the TA was doing
• TA's would be able to check off who attended the virtual lab by viewing who added themselves to the group chat

One problem that may occur with this solution is that some students may not be available for the given times the TA is willing to put into the virtual lab. However there is a solution to this as well:

• The entire webcast can be recorded
• All questions asked by students and answered by TA's can be saved
• This can be provided on the BUSI2400 website
• Students who viewed the recorded version can leave posts so they too can receive credit for the lab