We Can Do Better!
We Can Do Better!
By Owen
We are all now through over half the school year, and I’m getting tired of being the only one of a few people with their camera and microphone on in my classes. Google is trying to make it easy to interact with your classmates. For safety and privacy, you can use the background filter. I know there are cases where your wifi can't handle the stream or your camera is broken, but it just seems silly not to turn on your camera and mic when it takes you two clicks.
In these tough times, we need each other. We need to get to know our classmates, and it will make you feel better about yourself knowing that you have your mic and camera on. It will also encourage more people to do it when some people start to do something. You will probably feel even happier because now you know what some of your classmates look like instead of imagining them with icons for faces and chat boxes for a mouth.
For the Teachers!
Another reason you should turn on your camera is for your teachers. Your teachers already do so much for you, and I am sure they would love to see your face and hear you. They would also like to be able to tell who’s who when/if you go back to school.
Do you skip Class?
Now I know this may be a question you don’t want to answer, but I’m onto you. Do you just keep your camera and mic off, so you can do something else that’s not class work? I know there's been some fishy behavior in these Google Meets. For example, in some breakout rooms there are people who don’t say a word in the chat or through their mic. Either this, or they wait forever to respond and then claim they are having computer problems . This is why you need to turn on your camera and mic and come back to school!
Just like School
How is turning on your camera and mic any different than going to school? It’s not like you go to school with a helmet over your head, and if you are embarrassed of your background just put a background image behind you. Do this by clicking the three dots to go to background images, choose and image, or do it before entering the meet, just click the button in the corner of the preview of your video.
Survey time!
To find out what people actually want, I conducted a survey with 56 students. In the survey I asked them this question:
Do you keep your camera on during Google meets?
I found that an alarming 83.6% of them don’t. While the remaining, less than a fifth, 16.4% do.
I also asked them which camera setting they preferred. Surprisingly 25% would prefer a meet with no ones camera on, 32.1% preferred everyone’s camera on, while the remaining 42.9% were unsure. Emrie in 6th grade said she was unsure, “I'm not sure, I would like to see others face, but, even I don't like my camera on so it goes both ways."
A quote from Javell who chose the option for "no cameras on" said, “I like no cameras because people could be having work done in their house or lots of people around."
Diya in 6th grade adds, ”Having your camera on and seeing faces makes class a lot more interactive. My Math class has the most cameras on, and is also the most fun class. We have a lot more class conversations as well. On the other hand, one of my other classes has no cameras on, including the teacher! It always feels like you are talking to a wall.”
To conclude, some people may want the cameras off. However between on and off most people want them on, and if you were unsure I hope this article changed your mind. See ya next month!
Sources:https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-meet-attendees-bre/olmgpgbhojeoalaimckcpgkadjkejacl https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/29/21240509/google-meet-video-conferencing-free-gmail,and thank you to all 56 people who answered my Google form.