Out sick, but still working

We are in the time of year when the veritable petri dish a school environment can become revs to full blast. Yesterday afternoon, I learned that a colleague would be out of school today during the critical juncture when students in two of his classes would be delivering their final project oral presentations. You can imagine the disruption his absence would cause for students and for the teacher himself. Obviously, the teacher was extremely concerned about the impact his absence would have on student final project presentations.

We were able to solve the problem by using Google Hangouts. A Chromebook running Google Hangouts was positioned so that it showed the student presenter to the absentee teacher. And, the Chromebook was also positioned so that the student could see and hear the teacher. The tech worked flawlessly, and the teacher was able to evaluate all oral presentations in real time. In case the Internet broke or other connection issues arose, another colleague setup a camcorder on a tripod to record all the students' presentations.  In the event that Google Hangouts crashed or the connection between school and the teacher's home broke down, the video file(s) from the camcorder could be uploaded to Google Drive and shared with the teacher. The camcorder was really just a backup, and we were happy not to have had to rely on it. The prime tool used was a Google Hangout, and it was an excellent solution.