Support News

Web Conferencing and China

Posted: 2020-07-29 11:11:27   Expiration: 2021-01-01 11:11:27

Disclaimer: This news item was originally posted on 2020-07-29 11:11:27. Its content may no longer be timely or accurate.

With our increased reliance on web conferencing technologies for teaching and learning, please be advised that there are access issues in China due to infrastructure, firewall, and government regulations.

Many if not most web conferencing products will experience more technical difficulties than normal. For example, Blackboard Collaborate Ultra does not work well with some of China’s technology infrastructure. These difficulties will vary from product to product and city to city in China. In addition, a tool that works one day, may experience issues another day. 

To mitigate these issues we advise instructors to:

  1. Encourage students and users in China to use WiscVPN. Although this does not always help, it has helped in some cases.

  2. Use asynchronous delivery methods as much as possible, but when necessary record all live/synchronous events so those who experience technical issues will be able to view the content later.


-- Learn@UW-Madison: James Mckay