TC Online – Troubleshooting Audio Problems

You join your session, your student joins, you are ready to go…but your student can’t hear you (or you can’t hear your student). When tutoring online, audio issues are one of the most frustrating challenges by far. Below is a simple guide for troubleshooting audio issues so you can get your session moving and help your students be as productive as possible.

Look for the Hints

You can quickly eliminate possible causes by checking the following (in order):

1. Are your speakers muted?
2. Are you connected to audio (the microphone on the tool bar will be green and there will be a microphone when you hover over your video)?
3. Can the system can hear you (the border of your video feed will turn green when you speak if it can hear you)?
4. Is the student connected to audio (if the border of their video turns green and there is a microphone when you hover over the video feed, the system can hear them)?

I CAN’T hear my student, but my student CAN hear me

1. Check your speakers are not muted and the volume is turned up.
2. Check that your speakers/headphones are working (if you could hear yourself when you connected to audio, they are working just fine).
3. Hover over the student’s video feed to see if there is a microphone. If not, the student has not connected to audio, and you should ask them to do so in the chat.
4. If there is a microphone, but their video feed does not highlight green when they speak, the system cannot hear them. The student may be having microphone issues. Have the student refresh the page and reconnect to audio. You may have to have them try a different microphone (use headphones with a microphone, or just use the computer microphone if they have one).
5. If the problem still persists, this is likely a hardware issue on the student’s side. Notify the director of the issue, who can then elevate it to support if necessary.

I CAN hear my student, but my student CAN’T hear me

1. Check that you are connected to audio (Is the microphone green in the tool bar? Is there a microphone when you hover over your video?)
2. Hover over the student’s video feed to see if there is a microphone. If not, the student has not connected to audio, and you should ask them to do so in the chat.
3. If both of you are connected to audio, check to see if your video feed highlights when you speak. If not, the system cannot hear you. Check your microphone is plugged in/charged.
4. Try refreshing your screen and rejoining audio.
5. If the student still cannot hear you, their speakers might be muted. Ask them to turn up their computer volume (which will unmute them).
6. If the student is unable to hear, make them a presenter (by clicking on them in the Manage Participants menu) and selecting “Make Presenter”. Ask them to share their screen so you can verify that their computer speakers are not muted.
7. If that does not work, have them refresh and reconnect to audio.
8. If the problem still persists, this is likely a hardware issue on either your side or the student’s side. Notify the director of the issue, who can then elevate it to support if necessary.

Additional Tips

1. Sometimes a student will pretend to not be able to hear. Asking them to share their screen (after verifying the items in the Hints section above) usually makes the problem magically go away.
2. Refreshing the screen is a quick and easy way to force the system to reconnect to audio, and will fix a majority of problems. This will not kick them (or you) out of the session, it will only reestablish the connection.
3. Make sure to use the chat feature as soon as possible when there is an audio issue. Establishing some kind of communication quickly is key to keeping the student engaged.
4. Make sure that your headphones/microphone is fully charged (if wireless) before the session starts.
5. Leave notes about system issues that students encounter in the session notes (especially if it is constant, or if you suspect the student is attempting to get out of participating) so that future tutors know what to look for, and so that the director can be aware.

If you are experiencing technical issues that cannot be resolved, notify your director who will elevate the issue to support if necessary.