I have been excluded from participating fully in on line training because the microphone in my work laptop does not work. This is a manufacturing fault that was not detected prior to Covid because there was no necessity to use it. The computer is now out of warranty (bought in 2016!)

I have tried to address this by buying a physical microphone that can be plugged in via the audio jack or usb. These are quite freely obtainable since Covid. They tend to work well for a while and then start to malfunction. This is in part due to unplugging and wrapping the cable up when I pack up my laptop. The cable will break and the device stops working.

Another workaround is to join the MSTeams training using two different devices. I mute my laptop and use my mobile phone speakers and microphone. I use the screen on my laptop to read the slides (too small to view properly on my mobile phone).

When I am teaching an on-line class joining the class on two devices has the advantage that I can see when students raise their hands on my mobile phone, while presenting slides on my laptop. However this is not ideal, it can take a extra minutes to join the meeting. Even if I allow for this, sometimes an unstable internet connection prevents me from joining the second device in good time.