Several people have asked whether this course could be taught remotely.
This course could be adapted for remote teaching (e.g. using Zoom or similar video conferencing tools) but this will require a lot more one-to-one hand-holding along the way.
Additional preparation will be needed to understand the physical set-up of the individuals in the remote class, and lectures 7 and 8 will need to take place at times dependent on the local calendar of availability of real signals, rather than relying on the predictability of the classroom transmitter.
The practical sessions in Lectures 9 and 10 will be limited due to lack of access to specially arranged signals. This time can be used for more Q&A sessions regarding experiences picking up real signals.
For each practical session, additional time will be needed to allow students time to complete their tasks remotely.
Students will be required to check they have access to proximity to an opening window or outside space where they will have access to line of sight to the chosen satellite signal. The building and positioning of the antenna takes on a bigger importance within the course.
At initial preparation class will be required to prepare remote students to set up everything they need for home-based laboratory working.
The remote version of the course is effectively bringing the final practical session (11) forward to lectures 7 and 8 so the trial and error nature and time dependency of receiving real satellite signals will require much more time and patience to achieve. Having said that, the rewards will be even greater. Those students who are able to get together remotely, might even benefit by spending more time on this. There's also an opportunity to create an atmosphere of competition among the students – the race is on to get those first signals decoded!
So in summary, a lot of challenges, but who knows, someone might want to try this out and report back to the forum!