So I guess I have a Twitter account. That is embarrassing. Didn't think it would ever happen. We shall see how it goes. My mind is not closed to it...but almost. The name itself and the corresponding terminology just rubs me the wrong way. I am not looking forward to learning a new piece of software...especially this one.
I liked the way we did the discussion today. It made things interesting to have different discussion leaders. The thoughts and questions that were presented made me think a bit about the topic, so I see it as a productive activity.
The webinar made me laugh. Funny to see how technology can fail us. Good to keep in mind. It seems strange how google chat or skype have much, much better connections. I think for a webinar to be productive it should be short. I feel like the novelty would quickly wear off...that is, if it is anything like the one we did - lecture sort of style. If someone is going to talk at me I want them in the room, not on a poor quality video feed. I think that a webinar could possibly be interactive which could make things interesting, but this one wasn't. It was silly.
Cloud computing makes a lot of sense for school districts. I like the idea of it. Is it right to trust it? I mean, I have a lot of information on gmail that I want to retain. I trust that it will be there when I need it. Should I?
I am really regretting letting so many extra machines get on the network -- I do think that slowed down the video transmission. And I admit that I never even realized they MADE black-and-white Web cams! So I'm not sure the fault can be laid at the feet of Elluminate (it's a product people pay for because of the perception of its higher quality). I've presented/attended in Elluminate before without a problem, I knew UM had a strong network, and we had been reassured that if we had wanted, we could have had all of you online without a problem (one laptop per table was my "safe bet" -- 52 laptops seemed too good to be true). All that being said, I am very sorry that today didn't deliver a more meaningful experience for you. I can't wait to see how you take today's non-optimal outcome and put that new learning to work in your own team webinar.
ReplyDeleteMy previous experience with webinars was "virtual trainings" within my last company. There the emphasis was usually on slides with live voice and interactions (as today) through questions typed in a chat box. I think they can occupy a useful place intermediate between text and a real conversation -- not really a full dialogue, but a situation where you get presented some content and at the end (or in the middle) you get to ask the author questions directly. (More like a traditional lecture class, really.)
ReplyDeleteI am with you Pete. My blog said a lot of the same things. I really liked how we did the discussion. It was meaningful and everyone seemed to discipline themselves pretty well.
ReplyDeleteI have to add my voice to the echo of praise of the discussions in class. It's really enjoyable to be a part of a discussion like that; where you feel like solid intellectual ideas are being tossed out and analyzed by those who genuinely care about them.
ReplyDeleteI'll echo the comments endorsing the class discussion. It was refreshing to have conversations lead by us students, instead of being told what to talk about. I think this is something we should keep in mind when we're in the classroom: sometimes the teacher just needs to let go!
ReplyDeleteI guess the video issues during the webinar didn't bother me that. I didn't really think video would have added much to the learning, so I just tuned out the frozen video issue. In my corporate experience, video conferences were in vogue maybe 10 yrs ago and the video never worked or was hopelessly choppy and useless. Now, it seems like it is more popular to use audio conferences combined with NetMeeting or AppShare to share presentation files. For the Webinar I thought the chat room worked just fine for feeding questions to Buffy.
And I think you make a good point about the name Twitter and all the associated terminology being part of the problem. It all just sounds silly and stupid, so how should I take it seriously?