EDLD 5352, Reflection of Web Conference, March 12, 2011

I participated in the Web Conference on Saturday morning. There were 56 people involved in the discussions, and at times, it was difficult to keep up. As Dr. Abernathy stated in the beginning of the session, please do not play with the buttons! This made it hard to keep up with the questions and what everyone was typing as the screen expanded and then resized. Also, the mic’s gave problems occasionally, sound could be heard and then would cut out, along with static. Once this was fixed, it became easier to continue. I didn't know alot about web conferencing before. This is my 2nd conference to attend. There was a lot of communication between students, asking and answering questions before Dr. Abernathy could read them (as well as myself). It was very fast-paced. It was important to be focused and keep up. At times, it was difficult to keep up with so many questions at the same time. Overall, this is a VALUABLE tool as the communication feature, which allows for quick response and immediate feedback with all involved in the sessions. This enables the learning community to become stronger through the exchange of ideas and questions/answers. As I have read the transcripts that have been posted from previous weeks, some of the questions became redundant (about readings, syllabus, discussion board, etc.). As Dr. Abernathy stated about the courseware, this is not uploaded by Lamar and some files are wrong in that the upload from previous classes are used instead of updated files. They are doing their best to correct/keep updated information available. For assignments, she stressed to “Google” everything! It is virtually easy when using this tool to find information. For Action Plans for Week 4, use Google to view examples. We need to create something unique that fits our situation. As the session continued, I was typing a question to pose and I was exited from the session. I logged back in and was accepted, and as this happened another time, I tried one more time to finish up the session, got in right at the end, and now it was time for “play” with the buttons – microphone, etc. I scrolled back to read what I missed and had to keep going back and forth to follow. I found it hard to follow along as I am given a small screen that I’m not sure how to expand. A few more tries may be helpful! I think it would be beneficial for everyone to attend a Web conference as others have the same questions that I have. It became frustrating, however, when there was side talk not pertaining to the discussions at hand, which led to much more scrolling, losing my place, etc. There was also alot of discussion to clarify the week 4 assignment and other questions pertained to testing for LCE and ILD. Confusions for me were the many questions going back and forth, repeated questions, and skipping around which became hard to follow as well. However, overall, I do believe that web conferencing is valuable with immediate feedback and learning. It may be interesting to try this through texting, as I am sure the capabilities are there. With students so tech savvy, this is the way to go!