Web Conference

Last night's web conference may have been cut short, but I think it was a learning experience for everyone involved. One lesson, is that although technology is a wonderful thing it can present problems if all parties involved are not prepared and well informed. The purpose of the web conference was an educational tool but it turned into a sort of chat that was streaming too quickly for anyone to get a grip on themselves and focus on the task at hand. There seemed to be a never ending stream of 'me too's' and 'lol's' as well as mutiple volume complaints. I also found it frustrating that despite numerous posts that toggling your screen would interfere with others, people continued to do this and then others continued to post about their screen which again created a never ending cycle of meaningless chat. I think that if the chat board had an announcement by the professor at the top of the page that welcomed everyone stated the expectations and what to wait for then a lot of these problem could have been avoided. Dr. Abernathy asked everyone to stop, but there is a chance that because people were so busy typing and the chat streamed so quicly, that people were unable to view the requests and continued their meaningless type. I also think that student preparation would have made this process go more smoothly. It seemed as though people had so many questions about microphones, video, topics, etc... Although I was not 100% sure of some circumstances related to the process, I think waiting and listening would have benefited everyone involved. I think the web conferences are a good idea, and I have heard that earlier conferences went much more smoothly than last nights. It is a tool that has its pro's and con's but is definitely worth a shot integrating into the classroom. If I chose to use this tool, I would most likely set up a conference where my students would be in the room physically for the first time. This would allow us to work out any issues and create a great tool for future use. I was a little bummed that the conference was cut short last night, although it was for a good reason. I was not able to gain any additional information related to the course material, I was able to learn about a technology tool and that not everything always goes as planned.