Web Conferences 101

Web Conferences Do you ever host virtual office hours with your students? Do you ever wish that you could maneuver their desktop to show them how to use their computer, their software, or a website? Do you ever wish that you could annotate their files? Have you ever wanted to bring in guest speakers to your classroom but did not have the budgeting or the right timing of schedules? Are there times in your online class where real time collaboration is essential? Have you ever considered web conferences?

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A web conference is a live meeting in real time over the Internet similar to a conference call but online. We can connect several users online from around the world synchronously using a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. During a web conference, we can share documents, desktops, and websites; text chat, talk over the phone or voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), or video chat; and collaborate on documents. One can record the web conference for posterity and review as well. When used for training purposes, sometimes we interchange web conference with webinar - a web seminar.

Variations Webinar. A webinar is a type of web conference. It is a combination of the words web and seminar. The webinar is live. It is similar to a lecture or training presentation. It may or may not be interactive. Although often used interchangeably, a webinar is more of a presentation, often used in education and training, and a web conference is more of a meeting, often used in business.

Webcast. A webcast is a live web stream that is one-way rather than interactive. The host of the webcast streams the audio and video over the Internet. TV networks sometimes simulcast their TV broadcast over the Internet. Since it is a live web stream, the audience must login at a specific date and time to view the webcast. To make it more interactive, some networks will run a live blog, like a Twitter feed, simultaneously during the webcast.

Examples Use your imagination. What could your students do synchronously online in an interactive web conference? What would be an appropriate activity for your discipline? Only you know what would be authentic to your field of study, your curriculum, and your students. To get started, consider these ideas: Visual Arts •Take a web tour of an online art gallery •Share a 3D drawing •Sketch on the whiteboard •Invite an artist guest speaker Health & Community Studies •Take a web tour of health agency website •Share a photo of a microscopic image •Create a poster on the whiteboard •Invite a non-profit agency guest speaker 155

Science & Technology •Take a web tour of an online landmark exhibit •Share a lab report •Annotate a graph on the whiteboard •Invite an industry guest speaker Business Administration •Take a web tour of a company website •Share an Excel spreadsheet •Create a PowerPoint slide on the whiteboard •Invite a corporate guest speaker Humanities & Social Sciences •Take a web tour of an online museum •Share a Word document •Write a story on the whiteboard •Invite an author guest speaker

Merits Web conferencing has been used in business to save money and time on travelling. With the growth of online learning, the potential for web conferencing and webinars is growing rapidly. While traditional distance learning included correspondence with the mailing back and forth of notes and assignments, nowadays, via the World Wide Web, we have more options. Most online programs still rely heavily on reading and writing through a course learning management system (LMS) where students interact through reading lecture notes, responding to discussion forums, and submitting assignments through dropboxes.

However, there are times when it is valuable to meet live in real time like with a web conference or webinar.

Mirrors F2F Learning. Web conferencing is an effective alternative to face-to-face (F2F) learning. Students can text chat, talk with a headset and echo cancelling microphone, and video chat with up to six people. To bridge the gap with the loss of facial, body language, and voice cues, students can use the participant features like raising a hand, a confused face, a thumbs up or thumbs down, or a smiley face; they can even vote and take interactive polls. Additionally, students can take a web tour, share a file, or collaborate on the interactive whiteboard in breakout sessions. Bearing the rules of Netiquette in mind,

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students should be polite and refrain from bullying or flaming (Shea, 2004) in the web conference.

Virtual Office Hours. Since the web conference is live in real time, it can be a great tool for virtual office hours. For example, if a student is having difficulty using a feature in an Excel spreadsheet, they can share their desktop with their professor and trouble shoot the problem with their file. The professor can demonstrate in real time how to use the technology appropriately. There are many communication options during the office hours such as text chat, VoIP, video chat, or the telephone. Likewise, there are many sharing options like share desktop and share files; one can also use the interactive whiteboard.

Guest speakers. Arranging for out-of town guest speakers to come to a college to speak to students may require expensive travel and accommodation costs as well as a great deal of time in planning and scheduling. We can bring a guest speaker virtually to our classroom via web conferencing. Our industry leader can talk to our students and field their questions.

All we have to do is set up and moderate the conference by fielding the chat, audio, video, and interactive whiteboard features. The guest speaker need only take time from their busy schedule to commit to the web conference time slot and logging into the system.

Challenges Web conferencing is a close second to meeting face-to-face (F2F) when synchronous learning is more desirable. However, it also means that learners who want their any time, any place, and any pace option to learn online have to give up their asynchronous choice.

There is a quite a learning curve with the technology. You will need to consider if mastering the technology is of enough benefit to take time away from the curriculum to learn.

Students will also need to purchase a headset with echo cancelling microphone in order to fully participate in the live meeting.

Lecturing. Web conferencing lectures are on par with asynchronous text-based lectures (Skylar, 2009). However, lectures, in general, tend to be passive rather than constructivist.

On the other hand, two-way communication in webinars can build online interactivity and group dynamics (Johnson, Bishop, Holt, Stirling, & Zane, 2001). We can record the webinar for posterity and review. Web conferencing software also has closed captioning capabilities and runs on multiple computing devices such as tablets and smartphones.

Moderating. Professors and students may need training, practice, and support to use web conferencing software (Reushle & Loch, 2008). To prepare students to use a web 157

conference, demonstrate and practice in a blended face-to-face (F2F) class or record a screencast of how to get into and use the software. Additionally, include an agenda or presummary of the webinar, a seating chart, and bios of the participants. For group work, provide students with roles, responsibilities, and task breakdowns as well as evaluations for individual, group, and project work. You can teach students to moderate and grant them moderating privileges as well.

Bandwidth. Some known pitfalls with web conferencing include bandwidth issues with connectivity and slapback delay. Using a headset and echo cancelling microphone, we can talk with VoIP or video chat with up to six people without slapback. However, VoIP and video chat slows down the bandwidth even more. Use the video feature only at the start of a session to introduce participants, then turn the video feature off; you may need to limit the talk feature as well. To further avoid bandwidth and slapback issues, sometimes we can use teleconferencing instead; however, this can be costly to pay long distance charges.

Instructional Design Use a backwards design approach. First, start with your learning outcomes. Second, create your assessments. Third, plan your instructional activities. Finally, choose a technology to enhance the lesson.

Design. Consider your curriculum; look carefully at your accreditation standards, graduate attributes, program learning outcomes, course learning outcomes, and lesson learning outcomes; is the need for synchronous learning worth giving up a student’s any time, any place, and any pace choice to learn online? How will a web conference enhance the learning outcomes? How will you evaluate what the students do in the web conference?

What technologies will you and your students need to learn in order to participate in a web conference? Will a web conference enhance the learning experience?

Develop. Review web conferencing software available to you and your students.

Shareware, like Skype, is a familiar product that many students use to text chat, video chat, and share files. Since Skype can only support two connections at a time, it is more useful for virtual office hours or pair work. Google Hangouts is another simple video chatting software. In industry, many businesses use Adobe Connect, Cisco WebEx, Citrix GoToMeeting, or even Microsoft Live Meeting; there is also shareware like AnyMeeting.

Deliver. Decide what your students will do before, during, and after the web conference.

Before the web conference, you may preview and review vocabulary through a crossword 158

Skype

Google Hangouts

Adobe Connect

Cisco WebEx,

Citrix GoToMeeting

puzzle; concepts through a mind map activity; or demonstrations through a lab experiment. During the web conference, you may have a list of guided questions or activities to complete. After the web conference, you may require that students submit a collaborative paper, presentation, or podcast after their breakout session. The web conference should be authentic, active, and applied.

Technology Both you and your students will need a headset with echo cancelling microphone to prevent slapback from the speakers.

Check your computer for the appropriate type of headset to use.

Some computers only have a USB port for audio, some have only a headset port, some have both a headset and microphone port, and some have a USB and a headset and microphone port. Once you know what kind of port you have, you can purchase a headset with either a USB drive or headset and microphone jack.

AnyMeeting

Zoom

You may also need to download the latest version of Java Script for some web conferencing programs. For many users, the most difficult part of the web conference is downloading the Java applet.

The web conferencing software will prompt you to download the software. Once in the web conference, you will see prompts to test your audio and talk set up with your headset.

References Johnson, E.M., Bishop, A., Holt, A., Stirling, J.A., & Zane, J. (2001). Reflections in cyberspace: Web conferencing for language teacher education. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 17(2), p.169-186.

Reushle, S. & Loch, B. (2008). Conducting a trial of web conferencing software: Why, how, and perceptions from the coalface. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 9(3), p.19-28.

Shea, V. (2004). Netiquette. Retrieved from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/ index.html

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Skylar, A.A. (2009). A comparison of asynchronous online text-based lectures and synchronous interactive web conferencing lectures. Issues in Teacher Education, 18(2), p.69-84.

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