Web Conferencing the Next Step in Online Educational Tools

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Web Conferencing the Next Step in Online
Educational Tools
Tom Duda Walters State Community College
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Overview

• Why web conferencing is the next logical step in
  online course development.
• Problems with the asynchronous learning model.
• Reasons to consider adding conferencing to a
  course.
• What makes a good conferencing system.
• Conferencing systems we reviewed.

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How Many Teach Online Classes

• Key Problems/Issues with online learners
• Students not asking questions
• Issues with timely class participation
• Lurking vs. Active participation
• Instructors not actively involved in the class
• Addressing Learning Styles
• Can we address the different learning styles in
  an asynchronous online class.

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Learning Styles
Student Learning and Teaching Effectiveness
Development. SLATED for Success, is to
increase student learning and engagement through
faculty and student recognition of diverse
student learning styles and incorporation of
multiple modalities of teaching methods in an
effort to engage students more fully in their
educational environment, thus increasing student
learning.
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Typical Ways Instructors Address Students Needs

• Send more emails
• Discussions forums
• Using chat tools or IM
• Looking at web conferencing

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Why Use Web Conferencing

• Cost of transportation (especially last summer)
• Ease of access to information anytime anywhere
• Option of recording conferences for later access

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Features

• User Friendly
• Slideshows
• Application Sharing
• Multiple OS Support
• Control passing
• Remote control

• Scheduling
• Chat tool
• Whiteboard
• Recording/Playback
• Video conferencing
• Pricing

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Types of Conferencing Systems

• Free

• Paid

• Webex
• Go to Meeting
• Live meeting
• Elluminate

• Institution based alone
• Vmukti
• DimDim
• Hosted off campus
• WizIQ
• DimDim

http//thinkofit.com/webconf/realtime.htm
http//cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/
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Systems We Tested

• Vmukti
• DimDim
• WizIQ
• Elluminate
• Microsoft Live Server

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VMukti
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VMukti
Same view in Presenter or Attendees
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WizIQ
Presenters View
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WizIQ
Attendees View
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WizIQ

• Pros
• Easy to use
• In expensive 49/yr
• Expandable up to 500 students/session
• Records presentation
• Large set of shared presentations in many fields
• Allows the download of videos as a executable
  files

• Cons
• Desktop sharing does not work very well requires
  additional software

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DimDim
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DimDim
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DimDim

• Pros
• Easy to use
• Easy scheduling
• In expensive 99/yr
• Expandable up to 100 students/session
• Easy desktop sharing
• Records presentation

• Cons
• Use of sharing audio/video controls were
  confusing to students.
• Downloadable files took additional work to make
  them useable on a web site

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Student Feedback

• The system worked well on my end. I would like to
  eventually get a microphone to join in the chat.
  The shared desktop would be a great tool I think
  for future presentations.
• The presentation was informative .., the
  meeting went smooooothly. Thanks for putting this
  together. Ali
• I think this is a terrific idea. ... The
  presentation was great, and I was impressed with
  how easily one thing flowed to another.
  Everything for that, on this end, went very
  well.. Thank you for caring about your
  students enough to do this!
• Everything worked very well tonight, I had no
  problem with the speed of the presentation.
  Thanks again
• glad all the kinks could get worked out. looks
  like this is a good format for doing these kinds
  of presentations

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Student Feedback

• Mr. Duda,
• I found the session very informative, and I got
  to ask questions that I got an immediate answer
  to. I also like being able to put a face to the
  person I am corresponding with. I am a "techie",
  I love new innovations and can see that this
  could be a very useful tool for many students.
  Thanks for taking the time to do this for us.
  Thanks again for the session,
• Mr. Duda,
• I really enjoyed listening to the conference
  last night, it felt more like a classroom
  setting. I would like to attend more of them in
  the future. Sorry I couldn't think of a lot of
  questions to ask, but I'm sure I will have some
  in the future. Thanks for giving us the
  opportunity to try this out My connection worked
  great, I have a cable modem.
• I found conference very useful....It I didn't get
  a chance to participate but I watched the
  video...and I learned few new things....

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Issues of Concern

• Band width
• Broadcast location
• Student band width
• Liability issues
• Student environmental issues (whats in the
  background)

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Conclusions

• We chose the option of using both services
  upgraded version of WizIQ since most
  presentations are usually PowerPoint, PDF or
  Whiteboard presentations.
• We use the free DimDim when we are working with
  Screen sharing.

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In Closing

• I think that the feedback that I continually
  receive from my students shows that web
  conferencing is one tool that can help close the
  gap in meeting the needs of addressing student
  engagement in online learning, and why it is the
  next step to improving online learning.

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Other Considerations

• If you have the funds DimDim enterprise is
  reasonably priced or if you have good technical
  support there is an open source appliance
  available at Source Forge.
• Vmukti is also a tool that is available as an
  Open Source tool.
• If you are looking for a personal tool WizIQ is
  also a great choice.