Archive for the ‘Did you Know?’ Category
Webinars at the SOG: The Numbers
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Did you Know?, Distance Learning, Tools on October 2nd, 2009
Webinars are a major new way we’ve been frugal while providing real value to our clients where and when they need it. SOG’s use of the webinars as a means of reaching out to clients has increased in recent months.
Here are some unofficial numbers as of October 1, 2009:
- 24 webinars conducted
- 5 webinars still scheduled for this fall
- At least 2,599* webinar attendees
- At least 1,105** webinar archive viewings
These figures include the EFC’s webinar use. These days EFC runs about one webinar a month. You can view their webinar schedule here.
Our webinars have overwhelmingly gone off well, but things don’t always go smoothly. Being (mentally and logistically) prepared for technical problems (lost connections, frozen slides, audio difficulties) is important, and TLS can offer tips to help ensure a smoother recovery. We are fortunate in that clients are very forgiving and consistently rate our webinars very highly
You can view some examples below. Recognize the faces or voices? Want to know more? Contact Joel Galbraith AND go talk to your pioneering, trail-blazing, webinaring colleagues about their experience.
Notes:
*The real count is actually much higher, but numbers are difficult to pin down from server data alone since multiple registered clients often attend together around a single computer…but log in as a single user.
**Statistics for webinar archive views are also challenging to interpret, but we clearly distinguish an *additional* 1,105 archive viewings (688 in the Karl Smith Economy Webinar alone)
These numbers do *NOT* include Online Learning Modules (i.e. Indigent Defense Lectures, LME board training, Involuntary Commitment, Judicial College modules)
Webinars: Currently More Than One Flavor Served
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Did you Know?, Distance Learning on April 24th, 2009
Elsewhere in this blog, I’ve discussed webinars generally in the context of being one of the distance learning options we support at the SOG, but I’ve not adequately described them in terms of ice-cream flavors. We’ve now created a few of these interactive events with great success and positive feedback from delighted clients. More recently, a new webinar flavor has emerged from the kitchen for trials–with a third intriguing, likely-to-please flavor still in the works. Note that all SOG webinar flavors are inherently interactive, and at a minimum, allow our clients to ask questions during the event.
Vanilla (an enduring favorite)
- Presenter(s) present with slides and audio (video) from an SOG computer to clients around the State seated at their computers.
- Jen Lobenhofer, Donna Warner, Gail Wilkins and Karl Smith might be cornered for their thoughts on this flavor.
Rocky Road (aptly named for it’s increased complexity, but likely to gaining a steady following)
- The distinguishing ingredient of a Rocky Road webinar is that it simultaneously addresses both a live, face-to-face audience and an online remote audience. This webinar flavor is also known as a “Simulcast” event.
- Janet Mason and Jessica O’Sullivan have enjoyed a generous serving of this flavor and should be consulted for recommendations. Meredith Murray and John Rubin have submitted an order and are already feeling the rocky road part–but looking forward to the tasty payoff.
Goo Goo cluster (it’s all about the goo and clusters–but it’s still in the kitchen labs)
- Goo Goo cluster is a webinar flavor that clusters clients together around single computers (connected to projectors) at select sites around the state to enjoy the online event with each other rather than individually at their own computers. The networking (goo) running throughout this flavor, helps clients stay regionally connected, and also allows for group learning activities.
- Eileen Youens is our chief flavorologist on this one, but don’t bug her yet, this one’s not yet on the menu.
Join us May 5th for a lunchtime, brownbag, *virtual* webinar smorgasborg — an online webinar experience that will tickle your taste buds and have you lining up for more. TLS and other SOG colleagues will cover the why, who, when, where, whats of webinars, and showcase a variety of activities that can be included in webinars. (details to follow in the coming week)
-Joel G.
Poster Theme: Teaching is More than Telling
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Best Practice, Did you Know?, Distance Learning, Instructional Design, Teaching on April 13th, 2009
Our new poster theme emphasizes the truth that teaching is more than telling or presenting. Alone, telling and showing do not automatically result in learning. Learning is most likely to occur when 1) the information presented meets a learner’s needs, 2) when learners adapt the knowledge to their context, and 3) when learners get to practice and demonstrate their new skills or knowledge.
A good teacher always tries to see things from the learners’ point of view… Read the rest of this entry »
Blogs = Websites
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Did you Know?, Presentations, Tools, Try it!, Uncategorized on March 23rd, 2009
view my presentation and a short video on blogs
Today’s blogs are yesterday’s websites. Saying that, however, does not do them justice. Today’s blogs aren’t even yesterday’s blogs–which essentially started out as online journals that allowed the author to easily post daily text entries. Today’s blogs are media-rich, online publishing platforms–while simultaneously being very easy to create, edit and manage.
A blog can be used to:
- publish your thoughts
- update clients on important issues or legislation
- share online resources (articles, websites, media)
- invite discussion about important topics
- solicit conference or training ideas
- extend conference themes beyond event date
- post media (pictures, audio, presentations, documents,video, news feeds)
- foster transparency in local government
- encourage citizen participation
- change the course of elections
- launch a thousand ships
- …and so much more
There are a host of blogs to view out there, but there’s no substitute for simply starting your own–either for personal purposes (www.blogger.com , www.wordpress.com), or for SOG purposes. If you’d like to learn/explore how blogs might help you have greater impact, contact your nearest, friendly neighborhood TLS team member.
Check out Jeff Welty’s blog at : http://sogweb.sog.unc.edu/blogs/ncclaw/
Poster Theme: Less is More
Posted by: Nancy Kiplinger in Did you Know?, Instructional Design on February 19th, 2009
Cognitive overload is the unfortunate by-product of too many topics and too much content or information. When it comes to training and learning, less is usually more. Read more about this in the following snippet, excerpted from Hannum, WH, Training Myths: False Beliefs That Limit the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Training Solutions, Part 1, Performance Improvement Journal, Volume 48, Number 2, February 2009.
Less is More
More content does not equate with better training, more learning, or improved performance (Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars, & Tapangco, 1996). In fact, as training content grows, learning and performance may suffer. Increased training content not only increases the length, and thus the costs, of training initiatives. It also adds an extra burden for the learners. They have to sort through, figure out, comprehend, and understand the additional content. Learners find it difficult to decide… Read the rest of this entry »
