Archive for the ‘Distance Learning’ 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)
Visuals and Dumping the Drone
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Distance Learning, Instructional Design, Presentations on May 29th, 2009
With the Online Modules pilot group, we’ve been discussing ways to make our presentations less wordy, and more visual. I was impressed with this slideshow on dumping the drone form our presentations, and the way it used so few words—yet it’s still easy to follow even without the audio (narration) or script!
It’s geared toward online corporate presentations, but it’s relevant to the elearning modules that a number of faculty in the school are currently developing. There are also some great nuggets in there for any of our presentations. Take a look.
Understanding SOG Webinars
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Best Practice, Distance Learning, Tools, Try it! on May 5th, 2009
We’ve written a couple posts now on webinars at SOG (here and here), but today’s event wins the prize. For those unable to attend today’s webinar, you missed out! I hope you will take the time to watch the archive. It is well-worth a lunch time viewing…but not as good as the live event!
The goals of the webinar were to:
- give all attendees a first-hand look at what SOG webinars look–and act–like
- demonstrate a range of activities available in an SOG webinar (hint: you can do more than PowerPoint)
- Help you see ways a webinar might be useful to your courses, conferences and programs.
While viewing the archive, you’ll hear from numerous SOG colleagues: Donna Warner, Jen Lobenhofer, Joel Galbraith, Nancy Kiplinger, Shadi Eskaf, Cindy Lee. You’ll also hear and read responses to a number of questions from your peers.
The webinar covers: using PowerPoints, playing videos, using multiple presenters, using remote presenters, conducting audience polls (ala TurningPoint and clickers), online group discussions, question moderating, shared web browsing, annotation, session breaks, and much more 
Webinar archive link: http://breeze.unc.edu/p25529382/
Thank you to all those that helped with *and* participated in the event. What did YOU think of it? Did you gain any new insights? What challenges/benefits do you foresee? Please share your comments with us below!
-TLS team
Faculty Spotlight: IDE Online Presentations
Posted by: Greg Whisenhunt in Distance Learning, Faculty Spotlight, How To, Instructional Design, Just for Fun, Presentations, Tools on April 27th, 2009
Indigent Defense Education
- Faculty: John Rubin, Whitney Fairbanks, and Alyson Grine
- Program Manager: Meredith Murray
- Events: Indigent Defense Education
- Type: Narrated PowerPoint: recorded during live presentation
- Tools: PowerPoint, Adobe Presenter, lavalier microphone
- Date: Fall 2008-ongoing
- Clients: Indigent Defense
- Link (view sample):Involuntary Commitment Process
Objective:
Make Indigent Defense training available for clients unable to attend live sessions.
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 »
A (budget) Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste…
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Distance Learning, SOG on March 4th, 2009
Two recent and related blog posts got me thinking this week. From one I got the line “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste” (Lev Gonick). From the other, “crisis + wit = opportunity”(Jon Mott). Both capture the notion that there is an opportunity that would be a shame to waste in the current economic downturn. In the case of the SOG, there is an opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of distance and online learning environments. In many cases, both learners and faculty need convincing. As Mott puts it:
Now that we face growing demand for our services (teaching and learning) at the exact moment that we’re facing resource constraints, we have a golden opportunity to demonstrate the value of our craft.
The “craft” Mott refers to is that of Instructional Design and the enterprise of distance teaching and learning. Over 10 years ago, the Sloan-C Consortium published their 5 Pillars of Quality Online Education that listed areas in which an online learning program should excel to be considered successful. I’ve taken a stab at contextualizing these for the SOG: Read the rest of this entry »
Faculty Spotlight
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Best Practice, Distance Learning, Faculty Spotlight, TLS Projects on February 28th, 2009
DSS Attorney’s Conference Webinar
Faculty: Janet Mason- Program Manager: Jessica O’ Sullivan
- Event: 2009 Winter Conference for Social Services Attorneys
- Type: Webinar (Adobe Connect Pro)
- Date: February, 26, 27 (1.5 days)
- Clients: 24 online; 75? local
- Link (view sample): Day 1–Morning Session
Objective:
Make DSS attorney conference available in a satisfactory format to remote clients unable to travel to Chapel Hill .
Challenges:
- Simultaneously present to local (SOG) and remote audiences.
- Give remote participants equal ability to interact with local audience (ask questions and share comments).
- Allow remote participants to hear local audience comments and questions.
Description:
click to view sample
Janet Mason received inquiries from several clients requesting a means to attend the 2009 Winter Conference for Social Services Attorneys remotely. Travel budget restrictions would have otherwise not allowed them to attend. Janet and Jessica contacted TLS mid-December 2008 (i.e. not last minute) to start discussing what options would be available for the February event. Videoconferencing and simple video recordings were eventually ruled out for various reasons, and it was decided to attempt a live simultaneous event with the face-to-face (f2f) conference. The online event received a unique course code, and course marketing, pricing and registration was identical to the f2f event.
Expectations for live interaction were set sufficiently low for online participants in the event interaction from remote audience would not be supported. The IT division was able to devise and test a solution which would both share conference presentations, and permit remote audience participation… Read the rest of this entry »
Distance Learning Preferences Poll: To listen or Read?
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Best Practice, Distance Learning, How To, SOG, Tools on February 9th, 2009
There’s often a difference between what we prefer, and what we really do. This issue is seen in distance learning preference as well. Most people generally prefer face-to-face instruction, but we’re all capable of learning in different ways, and do so on a regular basis (informally) while listening to the radio, reading an article etc. We wouldn’t want all our learning to be classroom delivered.
In the distance learning world, instruction and knowledge is technologically mediated (delivered), and can generally take the form of temporal or time-based media (audio, video, presentations, lectures), or non-temporal media (text, images, slides only). When we’re in a hurry, or are only marginally interested, we often prefer text which is easily skimmed. There are times when we want to hear a good lecture, or casually listen while doing other things…and selectively pay attention when we get to the good (interesting) parts. Each has its merits. One is not “better” for learning than the other…at least not on those grounds)
But I’m curious, Which do you prefer? To read or to listen?, and perhaps more importantly, if your online SOG training were to be presented in this way, which do you think you’re more likely to sit down and actually “do”?! Take the Poll (omit your name if you wish)
TurningPoint: Why use TurningPoint?
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Best Practice, Distance Learning, How To, Presentations on February 4th, 2009
Here’s a summary from SOG brownbag participants of great reasons/ways to use TurningPoint:
-Increase interaction
- increase likelihood of participation over “raise your hand” questions (Rich D.)
- Engage your audience and involve participants in your presentation. (Rich D.)
- Increase trainee attentiveness (TLS).
- empower audience with instant results “most of us chose ‘D’, why was that wrong?”
