Posts Tagged ‘online learning’
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)
Online Learning Communities: Time To Get Wet?
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Govt. 2.0, Local Government, Tools on June 12th, 2009
Within a couple months of my hiring and having gained a better appreciation of what the SOG is all about, it became clear to me that something was missing–online Communities of Practice (CoP). We were the great conveners–regularly bringing communities of practice together face-to-face to learn from us and from one another, and then they all went home…until we did it again. I know this doesn’t capture the ongoing phone and email support we provide our clients, nor the collective toe we’ve stuck in the water, or knee-depth wading we’ve done with our listservs. Some have even waded in quite deep with their wikis and blogs, but in my view, we’ve not yet realized the potential synergies of bridging the experience and expertise of our clients with that of our own in-house experts.
Last year we submitted a grant proposal (unsuccessful) to lay the technical foundation for a NC Land Use Planners Community of Practice–an open forum for government practitioners to learn from each other as well as providing a common platform to engage with School of Government faculty and resources. More than a portal where people come to find resources, a CoP is place where all can contribute resources, and at many different levels. More than a blog, with a single or few authors, a CoP can be “authored” by all subscribers. More than a wiki, A CoP is equally focused on the community and contributers as it is the content they contribute. I think this quote captures much of my thinking on CoP:
“People are the best conduits of information. Studies have shown that workers spend a third of their time looking for information and are five times more likely to turn to a coworker rather than an explicit source of information (book, manual, or database). Time is saved by conferring with members of a CoP. People have tacit knowledge which is not found in a book [or blog, webpage or wiki]. ” (Dalkir 2005).
Such a community space would allow our client groups to: Read the rest of this entry »
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.
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)
Distance Learning options at the SOG
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Distance Learning, Presentations on January 29th, 2009
Here are my slides on distance learning options at the SOG. Press the [cc] button on the player controls to display the slide “notes” for additional info, and note the button for watching the presentation full screen. Some example links may no longer work.
I hope this helps make the options a little more understandable.
-Joel G.
