Leadership Part A- Brainstorming Session

For the leadership project, my group decided to use Vyew to conduct our web-conferencing.  We decided to this tool since it was free and available all the time, unlike others which offered a free limited day trial or cost money.  We were asked to record our session, so a group member so kindly used screencast-o-matic to record our session.  Then, she uploaded it on to YouTube.  Take a look at what we were able to accomplish!

There were definitely some perks to using a web-conferencing tool to discuss a project.  It was really nice to be able to collaborate together.  It was the first time any of the group members used such a tool, so we spent a little time playing around with the various tools it had to offer.  By far, the best part was that we were all able to talk and collaborate.  Also, we could talk while editing a document.  We had the ability to talk and chat which worked out well for me when my "talk" button was not working.  One person in my group actually used her webcam for a short period of time.  I can see how using a webcam could enhance a web-conference.  I have had other projects in the past in which my group would meet on GoogleDocs and discuss via chat how we were going to set up the project.  I really enjoyed the talking aspect of web-conferencing.  It was nice to hear voices and connect with people in such a manner   and not having to wait for people to respond or type an answer.

However, there are some downfalls to web-conferencing as well.  One of our biggest tasks was finding a time that worked well for everything.  This however, seems to be a downfall for any type of group project, but it always seems to be more difficult when the people all have jobs and are in different time zones.  Once we were able to find a time for a meeting, we played around with Vyew to try and lessen any problems we may encounter.  But as you can see if you watch our recorded session, we ran into a couple issues.  I was not able to get my "talk" button to work, while another group member, could not get her "talk" button off to stop the constant echoing.  Since my "talk" button would not work, I had to resort to using the chat, while everyone else was communicating via microphone.  While it was a bit annoying, at least I was able to find another method to communicate.

Overall, I would say that we learned a lot and enjoyed the web-conference.  We even set up another date and time to continue our group work.  I feel that the more we use this tool and become familiar with it, the more we will like it!