Web Conferencing

On Sunday, my group met to discuss our leadership project.  We met online via web conferencing.  We used Vyew.  As a group we all decided to use that software since it was always available and free (unlike some others that you had to download for a 30 day free trials and such).   However, we did have to record our session and for that we used Screencast-o-matic.  Overall, the video conference went okay.  We had a few minor issues such as mid-conference I was no longer able to hit the "talk" button and my only option to communicate was via the chat box on the bottom.  Due to the fact that everyone else was able to communicate through talking, it sometimes took awhile to get my ideas across. It was nice to be able to talk to one another, while it lasted.  However, when two people are talking at the same time, there is an echo, therefore we had to turn on and off our "talk" button.  Well, a member of our group was not able to turn off her "talk" button and there was a constant echo.  But the talking aside,  it was still nice that we could all edit a page and type what was necessary.  It was also nice to have a variety of ways to communicate by using cameras, chats and a microphone.  

One of the reasons for all of our technical difficulties I think was user error.  If we have had more experience, we may have been able to run things a bit smoother.  So before I would use this program again, I would definitely test out everything again and make sure I had a good grasp on things.  In our defense tough, before the group recorded the meeting, we talked and everything seemed to work just fine.  If I were going to use this program on a daily basis, I may think about inventing in the upgrade and paying for the service as I would assume it may run a bit better.  Overall though, I think the program worked well for what we were doing and I think we were able to run our meeting quite well all things considered.

Web-conferencing can be used in the classroom many ways.  One thing that comes to my mind is pen-pals.  While the students may not be writing to another student, they can be learning about culture from other countries or characteristics about other states.  Students could also discuss with other students in different schools or states various topics.  Another way to use web-conferencing could be using a web cam and having the students could take a virtual field trip as someone leads the field trip.  This way the students could "raise their hand" and interact with the guide allowing them to ask questions.  Web conferencing could also be used afterschool as a means for a group to get together to talk about a project.