I have used and helped colleagues use all different types of web conferencing software. This year my district is using WebEx. I used Adobe Connect a few times but am not proficient in its usage. As I entered the web conference on August 28 at 11:00 AM I tried to follow the assignment posted saying we needed to go to the left and adjust our sound. I ended up going to the left and accidentally telling Dr. Abernathy to lower her voice. I quickly realized that was a way to talk to the leader of the discussion. One of the first questions was what Cohort we belong. I haven’t the slightest idea what Cohort I belong, so I felt a little panicked that I did not have all the information needed for the conference. After the conference begun the sound was echoing but I could handle such problems. I tried to follow the spoken conversation and the written conversation.
About 10 minutes into the conference Dr. Abernathy’s voice could no longer be heard. So, we continued the discussion via text chat. After 10 or more minutes Dr. Abernathy realized her headset had been set for mute. So, we could continue hearing what Dr. Abernathy was saying. Most of the conference was in helping one person who was having difficulty downloading Photo Story to her computer. Some of the information covered though was Dr. Abernathy explaining that the assignment this week was to create a movie about ourselves. It was realized then that the IA’s and Dr. Abernathy were not aligned. Dr. Abernathy stated she would need to get with her IA’s so her expectations were realized. It is a little disconcerting to know that the instructor is giving us one set of instructions; yet, the people grading us are not privy to that information.
I am glad I have been apart of many web conferences or I might not have seen the benefit if this had been my first. It just felt a little disjointed, but I am sure I just joined a conference that was a little “off.”
I am updating this post at 11:19 AM on Saturday, September 4, 2010:
I thought I would give the web conference a try again on September 4 at 11. I entered the Lamar Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro Meeting site and requested entry. I started this process at 10:52. By 11:05 I thought maybe it was my computer so I tried my other laptop. I requested entry at 11:10. I waited by two computers for my request to enter to be accepted. At 11:14 the message on the screen changes and says "The host has ended this meeting. Thank you for attending." I figured I needed to reenter the meeting. I closed out of all the web sites, accessed my Lamar email that had the link for the site and triple checked that I had the correct date and time. After attempting for the fifth time to enter at 11:16, I have to stick to my previous statement on the web conference experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment