Urabe Hiromi Webinar Reflection Webinar

Educ 190

Choosing the topics and webinars to attend was no easy task. I tried SimpleK12 first. It seemed like there were a lot of topics to choose from, but later on, I kind of felt that there were actually not enough to choose from. Most of the topic choices were basically just similar something to do with apps. So I tried looking in other sites. There were not much as well that suited my interests and the available time I had. After a few clicks, I did find good topics from www.edweek.org and www.blackboardcollaborate.com. I have already chosen the main webinar that I would be attending (A Day in the Life of a Blackboard Collaborate Professor), but I also noted 4 other webinars as backups. I ended up doing 3 out of the 5. So the final list of the webinars I chose looked a little like this:
How I Learned to Let Students Learn: My One Great Lesson Last Year 6:00 AM - 6:30 AM, Wed, Feb 22, 2012 Presented by Deven Black https://www2.gotomeeting.com/join/462435154/106543154 Webinar ID: 462-435-154

When Cyberbullying Spills Into School 03:00:00 a.m. Friday February 24, 2012 Presenters: Barbara-Jane Paris, principal, Canyon Vista Middle School in Austin, Texas Nancy Willard, executive director, Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use Moderator: Michelle R. Davis, senior writer, Education Week Digital Directions www.edweek.org/go/webinar/Cyberbullying

A Day in the Life of a Blackboard Collaborate Professor 02:00:00 a.m. Wednesday February 29, 2012 Event location: Web Conference using Blackboard Collaborate https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2011010&password=M.359F811F3F976EB7AAEF700D5E1DE2&username=Hirom i%20Urabe

Choosing Apps that Support Instruction: Tips for Administrators Wednesday, February 29, 2012 4:00 AM - 4:30 AM SGT Presented by Susan Brooks-Young https://www2.gotomeeting.com/join/856788314/106603785 Webinar ID: 856-788-314

10 Ideas for Using Mobile Devices Offline to Motivate Learners Thu, Mar 1, 2012 1:00 AM - 1:30 AM Presented by Shelly Terrell https://www2.gotomeeting.com/join/447973386/106618926 Webinar ID: 447-973-386

How I Learned to Let Students Learn: My One Great Lesson Last Year
6:00 AM - 6:30 AM, Wed, Feb 22, 2012 Presented by Deven Black https://www2.gotomeeting.com/join/462435154/106543154 http://simplek12.titanpad.com/137

The first webinar I attended was really boring. It wasnt really that much. The presenter just talked and told stories (well, I should have figured that out from the title of the webinar). He was just reading his slides, verbatim. The slides seemed like they were his subtitle. I wasnt really very happy with it; good thing I still had other webinars lined up. But, at least I got to familiarize myself with the webinar tool GoToWebinar/GoToMeeting. Here are some screenshots of the webinar.

A slide presented at the webinar

Backchannel for the webinar, www.simplek12.titanpad.com/137

Notes from the webinar

When Cyberbullying Spills Into School The next scheduled webinar entitled When Cyberbullying Spills Into School seemed really interesting. Unfortunately, I didnt wake up on time (it was supposed to be 3AM) and I ended up missing it. But prior to the meeting, they were asking attendees to download a free PDF file for the webinar. I downloaded it and was able to skim it a bit. I will attach the PDF (if anyone would want to read it). I suggest reading the article written by Michelle Davis entitled Cyber Bullying.

A Day in the Life of a Blackboard Collaborate Professor

02:00:00 a.m. Wednesday February 29, 2012 Presented by Peter Campbell https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2011010&password=M.359F811F3F976EB7AAEF700D5E1DE2&username= Hiromi%20Urabe

The third webinar was my main webinar choice. Since I was worried that I would miss it again, I stayed up all night until 2AM for this hour-long webinar. Unlike the first webinar I attended, this webinar was not boring at all. He was really able to make the whole presentation enjoyable and appealing, although from the title, it would seem like the presenter would just tell his stories/experiences again, like what happened in the first webinar. The webinar was great, I felt more connected and it felt more real since the presenter was using both video and audio features for the webinar using Elluminate. Elluminate was easier, more convenient and more engaging than GoToWebinar/GoToMeeting. What was nice about this webinar was that there was really interaction between the presenter and the audience. He fully utilized the webinar tools features. He enabled the microphones for those who wanted to ask questions, but people could also still use the integrated chat box if they prefer it. It was really nice to hear other voices/people and not just the presenter; this made the webinar feel more genuine. I was really impressed with Blackboard Collaborate (BC) after his presentation. He said that he needed to address the increasing rates of attrition and drop-outs in the course Bio101 so he deployed BC and aimed to engage the students better in the course with it; and it was effective. Campbell was really able to take us in a day (9AM to 7PM) in his life as a BC Collaborate professor teaching Bio101 from his home while displaying the cool features of BC. I even felt like I was one of his students enrolled in Bio101.

At the start of the webinar

Recorded audio of him welcoming the students in his course uploaded in their BC page.

Students can record audio files introducing themselves (Getting to Know You activity)

With BC, live lectures can be done from their homes (ex. Live lecture on photosynthesis)

Question and answer during/after presentation.

For assessment, those not getting it can go to a new room (breakout room) for further explanations, while those who were able to understand can go on with lecture/activity.

Can show/link out youtube videos or embed videos, and audio format of lectures are downloadable.

Above is the instruction for a podcast activity (instead of reflection papers). Make students digital creators as well.

Can record meetings and presentations, upload powerpoint materials, and online resources. It is convenient in reviewing content and individual participation.

Peer guides and virtual help desk. Collaboration window, app sharing and show live desktop

Distant learning and seminar. Import from Moodle.

Polling, voting, and answering questions were done during the webinar.

Survey was also done.

I think what made this webinar more appealing was the webinar program used: Elluminate. I just have to repeat what I said earlier that having video and audio features to it makes the experience better and much more interesting. The presenter also demonstrated the program/app and did not just talk about it or showed pictures/screenshots. He went to the actual site and navigated through. He gave us a feel of how he really uses them in his class and showed us some sample works of his students. From that, he was also able to share some cool activities for students like instead of writing introductions about themselves or writing reflection papers, he made them create podcasts. He also made an online role-playing activity where students had to debate or participate in a forum of some sort in their BC page while they remain to speak/write as their assigned/chosen character. Those were just a few cool examples of how he made his class an online one.

Choosing Apps that Support Instruction: Tips for Administrators

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 4:00 AM - 4:30 AM SGT Presented by Susan Brooks-Young https://www2.gotomeeting.com/join/856788314/106603785 Backchannel: http://simplek12.titanpad.com/145

My fourth webinar was so-so. I was a bit disappointed since the apps were just mentioned and were not really shown or demonstrated. I did like the resource page that was created by the presenter for the webinar.

Checked the actual resource page.

We had a little activity where we used www.corkboard.me

Blooms taxonomy as a guide in choosing apps.

infographics for iPad apps

Infographics for Android apps

Overall, the whole experience of choosing and actually attending the webinars was great and stirring, since it was relatively a new experience for me and its just amazing to have a chance to connect and learn with people from other countries its like being in a big class with them. I would really like it more if the scheduled times were not as early, but it was workable nonetheless. I would definitely attend more webinars if I get the chance to.