LINQ Session 3-2: Selected Workshop “Effective Collaboration”
Webinars for Effective Collaboration
13th of May 2015 (LINQ Conference day 2): 11:30 – 13:00 in Room Heine
Facilitators: Alastair Creelman (Linnaeus University, Sweden), Markus Schneider (Karlstad University, Sweden), Torhild Slåtto (Flexible Learning Norway), David Röthler (PROJEKTkompetenz.eu, Austria), Lotte Nørregaard (Brock Online Academy, Denmark), Hróbjartur Arnason (University of Iceland)
Description of the interactive Workshop Session:
Webinars are frequently used for synchronous online meetings with up to several hundred participants, using popular platforms such as Adobe Connect, Webex and Blackboard Collaborate. All too often the tendency is that with more participants the level of interaction decreases and many webinars become simply one-way communication in the same way as the traditional academic lecture in a large lecture hall. However, gathering a large number of interested parties in one online meeting is an excellent opportunity to discuss, exchange experience and build networks.
The facilitators in this workshop have been working in different projects developing methods and tools for making webinars more participatory and extending the discussion beyond the set times of the actual webinar.
Participation can be enhanced in a number of ways both by using built-in tools such as polls, chat, breakout groups and common whiteboard and by integrating other tools and working spaces in parallel with the webinar platform (Padlet, TitanPad, Google Drive, Facebook etc). In addition effective webinars depend on careful planning, clear objectives and ground rules as well as a webinar “choreography”, moving between pre-set layouts and making it clear what type of interaction is expected in each phase of the webinar (Zieliński, K et al 2013). Participants can be active both before the webinar by brainstorming suggestions for discussion and after the webinar by providing an arena for continued discussion and networking.
This workshop aims to be a practical example of how to integrate a classroom workshop with online participation as well as providing examples of how to extend the discussion and interaction beyond the boundaries of the webinar. We intend to investigate the quality criteria for effective webinar practice and pose the question: how can we create a synchronous and inclusive arena for creative collaboration? It will build on existing best practice studies (Badia & Colosimo 2013, Mohorovicic et al 2011, Slåtto 2011) as well as being part of our present project Webinar for interactive and collaborative learning. The session will be run on Adobe Connect and will include both onsite and online participants.
This workshop addresses the conference theme of opening up education and exploring new methods for open collaboration.
Set-up of the Workshop Session:
Pre-session. Short film and information to attract both on site and online participants. This includes a couple of questions to consider before the session. Distributed via social media, including project’s Facebook group.
Introduction: Planning a webinar, guidelines and experience. (10 minutes)
Group discussion: key quality factors for an effective webinar, opportunities/limitations? (20 minutes)
Feedback from groups. (5 minutes)
Effective webinars – short demonstration of how to extend the discussion beyond the webinar. This will be lead by a project member online. Online and onsite participants can participate in the webinar room. (15 minutes)
Group work: how can I use this in my own work? Potential applications of the techniques discussed. (20 minutes)
Summing up. (10 minutes)
Post session
All results of the session including group discussions will be posted on a common online workspace and made available to all. The input sessions of the workshop will be recorded and made available on the same workspace as will any slides used in the session. All participants will be encouraged to continue the discussion on the project’s Facebook group.
References
Badia, G. and Colosimo, A. (2013) Best Practices for Engaging Users in a Web Conferencing Environment, ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings 2013, http://www.asee.org/public/conferences/20/papers/6907/view#sthash.HUWdUJfw.dpuf
Mohorovicic, S.; Lasic-Lazic, J.; Strcic, V.(2011) Webinars in higher education, MIPRO, 2011 Proceedings of the 34th International Convention, May 2011, http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/icp.jsp?arnumber=5967253
Slåtto, T (2011) Hvordan arrangere et webinar? Norsk forbund for fjernundervisning og fleksibel utdanning, http://www.nordvux.net/portals/0/_dokumenter/2013/hvordan_arrangere_webinar.pdf
Zieliński, K et al (2013). Webinar Methodology ver. 2. “Webinar 2 Learn – video conference use for adult learning” project, Leonardo da Vinci – Lifelong Learning Programme. http://webinar2learn.eu/upload/files/0/40/w2l_metodyka_EN_nowa.pdf