Yesterday, I attended a live webinar, "Online Speech Therapy: Hot Questions, Cool Answers," broadcast by eSchool Media, Inc. I didn't realize when I first registered for the webinar that I actually used to receive email newsletters from eSchool News, which is part of the same company. They offer a lot of great resources related to educational technology.
When I initially set out to find a live webinar to attend this week, I had an unexpectedly difficult time finding one! After trying the sites recommended by my course and doing multiple web searches for "free webinars for teachers," I realized that many sites were either not offering their webinars in a live format or else they were on a summer hiatus. I got excited when I finally did come across a site that offered live webinars that not only sounded interesting but also applied to what I teach. However, quickly discovered that you had to upgrade to a paid account to register. Undeterred, I kept searching using different search terms and finally stumbled across the Online Speech Therapy webinar that was being presented on Thursday.
While I am not a a speech-language pathologist, I thought this topic was very relevant to my job as an online teacher. Over the past few years, I have had several students with IEPs for speech who received services through online virtual speech therapy. I always wondered how exactly the process worked, and I received answers to the questions I had from the presentation. Here are my thoughts on the webinar I attended, as well as live webinars in general:
What were the strengths of the show format?
The webinar I attended was broken into three parts, with time for questions from attendees in-between. The host introduced each topic, and then each of the two presenters elaborated on that topic. One strength of this format is that the presentation maintained a consistent pace and flow and it stayed on schedule.
Participants could enter their questions into a Q&A pod, and those questions could only be seen by the host/presenters. While participants could type in questions at any time, the presenters typically answered them only during the Q&A breaks. I think this helped maintain the flow of the presentation without multiple interruptions. Typing the questions privately could also be a plus because some people are not comfortable asking questions in public. For those individuals, it would be nice to be able to type them, instead of being put on the spot with a microphone, and also nice to have some anonymity in asking the questions.
What were the weaknesses of the show format?
While having the presenters only answer questions at designated times and at the end of the presentation really maintained the flow and kept the webinar on track, I feel like there would have been more of a personal connection if the questions had been answered immediately. I felt disconnected from the presenters because I really had no interaction with them. While I learned a lot from the presentation, it would have been nice to have some interaction among the presenter and attendees or to at least have my questions acknowledged and addressed to me by name during the presentation.
Would you participate in future shows of this nature?
I would definitely participate in a live webinar again. I learned a lot from the presentation, and it was helpful to have my questions answered in real-time.
How could this type of webcast be incorporated into the classroom?
Since I teach at a cyber school, my online synchronous lessons are very similar to the live webinar format. I present content by sharing PowerPoint slides, PDF or image files, and even websites on the screen, and then present orally using a microphone. My students can also interact with me and each other using microphones or by typing or manipulating items on the screen. These presentations can be recorded so that students who weren't present can watch the recording, or students who were present can go back and review. Parents are also able to watch the live presentation or the recordings to see what their kids are learning and to help support their children in their schoolwork. Students in a traditional brick-and-mortar school could benefit from webcasts, especially recorded ("non-live") ones for the same reasons. If lectures, demonstrations, experiments, or even students presentations were broadcast and recorded, parents at home or work could tune in, or students and/or parents could review those recordings at a later time while preparing for a test.
How might you use it with students? As attendees or broadcasters?
I will continue to use this with my students, in the form of attendees AND broadcasters. Since my students cannot present projects or speeches in person, I would like to utilize the web-conferencing technology more often to allow students to show off their work and practice their public speaking skills.
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