Session 3 was our first verbal chat session via Skype. Although only 9 participants were able to be involved in the conference call at any one time I feel that most people who wanted to contribute were able to and therefore, it is a suitable teaching tool for a small group. However, it did become rather messy with people forming and joining various conference calls at the same time - at one stage I had been "invited" into 3 different conference calls.
The course moderator/teacher would need to set very clear boundaries and "rules" for Skype to be used successfully in teaching.
I have had exposure to Elluminate in online learning and feel it is a far better tool because only one person had access to the voice function at a time. The "teacher" has the ultimate control of the microphone thus being in a better position to direct the discussion threads. (The whiteboard function is main benefit of Elluminate over Skype).
The main benefit gained in our class Skpe session was that it appears that we are forming more of community.
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4 comments:
Hey I don't think I did such a bad job. Not sure if I put you off but it was not that I wanted to go straight to voice chat but others did and that is natural it is designed for voice chat.
We used it quite successfully last semester but then I suppose we did not have the problem of people not being able to get in because of the limit of 9 in a voice conference. However we could have gone to a Skype cast and possibly I should have asked that people did not ring each other or me while the Skypecast is on.
I think I am like you I really liked the Elluminate sessions we did last semester but it is soooo expensive to use.
Skype is cheap ( free) and like you I enjoyed the confusion of having everyone play and get excited by the novelty of it all.
I agree this will wear off but I do think the confusion is a little inevitable and if you tried to be too strict you might turn the excitement and interest level down too early.
My comments were meant to be general and no critism of you. I actually think you did a very good job of pulling it all together when small groups were forming. I particulary liked the way you were in constant contact with all memembers of the group and trying to assist all the class members with their technical issues and still making contributions to the "main" group. My overall impression of the session was positive with me gaining many insights on how to run a successful chat session.
OK I am a little touchy aren't I.
I was a little concerned that others, not you so much Joanne, would get put off by all the cross traffic of ringing and dialing each other. Actually I was a little stunned by it myself.
I was assuming that we would in some way move all at once to a voice conversation.
However, and i should have expected this because of some students familiarity with Skype (which is a good thing), by the time I logged in a voice conversation was already happening and I was invited in so i thought that was a good thing and good place to start.
It is worth observing that introducing a new technology is generally going to raise the levels of confusion - it happens with text based chat too - even though that technology is probably over 40 years old or older if you go back to morse code. You could say the same for Skype it is really just the telephone conference call that people in the old days put up with or enjoyed by listening in on shared lines when the technology of the old wind up phone and operator connected calls was introduced.
The novelty thing actually is a mix of some having experience and some not having the same experience and the experience might be in a totally different context to an educational one. And there some expectations of the educational experience that assume that everything will be controlled and directed and all confusion avoided(there is a fair bit of pressure therefor not to try anything new and only use things that are tried and tested and every contingency fully planned for). But my feeling is you have to start somewhere and you may as well learn as you go - still touch though when things do not go perfectly.
SO thanks for your positives in the later part of your comments here - but that was not as planned as you make it sound and I also was very appreciative of all the other participants attempting to also to resolve the technical issues of those that could not get in to the various chat that were going on.
I think that sort of assistance is invaluable and I agree it does help as you said in your original post for that community to develop and in some respects the learning happens as we all struggle to resolve the issues and learn from our experiences even if they are a little messy. What do you thnk?
Not sure what you are asking - but I definitely think the journey is just as important as the destination especially now that there are so many "facts" just a mouse click away.
If only I could convince my students this! However, I suppose people choose to study at a TAFE to gain qualifications as quickly and simply as possible rather than get an "education" which would include learning from experience.
I understand that one of the aims of the "Melbourne model" is to encourage a broader education experience, maybe these broader degree bases will enable more experience based learning instead of memorising a pile of facts to be regurgitated in an exam.
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