Web Conference August 31, 2011

I attended my first ever web conference on Wednesday, August 31, 2011.  The conference was with the professor of a graduate class I am taking online.  This was an incredible learning experience for me as I hope to hold web conferences of my own for an online that I am teaching myself.  I read somewhere once that real learning is noisy and sometimes may resemble mayhem.  I wouldn’t exactly call our class’ first web conference mayhem, but it certainly took a while for the participants, mostly whom were new to web conferencing, to learn how to use the conference software and their own webcams and microphones.  I arrived early to allow myself time to play with the equipment I had never used, either.  Many other students had the same idea.  For the first few minutes of the conference there was a lot of squeaking and squawking feedback due to too many microphones at the same time.  It did not take long for us to learn that only one microphone should be open at a time.  Our professor was very patient with us as we learned how to operate in this medium new to us.  After the initial problems were resolved, the conference ran very smoothly.  We were able to actually see what our instructor looked and sounded like, as well as see and hear each other.  We were given a short overview of the program, which includes an internship and culminates with the opportunity to sit for the principal’s certification and technology examinations.  After discussing the requirements of the program, we were given time to ask questions.  It was a remarkable experience, and one that we are offered on a weekly basis.  A recording of the conference is also available in our course software.