Webconferencing and Open Education

I’m currently watching the recording of a presentation called Where is the open education movement going?, organised by Educause Live, which is:

“…a series of free, hour-long interactive web seminars on critical information technology topics in higher education. Each seminar is delivered live using online audio and video/image presentation technology, allowing you to interact directly with the host and guests through your web browser.”

I wanted to pass this particular presentation along a couple of reasons. First and foremost it involves a discussion on Open Education by some of the key, driving minds in the movement – both as presenters and participants.

Secondly it uses Adobe Connect Pro as the facilitating medium – and is effectively a presentation via web conference. My experiences with web conferencing in the past have been far too monopolized by administrative meetings and job interviews, so it was fantastic to see the framework actually being used to support learning and professional development for a change.

A few points of interest arise here.

First is the discussion that’s taking place in the text chat.  This effectively establishes a space for back-channel discussion, where any of the 70 non-presenting attendees can engage in discussion and expand on topics from the presentation as they’re emerging.  Not only is this a way to give people a voice in the conversation, it’s a valuable means of gaining real-time feedback, whereby presenters can gain a feel for the room and identify questions or areas of confusion.

Secondly is the flexibility. This particular event had 70 attendees.  I wonder whether a face-to-face session would have seen the same number?  Given the caliber of both presenters and attendees alike at the “Where is the open education movement going?” presentation, it is certainly possible.  At the same time I think you could extrapolate this notion to more general events too.

The opportunity to interact with others in a synchronous manner that is independent of geographic location is a powerful – and empowering – thought.  At just a cursory glance, I note that attendees of this particular event came from British Columbia, California, Utah, Washington State, and other points unknown.

Importantly, the fact all aspects of the event were recorded and synchronised – from the visual elements, to the audio, to the text chat – enable me to asynchronously “participate” in the discussion from Australia.  Bringing together this diverse and distributed a group for anything less than a major conference would be virtually impossible, yet via this medium the geographic boundaries are virtually negligible.

There is tremendous value in face-to-face sessions too of course – and in many cases face-to-face is the most desirable option – but I think we should also be thinking of other, more flexible ways to connect, because it throws the door open wide to all sorts of opportunities.

Adobe Connect is by no means the only way this could be accomplished either.  Events are frequently organised using Elluminate, Dim Dim, UStream.TV, as well as virtual environments like SecondLife.  The significance lay in the flexibility and ability to connect from anywhere, and the increased opportunities that exist for non-presenters.

I’m hoping to use this format as a use case for our local exploration of web conferencing, and a way that we might begin to build ties within the institution as well as with colleagues at other institutions.