(u06a1) Attend a Live Webinar

I have attended webinars before so it was not a completely new concept.  I have not, however, actively looked for webinar resources in the past.  All of the ones I have attended were either for assignments or professional development through my district.  I was excited about being able to choose a webinar that actually interested me.  There were many topics on the given websites that I was really curious about.  Time became my first obstacle.  Unfortunately, a lot of the topics I was most interested in were either during the time that I am actively teaching classes, or when I am working at my other jobs.  I found that trying to find a webinar within the week that fit into my busy time schedule greatly narrowed the choices.  I ended up choosing a 10pm-11pm Discovery Education webinar called “Evaluating Student Knowledge: Formative Assessment with Discovery Education-- a Discovery Education Science TECHBOOK.”  The last thing I really wanted to do was sit through yet another discussion of formative assessment, but it fit in the schedule and I was curious about Techbook.

The show was very easy to access through Discovery Education.  Registration and log-in was simple and efficient.  There was no learning curve to the process as it was very simple and straightforward.  The audio was clear and the presenter offered help if needed.  The show worked by the presenter sharing her desktop to us and then giving a ppt presentation and in the end a little bit of real time examples with the Discovery Education Techbook.  The presentation and format itself worked well and the presenter was clear and knowledgeable.  The biggest weakness was that by 10:30pm I was fading fast and the ppt was not keeping my attention.  I tried chatting and participating with the other attendees in order to stay on task but I was definitely forcing myself to remain engaged rather than naturally being engaged by the topic and presentation.

           I would definitely participate in another webinar if it was a topic I was really interested in.  I think that the potential opportunities for learning not only from the presenter but also from other teachers are vast.  I can also see the application of a webinar to the classroom environment.  If you could find webinars on class topics or even create them, it would be a great way to get kids connected in a different way.  It might also be a really neat way to swap information from one location to another.  Teacher or students from different schools could set up webinars and teach not only their students/peers but those from another school.  Then all the students would be able to interact.  It could create new insight, new friendships, and expand the students understanding beyond the typical classroom environment.