Web_Conference_reflections

Last Web Conference:
[|http://knightl.blogspot.com/2011/11/last-web-conference.html]

My last web conference of my Master's Degree was thankfully uneventful. I attended the Saturday morning conference on November 5. I had so much difficulty balancing my schedule during this last course and was not able to attend most of the conferences. For this conference I had to send my daughter to her soccer game with friends while my husband and son went to another. The baby stayed with me. I could not use my webcam with the 21 month old baby running around trying to help me type. I was extremely relieved that no additional criteria to the assignments were added during the conference. All the pieces to the comprehensive examination are as posted on Epic. The course embedded assignments, standards reflections, web conference reflections, and Internship field based reflections and summaries are as expected.

I must admit I was a little taken aback by the number of people who plan to turn their work in late. I did not realize that was ever an option. During my entire program I never asked to turn in any assignment late, let alone the final examination for the entire program. I have juggled three children and their schedules, working full time, organizing retreats at my church, and coordinating committees at my church while getting a Master's Degree. I can only assume I am a really good time manager. As the saying goes, I have not walked in their shoes so I must not judge. I am glad to say that I am a better leader at my campus due to the knowledge and experience I have obtained during my time earning my Master's with Lamar.

Thank you to the Educational Technology department at Lamar University for your patience in working with me. You have enhanced my versatility as an educational leader.

EDLD 5370 Week 1 Web Conference
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After beginning my internship class I was completely apprehensive. I had taken a break between my first two classes and the continuation of my degree due to the birth of my third child. Once I started back, many changes had occurred to the program without my knowledge. Once the first assignment was issued, I had a hard time understanding exactly what we were to write. The first conference was scheduled for the evening Tuesday, October 4, which was also the night of my bible study. I hated missing my spiritual formation process. Since the following web-conferences for week one were not occurring until the weekend when the assignment was due, I knew I could not wait to find out the information I needed for the assignment. The web conference really put me at ease. We found out from Dr. Abernathy that we are “proving” to TEA that we have learned each of our standards. That makes complete sense to me. I also appreciated finding out that we will be given the opportunity to correct problems that our IA finds. During the web conference we were told to write the comprehensive exam paper with references. After the reference page we will need to have an appendix with our Curriculum Vitae. I am so glad I made sure to update my curriculum vitae. Dr. Abernathy expressed that each week will be added to the previous week’s work and by week five we will have out comprehensive exam completed. I am not sure though how I plan to change my wiki e-portfolio. I worked so hard on creating and updating my wiki that the thought of having to create a new one is rather exhausting. I am truly hoping that the wiki I created for my degree will be proficient.

Web conference reflection: Feb. 26, 2011
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Success!

I finally have been a member of a web conference that went smoothly. The Saturday, February 26, afternoon conference started on time with very few people having problems. No one made the presenter focus the discussion on there personal problems or their route in the program. There were a few who had questions that were specific to themselves but Dr. Mason answered them quickly and redirected them to the appropriate person to answer their question.

I appreciated that the attendees came with questions to be answered. I came away from this particular conference with a new opinion of the web conferences for this masters program

Thank you Dr. Mason. I am now a believer!

Web Conference Reflection
I have used and helped colleagues use all different types of web conferencing software. This year my district is using WebEx. I used Adobe Connect a few times but am not proficient in its usage. As I entered the web conference on August 28 at 11:00 AM I tried to follow the assignment posted saying we needed to go to the left and adjust our sound. I ended up going to the left and accidentally telling Dr. Abernathy to lower her voice. I quickly realized that was a way to talk to the leader of the discussion. One of the first questions was what Cohort we belong. I haven’t the slightest idea what Cohort I belong, so I felt a little panicked that I did not have all the information needed for the conference. After the conference begun the sound was echoing but I could handle such problems. I tried to follow the spoken conversation and the written conversation.

About 10 minutes into the conference Dr. Abernathy’s voice could no longer be heard. So, we continued the discussion via text chat. After 10 or more minutes Dr. Abernathy realized her headset had been set for mute. So, we could continue hearing what Dr. Abernathy was saying. Most of the conference was in helping one person who was having difficulty downloading Photo Story to her computer. Some of the information covered though was Dr. Abernathy explaining that the assignment this week was to create a movie about ourselves. It was realized then that the IA’s and Dr. Abernathy were not aligned. Dr. Abernathy stated she would need to get with her IA’s so her expectations were realized. It is a little disconcerting to know that the instructor is giving us one set of instructions; yet, the people grading us are not privy to that information.

I am glad I have been apart of many web conferences or I might not have seen the benefit if this had been my first. It just felt a little disjointed, but I am sure I just joined a conference that was a little “off.”

I am updating this post at 11:19 AM on Saturday, September 4, 2010: I thought I would give the web conference a try again on September 4 at 11. I entered the Lamar Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro Meeting site and requested entry. I started this process at 10:52. By 11:05 I thought maybe it was my computer so I tried my other laptop. I requested entry at 11:10. I waited by two computers for my request to enter to be accepted. At 11:14 the message on the screen changes and says "The host has ended this meeting. Thank you for attending." I figured I needed to reenter the meeting. I closed out of all the web sites, accessed my Lamar email that had the link for the site and triple checked that I had the correct date and time. After attempting for the fifth time to enter at 11:16, I have to stick to my previous statement on the web conference experience.