Post #4
Webinar ~ definition: Web based seminar , a presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is transmitted over the Web. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/Webinar.html
WebEx
~ web conferencing and collaboration solutions. WebEx combined real-time desktop sharing with phone conferencing.
~ Predominantly a business tool
~ is used by over 3 million people to stay connected
~ reaches many people at one time
- Regular package you communicate with up to 25 people *$49/month, unlimited sessions
- Event Centre reaches up to 1000 people *$99/month
- Special set-up can be arranged for conferencing/presenting up to 3000 people
~ presentations can be made using video, multimedia and interaction tools
~ live presentations
~ reaches world-wide
How does WebEx work?
- Software is delivered as a service; you need to subscribe to
- Can be used from any computer with an internet connection; most smartphones work as well
- Invite who you want to participate (over email, IM or text). The invited participants click on the invitation you sent and join you on-line (they do not need to subscribe to WebEx).
- You are able to pass control to others in your session to present to the group
- Sessions may be recorded and will be available to you on your site; you can share the recorded session with others by linking them to the site.
- Training catalogues and videos are available to browse and watch for users to learn how to use WebEx and to learn about what options are available to them. http://www.webex.com/howto/index.html There is an excellent FAQ page that links you to example videos and gives a lot of guidance on who to contact or how to find what you are looking for. http://www.webex.com/faqs.html
WebEx has many amazing features – at a price. It is an excellent service but would be costly for a school-based project. You would have to be very well organized in your unit that you are teaching for this service to be a valuable investment for your class. It would be so awesome to be able to connect with a variety of people/classes at the same time to share ideas and information. Everyone involved would be enriched! However, as with any real-time presentations it may be difficult to connect with a wide variety of classes due to time zone differences.
1 comment:
I'm familiar with WebEx, and I think you correctly identify it as a specialized tool set for organizations that can afford it. Of course, we use Elluminate, which has become Blackboard Collaborate, which also incorporates some of the features of Wimba. I think this is an area that is quite unfrozen at the moment. There will likely be a lot of products coming on the market to address this very real need -- and I hope some are in the reach of educators.
I've seen some very inventive mashups of free services -- specifically Skype (which you discussed earlier) and UStream.tv with wiki's and google docs. But services like UStream, as good and as free as they are, can be a little dodgy to work with. Reliability and quality aren't always what you wish they would be.
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