Musings on video conferencing

I can’t let last night’s video conference pass without blogging a little bit about the experience. It was the second time I’ve ever web conferenced at all and the first time I’ve ever used a web cam. Therefore, the fact that I was to moderate the group was somewhat disconcerting ahead of time—A quiet reminder to me when I get impatient with teachers who are reluctant to integrate technology, because they don’t know the hardware or software well enough. That said, though, look where I was last night—Participating in an assignment for my online course, taking charge of my own learning, not letting my reluctance stop me. Reality is that a certain amount of curiosity and personal initiative to learn is required of teachers that are unfamiliar with technology in education.

Two things strike me as the most significant from the video conferencing experience. First, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I enjoyed seeing some of my classmates and my instructor, all in very separate areas of the country. I enjoyed hearing the voices and the thoughts of others studying the same things I am. It’s the part of online learning that I miss—The direct contact with other people. The fact that we have technical difficulties and pets and jobs and laughter was very uplifting to me. My first thought is, “Let’s do this again soon!”

On the other hand, one of the biggest advantages to online courses is the flexibility to work when it fits best into one’s schedule, and although I was happy to compromise for group consensus, last night was not what would have been my personal choice for a work time. My kids were home alone, because their father was at work. In addition, I didn’t get much coursework done last weekend, so I had to dedicate a great deal of time I wouldn’t have, without the impending video conference, the past couple of days to be prepared, putting other job responsibilities on hold. Were these issues a major problem this week? Absolutely not. However, as an online teacher it would seem to me to be extremely important to schedule such conferences sparingly as too many would negate the advantage of scheduling one’s own time for working on an online course.

All that said, I truly would not trade my experience video-conferencing last night for the world. It sounds sappy, but this is the first time since I started my online degree over a year ago that I really felt like we were all in this together. Thank you, Kate, Maggie, Tracia, and Lisa for the opportunity to get to know you a little better. And, yes, I’m on-board if we get to do it again!!!