Web Conferencing Made Simple with "GoTo"

GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar are two web conferencing tools created by Citrix Systems. Although the tools are quite similar, GoToMeeting is primarily used for small meetings since it can only accommodate up to 15 attendees. GoToWebinar, on the other hand, can accommodate up to 1000 people. Both tools may be accessed via a Mac or PC, and both offer integrated audio capabilities so that attendees can join over the phone or through a computer using VOIP. My current company employs both tools and I have spent quite a bit of time over the last couple of years using them. Below is a review based on my personal experience.

GoToMeeting is great to use “on the fly.” Just the other day I was on the phone with a colleague in Phoenix and wanted to walk her through some new elements of our team’s SharePoint 2007 site. I simply logged into GoToMeeting and chose the “Meet Now” option. Within seconds, my colleague was able to click on the link from the e-mail I sent her and join my meeting. I was then able to show my screen to walk her around the site. I could even draw (literally!) attention to what I was talking about with a pen, highlighter, spotlight, or arrow on the screen. If needed, I could have recorded our conversation and the associated visuals as well. According to Rupley (2005) getting a session like the one I just described “going with GoToMeeting is easy, thanks to the application’s intuitive UI” (p. 58).

GoToWebinar has a few more bells and whistles than GoToMeeting but the overall look and feel of the tool is very similar. As mentioned earlier, GoToWebinar is used primarily for large meetings with a lot of attendees. I used to use GoToWebinar regularly to conduct “all hands meetings” at my company. These meetings generally had anywhere between 250-350 people, but since the tool is so user-friendly, I was able to manage the logistics on my own. After setting up the meeting, I simply sent out an invitation to the meeting and had people register to join. This was great because I was able to anticipate the audience (and number of people) that would be joining the meeting. If attendance looked low, I simply sent out a reminder e-mail a few days before the event to remind people to register. On the day of the event, I acted as the “organizer” but handed control of the slide presentation over to one of our “presenters.” All attendees joined the meeting on mute by default, and as organizer, I could simply un-mute them when they used the hand raising icon to raise their hand and ask a question. This eliminated the static and background noise that is often heard on conference calls! And, if someone couldn’t join the meeting “live,” it wasn’t a problem. They could simply view the posted recording after the meeting had ended.

Now, don’t get me wrong, as great as these tools are, they still have their faults and limitations. Like other web conferencing tools, GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar are less personal than face-to-face interaction. People may take advantage of the convenience as well. In fact, I’ve seen people that work in the same building use GoToMeeting rather than simply walking to a conference room with someone to meet! Both tools also use GoToMeeting’s proprietary software by default to record. This creates a problem since the meetings cannot be edited when recorded in this format. Lastly, the tools are only as good as the people that use them. I have been unable to un-mute people on calls because they failed to enter their audio pin when joining the meeting. I have also seen presenters forget to logout of their e-mail or instant messaging tools when showing their screen. These alerts aren’t things that everyone needs to see but it frequently happens. Overall, however, I believe GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar are excellent web conferencing tools and make good use of the technology available today. They are convenient, affordable, and can help increase efficiencies across an organization. We live in a virtual world and these tools help us navigate that world a little better.

- Melissa McWilliams

Reference:
Rupley, S. (2005). Making Virtual Meetings. PC Magazine, 24(1), 58. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.

Is Wikipedia a Reliable Place For Answers?

This is a follow-up to my last blog entry about using the internet for finding reliable health information. As part of the study that I read for my last post, I came across some interesting nuggets of info about how Wikipedia is often used in conjunction with Google to answer sexual health related questions by young people. So, I decided to use Google myself (how original) to see how accurate Wikipedia is perceived to be and to see if anyone had any hard evidence against its reliability. I came across an interesting news entry posted by a staff writer with CNET in 2005 that discusses a study that was done to compare encyclopedia Britannica against Wikipedia. In short, Wikipedia fared well according to the research:

In the end, the journal found just eight serious errors, such as general misunderstandings of vital concepts, in the articles. Of those, four came from each site. They did, however, discover a series of factual errors, omissions or misleading statements. All told, Wikipedia had 162 such problems, while Britannica had 123. That averages out to 2.92 mistakes per article for Britannica and 3.86 for Wikipedia. (Terdiman, 2005)

What surprised me the most about this information is that the Britannica had so many inaccuracies per article at all. I’ve always assumed an encyclopedia was a failsafe place to research anything. That being said, Britannica officials were less than impressed with the study. Terdiman points out the following quote from Dale Hoiberg, Britannica editor in chief:

"We've asked them a number of questions about the process they used," Hoiberg said. "They said in (their article) that the inaccuracies included errors, omissions and misleading statements. But there's no indication of how many of each. So we're very eager to look at that and explore it because we take it very seriously." (Terdiman, 2005)

Although interesting, this doesn’t exactly give me confidence in either resource. So, when presented with the problem of whether or not to use Wikipedia for answers, where do I go for direction? Well, funny enough -- Wikipedia. They have an extensive set of pages that discuss their editorial oversight and control and best practices when using it for research. I recommend reading both (and watch the goofy video on the first link). My personal preference is to now use Wikipedia as a starting point for getting answers. I’ll let the references/citations at the bottom of each article guide me to truth and cite those sources instead.

Works Cited
Terdiman, D. (2005, December 15). Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica. Retrieved August 27, 2010, from CNET News: http://news.cnet.com/Study-Wikipedia-as-accurate-as-Britannica/2100-1038_3-5997332.html

Is the Internet Dead?

Recently in the news and through multiple electronic/computer related articles I have heard that the Internet is dying. Whether it’s due to boring content or the lack of new experiences I would have to agree. When the Internet was first born it was new and flashy. I could find information on just about anything I wanted to know. Now when I search for something in even the most powerful search browsers I am overwhelmed with sometimes hundreds of millions of webpages that might possibly contain a few words about my search topic. I pay about $40 a month for broadband internet so that I can search through the same 5 web pages every day. I joke pretty often that I have found the end of the Internet multiple times. I am ready for a change. Like any entertainment platform I think that the Internet needs to evolve, to become more personal. I would love to put in search words and actually get correct information instead of wiki pages.

Community of Experience

The idea of online or distance education has caught on quite well. Most major universities have some form of distance learning available to students. The typical online learner has changed quite a bit. For a long time, the typical online student was an older student who had decided to come back to school. Now, even students right out of high school have started to take online courses in conjunction with their classroom instruction. You can even find schools that specialize in distance education. But one of the great things about the internet, is that eventually advocate groups for just about everything will appear. This is no different for distance education.

A great blog for distance learners is The Elearners News Blog. The Elearners News Blog is, at first glance, a great place to find random writings about some very useful subjects regarding distance learning. Take for instance a piece called "New Technology to Spot Plagiarism in College Papers." This article talks about how, in such an advanced tech age, the line between originality and using the thoughts of another is often blurred. According to the author, DeLucianal, "In a New York Times article published earlier this month, journalist Trip Gabriel discusses a trend in higher education today in which students not only copy and paste directly from content found on the web, they don't even think they're committing plagiarism" (DeLucianal). The article goes on to explain how universities have been using technology to crack down on the plagiarism issue.

Or, how about the blog post titled "University Webinar on August 25th!" This is an example of how the blog is using the post as a broadcast reminder to students who follow the blog. The idea here is to bring information to the online student as efficiently as possible.

As you can see from these two examples from the same blog, there is a river of experience that is being brought forward for you to swim in. In one place, the creator of this blog brings experiences as well as well-timed reminders to your fingertips, but only if you follow their work. The blogs are out there, and they can ease the pain of learning as long as you are willing to seek them out. Who knows, maybe one day you can ad your experiences to the community.

References:
The Elearners News Blog

DeLucianal. "New Technology to Spot Plagiarism in College Papers". The Elearners News Blog

DeLucianal. "Kaplan University Webinar August 25th!". The Elearners News Blog

Experiential Learning Theory

Internet and Psychological Effects

“The ways in which people use the Internet to communicate predicts different changes in their psychological well-being, and that their social resources moderate these changes” Bessie` re, K., Kiesler, S., Kraut R. & Boneva, B. (2002).

Studies have been done to monitor the use of the Internet and how it affects us psychologically. According to research done by PEW Research Center,

55% of Americans use the Internet every day

45% send or read email

40% use search engines

15% use social networks

5% play online games.

Americans spends 60 hours a month online. It is quite evident of what the Internet offers for everyone. People use it to communicate with others locally and across the world; we use it for information and entertainment. Utilizing the Internet for communication was associated with changes in depression. Is there enough evidence to prove using the Internet can help depression? Think about it a minute, you lost your job, your kids are ready to start school, your stressed and can’t sleep. You get out of bed and go to the computer, send an email to that special person that you can always talk to you and wow you receive an immediate response. “What are you doing awake at this hour”? Than the phone rings and you talk for an hour, now you can sleep like a baby. You awake the next morning feeling everything is going to be just fine. Without the capability of the Internet you don’t rest, you feel terrible, and your feelings can escalate to further emotional problems. The ability to reach out to someone at any time of the day, anywhere in the world is such a feeling of comfort.

“People who communicate more have more social resources, and those with more social resources have better psychological functioning, lower levels of stress, and greater happiness (Baumeister & Leary 1995).”

How as the Internet helped people that have trouble-meeting new people. The Internet adds an avenue for people to add social resources, social interactions on a daily basis and enlarges their social network. This can result in improved social skills. Of course there is always argument that people that utilize the Internet for meeting people may become more introverted.

Bessie` re, K., Kiesler, S., Kraut R. & Boneva, B. (2002) Effects of internet use and

social resources on changes in depression.

Barnett, P. A. & Gotlib, I. H. (1988) ‘Psychosocial functioning and depression:

distinguishing among antecedents, concomitants, and consequences’,

Psychological Bulletin, vol. 104, no. 1, pp. 97–126.

The Next Step to Learning Online

Second Life, an on line virtual community came to light in 2003 and now has millions of members. Linden Labs is the creator of this virtual community. As a member, you have the ability to create an avatar of your choice from gender, personality to appearance. This avatar will either reflect who you are already or who you would like to be. Second Life offers avatars to live and explore the world in many ways one wouldn't or couldn't in real life. The best thing is that avatars can take on higher education as so many have already done. The question now is, why not?

"Professors use Second Life to hold distance-education classes, saying that communication among students gets livelier when they assume digital personae" (Foster, 2007). Using an avatar, students get the physical feeling of being in the classroom as opposed to in discussion forums. Being that Second Life encourages social interaction, it will give a more meaningful and long-lasting education experience.

As we know there are different types of learners ranging from visual, kinesthetic to auditory, Second Life allows many ways of learning. A professor said that "If we let the students create the space, then they make the space that's best for them" (Foster, 2007). Any type of learner will find the best way for them to learn in an environment that they have helped to make. It should be rather easy for visual Learners for they learn from pictures, colors and diagrams. Kinesthetic learners may find the most benefit to learning online using Second Life for it is so lively. Kinesthetic learners do involve a more physical style such as getting their hands dirty and although there is no physical touch, kinesthetic learners will find learning through Second Life more engaging for they can get up and move around using their avatar. Now, auditory learners learn best through hearing having a tendency to pick up on tone or pitch. They will be a lot more engaged and respond quicker if they hear classmates or the professor talking. Furthermore, an on line community such as Second Life gives every learner the opportunity to participate in a way that he or she feels most comfortable in.

Second Life holds so much potential in higher education, especially for students and professors who are already involved in online learning. A learning experience like this one so closely resembles a traditional classroom setting that you may find it hard to believe that it is done in the virtual world. Catering to all types of learners, online education through Second Life can now be taken to the next level.

References:

Foster, A (2007, Sept 7). Professor Avatar. The Chronicles of Higher Education. EBSCOhost. Retrieved http://web.ebscohost.com.dml.regis.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&hid=7&sid=26756dba-9dc7-421a-a1d3-b229d6c037ca%40sessionmgr12

What Is The Next Step In E-Learning?

“Imagine a system that increases a manager’s accountability by tracking when he evaluates his employees, whether he has produced a development plan and how the employee acts on that plan throughout the year” (Taylor, K., 2002)

As many of us know, the primary goal for any organization is to be successful. E-Learning has been the leading training tool in creating a strong internal team. This training tool has been proven to help many different types of organization s to make the right connections with the right people, ideas, strategies, tools, technologies, and resources.

I think that the next step for e-learning in the future for both higher education and in the workplace is to take it mobile. Many companies are now developing applications for mobile devices to take on the very challenge to lead us into the future with more accountability.

Resources:
Tyler, K. "Take E-Learning to the next step: E-learning programs move beyond online catalogs to individual assessments and professional development plans - Focus on Training & Development". HR Magazine. FindArticles.com. 22 Aug, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_2_47/ai_83058911/
http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/content/1420/learning-solutions-conference-2010-home

Online Communication - How it has affected us

Online Communication - How it has affected us

Communication via the internet isn't a new concept to our society as it is now. I believe it has now become the common medium for communication for nearly anyone with internet access. However, this hasn't always been the case as the internet is still a relatively young commodity. I believe that the internet has changed our means of communication with each other in mostly positive ways.

The internet is hardly over 20 years old and it has almost completely replaced many similar, but older fashioned types of communicating. Think of traditional postal service mail and how long it takes for the message to reach its destination. If you consider how long traditional mail has been around , it hasn't always been guaranteed to reach its destination either. Email can be nearly instant, plus or minus a few minutes depending on your internet connection. Other forms of online communication are unique and were not really present prior to the invention of the internet. One such form is being referred to as social networking. MySpace and Facebook are the largest social networking sites and you have no doubt heard of them. Social networking sites and can be compared to what social networking used to be prior to the popularization of the internet, when people would just get together and play games and socialize. Ultimately, online communication allows us to correspond quicker, more reliably and more efficiently. Not everyone in today's society can sacrifice an evening to sit down and catch up with their social network whether it be due to time restraints or distance, but the internet allows them to do so.

The drawbacks that from shifting to online communication are almost as apparent as the benefits, but not quite as dramatic. "Snail mail" as it has been dubbed, is still the only means of communicating in certain circumstances. For instance a recruit to military basic training can only receive correspondence from their families and friends via snail mail. Many people might not make it through that training without that correspondence from the friendlier outside world. Letters also can bear a sentimental value that I don't think any email will ever be able to possess. Social networking via the internet can be much less interpersonal than if it was conducted in a more classical matter by meeting face to face. This point has been argued time and time again, but I don't think there is anything that can replace a good meet-and-greet.

In closing, the internet definitely has contributed greatly to the way we communicate with one another. It can have its downsides as I have personally described, but the internet has not and will not ever wholly replace the more traditional ways of communicating.

References
Quan-Haase, A., & Wellman, B. (2002, November 12). How Does the Internet Affect Social Capital. Retrieved August 22, 2010, from Google Scholar.

Is money the driving force to go back to school?

I decided to write about a different topic this time, and I chose the site that Janet mentioned, community.elearners.com. I picked the blog titled: Money is the root of all evil and the motivation for education? From the perspective of the blogger, Cajun, the government sees the students going back to school only so that they can make more money. Cajun does not agree with this. I think Cajun says it best, “Education is about living a better life, period.” (Cajun, 2010) I agree with both the government and with Cajun, I am going back to school to learn and grow so that I can better myself but I am also hoping to make more money as well, is that so wrong? I don’t think so. In the end, if I earn my degree I deserve the perks that come along with it, period.
Also, from Cajuns point of view, it seems that the government is out to get the people. I quote: “…An MBA graduate can expect to not begin seeing a positive return on investment for holding an MBA degree for an average of 3 years after earning the degree. The trouble with that is that this is almost exactly the window that the U.S. government uses to predict a loan default assuming that if a loan is not paid upon reliably within the following 36 months or so of graduation, that loan is classified as a default.” (Cajun, 2010) It would appear that the system is setup so the person will fail. I understand that loans need to be paid off in a timely manner, but take into consideration events like what we are experiencing now: high unemployment rates, struggling economy, etc., in situations like this…shouldn’t we give graduates an extended grace period before they have to pay off their loans?
Let’s say they stick with the above scenario, and the graduate can’t find a job due to the U.S. going into another recession. The graduate goes three years struggling to find a job and take care of himself/herself let alone pay off the student loans. No job equals no money, which means the bank that gave the graduate the loan doesn’t get paid, that’s definitely a problem. A possible solution, extend the amount of time needed to pay back the loan (maybe extend from 3 years to 4 or 5), especially in hard economic times.

Works Cited
Cajun. (2010). Money is the root of all evil and the motivation for education? Retrieved from My Bellevue University Experience: http://community.elearners.com/all_blogs/online_student_blogs/my_bellevue_university_experience/b/bellevue_university/archive/2010/08/18/money-is-the-root-of-all-evil-and-the-motivation-for-education.aspx

Learning in Cyberspace via Blogs

The website http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/ was rated one of the Top 50 Blogs of 2010 by “The Digital Learning People.” These Top 50 Blogs were chosen for their “e-learning tools and tips that concentrate on technology, resources, and business strategies for teachers and students.” The “Lifefeast Blog is an entertaining and creative blog and is filled with tips and tools to help make your eLearning easier as a student and as a teacher.”

While reviewing this Blog there were a lot of helpful tools for teachers and students. There were numerous links and information on webtools to enhance listening, and interactive games to assist in grammar and vocabulary. In addition, there were step-by-step instructions on how to create a podcast, make a video, or even make your own comic strip. The Blog gave tips on how to navigate the multimedia world, and even a video a teacher could use to help start a discussion in class about racism.

This “Lifefeast Blog” is about real life, real resources and real learning information and tools. The Blog gives new ideas and incite from a different perspective, which is the perspective of teachers and students committed to e-learning.

References:

http://toponlineuniversityreviews.com/2010/top-50-blogs-for-e-learning-tools-and-tips/?phpMyAdmin=OOiIulOhJpRzJydRHQS64RCvb0e

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/

Perceptions of Online Source Attribution

“Most online users receive ‘news’ from various sources, and given such a multiplicity of sources, it is likely that online users may not remember which source supplied which piece of information.” Even though this article is from 1998 it is just as true today as it was then or even more so. From the article by S. Shyan Sundar titled, “Effect of Source Attribution on Perception of Online News Stories” in J&MC Quarterly. An experiment and study was conducted to help answer this question. The study was designed to address the effects of source attribution in four distinct areas of news story perception: Credibility, Liking, Quality, and Representativeness. The study used a “Quote/No Quote” system where the subjects read stories some which had quotes and some that had no quotes at all. The subjects were given a short questionnaire at the end of reading each story.

After an extensive analysis of the study data the experiment found “significant differences in the readers’ perceptions of online news content as a function of source attribution.” All in all, the readers found the stories with source attribution “quoted” to be significantly more believable and objective than comparable news stories with identical content but without source attribution or “no quotes”.

The question then is, are quoted sources in online news as psychologically meaningful as non-quoted sources? This experiment shows this, and would probably still be true today if the experiment was updated and processed again.

References:

Sundar. S. (1998, March 1). Effect of Source Attribution on Perception of Online News Stories. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from: http://web.ebscohost.com.dml.regis.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=12&hid=119&sid=0927399d-38f6-4cf2-bc2c-2384144b8a45%40sessionmgr111