EDLD5364 -- Week 1 Web Conference

Note: I am in the first week of a new course towards my Masters in Educational Technology. Although an optional activity, I chose to attend and participate in a web conference held on Wednesday, November 18th. We were asked to reflect on the value of the experience.

I almost always enjoy attending the web conferences offered as a part of one of my courses. Especially within the first week when I have had a chance to look over the entire course, download the readings and assignments for the various weeks, and sit down (so to speak) to begin the Week 1 courseware.

By Wednesday this week, I was was frantic. There were so many readings, some quite long, and videos (several of which cannot be accessed using computers at school or even my personal laptop at the school). With the hours I put in at school (teaching) and for school (Lamar University), I was having severe "first week jitters" and couldn't see how with Thanksgiving, family responsibilities, school (teaching) responsibilities, church responsibility, and all the other pulls and tugs on my time, mind, and heart, I would ever get through this course with some semblance of sanity left.

I had some technical difficulties of my own, including a headset that won't work on my Vista laptop, room lighting that made me an eerie shadow on my webcam, which did not help in getting me up and running although I had begun to prepare 20 minutes before the window was to open (50 minutes before the web conference was scheduled to begin). So I had a double-dose of the "frantic dithers" before Dr. Mason accepted me into the conference.

Once into the conference with all the camera and microphone settings updated, I was able to listen to others asking questions and the answers given by Dr. Mason and others while I figured out how to move lighting around so I was no longer in shadow. Using the chat function as well as the microphone features, I was able to touch base with cohort members that I usually only see on Discussion Boards. I also got to hear from members of other cohorts (sections), helping to bring me a sense of the larger community (oooohhhh . . . Global learning?).

To me, the value of the web conferences are many. In the first week, they serve to allay some of my fears (real or imagined) and help gird me for battle against my doubts, the curriculum, the assignments, and fast pace of the course. In subsequent weeks (when we are lucky to have them), they help me to stay focused and on-task. I really missed the web conferences during my last course when every single one conflicted with a church, Bible study, or family activity that could not be changed to suit my schedule. I made the choice for them rather than the web conference. I would make the same choice if faced with it again, but it is a difficult choice for me to make. The web conferences help to "center" me, keeping me in touch with others who are feeling the same way or who have worked through the same or similar issues. They help me to support and be supported by more than just my own knowledge and know-how.