In Unit 2, you are working with WebConferencing tools. Please add your assigned summaries to this page and remember to sign your name to your your summary.

Remember that you have a resource for Conducting Synchronous Events.

Also, from here, we should link to a page for each tool and add any helpful information we can.

Adobe Connect

Centra

DimDim

Elluminate

Wimba

WizIQ

AWolf - I used Centra since I had used it previously as a student during my Master's cohort. Luckily, there was plenty of materials to research and ICT provide some info on how to use Centra. I didn't have a lot of time to work with Centra but I did not find it difficult. The only real frustration I encountered was that Office 2007 programs like my 2007 PowerPoint slides wouldn't load into Centra. I finally figured it out and re-did my slides in Word 2003. Office 2007 are not supported by Centra yet. Overall, I think my presentation went pretty well and I would use Centra again.

Here is the URL to playback my conference (Elaine):  http://128.123.34.21/GP/main/000001bf8cd5000001181209938784ff

I had glitches with sound and importing my Power Point presentation, but nothing I couldn't get around in some way.  One thing to note:  When importing Power Point into Centra, if you choose to import it in HTML mode (to preserve animations), you will lose the ability to use some of the tools on your Centra page.  Also, transitions in the Power Point file are lost during import.

Rafa's Adobe Experience:

 My experience with Adobe Connect:

I chose Adobe Connect because this is the tool that companies in Central America and Costa Rica are using. Nevertheless, I have paid close attention to the other tools too. Adobe Connect was very easy to use. The first time that I knew was during the orientation process in this online program. I am using Adobe as way to create social presence in the classroom, fostering online learning community and try to know more my students or the participants who are in a distance. I encountered different challenges such as: learning at the beginning how to know the different components, managing time during the presentation, try to not become a talking head during the presentation. I overcome my challenges by practicing all the time. I got a free trial and practice with my students from Costa Rica. Later, I participated as student in my colleague’s presentations. It helps me to understand more the dynamic of the tool. Julia’s support was crucial. She explained all the time and gives the opportunity to practice all the time. I really enjoyed this assignment.

The link of my work is:

https://admin.acrobat.com/_a769301336/cel580multicultural/

John's Centra Experience: Things went reasonably well. I conducted the session from home over a 256kbs DSL connection and had no problems due to the condition of the network. Here are some details.

• Prior to the session, I prepared a 45-slide Power Point presentation. This sounds like a lot, but sometimes having the material where all can see it speeds things up. I learned this from Tom Cyrs who would consider a mere 1.5 slides per minute loafing. :-)
• As is my usual practice, I also emailed a copy of the slides to all potential attendees. I find my students like to have something to take notes on. Also, the paper copy is insurance against some sort of visual problem. If they can't see the image clearly on the screen, they probably can on the paper. Finally, the paper copy gives attendees freedom to go boack or ahead of the image on the screen. Sometimes, I refer to a previous slide by number, while showing a different, but related, slide in the presentation.
• My preparation went like this. First, I sketched out the elements of the presentation, then I roughed out about 35 slides. I printed that out and looked over it and revised the material. Then, when I was satisfied with the material, I went back in and added the "Questions ?" slides where I thought they might be useful.
• Second, I uploaded the presentation to Centra. I found the presentation to be sluggish, so I did some adjustments on the images. This allowed me to reduce the file size by about 500 kB.
• Third, I uploaded the revised presentation and checked that all seemed OK. Timing was better, but some images were unclear, so I tweaked the presentation one more time and tried again.
• During the presentation, I tried to pace myself to about three slides a minute. As it turned out, people asked questions in unexpected places. :-) Anyhow, I managed to keep it down to just three minutes over.
• Here is my actual checklist:

    __  Write presentation draft

    __  Review draft and revise

    __  Upload draft to Centra site and check quality.

    __  Revise draft if needed

    __  Print paper copy for me, pdf copies for attendees.

    __  Send pdf copies via WebCT email

    __ Add notes to my copy

    __ rehearse time for 20 mintes. (Allow ten for questions)

    __ Sign on at 5:30 to clear technical issues.

    __ Verify who will record session

    __ Presentation starts 6 pm

    __ Another presentation follows at 6:30 pm

• I found out that MS Power Point 2003 does not trim cropped images as advertised. I found it easier to paste the screen shots into Paint, then select and copy the segments I needed for each slide.
• As several people noted, animation is out. However, appshare did seem to work OK at my end. (It's important to note that I was wrong. I forgot that it depends on how you bring in the ppt. If you select html to bring it in, the ppt will retain it's animations. You do lose markup tool use with html imported slides. ~julz)
• For whatever reason, things worked better for me from home with Centra than with Adobe Connect. I had far fewer lockouts and dropouts. Of course, that could be due to differing conditions on the network.
• I had originally planned to do the session from my office, but I had an opening to go home and eat dinner before air time, so I took it. I had attended Centra sessions from home before, but never conducted one. It is nice to know I can do that.

Well, that's all the news that's fit to print, so I'll go now.

John 3/5/08

Liz's Centra Experience

Yea, I successfully made it through my first web conferencing presentation.  I was a bit nervous in the beginning because I didn’t not have adequate time to get familiar with the presentation tools that Centra has to offer.  Since I was unfamiliar with Centra’s tools, it was a little hard to create my presentation.  In the end, my presentation consisted of a short power point and a website. 

I created my power point presentation thinking that transitions and links to the Internet would work properly.  Fortunately, I did have access to Centra the evening prior to my web conferencing date to play around with the tools and experiment with the special features.  Besides learning how power point works in Centra, I learned how to use the app share and the web safari.  My NM fun facts quiz ran a little differently than what I had imagined, primarily due to not knowing what tools were available for me to use. Also, it was a little challenging presenting and keeping an eye on the chat box all at once (Julia, I don’t know how you can multi task the way you do, amazing.)

My experience using Centra was a positive one.  I was successful loading my document and I didn’t face any major tech issues.  I just wish I had more time to play around with the program and get a little more familiar with the tools. 

The presentation that I created was an introduction/ overview of 7^th grade NM History (the course I’m in the process of creating).  I also did a little show and tell of my LCMS, EDU 2.0.  Considering I am a rookie to the Centra program and online teaching, things ran smoothly.  I got a lot of positive feedback and great suggestions on how to make my presentation more interactive.   After presenting and reflecting back, I’m thinking of all sorts of new ways to present my material. 

-Liz Wendler

 Elaine's Centra Experience

I've played with Elluminate a little bit and attended web conferences conducted with Adobe Connect, and from my limited experience I must say I prefer Adobe.  All three of these web conferencing tools work essential the same, but one of the things I found annoying about Centra was that the text chat box was in a different window and I couldn't minimize it appropriately so that I could see the chat without it overlapping the other screen images.

I imported a Power Point file into Centra in html format so that it would retain most of the animations I'd built into the presentation.  But as I discovered, transitions don't import, so rather than clicking to go to the next slide like you would in a Power Point presentation, you had to select the next slide from the agenda.  Also, with the Power Point slides in html format I didn't have access to a pointer to indicate parts of the screen.  It was a trade off but I wanted to preserve some of the animations so I went with that choice.

Julia was kind enough to point out that I should ensure each slide has a title so I can find where I am in the presentation in case I needed to back track or go out of sequence.  Something to keep in mind in the future.

As an afterthought I wondered if instead of importing the Power Point presentation I could have simply gone to Application Share and done it normally.  then all the transitions and animations would have been intact.  Something to try in the future.

I did use the Appshare for a website I wanted to show those who attended, so I did see how that could work.  It was fun!  And I could give others access to the application on my screen so they could play too.  But when I was in Appshare mode I couldn't find the text chat at all!  This was important since one of the people attending didn't have a microphone and I couldn't see her comments.

Centra seems to work fairly well, despite all the little glitches.  I had some connectivity trouble so my sound would go away from time to time.  But we worked around it and went on.  It seems even when I've attended web conferences that there are connectivity issues.  I don't know if it's because I'm using a wireless connection or that my computer isn't powerful enough or what.  In some cases I've been on my cable internet at home (Comcast, which is supposed to be one of the fastest and best) and in other cases I've been connected at work (New Mexico STate University, which I HOPE has fast and reliable internet).  It seems from what Julia has said that the issue maybe that my connection is WIFI rather than direct.  Need to know more.

Other than that I hope those who attended enjoyed my presentation.  Next time I want to try Adobe Connect.

Elaine Cohen

Guest playback URL:  http://128.123.34.21/GP/main/000001bf8cd5000001181209938784ff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found Central to be user friendly during my presentation.  I thought I had clicked the pause icon on the recording druing preparation before the presentation.  Evidently I did not, so there is about 20 minutes of blank recording at the beginning.   The features I like about Centra are:

• The ability to post a URL to get a direct link to a website.  This makes it easier to use that site during presentation.
• The portable chat box is convenient.  After the main window screen is sized down a little, the chat box can be moved to the side and sized to the full length of the screen.
• The presentation area has no wasted space.  While attending webinars in Adobe I noticed the area of presentation is small and the rest of the space is gray.  The only way to expand it is to click on full screen however the chat box disappears.  In Centra the presentation area is adjustable.
• The emoticons are colorful and easy to discern.

The only technical glitch was that when I clicked on the brower to see the video, the system tossed me out of Centra.  Not quite sure whey this occurred, however the attendees were able to see and hear the video.  As I logged back into Centra, it was difficult to discern which screen the attendees were viewing.  Perhaps this occureed because I did not close the window to Youtube when I copied the URL to post it to the Centra brower.  The connection was minimized, but not closed.

Like most projects, there is more to it than meets the eye.  For me it was difficult to keep an eye on the chat box and present.  I was so involved in the presentation that I forgot to keep an eye on the emoticons for questions. . . .need to practice and remember to pause for questions.  Multitask is the key.

The URL to view the presention is:    (you may want to fast forward the first 25 minutes) 

Guest Playback URL:  http://128.123.34.21/GP/main/000001bf8cd500000118120993878563 

Teresa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Conducted a Centra presentation with students in my graduate seminar. I requested Centra access about two weeks prior to our presentation date.  I kept accessing Centra to practice using the different tools and familiarize myself with the options. It helped me to organize my thoughts and the procedures. I reviewed all of the information in each menu and pushed every. After several times accessing Centra, I would contact Julia or Juanita Hannon with several questions. I even met with Juanita to learn what I didn’t know or didn’t know what to ask. Some of my questions included: how to promote participants to leaders, how to chat with one or several individuals during a presentation without the entire class knowing, and how to automatically open the participants’ text chat as the leader. Julia taught me how to enlarge the participant screen so that I could see all of the names at once. I am learning one new trick at a time. I uploaded the students’ powerpoints several times. Apparently, my MAC IS NOT COMPATIBLE with Centra. I was able to upload the powerpoints; however, I was not able to view or manipulate each individual slide. Hence, I reuploaded the four presentations from my PC.

I had a practice session for my student presenters the night before our presentation. It went well even though I had to refer several student questions to Julia and Juanita. Once on line, I we went through a sound check and introductions. Four teams of two gradate students presented on the following topics: Differentiated Instruction, Low Incidence populations, Response to Intervention, and Inclusion. The students were excited and interested in the Centra process. Their reflective comments were positive. They expressed an interest in conducting more Centra events. They enjoyed hearing each other’s voices. I had fun, too. Have to encourage them to not read directly from their slides and bullet their items to include little text. All went well. Juanita and Julia were in my audience to help if needed. I thank them both.

Next time, I would like to try Adobe Connect.

Olive Oil

 Hello All,

I have throughly enjoyed attending Centra presentations by John and Elaine and seeing Liz present in Edu 2.0.  Each presentation had many merits as to why that tool would work in that venue.

I am presenting on Tuesday, March 11 at 4:00.  I will be presenting a Power Point on the History of Teaching Braille to the Visually Impaired.  I hope you can join me.  Stay tuned for my Centra report to come after the presentation.

Jackie

       I have used Centra in the past and really enjoyed the experience.  I believe synchronous web-conferencing adds a human connection because you can hear (and see if you have webcam) others.  For this course, I wanted to try a different tool and chose to use Adobe Connect.  This tool was relatively easy to use with some last-minute practice facilitated by Julia (thanks Julia :).  

    I invited students from my class to attend and they had varying levels of technical experience but all were able to access the site and I didn't get any frantic calls.  In the past with Centra, I have had students who have had problems downloading Centra onto their computer and haven't been able to connect.  And, of course, Centra doesn't work with Windows Vista at this time at NMSU.

    I had some difficulty uploading my powerpoint slides initially but eventually was able to get them loaded.  One challenge was that I had people connecting with just chat, some with only voice and some with webcam and voice.  Trying to keep on top of who was there and who was communicating was difficult and I felt that the attendees were bored as we tried to make sure everyone could hear others and connect in some way.  That happens with Centra also so.... 

     Overall it was a good experience and I would use it again.  One issue is cost and who will pay for the product.  While you can get a trial version, the number of people you can invite to an event is limited with the trial.  I guess I'll have to experience with dimdim or Edu 2.0 to get a free web-conferencing tool.

Here's the URL if you want to see the show!  http://nmsu.acrobat.com/borgesnursing/

 I did my presentation in Centra. I feel comfortable with this program, however Centra does not feel comfortable with Vista. I also have trouble when I use explorer. So I have tried using Firefox and there seems not be as much "crashing" as with the other platform. I also had some trouble with adding audio files to my presentation. So I finally decided to skip the music. All in all, I thought the presentation went well and I really am looking forward to trying another. I have enjoyed the other presentations that I have been to, Jackie's and Judy', they were very well done.

Kellie

Michaela's experience with Adobe Connect

I did originally chose Adobe Connect because I liked it when participating in web conferences. It is easy to use for participants and all steps in the process of joining an event are easy to follow.  As participant I liked that you can see all attendees as small images if they use a webcam. This might be one of the few times you may get to see a "classmate" for an online course.

What works well for me as presenter is that you can upload a PowerPoint and the animations are still working in Adobe Connect. I also learned that you can overlay a whiteboard onto the presentation screen and then show how to create a drawing step by step.  Here I see a great possibility not only for webconferencing but also for recorded tutorials. I also shared some java applets via Adobe Connect. I learned that you have less time delay between what happens on your screen and when the participants see it (latency) when you share only a window rather than your desktop. I also think it was better to actually run the application from my computer rather then streaming it from the original location. I ended up not using one simulation which was a flash object, because there was not only significant latency, but the motion occured very choppy, therefore no longer being a good representation of what was visible on the original screen.

I like the option of asking poll questions for interactivity as well as for feedback about the understanding of your audience. In that sense I used the poll questions like I would use clickers in a face-to-face setting.

Adobe's goal of intermeshing products, so that you can easily transfer one program product into another application is promising. I am encouraged to learn more applications and as I have searched for examples of good online learning tools I get more and more ideas of how content can be sucessfully transferred online.

 Conni experience with Adobe connect.

First I wanted to use centra but for some unknown reason I have not been able to launch the user in centra this semester.  I realize that it has something to do with windows vista.  I hope to have the problem resolved by the end of the semester.  Well anyways I used Adobe connect for my web conference, which I introduce my audience to perioperative nursing.  I had a wonderful turn out with my classmates and instructors, and I learned that I really can talk about my topic of love for many minutes.  Using Adobe connect was quite easy and fun to use, I liked the options that were available and how you could change the screen, webcam, or talk at anygiven time.  I thought it was nice that you could control your audience in they way they could participate.

In my review of the web conference tool, I chose Elluminiate.  Eluminate is a excellent web conference tool that consider the bandwidth, ADA compliance, and their audience needs.  I like that idea that they do not want to leave the user behind.  The part of the tool that I did not like it comes with a heavy price tag for users.  You can use it free for a while but eventually they want money for the services.  When I registered the first email, I got from the was representative stating they were there to assist in anyway. 

Web conference serve a great place for instructors to provide syn classes and office hours.  As the technology increases this feature will be used more and more often.  I am excited to be part of this learning process.

CJ's Centra Experience

My Centra Web Conferencing was a positive experience; it's a user friendly tool.  I did the presentation in the Computer Lab in Jacob's Hall because Vista on our home computer doesn't interact well with Centra.  I selected Centra because I was familiar with it as it was introduced to us last semester for a group presentation in Julia's class.

Following Kellie's Centra presentation made it fairly easy for me since she had it up when I logged on.  I successfully loaded my power point and did not face any technical problems during the presentation.  I used Centra in presenting a lesson on Youth/Teen Gangs and interactig with attendees presenting comments and questions.  I think my biggest challenge was a lack of being multi-tasked; for example, keeping an eye on the emotions for questions, the chat box, moving from slide to slide, all while trying to flow smoothly through the presentation.

Overall, it was a positive experience.

 **********

I guess I would be the laggard in this unit.  I wanted to find an tool that I could use independently of NMSU or another sponsoring entity. 

Initially I like DimDim.  It’s easy to use and I have returned to it a number of times.  The main issue I have with it is that the tool is pretty ‘vanilla’.  It does what it is supposed to and that’s about it!

I really, really, really like Speechi [http://speechi.net].  It has great functionality and the demos of the way others are using the tool make me drool.  The problem is that the $free version is quite limited and all the ‘good stuff’ costs $500 or more – and if you are a consistent presenter the price tag quickly gets to about $2,000.  Which in the whole realm of what we do, it is not really expensive.  But…good tool …. poor pockets!

There are some others that I am still experimenting on, but for this assignment (after all, it’s the LAST DAY) I chose to use a free tool that is a lot like Adobe Connect. 

The tool is vyew [link: http://vyew.com] . This is a web-present tool, meaning there is nothing to download for either the presenter or the viewers.  It is easy to upload and manipulate content.  It is very easy to invite others and get them into a meeting/collaboration.  Maneuvering around during the presentation is not difficult.  It supports VOIP and video.  A nice feature is that everyone can either manipulate the presentation individually, or the presenter can lock them all into a sync mode.

The share features are state-of-the-art.  Just a click shares the desktop.  The presenter can share the mic and even demote/promote all or some of the attendees quickly.  The whiteboard is wonderful and the ability to mark on your slides and then save your notations for future collaboration is wonderful.  Invitees/group attendees can return to the presentation at a later time, re-open the meeting and continue where they left off.  Terrific!

The main drawback right now is that there is no “record mode”.  This could be a difficulty, but the presentation can be saved and all the markups, etc, and the chat log are all available for recall – either publicly or restricted to the invitees. I used this in Unit 4 to create content for my Learners to review, question, or use in conjunction with wiki.  The link from the Moodle to Vyew works flawlessly.

The link to my presentation is  How To Use the Eaters' Manual 

 FranR

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