National College for School Leadership

1. National College for School Leadership Kathy Seddon, Matt James E-Learning Specialists ELN Thinking Synch Friday 26 September

2. NCSL Goals

3. WebEx

4. Web conferencing for school leaders

6. Research methodology1) Literature review2) Case study data collection – recordings & evaluations3) Grounded analysis4) Conclusions and discussion

7. Virtual collaboration is best suited for a group who has an established history of sharing and working together Literature review Prior to beginning to collaborate electronically, participants should be skilled and comfortable with technology Community building can be difficult in cyberspace since it is an artificial environment. If possible, have the group meet physically face-to-face at the beginning of the endeavour …the moderator should be flexible and allow for the group to take a "natural" path… Promoting Virtual Collaboration Joseph Slowinski*

8. recapturing the missed ‘learning’ moment is possible Literature review cooperatively multi-task, discussing content, unpacking questions and staying tuned to the progression of the session at the same time Groupware Adoption in a Distributed Organization: Grassroots vs. Management Mandate Gloria Mark Steve Poltrock …shifts from evidence of external knowledge authority dependence in the initial stages, to internal knowledge authority have been notable among these learners… (see Perry, 1970) With WebEx – ‘being there’ at a distance is apparently quite achievable WebEx’s power to assist in maintaining the social, emotional and intellectual connectedness among all members of a large learning group is a significant finding Being there: Exploring extending and enriching distance learning and teaching with WEBEX Brenda Beatty and Nicholas Allix Faculty of Education, Monash University

9. Data collection • 2 online seminars – open access • Seminar 1 – audience 50, with 150 contributions from 29 individuals (58%) • Seminar 2 – audience 4, with 30 contributions from 4 individuals (100%) • 10 informal CPD online seminars – internal meetings – average audience size 8 • In each recordings and participant evaluations were used

10. Conclusions • Online seminars • High degree of interaction, given that the audience don’t know each other • Shared, unfamiliar experience, social interaction via mutual technical support etc • Multiple dialogues and learning, multi-tasking • Facilitator only has control over what’s said, though they do set the ground rules for interaction • All appreciated that it allows access to CPD opportunities not available elsewhere • Differing demands over length of sessions…some asking for time to use Chat after end of formal event

11. Passive learning through multiple channels

12. “Difficult to focus on speakers and read on line questions and comments, but maybe that is my senile brain!” “I liked the way the speaker was able to answer questions raised by the listeners almost immediately.” “It is really useful for me to engage in a dialogue with leading professionals as I am teaching in a very small rural school and value the opportunities to check out current ideas and approaches.”

13. Conclusions • Informal CPD • Familiarity with the technology impacted on the way it was used • Wide variation in use, depending on topic, number of attendees, speaker, outside influences • Function of chat moves from questions to instant reaction to separate dialogue (as confidence increases) • Learning can be enhanced with co-facilitation

14. A model for learning in web conferencing 1) social 2) information 3) internalisation 4) co-construction