Planning
Lynne and I planned the online PD - poor Karen is on a cruise so she missed out, poor thing ;-). Lynne was going to do Voki and I was going to do Quizlet. We both created our PowerPoints and then when we discussed it we had both thought that our presentations could take longer. We decided that we are better to cover these online tools in more depth and decided that Lynne would present Voki today and I would present Quizlet in a fortnight.
What went wrong
First of all Lynne had trouble getting in - her laptop is working slowly.
Then, Jenny had trouble with her audio - she ended up participating through the text chat
Then, Lynne couldn't do an Application Share - why? we have no idea!
How we got round it
I did an Application Share with my Voki. Fortunately I had gone onto mine earlier and left it open. Trouble was that I haven't created a Voki for some time. I tried to give Lynne control over my Voki but we couldn't get that bit of Elluminate to work. We soldiered on and created a Voki, recorded audio and posted it to the Ementor wiki as a Widget.
After the session
I was not happy with the Voki's glasses so I went back in and changed the glasses, the hair colour, eye colour and the audio.
I also uploaded it to the Ementor wiki on the Online Tools page.
Our Voki
Ementor wiki
We will add a page to our Ementor wiki so thaat our e-leaders can upload their Vokis
Yes - well you gotta love technology lol! Silly thing is when I went out of the classroom at the end of the session and logged back in the damn desktop share button was there - aaagghh! Even though it appeared like a disastrous session, perhaps it was not so bad - after all they did learn how to create a voki which was the goal anyway. Yes, it was a most unprofessional and unpolished performance from yours truly but I think we role-modelled how to carry on when things aren't working in your favour. Thanks for doing the soldiering on bit Christine lol!
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is always a bad thing to occasionally be unprofessional and unpolished as it helps with participant confidence - they realise that they don't have to be an expert as sometimes even experts like you, Lynne, have problems and we always support each other. I know that I felt that I did not have to be perfect after the Elluminate training we did when I first became an e-Champ. It gave me the confidence to just have a go!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the session was ultimately successful as we achieved our objectives.
In hindsight, maybe we should check that all our bells and whistles work. Also I could have taken icebreaker and roundup while you logged out and in again. Isn't it amazing how much better my hindsight is than my foresight! Oh well, we try! But it is good for participants to see how we support each other - in fact I would be comfortable to ask either Lisa or Jenny to take over for a while. Their skills are improving in leaps and bounds and both seem very comfortable in Elluminate. So I think we all deserve a pat on the back.
I have just had a look at the recording of your session. I'd like to say I'm sorry I missed it but I'm not really ;) Holiday was too nice.
ReplyDeleteI can see you had some issues but Jenny & Lisa still seemed to get a bit from the session.
Not sure checking always helps Christine...things can be fine and then...pfftt...not working. I'm not suggesting not to, just don't rely on it working later.
I think having a bit of an icebreaker on standby is a good idea as things do go wrong from time to time and nothing worse than dead air. I do wonder if you ask a question about how they would feel if things went awry on them? It could help with a bit of reflection on how to cope in these situations. They might suggest how they would like to use the time effectively.
You both did a great job and I am sure you will be dobbing me in for other things at the next lot of sessions.
You can rest assured you will be dobbed in very quickly Karen - eg the session after Christine's so make use of all your good ideas then!
ReplyDeleteLynne