u07a1 - Witthoff About.me

I chose to use About.me as my digital tool to attempt to capture my digital identity.  After watching videos and reading articles about our digital footprint, I found it very difficult to capture my entire digital identity in one place.  My digital identity is interwoven into our personal and professional lives which makes it challenging to capture it all.  

I used About.me to share some of who I am in the digital world.  I included some biographical information, work related links and projects I've completed through the Wilkes Instructional Media program.  

While I learned a lot through the videos and readings this week, I think this process of documenting a portion of our digital identity was the activity that made me really stop and think how much my life is tied into technology.  That isn't necessarily a bad thing, I'm just much more aware of this than I ever was before.  

http://about.me/cwitthoff/#

u06a2 - Science Webinars in Collier County, Florida

Creating and broadcasting webinars is something my office recognized as a powerful tool a couple of years ago.  I have run numerous webinars over the last two years for educators in our county and I would like to share my experiences with this technology through this blog post.  

List of a few webinars conducted by the CCPS science office

Broadcasting a webinar is a powerful way to reach out to any group that you work with or normally might meet with in person.  I have conducted webinars for large numbers of teachers, but I have also conducted webinars for just one teacher.  For either size group there are things to consider to make this use of time efficient and worthwhile to the teachers we are supporting.  

This first thing to consider is the type of webinar software to use.  In my case, it was selected for me by our technology department.  They provide us with access and a "room" through Adobe Connect.  I have found this software to be very easy to use from both a presenter and participant perspective.  This software allows me to present material using my voice and computer screen to my audience.  I have come to use this software in two major ways:

1) One on One Training: Working in such a large county (90 min. drive from North to South) and supporting all K-12 science for 43,000 students and 50 schools can be challenging to try and reach everyone and support their needs. I have started using Adobe Connect webinars to help us be more efficient with our support and respond to teacher needs in a more timely fashion. Teachers who need support that requires a quick turn around OR doesn't allow us to drive to them when they need it are both examples of where Adobe Connect is a powerful tool.  I can send the teacher the link to our Adobe Connect "room" and they click a link and either hook up a headset or call our office by phone and we are instantly connected by voice and computer screen.  We can now answer their questions, model what they need to see, etc.  The visual piece is much more powerful than an email or explanation over the phone.  

2) Science Dept. Chair Meetings: Our middle and high school department chairs meet every month. As I mentioned, with such a large land area in our county, some of these dept. chairs would drive an hour or more for a 90 minute meeting.  Two years ago, we decided to test out Adobe Connect and see if we could host one meeting per semester via webinar. The dept. chairs loved it! We still meet every month, but we alternate between meeting in person and meeting via webinar.  This is a huge time saver for all of those involved. During the webinars, the dept. chairs see the minutes of the meeting that are being taken so they can respond in real time if they have a question or if something wasn't captured accurately in the minutes.  We also record the webinars so if any members cannot make the meeting they can listen in. They also use the recorded version of the meeting to share parts of it with their department so if I explain something, they can just play my explanation and not have to do it themselves.  The screen shot above is what our software looks like and you can use the link here to watch one of our meetings.  

There are a number of things to keep in mind for successful implementation of this technology.  

• Training your users: This is critical as you can imagine.  My first few webinars, I spent time getting them familiar with the features of the software.  Basically I was doing a webinar about webinars.  They could see the software on my screen.  We would review these features each meeting until they felt comfortable using Adobe Connect.
• Practice: This cannot be overstated.  Running a meeting or training on a webinar is very different from in person.  It takes some getting used to, so practice is essential.  
• Two Screens: From the presenters perspective, I think this is a must. It's much easier to see the webinar presenter screen on one side and your content being delivered on the other.  
• How to handle questions and audio: This is something to consider and think through prior to the webinar.  I've been on webinars where audio is not controlled well and there is tons of background noise, voices, etc.  To avoid these issues, I created a "opening screen" that they saw when they logged into the webinar.  It reminded them of muting their phone line, turning off computer speakers to stop "feedback noises", etc.  My folks are now accustomed to these methods of being "polite" during the webinar.  I use a "hand raise" feature so they know I will call on them before they un-mute and ask their question or make their comment.  

All in all, I have found this to be an invaluable tool for supporting science instruction in our school district.  It's made both my life and our teachers lives more efficient and more connected.  

u06a1 - Attending a live webinar

Educational webinars are a resource I've been relying on for a few years now, so when I saw this unit I was excited for the assignments and to share my experiences.  Over the last few years, I have attended webinars from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), Discovery Education and webinars offered directly through my own school district.

While I personally prefer meeting and presenting in person, we know that time in the educational profession is valuable so webinars offer a number of advantages over face to face meetings/presentations.  The greatest advantage I have experienced is the ability to join the meeting from anywhere.  The county I live in (Collier County, FL) is the largest land area county east of the Mississippi.  It can take almost an 1.5 hours to drive from the southern end to the northern end of our county.  This ability to join the meeting from anywhere is very powerful.  We now can stay in our classroom, office or drive home and join the meeting.  Most webinar software has back channel features so that those involved in the meeting can send messages to the presenter, answer a question and generally stay involved in the presentation without needing to talk.  Webinars also allow many people to join the meeting and does not confine participation the way a meeting room does.  A final advantage that comes to mind is the ability to record the meeting.  Many of these webinar tools offer a recording option so that the meeting or presentation can be viewed by those who could not attend the meeting time.  

While few, there are some disadvantages to webinars as well.  Depending on the technology that the participant is using, the view of the screen can be small making it more challenging to see than on a projector screen. Presenters definitely need to be experienced at conducting webinars as these can be very different than a face to face presentation.  Attending a webinar with an inexperienced "virtual" presenter can be a downside to webinars as well.  

Webinars could easily be incorporated into the classroom.  This would be a very easy way to connect classrooms from across a county, state, country or world.  Our district provides access to the Adobe Connect webinar software.  I can connect up with any other school in the county or theoretically any school in the world who has an internet connection.  On this level and with some training, I could see both teachers and students being the "broadcasters". Our district has discussed the power of webinar / webcam technology being utilized on days when teachers are absent.  Consider two Biology teachers who are co-planning together and staying on pace with each others classrooms and then suddenly one of them is out sick for an important lesson. With webinar technology, the healthy teacher could deliver the lesson to both classrooms while the substitute teacher facilitates the learning in the sick teacher's classroom. Students would not lose that day of instruction and when the teacher returns, they could pick up the content and move ahead.  This is the type of efficiency that webinar software can bring to our schools.

Webinars offer numerous advantages at all levels of a school district and allow us to be efficient with our time, human capitol and financial resources. I will continue to attend webinars from within my own county and beyond in the future.