Today our LAE4860 class interacted with an E-Guest Speaker via a Web Conferencing program on the computer. Ms. Diedre Price spoke on "Rewriting the Composition Classroom." I really enjoyed her lecture and her ideas, but it was very difficult for me to focus during the conference. I can see how this technology could be useful, but it was just so difficult to focus when the speaker wasn't physically in the room. I think this issue would be a serious problem for many students as well. If I used this kind of technology in my own classroom, I would definitely have an assignment to accompany the speaker. During our class, I knew I would be distracted, so I took notes. I would have my students do the same if I didn't have an assignment to give - It is just too easy to become distracted.
On the positive side, however, Web Conferences would be a great tool for inviting a diverse group of speakers into your classroom that otherwise wouldn't be able to join the classroom environment in person! I can just imagine how wonderful an experience this tool could be - Endless possibilities really... But you'd have to be a pro to get it to work properly and keep your students' attention!
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