Wednesday, 17. May 2006
12.05.2006 Live-Conference
ligi kodiyat, 03:13h
Today and tomorrow we will be having a training session with Ms. Lore Ress from Vcademy on Live-Conference.
As I wrote in my last weblog live or web conferencing is similar to a forum in which participants can meet to discuss a topic of common interest.
Ms. Lore showed us how to use the tool through the tool…..now how does that work???
All the participants including Ms. Ress were distributed in different rooms. Everybody had a computer and headset to communicate and was connecteded to each other via the Internet. During this web-conference session Ms. Ress was the moderator who led the session and therefore had exclusive rights.
vconference.de
The tool we used throughout the session is called vconference.de (from Centra Software.Inc.) We had to first of all install Centra on our PCs then check the headsets for the audio quality and finally log on to our training session.
This is how the user interface looks like
The interface is divided into several segments. On the top there is a tool bar with different functions, which enable an active participation during the session. The first segment on the left hand side shows live pictures of the people who are speaking. The second segment shows the participants and their participation status. The last segment is the agenda of the session. The slides or notes are projected in the biggest segment in the middle.
A few characteristics of vconference.de:
· The most basic feature is the screen sharing, whereby conference participants see whatever is on the presenter's screen.
· The moderator has the possibility to actively engage the participants in the session by making them use different the tools such as answering questions through the YES/NO symbol or applauding or laughing.
· The participants have the possibility to raise their hands and show that they would like to give an input. The headset enables a voice communication between all members. They input could also be made through the live-chat function.
· Whiteboard: This tool is a virtual flipchart. It enables the moderator to develop and idea live on the screen. And the moderator also has the possibility to let all the participants to work simultaneously on the same screen.
· Polls and Tests: The moderator can also get feedback or test the participants through polls or by asking the participants to answer questions.
· Application-Sharing: Through this tool the moderator, who is running an application (WORD, EXCEL, etc.) on his own PC can demonstrate the file to the others and he can also give the others the authority to cooperatively edit or modify the file.
· Web-Safari: It is similar to application-sharing except that the application is the Web-Browser.
In last part of the session all of us were divided into random groups and had to work on a small assignment with vconference.de. It was strange in the beginning and everybody just started to write what he or she thought about the question without communicating. Then gradually we started using the chat and the other tools to find out how we could optimise our answers.
Mr. Ress mentioned that many firms were already working with this tool. The main purpose till now has been to overcome the geographical barrier.
Cost
An organisation has to pay 25’000.- EUR for a lifetime licence with CENTRA and 2’000.- EUR for a lifetime membership for a user.
My experience
Even though I am using such a product for the first time, the user-friendly interface and tools of the vconference.de made me feel very comfortable during the web-conferencing session.
It is certainly perfect for companies who are spread around the world and need to be in constant contact with each other. The challenge lies in fostering a culture where all the employees are motivated to work and communicate through web tools.
Such tools also enable the new human resources approach of enabling the employee to work when and from where they want to.
It’s also a very interesting tool for the student's world since it could enable us to participate in the sessions without being physically present at the university. Last semester Prof. Hilb had pre-recorded all the lectures on Personnel Management on a CD and we had the possibility to consume them when ever and where ever we wanted to. This made our (and his) time schedule flexible and we had the opportunity to refer to his contributions repeatedly.
It would be also interesting to use such a tool in my private life as well. My group suggested that we should have all our team meetings through live conferencing. We do have the opportunity in this class but otherwise the cost of the product is a dilemma. From what I have heard Microsoft will be launching it new Operating System soon, which will have similar tools integrated in it. And I hope it will be more price-friendly for the “small” users.
Lets wait and watch!!!!
As I wrote in my last weblog live or web conferencing is similar to a forum in which participants can meet to discuss a topic of common interest.
Ms. Lore showed us how to use the tool through the tool…..now how does that work???
All the participants including Ms. Ress were distributed in different rooms. Everybody had a computer and headset to communicate and was connecteded to each other via the Internet. During this web-conference session Ms. Ress was the moderator who led the session and therefore had exclusive rights.
vconference.de
The tool we used throughout the session is called vconference.de (from Centra Software.Inc.) We had to first of all install Centra on our PCs then check the headsets for the audio quality and finally log on to our training session.
This is how the user interface looks like
The interface is divided into several segments. On the top there is a tool bar with different functions, which enable an active participation during the session. The first segment on the left hand side shows live pictures of the people who are speaking. The second segment shows the participants and their participation status. The last segment is the agenda of the session. The slides or notes are projected in the biggest segment in the middle.
A few characteristics of vconference.de:
· The most basic feature is the screen sharing, whereby conference participants see whatever is on the presenter's screen.
· The moderator has the possibility to actively engage the participants in the session by making them use different the tools such as answering questions through the YES/NO symbol or applauding or laughing.
· The participants have the possibility to raise their hands and show that they would like to give an input. The headset enables a voice communication between all members. They input could also be made through the live-chat function.
· Whiteboard: This tool is a virtual flipchart. It enables the moderator to develop and idea live on the screen. And the moderator also has the possibility to let all the participants to work simultaneously on the same screen.
· Polls and Tests: The moderator can also get feedback or test the participants through polls or by asking the participants to answer questions.
· Application-Sharing: Through this tool the moderator, who is running an application (WORD, EXCEL, etc.) on his own PC can demonstrate the file to the others and he can also give the others the authority to cooperatively edit or modify the file.
· Web-Safari: It is similar to application-sharing except that the application is the Web-Browser.
In last part of the session all of us were divided into random groups and had to work on a small assignment with vconference.de. It was strange in the beginning and everybody just started to write what he or she thought about the question without communicating. Then gradually we started using the chat and the other tools to find out how we could optimise our answers.
Mr. Ress mentioned that many firms were already working with this tool. The main purpose till now has been to overcome the geographical barrier.
Cost
An organisation has to pay 25’000.- EUR for a lifetime licence with CENTRA and 2’000.- EUR for a lifetime membership for a user.
My experience
Even though I am using such a product for the first time, the user-friendly interface and tools of the vconference.de made me feel very comfortable during the web-conferencing session.
It is certainly perfect for companies who are spread around the world and need to be in constant contact with each other. The challenge lies in fostering a culture where all the employees are motivated to work and communicate through web tools.
Such tools also enable the new human resources approach of enabling the employee to work when and from where they want to.
It’s also a very interesting tool for the student's world since it could enable us to participate in the sessions without being physically present at the university. Last semester Prof. Hilb had pre-recorded all the lectures on Personnel Management on a CD and we had the possibility to consume them when ever and where ever we wanted to. This made our (and his) time schedule flexible and we had the opportunity to refer to his contributions repeatedly.
It would be also interesting to use such a tool in my private life as well. My group suggested that we should have all our team meetings through live conferencing. We do have the opportunity in this class but otherwise the cost of the product is a dilemma. From what I have heard Microsoft will be launching it new Operating System soon, which will have similar tools integrated in it. And I hope it will be more price-friendly for the “small” users.
Lets wait and watch!!!!
... comment
wzwm2006,
Thursday, 15. June 2006, 00:48
Less expensive tools
Well, maybe the teams that cover Web-Conferencing in their final presentation will tell us where we find the best tool for less. Looking forward to your presentation, Andrea
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