Presentation to EdMedia 11 conference: 'Convenience and community? An exploratory investigation into learners' experiences of web conferencing'

1. Convenience and community? An exploratory investigation into learners’ experiences of web conferencing Sarah Cornelius, School of Education

2. Background http://maps.google.co.uk Images from www.abdn.ac.uk

4. What are the experiences of individual learners? Do learners take up the opportunity to engage in student-led meetings outside formal class times? Can learners engage effectively with each other? Do learners always engage with activities? What is it like to be a learner in the virtual classroom?

7. Short Presentations Ice-breakers Small group activities Discussions

9. Respondents Two key themes: technology and engagement 50% found engagement most successful from home 44% 41-50 years old 31% over 50 94% participated from home at some time 63% no prior DL or online learning experience 63% female 38% male 100% had NO prior experience of web conferencing

11. I was doing it from work … deliberately … so that I was in a room where I had two colleagues who are … more IT friendly I had a practice … to get used to what it would be like listening .. through headphones … in a room where there might be other people and telephones ringing … Myself and one other colleague worked together in the same room, and that really helped, that someone else was there. ...once or twice I was on my own and I found that harder to cope with I worked mainly from home and I was on wireless…it was pretty straightforward for me Appropriate learning environment Support

12. 0.99 3.6 … reduced my isolation as a distance learner 1.06 3.75 … allowed me to collaborate effectively with peers 0.98 3.81 … made me feel part of a community of learners 0.97 4.0 … allowed me to communicate effectively with peers 1.06 4.13 … allowed me to communicate effectively with tutors 1.01 4.27 … allowed flexibility in my learning SD Mean (5 = strongly agree – 1 = strongly disagree Using Elluminate Live! has… (n=16)

13. you develop more if you can have access to other people’s opinions and thoughts and discussion on things, and it facilitated that Timings and concentration levels were quite intense … body language is obviously missing Disappointment or dissatisfaction in the way that the content was managed So straightforward when you got used to it Kept all [whiteboards]…they were very, very useful very small disadvantage was the fact that it’s not visual Positives Challenges