Broadcast Yourself

Reflections on Broadcasting my own Webinar:

One major thing to note here, as Steve Dembo, my professor, pointed out…..TEST, TEST, TEST, AND TEST MORE!!  I spent several days testing and the night before my webinar, I still wasn’t satistfied!!  Lol!!

When given this assignment, I will admit, I was nervous.  It's one thing to invite people into your classroom (aka--comfort zone), but to broadcast yourself to the world is a whole separate matter.  Especially when you're live, and you can't edit out the mistakes.  In addition, I decided to broadcast my entire 6th grade class, and well, you just never know what a 6th grader is going to do or say!!  So, I thought this was a great opportunity to challenge myself and try something new!

Getting Ready:

It took a while to find a free site that I liked to use for my broadcast.  I ended choosing Livestream.

After creating an account, I set up my webcam and microphone with ease, and began testing a live feed. This was the easy part.  The hard part, initially, was deciding how to share this with others.  I asked some students and parents to test the link a few days before our scheduled show.  In my first go around, parents and other viewers had to create an account in order to access our videos.  The other issue was the videos, as I was not able to get a live feed.  We recorded clips, then posted them to a blog of sorts, then the participants could watch them.  While I like the "archived nature" of this, I wanted a live feed and a direct link where participants did not have to create an account to view us.  

Click here to view one of my Test Sessions (seen above), but know 

you'll have to create an account to see it (case in point).

Then, I realized I could download a live version of Livestream broadcasting, and with this, participants just had to click a link to connect directly to our broadcast!!  I tested the link with coworkers in my building, in other buildings, and with my family members to be sure they could all simply click on our link and see us live. This being establishing, I told my students to tell their parents about our show, I posted the link onto my Homework Hotline Website, I emailed staff, friends, parents, and relatives the direct link, and I made a bunch of phone calls.  We were ready and the kids were excited!

Our Class Webinar:

I picked my 6th grade class because we were in the middle of an Internet & Social Networking Safety Unit. In the classes leading to our broadcast, I shared statistics with my students, then had my 6th graders take a Google Form Survey so we could see immediate results on what was happening with our own kids.  We talked about recent cases where kids were getting in trouble with improper usage of social media sites, texting, and online "relationships".  I felt this would be a great topic for the parents to hear, and appropriate content for our first Webinar.  I took the chance of not rehearsing anything with the students ahead of time as far as Webinar content.  I did, however, want them to share our survey results, so I printed out each question and the results and handed them out to the kids.  This way, I could involve several kids in the discussion and they could speak pressure-free as they had something to say.    At the end of the broadcast, we had the option to save our recording.

Watch live streaming video from mrszep at livestream.com

(If the above embedded video isn't working, click here to view our archived Webinar.)

Reflection:

This was a GREAT experience!!  The kids loved participating and I loved allowing them the opportunity to share their content online.  We were so excited when people started appearing in our chat room, especially the parents who joined us!  It was great for the kids to see that people were watching, listening and participating.  As participants commented on the survey results, I realized this is a great way to educate parents and community, as well as the kids. I really liked how Livestream allowed me to save the video at the end. This way, I could post the video on my website for more parents to view if they were not able to attend live. Also, the kids loved that they could watch the video later.

In the future I realized a few things.  First, if I use this type of format again, where the only video seen is us and the only communication is in a chat format, I would designate someone to be in charge of the keyboard to respond more efficiently to the participants.  I was trying to facilitate the session on video and respond on keyboard, and it was too much.  

Also, I would like to run a Webinar where participants are also seen via Webcam.  Christopher McCaffrey, the Instructional Technology Coach for my school district, watched our Webinar and stopped in to see me later in the week to provide feedback.  He recommended using Google Hangouts for a future Webinar, enabling all participants to be seen and heard.  With this technique, participants need a Google+ account, which is something they would need to create ahead of time.  At Wilson School District, all staff and students are using Google, so this would be a great way to connect our two Middle Schools in a future live discussion.  I suppose it depends on the purpose of the Webinar....I will use Livestream again when the focus is to share out, and I will use a Google Hangout when the focus is to collaborate.  

I am excited to conduct another Webinar, and so are the kids!!