Hello,

 

Apologies for cross-posting.

 

I circulate the following request last week – many thanks to all of those who responded. Of those who responded, some are just interested in knowing what others are doing, some are just about to start and some are more established. Here are a summary of the responses.

 

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The Jisc RSCs have significant experience with Blackboard Collaborate, as it’s the web conferencing tool we use in all regions. The RSCs have also developed a Web conferencing toolkit, which you may wish to have a look at: http://moodle.rsc-wales.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=292

 

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I’m happy to give a few pointers regarding the UKSG webinar experience. We recently swapped from Webex to Citrix. Had a brief look at Blackboard Collaborate, but that sounded more ‘corporate’ and wasn’t appropriate for our needs. Also looked at ON24.

 

I’ve delivered 9 so far and I have to say I learn something new each webinar (good and bad!). Are you going to run them? I would recommend attending a few as a participant and taking advantage of any training on offer. If there’s any chance of shadowing someone, that would also be helpful.

 

We try and extend the life cycle of our webinars with pre-webinar engagement (registrants can ask questions during registration and social media activity) and post-webinar recordings, slides and Q&A documents. Q&A seems to be particularly valued.

 

Lively speakers are a must!

 

You might like to try one of the Citrix training webinars, which although specific to GoToWebinar, do offer useful hints and tips as to best practice. https://student.gototraining.com/5p6g1/catalog/5615113870425159680

 

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I’ve been tasked with trialling using webinars to deliver teaching – I’m aiming to run the first session before the end of July. We’re planning on starting with EndNote, mainly as it’s one of the few courses we run that’s not subject specific and is available for open booking.

 

Obviously as we’re not up and running yet I can only give provisional answers to some questions but here goes:

 

What software are you using?

-          We may be trialling Blackboard Collaborate, which is going to be rolled out within our institution in the near future. Does anyone have experience of using this?

I’ve used Collaborate as part of JISC events and I really like it. We don’t have it here so we’ll either go with Lync or perhaps Google Hangouts as I saw that used recently and thought it was rather good! We do have Adobe Connect on campus but we would need to pay to use it in the library – this may still happen, but we’re going to see how it goes with Lync and/or Google Hangouts. I could actually see us using a mix of technologies depending on the type and numbers involved in the session.

-          Are you doing the webinars with or without webcams?

I’ll probably use a webcam – not sure if I’ll leave it on all through the session but certainly at the introduction stage.

-          What skills do you deliver via webinars?

See above – starting with EndNote and we’ll see where it goes.

-          Do you do a live webinar where you are simultaneously delivering the session to customers physically in the same place as you, or do you just lead the webinar virtually?

Planning to just deliver exclusively via the webinar.

-          Do you record the webinar so that customers can access it at a later date?

Possibly, but depends on the technology we end up going with. Also, we plan to do a screencast of the same stuff so if someone just wants to watch a recording that’s probably the way forward. The webinar is for people who want some interaction.

-          What are the issues you face doing this?

I’m sure there would be some issues with student permission. Could also impact on the student’s willingness to contribute if they know they are being recorded and published .

-          How have your staff/students responded to the webinars?

Can’t answer this one yet!

 

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I manage and support the Blackboard Collaborate sessions which we regularly use for our own online sessions as well as setting them up for other parts of Jisc.

 

>What software are people using?

>We may be trialling Blackboard Collaborate, which is going to be rolled out within our institution in the near future.

Do you have experience of using this?

 

Yes, we use Blackboard Collaborate and we have a 'backend' SAS account, meaning that we set our the sessions up as well.

I think you can set up free Blackboard Collaborate rooms to have a quick test (although they may not include all

functionality) you can have a look here: http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Collaborate/Overview.aspx for general support and overviews. We Collaborate! Is also a great place to look if you want to discuss the system with an independent user community: http://www.wecollaborate.com/

 

>Do people do webinars with or without webcams? (we don’t currently have webcams)

 

Using webcams in a webinar depends on a number of things, generally this would need to be considered on a session by session case. You can use up to 6 webcams at once in each 'room', although during large webinars transmission can slow down and look jittery. Plus you also need people who are brave enough to use their webcam during sessions (which isn't always as easy as it sounds!)

 

>What skills are institutions delivering via webinars?

 

Here at Netskills we use webinars in a variety of ways, we offer online day long workshops, have small group session webinars (i.e. project groups), larger scale meetings of 100+ (Jisc wide meetings), multiday online conferences (200+) to name a few.

 

>Do people do a live webinar where you are simultaneously delivering the session to customers physically in the same place as you, or do they just lead the webinar virtually?

 

Generally we tend to concentrate on online webinars rather than a mix of face-to-face & online. I think there are a couple of members of the team who have trialled this method, I'll have an ask around and get back to you! We mostly have a set up that requires each participant to have their own computer access as well, rather than one presenter delivering online to a group of attendees in the same room (although we have done this in the past).

 

>Do people record the webinar so that customers can access it at a later date?

 

Blackboard Collaborate does have a recording function, it is a really useful feature allowing others to view the session later on, or even just for reference.

 

>What are the issues are faced doing webinars? >How do customers respond to webinar?

 

I have clumped these two questions together as they overlap a bit. My opinion of the system in general obviously reflects the strengths/issues of the system, personally I find the SAS end of the system clunky and we combat this with a healthy amount of organisation procedures in place (including an online session diary, a template for sessions that have been set up and linking emails together) but this would obviously not be a problem for you if you were not going to be setting sessions up.

 

The user end of the system is pretty slick and quite intuitive, although moderators/presenters benefit hugely from moderator training (we have developed our own, you can see the slides for it on our website here:  https://www.netskills.ac.uk/share/module/550 under the creative commons licence. This kind of training just gives an idea of what to expect in a session/how to handle participants and can save you from stressing during the online session!

 

Obviously there is also the matter of attendees needing a good and stable connection for webinars, often this means not using wireless and checking they can log on in advance (particularly if they are working from home).

 

For attendees being active during webinars this often reflects how good the presenter is and how confident participants feel to respond - it's important to guide them through the system on a basic level at the start of a session so they know *how* to as well. When I support sessions I regularly do a short (3-5 min) intro at the beginning, before the recording is started.

 

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We are working with screen capture software and have used Skype for one-to-one tutorials.   We are also looking at webinar software mainly to try and trial it with our overseas students but haven’t done a webinar yet so it would be interesting to see what other universities are doing.

 

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My primary role is supporting distance learning and transnational programmes so I do offer webinars for students and staff who teach at our distance learning collaborative partners. I either run them using Blackboard Collaborate which we have built into our VLE, but I often get asked if I can just use Skype because our partners use that a lot and are familiar with it. It does limit what you can do as it doesn’t have the collaborative features of blackboard collaborate.

 

I find blackboard collaborate easy to use, and it has so far been fairly problem free. In the past I have also used Vyew to run online workshops with partner students (my colleague and I have a presentation on our IR here http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/3885/ although collaborate is easier to use and more reliable.

 

I do use a web cam at the beginning to introduce myself, but I tend to turn that off once the session begins because some of the countries I work with have much slower connections and often it doesn’t work for them to have audio, video and the internet at the same time.

 

My webinars are exclusively for distance learners and I don’t run them simultaneously on campus.

 

I have recorded webinars  in the past and you can easily do this on collaborate, in fact ours automatically records unless you stop it, but I haven’t done much with the recordings, due to lack of time. Like you we have several online videos and tutorials so I tend to link students to those after the webinars.

 

The issues I’ve faced, particularly with collaborate are, the students not having java installed so not being able to connect, participants not checking their settings e.g. audio, before the session so not being able to hear, different browsers respond differently so I’ve found that if you open up collaborate on Google you’ve got to manually search for the java file on your computer, so I recommend students use Firefox. You’ve really got to provide comprehensive instructions before the session about how to log in, set up, use the features, their IT requirements etc.

 

Students and staff have responded positively. My students are people who are never going  tocome on campus because they are based all over the world so they really appreciate the opportunity to interact with library staff.

 

I agree about using the JISC toolkit. Very useful. I attended a webinar by JISC a few years ago about doing webinars and it was very informative.

 

I’ve also written about my experience using various technologies in Sconul Focus: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/4661/

 

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If you're exploring webconferencing for teaching you may like to look at the Web Conferencing Toolkit developed by the Jisc Regional Support Centres last year. Details here: http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/news/2013/nov/jisc-rsc%E2%80%99s-develop-web-conferencing-toolkit.aspx. The Toolkit has recently been updated.

 

Jisc RSC Wales is offering an online session about webconferencing on 1 July as part of our 'Summer Bytes' day of free webinars. Details of the event and how to book are here: http://jiscevents.force.com/E/EventsDetailPage?id=a06U000000IJUpXIAX&srvc=JISC%20RSC%20Wales

 

The session is called "How to...do webinars without horror stories" and is the second session of the day. You can drop in to as many of the webinars as you like during the day, or just attend one. You don't have to be working in Wales to attend: all are welcome!

 

Other Summer Bytes sessions may also be useful to librarians with an interest in information literacy: they include Wikipedia, e-safety and accessibility.

 

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Here’s what we’ve learned from the webinars we’ve done:

 

-          What software are you using?

 

Adobe connect – but this requires an expensive institutional subscription! Using as it’s what the University had available.

 

-          Are you doing the webinars with or without webcams?

 

Ours are with webcams, which we borrow from AVS – we also borrow microphone, roving microphone for questions (so the online people can hear the questions too), extension leads for the webcam/microphones. Trying to get the sound right has been our biggest problem – one solution was we found the software was defaulting to the webcam mic & so we’re careful to set it to the better mic now.

 

Early thesis forum webinars were done without webcams & just with slides & voice-over which also worked but feedback form the online participants was they’d also like to be able to see the speakers as well as the slides.

 

-          What skills do you deliver via webinars?

 

Elevenses have included open access publishing, research data management, bib software updates, creating researcher profiles on databases, use & misuse of impact factors, advertising what our team can do.

 

Our next set are being done in July: http://www2.le.ac.uk/library/about/news/new-research-elevenses-for-july

 

The Thesis Forum gets PhD students to talk/present about aspects of the PhD e.g. probation review, writing up, viva etc. https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/gradschool/current/thesis-forum

 

-          Do you do a live webinar where you are simultaneously delivering the session to customers physically in the same place as you, or do you just lead the webinar virtually?

 

We do simultaneous delivery as feedback suggests this makes our online participants feel part of the research community at Leicester. Some of our online participants are in other countries or off-campus but some join in from their offices on-campus. Some of the on-campus people like to come along in person and have the free homemade cake we offer at Elevenses!

 

If you are delivering simultaneously then you will need someone as an online moderator so they can deal with any questions/issues – this allows the person presenting to concentrate on their presentation. So far we have stuck to using ppts/screen shots rather than attempting to deliver any live demos of software – though Connect could allow us to do this.

 

Connect also allows people to participate as guests without needing an account to login, which makes it much easier for people to join in online.

 

-          Do you record the webinar so that customers can access it at a later date?

 

Yes, we make the Elevenses recordings available to anyone to make it as easy as possible for all our researchers to access. The thesis forum recordings are only available to University of Leicester staff/students to encourage open discussion during the sessions.

 

Again the Connect software has a streaming server attached which has allowed us to make them available, though I believe we’re moving to storing them & making them available online via Blackboard in future.

 

-          What are the issues you face doing this?

 

As I said above getting the sound right and working out how to use the different elements of the Connect software were the main issues (we’re still learning!). We’re lucky to usually book the Library Seminar room for the sessions and we’re now happy with how all the equipment should work in there after asking for a mini-training session on setting-up the cameras/mics properly from AVS. Our next set of Elevenses are in a different room so we’ve asked for AVS to demonstrate setting up the equipment in there too.

 

It does take time to set-up the equipment on the day and we usually have at least two staff involved, but as we’re also recording it so it can be used as a learning resource it’s worth the time/effort.

 

-          How have your staff/students responded to the webinars?

 

Very good feedback from on and off-campus participants. We find it’s very hard to get researchers to attend events so are happy with the numbers we usually get = between 5-15 people per session with between 1-5 people online. What’s been really good is that we’ve had several hundred views for the recordings (not all will be UoL) and feedback that people were pleased we had made the recordings available.

 

The main negative feedback has been when there were technical difficulties with sound etc.

 

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I have made some short video clips, using student volunteers.  This was for pre-sessional students.  I used MovieMaker to edit them. We will put them on Blackboard.

 

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The University of Melbourne Library (Australia) use Adobe Connect for online class delivery sessions in a variety of programs, e.g. UpSkills for our higher degree candidates; Melbourne School of Land & Environment (agriculture & forestry students based off-campus). We use it for delivery a variety of classes, eg. EndNote, Your Digital Thesis & the Repository, Copyright & your Thesis. 

 

The program is easy to use and the students need only click on an emailed link to view the session - no software is required. My University buys a bulk number of Adobe Connect licenses and then on-sells them to individuals within departments. Each license is Host-specific.

 

We often deliver our sessions with staff located in different locations (buildings or campuses). We usually have at least one staff member managing chat throughout the session allowing the presenter to focus on the presentation.

 

We tend not to use webcams, prefering to use photos of presenters. 

 

I have run virtual-only sessions, however my colleagues in the Copyright Office have run face-to-face and virtual sessions simultaneously.

We always record the sessions and provide the link to attendees after the event. My colleague Gerry Fahey is our local expert - training staff, sharing procedures and best practice tips and tricks. E.g. Checklists for presenters, opening & closing scripts etc. 

 

Top tips: 

+ create a virtual lobby for attendees (music, instructions to test audio setup, informal chat is a good ice breaker)

+ use interactive polls...e.g. To find out about your group, engage the audience,

+ use interactive features-e.g hands up who wants to move on? 

+ online chat (managed by second staff member)

+ staff facilitating chat notify presenter of significant questions by means of behind-the-scenes Note area. This might points that need to be clarified or demonstrated

+ voice-only enabled for presenter

+ if using powerpoint slides..provide minimal text on screen

+ provide a 

+ keep a copy of chat transcipts

+ when starting out, limit the no.s in your session as chat can be fast & furious. I found 30 to be good for my first session.

+ deliver your session as though to a single person 

+ presenters should smile and use gestures...they can be heard in your voice!

 

Feedback from students and staff has been excellent. In my experience the sessions can often be more interactive, with many reserved, shy or international students asking questions via chat.  We have many PhDs based in hospitals and other off-campus locations, and they tell,us that they appreciate not having to trek into the city, finding parking etc.

 

Webinars are generally well-received by staff and students. The difficult aspect is encouraging Library colleagues to give it a go.

 

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I deliver legal research skills teaching to PT students using Adobe Connect. I do not use a webcam (only audio and ppt presentation). Sessions are recorded and uploaded to the VLE (BlackBoard).

 

PT students really appreciate the sessions. I tend to deliver them live on Saturday mornings.

 

I'm going to experiment using Skype - a disadvantage to Adobe connect is limited licenses and I would like other colleagues to deliver remote training in addition to myself.

 

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Blackboard Collaborate is OK but doesn’t work on ipads… googlehangout is good but needs a google account (which not everyone wants)… and skype has screensharing for one to ones – it might also work for one to many but I’ve not tried it – again people need skype accounts!…

 

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Many thanks for your responses. Since I circulated this information request, we now have a briefing session arranged on Blackboard Collaborate in July, which will help us progress this development.

 

Best wishes

Suzie

 

 

 

Hello,

 

Apologies for cross-posting.

 

I am part of a team supporting post-graduate researchers and academic staff in their skills development. We are currently exploring developing webinars / videos as an approach to supporting skills delivery. We have already created a number of short videos using Camtasia – see http://nuweb2.northumbria.ac.uk/library/skillsplus/topics.html?l3-13.

 

We would like to know if anyone is doing webinars to support skills delivery.

 

-          What software are you using?

-          We may be trialling Blackboard Collaborate, which is going to be rolled out within our institution in the near future. Does anyone have experience of using this?

-          Are you doing the webinars with or without webcams?

-          What skills do you deliver via webinars?

-          Do you do a live webinar where you are simultaneously delivering the session to customers physically in the same place as you, or do you just lead the webinar virtually?

-          Do you record the webinar so that customers can access it at a later date?

-          What are the issues you face doing this?

-          How have your staff/students responded to the webinars?

 

I will summarise for the list.

 

Best wishes

Suzie

 

Suzie Kitchin BA (Hons); MSc (Econ); MCLIP; PGCert; FHEA

Research Support Librarian – Research Skills & Consultancy, University Library

 

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