Vance Stevens hosted a live online session ostensibly to explain in greater detail how to get started with Google Reader, as described in this blog post:
You could use this technique to follow student blogs or blogs from any group or individual you wish to follow. I had offered to help participants set up their Google Readers hands-on to find all the posts in blogs that have been written to reflect on certain EVO sessions. But the participant mix took the conversation into other directions.
Session recording
Here are the text chat windows we embedded to provide a backchannel to the live stream
We encountered a problem through choice of Sync.in. After 8 participants had joined the chat it would allow no more (and we were relying on that chat to disseminate the Hangout link on the fly). We didn’t realize until 15 min. into the program that people could hear the stream but couldn’t communicate with us or figure out how to join the hangout, but eventually stragglers made it in and informed us, so tweeted the Hangout link and put it up at http://learning2gether.pbworks.com and created the second TitanPad text chat below.
Plan B Text Chat
Significance of the event
There is another very interesting aspect of the session this Sunday. It was the first time I conducted such an event in a Hangout On Air, and streamed the video at http://webheadsinaction.org/live
This procedure overcomes two limitations of hangouts. One limitation is that you can only have 10 in a Hangout at a time. The other is that it’s hard to tell people where you’ll be hanging out because hangouts are designed to be found through your circles and other social features of Google + so there is no URL to give out until the Hangout actually starts. Thus, many Hangouts are announced, but participants can’t enter because there are ten there already, and the participants are left standing outside a locked door, which is not colleaguial.
http://webheadsinaction.org/live overcomes both these problems. First, I can embed an Etherpad clone chat there where anyone can interact. I can put the hangout URL there and others can click on it and join the chat, or if you are having problems you can get help in the chat (in practice we ran up against the 8 participant limit in Sync.in, which we will avoid for this purpose in future). Secondly, since the YouTube embed that lets you play the recording later HAPPENS to stream the event while it’s in session, then anyone can visit the URL where that link is embedded and listen to the stream. So if the Hangout is full, hundreds more can listen in and interact in the Titanpad chat (thousands? tens? no idea actually). We can also announce on the stream when places become available in the Hangout and participants in the Hangout can be rotated in and out that way.
So one purpose of the session will be to Learn2gether about Google Reader how to follow class sets of blogs. But in so doing we’ll see how to stream a Hangout so it can reach beyond just the ten in the hangout itself.
Testing prior to the actual event
I tested this at around 1300 GMT with Kalyan Chattopadhyay.
It worked fine as you can see from this recording
(sorry for messing around setting up, but I was checking on other computers that the stream was being broadcast, when Kalyan responded to my call to verify that it was being broadcast worldwide )
Holly Dilatush graciously agreed to share her comments here which she posted to Google + as we were meeting together. It seems she was having F.U.N.
I just heard Jeff’s Sae-hey-bok-mahn-ee-pah-deu-sey-yo! (or something close!) i will never forget that expression = Happy New Year in Korean! Happy New Year, all!
I use the exercise balls, too… great idea for non-squeak! [I’m typing more notes as I listen!] Fun, fun, f.u.n.!
So much fun to see you all!
[EVO_Drama_2013 is rather quiet, too, though it’s picking up a lot today for some reason]
I haven’t signed up for kubbu = too many things to keep track of and testing my ability to say “No.” (or at least, “Not now”). Every new post about it tempts me to go sign up and play, too. But as of today I have not signed up.
Interesting observation…. watching the hangout recording = we don’t see who is talking…
psychedelic flashes! (Why?) Are there really colors flashing in her room? (not sure who that is).
Oh… listening to Rita talking about Webheads… yes, yes, yes!
Grinning!
Jeff: Worldbridges
“Learning is chaotic” (Vance)
Vance was punished?! No, no, no… come back, Vance!
How quickly we feel frustrated! So many options! Isn’t it amazing that we are navigating all of these (or at least some of these) = I used to give up but now keep trying most of the time = often without thinking twice.
Podcasting = I do need to revisit this… was frustrated with this in the past. Isn’t it interesting what we choose to follow, why, and when/why we give up?
English language = helps change the culure (interesting)
I’ll put a plug in for everyone to check out process drama techniques as a way to enhance = check out EVO_Drama sessions
Vance’s voice gone again! and back again!
😀
On WizIQ, it’s advised to close Skype and any other programs that use microphone… if you are the one who started the class… so I wonder if this is what caused Vance’s disconnects? [But I do NOT know what I’m talking about, do not understand the behind-the-scenes tech stuff! …just passing along a possible tip?]
Trace Effects game = another I’ve passed on for now… How do we keep up with all the things we attempt to keep up on.
OK… sorry guys, have to stop listening… but these hangouts on Air recordings make me feel less left out (won’t make TESOL this year; didn’t make TESOL last year, and miss seeing everyone in person; this is the next best thing!).
During the presentation, Tuba referred to the work of Joel Bloch, who was present at the online event:
Bloch, J. (2008). Blogging as a bridge between multiple forms of literacy: The use of blogs in an academic writing class. In D. Belcher & A. Hirvela (Eds). The Oral-Literate Connection: Perspectives on L2 speaking, writing, and other media interactions. . Michigan: The University of Mivhigan Press
This is an annual EVO event where moderators for the EVO sessions listed at http://evosessions.pbworks.com meet from noon GMT in Google Hangout to talk about their sessions and take questions from interested participants.
Venue was to be decided, and turned out to be Google+ Hangout, Second LIfe, WiZiQ and Elluminate: http://learningtimesevents.org/webheads/, all skillfully juggled by master wizard behind the curtain Jeff Lebow.
Ten people at a time can be in a Hangout, but the event was streamed so that anyone could listen to the stream while it was being broadcast or later via the recording. The stream bounced in and out of Google+ Hangout, Second LIfe, WiZiQ, and Elluminate, where people met up to speak about their sessions and get help if they were having trouble with Google Hangout.
The stream URL or widget will appear at http://webheadsinaction.org/. There is also a text chat there. You can visit there now to see last year’s example.
– It might be best if all participants try to txt chat in the stream while the Hangout is in progress. Txt chat in Elluminate is not visible to the stream chat and visa versa
– If you are listening to the stream and then join the hangout or Elluminate room, mute the stream to avoid double audio
– If planning to speak in the Hangout, please use a headset to avoid echo. Jeff is a notorious audio stickler and will mute any echomongers 🙂 but you’ll be invited to resolve the problem and return.
– It will be easier for Jeff to bring you into the Hangout if you will visit http://plus.google.com and bring up your profile
– In order to help with planning, Jeff thinks “it would be lovely if mods could use the doc below to arrange a tentative speaking schedule”
Vance Stevens presented on Teacher-centered PD via TESOL Electronic Village Online: Free, Annual, Online at this live face-to-face conference 12 January 2013 –
TAEDTECH Sig w/ TA Abu Dhabi Chapter “Addressing language Learning Objectives with the Help of IT”
For professional development, it’s hard to beat the quality and range of sessions offered each year in TESOL’s Electronic Village Online. The sessions are free and open to all teachers. You don’t even have to be a TESOL member to participate. Vance Stevens provides you with a face to face introduction to this annual online event which starts 14 January, 2013. More info: http://evosessions.pbworks.com
MultiMOOC “applies connectivist and multiliteracies approaches to exploring recent developments and issues in open learning, and how these might apply to more conventional settings. The session is paced on Cormier’s 5 stages of MOOC participation: orient, declare, network, cluster, focus. Participants declare their personal goals for the course and trace their progress through eportfolios, either simple or elaborate. Any reasonable level of participation earns a badge in the course.”
In this recording, one of the moderators of the MultiMOOC session discusses with participants Nina, Susanna, and Lada how this session departs from others and why we call it a MOOC.
Learning2gether 