Hello Program Management colleagues,
There were 1178 Program Management group members as of September 1, 2019 and two substantive discussions described below:
Discussion : Webinars that Work! https://community.lincs.ed.gov/discussion/webinars-work
296 view as of September 1, 8 comments
This short discussion, launched by Kathy Tracey, moderator of the LINCS Professional Development group, and also hosted in the Program Management group is about using YouTube for professional development webinars. New Mexico webinar moderator Jamie Trujillo and webinar presenter Monserrat Oyanedal described using YouTube (formerly Google Hangouts) for adult basic skills professional development webinars there.
Jamie wrote, “YouTube Live allows for unlimited viewers since it is more of a passive viewing tool rather than a meeting platform. The only people who are live on the Google Hangout are the presenter and the moderator. The participants/viewers are given a separate link that allows them to watch the webinar right from the YouTube website. The benefit to this is that presenters do not have to worry about feedback noise or interruptions from participants if they accidentally unmute themselves or don’t know how to mute themselves. Participants are able to ask questions and/or comment on the webinar via the YouTube chat, which is monitored by the moderator, so there is still some level of active participation by the viewers. We also incorporate live polling tools such as PollEverywhere in order to encourage viewer participation. Though this is not perfect, we find that the majority of our viewers will get used to this type of participation after about two webinars.”
She added, “YouTube Live has several other benefits compared to other platforms such as GoToMeeting or Zoom. First, though all platforms allow for meeting recording, YouTube Live automatically records the webinar. This eliminates the risk of the presenter forgetting to hit the record button. Also, once the webinar is concluded, the webinar is automatically archived and available on YouTube for viewing. There are no extra steps needed for this to happen, and the original link for the live webinar is the same for the recording. This allows us to put that link on our website so that our colleagues can watch the webinar at any time. The video is also automatically added to our YouTube channel, so our channel followers will have access to it right away. Finally, YouTube Live is free! In a state like New Mexico where funding is limited, that is truly priceless for us.”
Montserrat added, “from the participants/viewers it was a great transition, as everyone is familiar with YouTube” and “participants were able to access easily from their mobile devices at any time from anywhere” and “having the embedded chat made a great impact on our webinars as we had the live interaction component in our presentations that allowed us to create a 'personal' connection with the participants.”
Jamie described the benefits of YouTube compared with GoToMeeting and Zoom webinar platforms. She also described some of the challenges for her as a webinar moderator: reliable internet service throughout the entire webinar, making sure that viewers have access to the chat (they must sign in with a YouTube account, for which they can use their gmail accounts). Jamie wrote, "if viewers are using a mobile device (phone or tablet), they will have to watch the video in portrait orientation (vertically) so that they can see the chat box. If they turn their device sideways, the chat box disappears. We found over time that if we explain how to access the chat during the introduction to the webinar, viewer issues are minimized.” Montserrat also described the challenges that she found as a presenter.
Montserrat offered the following seven tips as best practices for YouTube PD webinar presenter. Many also apply to PD webinars using other platforms:
1. “Practice and rehearse (alone and with your team)
2. Have a plan B in case technology doesn't work (and some jokes to tell).
3. Mute yourself when another person is talking.
4. Make sure that other technology tools that you are planning to use work well (Poll Everywhere, Kahoot, menti.com, etc).
5. Have a feedback form available for participants to collect data and important information to improve your training practices (there is always opportunities for improvements)
6. Have fun and connect with your participants by asking questions allowing the audience to share their knowledge.
7. Provide space for questions from the audience and if you don’t know the answer follow up!”
Discussion : What does it mean to be 'fault tolerant' and how does it help with retention?
LINCS Post-secondary completion group moderator Kathy Tracey launched a discussion about being “fault-tolerant”, that is, as she defined it “account[ing] for human error and / or to diminish the consequences and results of mistakes”. It included discussion about being rigorous vs. being intolerant.
Jennifer Herr commented, “Our program tends to be to lenient on students when it comes to attendance and being on time. We do this often because if we didn't we wouldn't have any students left! The lesson that this teachings the student most likely leaks into the workplace, in turn ended up with the student being fired.” And “In adult education we are so focused on the data! We need to get every student a TABE gain and we need this many students to get an HSE. All the while teaching students bad attendance skills to get there! How do we change this?”
Stacey King agreed with Jennifer, and offered more detail.
David J. Rosen added, “In another LINCS discussion taking place this week, about 'scarcity mindset', there may be an answer to your question about how adult basic skills or workforce training programs can help students to learn good work habits, can have strict attendance and being-on-time-to-class standards, and at the same time have high attendance and program completion.”
David J. Rosen, Moderator
LINCS CoP Program Management group