Demonstration of using FirstClass Client for electronic seminars

Martin Gough

Demonstration of using FirstClass Client for electronic seminars

PRS Subject Centre/ASTER event "Electrifying Seminars", 8th March 2002 at the University of Leeds

Dr Martin Gough (Open University)

Full report:

Summary

Much of the session was taken up with an online demonstration of some of the currently or formerly active electronic conferences which I have facilitated over the last six years or so. One of my aims was just to show what FirstClass conferencing - an email system plus enhancements with standard Windows functionality - looks like on screen. However, I did wish to address more general issues here in the use of electronic conferencing in the context of teaching and learning in higher education, in particular on the issue of means for persuading students, and other discussants, to participate.

What I have found over all of my experience facilitating CMC confirms pegagogical/androgogical thinking on on-line virtual conferences. Conferences work well when individual members, in sufficient numbers to comprise a critical mass, are inducted together into the use of the technology. This is especially true if they are unused to this sort of e-tivity. But more importantly for success as a group (in which they would know each other as fellow members) they need to achieve identification of a common purpose to which they are all committed. Furthermore there needs to be specified tasks to perform in the conference and a specified finite timescale for each task stage as well. Additionally, if necessary there may be a formal initial arrangement to ensure that this includes an understanding of the personal time required.

Attempts by the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning to generate interest in electronic conferencing failed because of lack of leadership by its Directorate and general loss of direction as regards the Centre's purpose.

Useful Links

The WBLRC server Public Conferences open access area:

The Practise! conference:

But my other examples suggest that we may be cautiously optimistic about the future success of the medium of CMC for remote and on-campus student cohorts, given the right presentation of the medium:

The Value of Philosophy conference:

username: philconf
password: philconf

European Trade Union Distance Education (ETUDE):
http://www.etude.org

FirstClass server home page:
http://www.conf.etude.org

European Trade Union Education Network Project (ETUE-net II):
http://www.etuenet.org

The Open University home page:
http://www.open.ac.uk

FirstClass servers index page:
http://firstclass.open.ac.uk

The commercial author, now called Centrinity, of FirstClass:
http://www.softarc.com


Created on: April 17th 2007

Updated on: May 18th 2007