Web+Conference+Reflection

I was really excited about participating in the web conference last week. I went and bought a webcam (with built in mike) and came home early on Wednesday to participate. I logged on at least ten minutes before the start and the message kept saying it was waiting for the host to approve me. I waited until the meeting ended about 5:40. I figured that 40 people got there before me and I would try again on Saturday. Saturday was my 28th wedding anniversary so I hoped it would be a good start to a great day. This time I did get in, but it was a pretty frustrating activity. One person kept saying things like only perverts use webcams (she said she would never own one), and similar things like that. I guess it's good to hear other peoples' opinions, but it was surprising to see someone studying educational technology who doesn't really believe in it. Dr. Abernathy mentioned that only nine people had participated on Wednesday, so I was a little upset that I wasn't allowed in the conference. I didn't get to talk most of the time, because I didn't have a microphone by my name for most of the conference. When we were all made hosts, I tried my webcam and couldn't get it to work, even though I followed all the instructions. I know that new technology takes time to troubleshoot, so I will try again soon. I also found that the typed discussions seemed to be different from the video conversations, so there was almost too much going on at one time. I can see the benefits of video conferences in my graduate studies and I am anxious to see how other classmates use them in their classrooms. I was not able to join the next week's conference due to timing. In week 3, I tried two different times and had the same experience as the first week. Just sitting and waiting. This week (week 4), I was the first one to get connected and I had a chance to talk to Dr. Abernathy by myself. We had some audio issues and she was in Washington D.C., but we were able to chat for about 10 minutes. I really enjoyed that time. Several more class members joined us, including one who was in a car on the way to Disney World. Her son kept putting bunny ears behind her head. It was kind of exciting to be chatting with people in Texas, D.C., and somewhere in Mississippi! I did get my PSA questions answered and that really helped my group. I hope we have another one this week.