Information About Virtual Seminars
The nature of asynchronous communication via a conferencing software system enables all users to add to the discussion. Turn-taking and bids to take the floor are not the issues that they are in physical classrooms. Students who often feel that they don’t get the opportunity to participate in classroom discussions now have every chance to do so.
Discussion contributions tend to be more thoughtful as students become aware of the presence of audience. Students take advantage of the chance to edit their own textual discourse before submitting it to the conference. Students tell their stories of experience and often cite references in support of their illustrations of practice. Other students respond and link their stories. In this way, a vast resource of knowledge becomes constructed in print. Discussions are oral texts; they are in written form but read like oral discussions. This characteristic of the medium leaves a written record to which others may refer to later. Instructors, facilitators, and administrators have the chance to use these texts of discussion for further research.
Students must verbally process information within a virtual seminar course. They must participate with an original posting and with responses to fellow pupil postings. Students must process and re-process information. This provides opportunity for a fuller understanding of the material as they ponder and discuss an issue with other conference users. This kind of forum increases interaction with the course information and students gain a sense of ownership of their knowledge.
Time is an crucial component of the virtual conference environment. Students have collectively enjoyd the chance to participate in the conference at their own convenience, lacking the limitation of a set classroom time or place. Due to this flexibility, there has lately been an increase in the numbers of "non-traditional" students enrolling in course materials. These students often have families and work/job related responsibilities that can be accomodated by virtual conference course materials. In addition, students and faculty both enjoy the fast response time and feedback endowed by the system.
Student groupings or pairings within a course can be changed easily. Students can participate in a whole group conference, in less larger group discussion or cooperative work groups. Separate work logs can also be maintained so that various levels of interaction can be simultaneously provided. A social component is an crucial part of any course, including a virtual conference seminar course. There are interpersonal and group dynamics that are altered by the kinds of interactions mediated by the conference.
Pupils are also able to interact with those who may be diferntly abled as well as fellow pupils who may live in different geographical regions and very different communities. The different perspectives and life experiences brought by each member of the conference adds to the broadened outlook gained by the course users through the discourse. Pupils learn how to network with each other. Especially at graduate levels, these can be pros from the same disciplines who have never had this opportunity before. This networking can continue after the class session is finished through the use of e-mail and real time chat software. In-service teachers often voice feelings of isolation due to the demands on their time. Asynchronous networking for these pros enables conversations and collegiality to develop across time and space.
Administrative concerns often revolve around time and access. Time is not coserved by virtual seminar courses. On the contrary, the experience is time intensive for both faculty and students. Technical exercising and support are also key components in the success of virtual seminar conference courses. Neither faculty nor students function well in frustrating circustances. Support should be provided for faculty in putting together easy to understand quality course materials. Hardware, software and technical resources should be adequate to the demand.
New technologies are being used to create new learning communities. Learning theories, group dynamics and discourse analysis need to be used to examine the resulting text dialogs to maximize learning potentials for all users. Net usage has been overwhelmingly male but this is not necessarily true of our virtual seminar courses. How do we safeguard that our female students will feel welcome in this environment? Transcripts of classes record the interactions. It is crucial that faculty and administrators take note of the dynamics and where they lead.