webinar development for learning technologists · webinar. it is intended to aid the selection of a...
TRANSCRIPT
Webinar Development for Learning Technologists
Description of methods and proposed best practice when deploying a webinar.
Steve Davies
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Table of Contents Section 1: Context ................................................................................................................ 2
Choosing which webinar service to use ............................................................................. 2
The different types of service available .......................................................................... 2
Comparison chart ........................................................................................................... 3
Top features that influenced decision ................................................................................ 3
Cost................................................................................................................................ 3
Ease of Use .................................................................................................................... 3
Audio quality .................................................................................................................. 4
Video Quality ................................................................................................................. 4
Tools .............................................................................................................................. 4
Aesthetics ...................................................................................................................... 5
Section 2: Report of the event ............................................................................................... 5
Pre-event testing ............................................................................................................... 5
Equipment configuration used ........................................................................................... 5
Summary of the event ....................................................................................................... 6
Section 3: Advice on setting up and running a a combined seminar/webinar event .............. 7
Roles.................................................................................................................................. 7
Considerations for developing a combined seminar/webinar event................................... 8
Technical considerations. .................................................................................................. 8
Suggested sequence of events ........................................................................................... 9
Recommended equipment configuration .......................................................................... 9
Presenter’s Lectern ........................................................................................................ 9
Technical Facilitator ....................................................................................................... 9
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Section 1: Context
This report is aimed at eLearning
technologists planning to implement a
Webinar. It is intended to aid the selection of
a webinar service and to provide a guide to
good practice when running an online event.
The University of Manchester Faculty of
Engineering and Physical Sciences eLearning
Team was asked to implement a pilot webinar for a seminar featuring several presenters
and an interactive workshop. The event was held to examine the use of Social Media in
teaching (STEM) on April 4th 2012. The implementation of the pilot and all communication
had to be achieved within a 2 week window.
The aim of the pilot was to establish primary methods and best practice in the deployment
of web conferencing solutions, with a view to adding web conferencing to the services
offered by the EPS eLearning team.
Choosing which webinar service to use
The different types of service available
There are a large number of services on offer. Price points vary as do the features offered by
the different services. The products on offer can be split into three categories:
1) High End: Adobe Connect, Saba, Cisco WebEx. Rated superior to ‘mid range’
products by virtue of the fact that they are premium cost services targeted at organisational
integration.
2) Mid-Range: a plethora of web based services are on offer from companies such as
FuzeMeeting, MegaMeeting, GoTo Meeting, Blackboard Collaborate – the list goes on.
3) Open Source: Big Blue Button is an open source platform for the educational market.
During the evaluation phase of the project it quickly became apparent the High End
packages are expensive. Adobe Connect has all of the features and design quality you would
expect from Adobe but it is priced accordingly. Using Adobe’s online quotation tool, the cost
of using Connect based on 50 participants for 3 hours came out at circa £13,000. On this
basis the high end option was dismissed for the purposes of the trial.
The mid range services are competing heavily to gain market share and pitch based on ease
of use, low price and aesthetics. Because of the relative ease of trialling the software it was
decided to focus on these services.
“Webinar: short for Web-based seminar, a
presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that
is transmitted over the Web.” - Webopedia
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Comparison chart
A comparison of feature availability for a selection of the most popular services is shown
below:
Chat Video Browser Desktop Ap
VoIP Conf Call
Recordable Doc share
Mobile/tablet
Adobe Connect
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Fuze
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Collaborate
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
WebEx
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Saba
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yugma
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
GoTo meeting
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Vyew
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Big blue Button
Yes Yes Yes Yes
(Source: TJ Thomander, TechChange, 2011)
Top features that influenced decision
Cost
During the course of researching the most popular webinar services two full accounts for
two of the leading mid-range products were made available for evaluation. Since these were
available immediately and at no cost it was decided to use one of the two products for the
webinar and to make them the subject of the evaluation. The two products were
Blackboard Collaborate and FuzeMeeting.
Ease of Use
Both services were relatively straightforward to set up. Being browser based (with a ‘launch
as application’ option) they both use Java and Flash.
The only problem encountered launching either of the services was when first launching
Collaborate on a Windows (Vista 64) machine – the program failed to load. A solution was
found online, which advised updating ActiveX (by updating Flash from within
InternetExplorer). The loading problem was therefore established to be a local issue.
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Audio quality
Since the webinar featured face to face presentations it was necessary to be able to connect
external radio microphones to the webinar service. Both products were successful in
connecting to an external mic in testing, however this area did cause problems on the day
(see event log). Audio quality for both products was good.
Video Quality
In order to create a sense of presence for
the online participants and the face to
face audience it was the intention to
include video streams of the
presentations and the workshop.
The initial plan was for a camera operator
to provide close up shots of the
presenters using a tripod-mounted HD camera, to create a sense of intimacy and
engagement with the online audience.
It was also intended to provide a video stream of the workshop audience to the online
participants in order to further facilitate the sense of presence.
Each of the services was tested using a MacBook Pro connected via Firewire 800 to a Sony
fx1000 HD 1080i video camera. Blackboard Collaborate was able to connect to the camera
but FuzeMeeting unfortunately was not. This was particularly disappointing since Fuze
offered high bandwidth connectivity - up to HD resolutions, albeit at a low frame rates. After
raising a support request and submitting logs the response from Fuze technical support was
that the ‘camera was incompatible’. USB Webcams were then tried as an alternative.
Logitech 1.3 MP Webcams worked with both systems without any issues, although they
would produce lower quality images and, more importantly, could not provide close-up shot
capability.
The video technology used in FuzeMeeting allowed for up to 10 concurrent video
connections and Collaborate only one; FuzeMeeting also offered higher resolution streams
(for the event a 640x480, 30 frames per second setting was chosen) than were available in
Collaborate, therefore it was decided to use USB webcams with FuzeMeeting and to
abandon the plan to use an external HD camera.
Tools
After the event it became apparent that the number of tools available for participants (e.g.
emoticon buttons, audience polling, hand (flag) raising and more sophisticated activity tools
such as brain storming, putting things in order, interactions with slides (pointers and post
its)) should be a strong consideration if planning interactive sessions with the online
audience, especially if there is a workshop element to the event.
“Media that provides both audio and visual stimuli is said to produce a greater sense of presence than audio-only (or
video-only) media.” [Lombard. Ditton 1995]
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Aesthetics
The visual design of both products was subjectively assessed on clarity of the interface,
usability, aesthetic appeal.
Whilst Collaborate offered a clean black and white schema the modern styling and simplicity
of FuzeMeeting was preferred.
Section 2: Report of the event
Pre-event testing
In order to establish whether any recurrent technical difficulties connecting to FuzeMeeting
were going to be experienced by webinar participants, they were invited to connect to the
meeting room prior to the event.
Two time slots were offered to the participants to test their configuration. They were asked
to run a diagnostic program that FuzeMeeting provides prior to connecting, so that prompts
to install Java, Flash, etc. would be managed by the diagnostic software.
https://www.fuzemeeting.com/files/ookla/PROD/Detector.html
In pre–event, testing several participants reported failing the ‘Packet Loss’ part of the test.
They were advised to go ahead with connecting to the meeting anyway, and all managed to
connect successfully (including audio/video).
Equipment configuration used
Presenter’s computer:
MacBook Pro
Sony Radio Microphone
Logitech Webcam (directed at the room)
VGA link to presentation screens
Fuzemeeting running
ScreenFlow running.
Facilitator 1:
MacBook
Webcam mounted on a tripod, directed at the presenters [type TBC]
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Screenshot showing Fuze Meeting during the webinar
Summary of the event
After the equipment was set up, online participants were allowed into the FuzeMeeting
‘room’. It became apparent that they were not receiving audio from the microphone on the
presentation machine. The majority of participants were attempting to connect using VOIP
but none were reporting success.
The radio microphone settings were checked and appeared normal, so a test call to Skype
was placed to establish if the microphone was working. No audio was being recorded by the
Skype test call so further fault tracing was necessary.
The audio input settings for the MacBook Pro were discovered to be set to the default
internal microphone. When the input was changed a successful Skype call was made.
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The presentation computer was reconnected to FuzeMeeting and the audio connection was
successfully established for some but not all participants.
Since it wasn’t known if the VoIP connection was working, the decision was made to request
all online participants experiencing difficulties connecting to change their connection type
from VoIP to Skype. This caused some confusion for the participants, as some required
instructions on how to connect via Skype.
It now appeared that the audio connectivity was fully functioning and the first presenter
began. However, the input setting in Skype was set to default so the onboard microphone
was giving a false positive during the audio check. This resulted in very poor audio quality
for the first presentation. The settings were updated before the next presentation took
place and the audio quality was reported to be ‘loud and clear’ By the online participants.
During the following presentation, a YouTube video was shown. To achieve this, desktop
sharing was turned on so that the online participants could watch the video. This worked for
the duration of the video, but after the video had finished playing and desktop sharing was
switched off, the Fuze client crashed and froze. It was necessary to restart the browser and
re-enter the meeting. No further technical issues were encountered.
Section 3: Advice on setting up and running a a combined
seminar/webinar event
Roles
In order to manage the online participants, the face to face event and the interface between
the two, it was found that a number of specialist roles are required.
Online Host Facilitator: The online host is responsible for welcoming the
participants, running activities and answering questions relating to the event.
Room to online facilitator: responsible for monitoring what’s being said in the room
and by the online participants. Choosing opportunities to interface the two; e.g.
fielding questions from online to the room and vice-versa.
AV and technical support: responsible for setting up the equipment, running the
pre-event testing, monitoring AV feeds, managing the use of Microphones in the
room, setting up between presentations.
Out of room helpline: to provide telephone support helping with log in issues and
fielding technical questions.
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Considerations for developing a combined seminar/webinar event
The following is a check list of issues to consider:
When scheduling the event, minimise the time between presentations. If there are
face to face interactive sessions make sure there are equivalent activities being run
for the online participants. If there are no online activities arranged to run during
any face to face activities then schedule presentations first, followed by Q&A,
followed by activities.
If you are planning to capture an event, include notifications in the marketing
material that the event will be recorded.
Include an image rights waiver mechanism in the terms and conditions of the ticket
booking process.
Provide online users with a ‘how to’ guide for key parts of login/set up for the
session.
Design warm-up activities for when the participants are arriving. Consider activities
which will introduce the online participants to the room and vice versa.
Design specific online activities for the online audience to coincide with in-room
activities.
Provide descriptions of the online activities to the face to face presenters prior to the
event.
Provide online participants with an information ‘pack’ containing presentation files,
online resources etc. prior to the event.
Consider using Twitter for text feed and notify the face to face audience of the hash
tag.
Technical considerations.
It is critical that all testing is done using the actual equipment configuration, and preferably
the same connectivity as the actual event.
Be careful not to close the meeting room fully, since the unique I.D. will be lost,
requiring a new room I.D. to be generated and communicated to the participants.
If possible set up equipment and conduct a load test.
Design a fault tracing flow chart using the actual equipment configuration for use as
quick reference. Include all possible locations for setting audio and video inputs (e.g.
system, webinar software preferences, Skype preferences).
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Suggested sequence of events
Set up as early as possible on the day, to give enough time for problem solving before
making the meeting space available. Beginning with the Microphone (using Skype’s voice
test), test each component of the AV system.
Conduct a Live test minimum 45-60mins before the start of the event with several
testers connecting simultaneously. If possible, test on as many different connection
types as possible: local, remote, wifi etc. If problems occur, refer to the fault tracing
flow chart designed prior to the event.
Launch the actual meeting room and do not allow participants into the webinar
room until the scheduled ‘doors to open’; as soon as participants are in the room,
the facilitators will have to begin managing the participants rather than helping with
testing/setup.
30 minutes prior to the event launching, allow the participants in to the webinar
room. Facilitators can then begin discussions and run warm up activities.
If possible in a separate room provide a technical support service via telephone and
connection to the webinar room. Recommended equipment configuration
Set up AV equipment on a separate machine to the presenter so that settings and fault
tracing can be monitored/changed without interrupting the presenters.
Presenter’s Lectern
MacBook Pro
VGA to screens
Webcam facing the room/audience
Radio Microphone
Technical Facilitator
MacBook
Webcam on tripod facing the presenters
Radio Mic receiver
Laptop
References.
Lombard, M, & Ditton, T. (1997). At the Heart of It All: The Concept of Presence. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication. 3.2 September 1997.