Return-Path: <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id i2VI0Cm27708; Wed, 31 Mar 2004 13:00:22 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 13:00:22 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <F0A2E20726E77445BB749EA67AA8D4FB0113DA3B@aib-ex1.aiweb.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Heide Wrigley" <hwrigley@aiweb.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1274] being funny on-line - is it all in the eye of the beerholder? (with apologies to Kinky Friedman) X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 2947 Lines: 64 Hi, Jackie and thanks for encouraging all of us to share our experience with on-line conferences and e-learning. I'd like to offer a few thoughts on my own experience and would love to hear from others. I've given several distance learning workshops through a state-wide system in Texas (thank you Stan Ashlock and Texas State University at San Marcos). I've also lead an on-line conference lasting several weeks on Youth Literacy through Literacy, B.C. in Canada (we'll do another one in the summer). And, I've been a "guest speaker" for a couple of on-line discussions on special topics, such as ESL assessment, on these here list serves. Yet I fret and worry .... I used to teach large ESL/EFL classes and enjoy doing PD workshops but found the distance part a bit challenging and somewhat intimidating. Talking into a TV camera in a studio means not being able to see the faces and gauge the reactions of the audience. So my usual shtick, including some killer lines that I borrowed (ok stole) from Janet Isserlis, didn't seem appropriate for the electronic medium. (If you tell a joke and you can't tell if anyone is laughing, is it still a joke?) Not being able to see people's faces made me wonder if I was hitting the right notes - did I sound too glib or too arrogant? Did I sound too sarcastic or too irreverent vis a vis our funders? It's easy to throw off a line that could be considered mildly amusing at the time you are typing it but may appear offensive once it appears on the world wide web- so the medium can be a bit constraining. QUESTION: What have been the experiences of others in that respect? Have you been turned off on these conferences because of tone (because the facilitator or guest speaker was either way too earnest or didn't seem to take things seriously enough?) Or perhaps (s)he was just a tad too preachy? When doing on-line conferences, I love hearing about the ideas of others who share strategies and resources. But I keep worrying about the ones who had signed on but don't talk or who only say something once and then disappeare from the discussion. Were they bored? Overwhelmed with work and kids and contemplating the future of the world? Or perhaps they ditched us for some other more entertaining conference somewhere else. May-be we raise expectations with our advertisements and folks end up feeling under whelmed because they had been expecting more? When working face to face, I generally work very hard to keep everyone involved, so I wonder if there is some trick I'm missing if only 30% of the official group participates. What's your take on these things? One more question, if there are some problems with the technology initially, do most people just leave in disgust never to return or do they work it through and are then quiet for other reasons? Cheers Heide Wrigley (somewhere over the North Pole as I write this) ********************************************
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