Alliance Online

As I endeavor to broadcast more Science Alliance programs over the internet, I consider whether watching an event online has the same benefit as being face-to-face with the speaker. The advantage of the webinar format is that it provides convenient access to our content when distance and time are factors (which for the scientist can come down to, does it require me to leave my building and does it fit between my timepoints). What is more, some level of interactivity is preserved with the at-home viewer being able to type or call-in questions to which the presenter can respond in real-time.

For the sake of convenience, though, you do sacrifice an opportunity to interact with others interested in a topic, and at an Alliance event, the network to which you have access is huge and includes people across a number of institutions and scientific disciplines. So networking is clearly hindered, but is learning compromised, as well?

Online learning is a hot issue in higher education with an ongoing debate about the extent to which teachers should be bringing their classrooms into the virtual space. You can check out some of the arguments for and against online courses in recent articles at The Chronicle and The New York Times. Interestingly, a meta-analysis by the US Department of Education found that “on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”

My take is that online learning can be successful but requires attention to pedagogical methods that have been proven for the virtual environment. This is not unlike the research and preparation that should be put forth to make in-classroom instruction effective.

I will continue to offer Science Alliance events online because I think it is important for our members to have access to the information we present, and will try to consider the unique needs of the virtual attendee. Nevertheless, for anyone local, I would encourage attending events when possible for the networking alone.

Science Alliance Meets Web 2.0

One of the main goals I have set for myself as Director is to strengthen the sense of community among the Science Alliance members through the internet and social media. At some point, I hope to have a platform for members to create profiles so that we can connect and share information virtually. In the meantime, I am aiming to make a majority of the Science Alliance events available as webinars so that anyone unable to attend the live event can still benefit from our programs.

I just watched my first webinar last week (ironically, on Developing a Social Strategy) and participated in a test run of a webinar this afternoon and I have to admit to being quite impressed with the technology. In addition to viewing the PowerPoint presentation and hearing the audio of the speakers in real time, there is also a little box for interacting with the event hosts- you can click a button to raise your hand and type in questions. You can also talk through your computer’s microphone. This type of interactivity is key to help the virtual attendee feel engaged. After all, the webinar has to fight against competing facebook and gmail chat windows, beeping lab timers, and snack breaks. Perhaps feeling like an active participant in the proceedings would help hold the viewer’s attention longer.

Speaking of audience interaction, at one point during our mock webinar the screen flashed to a poll that asked me how I was doing: Excellent, Good, Ok, and Not So Excellent. In case you’re curious, I’m fighting a cold so I selected the last option- but it had nothing to do with the experiment itself. Despite being fairly technologically savvy, I am practically giddy with delight discovering our capability to survey the audience throughout the broadcast. And no, it’s not just a surreptitious way to ensure you’re paying attention… the IT team tells me we have other “ways” of obtaining that information. But don’t worry, we can’t actually see you tuning in wearing your bathrobe… or can we?

Taking the webinar approach a step further, I also have the vision of streaming these broadcasts to remote auditoriums so that groups of students and postdocs can watch together rather than in isolation. I will have the opportunity to test this idea on Monday for the first event I am organizing for Science Alliance (more to come on that in a later post). The seminar is being webinar’d and I am collaborating with Joerg Schlatterer to project the event to a room at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine campus. The mock webinar we ran today was to prepare for this event and everything worked without a hitch.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to seeing how everything plays out next week. Register for the event and you can find out, too!