Today the lead facilitators for the Jazz workshop had a 2+ hour planning meeting. As usual, our videoconference meeting was supported by other technologies:
- a Skype chat to share URLs
- GoogleDocs – a schedule file and a notes and todo file
- Twitter to share interesting tidbits, side comments or resources with our peeps
- Phones to cause the vc buzz and take a pic (ok that didn’t really support the meeting!)
What I really noticed today though, was our pauses. After a particularly confusing topic with varied viewpoints, when everyone’s voice had been heard, we paused. We thought about it. We processed. No one told us to, we just did it. And after a sufficient time, we moved on.
Think time is really important! Having a way to visually see the discussion topics/issues in GoogleDocs also was critical to our thinking.
What about you? What strategies work well in your VC meetings?
What’s amazing to me is that you all have become so comfortable with videoconferencing, that the pauses seem natural! So often, especially with those new to video, pausing is uncomfortable because one second in ‘real life’ is magnified via video. Just think about live TV shows – – a pause equates to ‘dead air.’ For meetings, just like in the classroom, wait time is critical — it allows everyone to think and formulate their thoughts. It’s really great that educators all starting to use videoconferencing more ubiquitously …. and that they are interacting with one another through the technology just as they would in ‘real life.’
Heather, I never thought about the “dead air” concept. I think that is what makes videoconferencing a bit unnatural in the beginning…you are in front of a camera and on TV and because we watch TV we think that is what the videoconference should be like.
After you have been in the videoconferencing world for a while, you seem to adapt and it seems quite natural to talk to the monitor, TV, or projector screen.
I also talk to myself frequently which helps me with the translation of communicating and collaborating with a video image. 🙂