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Last week, Michael Bogar, two Alliance members and myself held an exploratory brainstorming session on how to create a turn key process for members to offer webinars, teleseminars, or courses on the Alliance.
We discussed six ways to deliver:
1) Teleseminar (voice only; most people call in by phone)
2) Webinar (potential for live video of presenter(s) and capacity to show/record PowerPoint)
3) Ongoing small groups (meet several times, more intimate setting) using video meeting software
4)Formal academic "course" programs with syllabi, modules, assigned readings, interactive online discussion groups, etc. using a software like Moodle, WizIQ or BlackBoard
5)Written course discussion (all done online in written format like the Book Club archives on the Alliance). The presenter/instructor writes an intro, assigns readings, and perhaps provides links to other content (videos, articles) and stimulates discussions, answers questions from the group.
6) Event followed by live text "chat" after. This could be a webinar or an online video, etc. and then the moderator gets on the chat (it's a link at the top of each Alliance page) and stimulates/moderates discussion (this has worked well after recent Alchemy/Bosnak & Berry webinars).
We also touched on the need to vet would-be presenters, how much to charge and to profit share between the Alliance, the presenter (and maybe an engineer/moderator who would run the software).
Finally, we re-visited the idea that the Alliance should be able to provide CEUs. On that note, I have looked into getting the Alliance approved but haven't done it yet because its such a time-consuming process. Meanwhile, another option is to have the CEUs awarded via another partner organization and we may have a couple of options there. If anyone has insight or experience with this, I'd love to have your input.
Moving forward, this small group will meet again by video/phone to contemplate more and the next step will be to set up a couple of webinars to be delivered the members of this group. If anyone wants to join us for the planning--or would like to deliver in the next few months, let me know.
Replies
COMMUNITY ED UPDATE as of 3-28-14
Attendees: James, Bonnie, Jesse, Donna, Michael, Linda (Eva and Nina: Alliance members)
Just to recap, we spent the first hour on the Community Ed program discussing further how to deliver education to our members by our members. We will need to vet those who have already indicated an interest and we still don’t have a good way to do that: maybe we can ask them all to submit audio or video of them presenting. It would be a quick way to get a feel for their content and their ability to present. We’ll still need board members to volunteer to spend some time reviewing those submissions, so if anyone is willing, that would be great. Let me know asap and I’ll put the word out.
Meanwhile, we discussed that presenters would donate potentially 20% to the Alliance if they charge for their event, or 50% if the Alliance has to provide the engineering services to run it (on GoToWebinar or another platform). I’m hoping we can find a few interns, suggested by Craig, whom I could train on the software and who could then attend free in exchange for running the event and for school credit. Another option is that I can host a one-time training for a group of would-be presenters who would like to learn how to do it themselves for future use. It’s really quite easy to run, very intuitive, so this could work well. If we record that session, then people who join or decide to present later could have the benefit of the recording. GoToWebinar and most software platforms also have extensive training videos and documents. We also talked about having a deliverable or something to motivate potential participants to both pay for events and to finish what they start. This seems important so people are getting what they pay for and feel like they are. CEUs is one thing to offer; the badge or certificate is another. Question: Could we find ways to have participants interact with each other and have a deliverable (i.e. discuss and report back, or write a short paper or summary paragraph, or post in the "BLOG" section on the Alliance about their learnings/experience with the course/event?)
Finally, we discussed having a “group” for presenters to meet occasionally and talk about what works, what options are available, how to achieve certain goals, etc. I wouldn’t mind running that but won’t have time for a few more months, most likely, so if anyone is interested in doing it or co-hosting or sharing leadership (like a council), please let me know and I’ll help kick it off sooner than later.
I meant to have Jesse talk to us about electronic badges and that didn’t happen (my profound apologies, Jesse!). We moved on to the next call before we got to the end of my notes, unfortunately, and I inadvertently missed it. It would be great to award badges for certain educational events or for taking a certain number. People can then put those badges on their web sites, Facebook pages, emails, to validate their accomplishment which will get us more exposure. Craig has been planning a “certificate” program where we’ll award certificates for each of four series of five sessions in Deep Education. This, I think, would look similar.
We do have a need to figure out how to award CEUs through the Alliance. Nina, our member representative, can offer them for New Mexico and will do so when she presents in coming weeks or months, but of the group we had on the call, no one was quite sure how to award them so they’re viable for all states. We came up with a list of people we could ask—so we will work on that collectively.
Next steps are to have those from the board and on the call (including Eva and Nina) submit what they would like to teach, the fee for the course, the mode of delivery (teleseminar, webinar, written online “group,” chat discussion of assigned events (i.e. watch a webinar or online documentary or listen to an audio file on someone’s web site, then meet at a certain time online to discuss via chat). Once we determine when we’re starting, we’ll hold training on the software if there’s a demand. Presenters will be expected to post the event themselves on the Alliance under “Events” and I’ll do my best to market them to all members and the extended community via direct email as well as social media.
Update:
Chalquist-CertificateProgram-DeepEducators.docx
Bonnie, hi:
I don't know if I will have anything to contribute, but I would like to sit in on the planning if you would like.
All the best,
James
Thanks James! Please do! Next meeting is Friday, March 28 at noon PT. I'll be sending out online access info a couple of days before.