WebEx in Distance Education Natasa Cacija

							Natasa Cacija EME5457 Final Project


WebEx in Distance Education
Natasa Cacija
Nc04h@fsu.edu

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how WebEx would be useful in facilitating certain learning
activities in distance education courses. The paper first defines the technology by discussing its purpose
and briefly touching on its history. Next it describes WebEx’s features and illustrates how these features
can be used to enhance a particular activity in EME5457- Introduction to Online and Distance Learning.
Following the illustration, the paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of WebEx and finally,
presents a comparison of the technology to other vendors and models that compete against it.

This particular technology was chosen for this project because of my recent exposure to it. Prior to this
semester, even though I have taken many other online courses, I had never even heard, much less had the
opportunity to use, WebEx. Fortunately this semester I took a class where we utilized WebEx’s features
to enhance our understanding of the material that was presented in the course via synchronous class chats.
Not only did these chats help the students gain a better understanding of the material, they also provided
us with the chance to present some of our group work to the rest of the class and get immediate feedback
about our work in the same sense that would be possible in a face2face class environment.

The information in this paper was acquired via the internet through the use of the “Google” search engine.
Keywords such as “what is WebEx”, “features of WebEx”, “advantages of WebEx” and “disadvantages
of WebEx” were used to gather the necessary data. Criteria such as: Does this information apply to the
papers objectives, and is this a credible source, were considered in order to determine which resources
should be used as references in this paper. The following resources were selected:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebEx

http://www.webexmeeting.net/industries/education.htm

http://www.webex.com/what-is-webex/index.html

http://thejournal.com/Articles/2001/08/01/Online-Lectures-Benefits-for-the-Virtual-
Classroom.aspx?Page=3

http://www.business-software.com/top-10-web-conferencing-
vendors.php?track=1369&traffic=GoogleContent&keyword=genesys%20web%20conferencing
&gclid=CLCqxJ2ww54CFQghnAodXFV2pA (used their TOP 10 Conferencing Software
Vendors report)

http://www.dimdim.com/products/dimdim_editions.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_conferencing_software




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Natasa Cacija EME5457 Final Project


Definition

Founded in 1995 and acquired by Cisco Systems in 2007 WebEx is a Web Conferencing Software. Web
Conferencing Software is a technology solution that allows live meetings such as Webinars,
demonstrations, presentations, collaboration and document sharing, and brainstorming sessions to take
place via the internet.

Key features of a Web Conferencing Software include:
    Conducting presentations by using slides that were created in PowerPoint or other presentation
       software.
    Display live Video through the use of a digital camera or webcam.
    Converse with session attendees though the use of VolP.
    Conduct a question/answer session after a presentation.
    Utilize the whiteboard to make notes or draw diagrams and thereby further illustrate your points.
    Share your desktop with attendees in real-time.
    Record your sessions/meetings for members that were unable to attend or for reference use at a
       later date.

Basically, WebEx is software that allows individuals who a separated in time and space to come together
and brainstorm, discuss, collaborate and share their documents. As for those who could not attend the live
meetings, WebEx enables users to record their sessions and make them available to the unavailable
individuals. In other words WebEx is a perfect tool for distance education.

Features of WebEx

As a global leader in online meeting applications with over 7 million customers WebEx offers many
features to their customers including the following which were broken up into two groups one listing
features that are mainly used in a professional aspect and the other listing features that can be used to
facilitate learning activities and exercises in distance education courses.

Features that facilitate learning activities/exercises:
    WebEx Meeting Center- Allows you to recreate face-to-face meeting with real time data,
       application, as well as video and voice sharing capabilities. This feature also allows for the
       following capabilities:
             Conduct PowerPoint presentations
             Share any documents with attendees
             Illustrate important diagrams on the whiteboard
             Record Meetings
             Vote during meetings
             Display anything on your desktop to meeting attendees.
    WebEx Training Center- Designated for trainers/instructors, includes breakout session support
       and learner testing, tracking and reporting. Also contains on demand LMS module.
    WebEx Support Center- Allows support agents to indentify, resolve and track customer issues
       within a secure, online support session.
    WebEx WebOffice- Provides an on-demand collaboration suite including a document manager,
       group calendar, database manager, task manager, as well as several other collaborative tools.
    MeetMeNow- a web meeting application for individuals. Allows users to conduct unlimited
       meetings with up to 15 attendees.


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Natasa Cacija EME5457 Final Project

       PCNow- Allows you to securely access remote computers by using a mobile phone or web
        browser.

Features mainly used in professional settings:
    WebEx Sales Center- Features automatic attention notification which alerts sales professionals
       when they are losing a prospect’s attention, branded prospect portals to provide a secure location
       in with to share information and real-time sales analytics and reporting.
    WebEx Support Center- Allows support agents to indentify, resolve and track customer issues
       within a secure, online support session.
    WebEx Live Stream- Specifically designed for large events which require on site production, TV
       quality video, voice and PowerPoint.
    WebEx Consulting Services- Expert Teams which provide information as it pertains to building
       Online Sales Teams, Universities, Marketing, Programs, etc.
    WebEx WebOffice- Provides an on-demand collaboration suite including a document manager,
       group calendar, database manager, task manager, as well as several other collaborative tools.

Application of WebEx to EME5457

There are many ways that WebEx can be used in EME5457. The most obvious way is for synchronous
class chats as I have experienced in one of my online courses this semester. There have been many
discussions about the use of synchronous activities in distance education, personally I think that they are a
great way to get student to interact and become more active in discussions. Additional benefits of
Synchronous Chats are:
     Didactic conversation- This is easier to accomplish through the use of chat rooms, where both
        instructor and learner can actively engage in conversation.
     Social Presence- According to an article at thejournal.com research shows that the social
        presence of others serves to increase both performance and motivation in students.
     Student’s perception of chats- I can personally say that at first I was a bit surprised by the
        synchronous chats in my class and to be honest I was even a bit unsure that they will serve a
        purpose. However, after attending a chat I found that I really enjoyed the interaction and
        immediate feedback that usually lacks with asynchronous activities. I feel that every online
        course should incorporate synchronous chats into their activities.

More specifically, WebEx would be a great tool to use in Activity 2.2 and 3.2 where students had to
construct concept maps that represent a particular Theory of Distance Education, post them on to the
discussion board for review by others and finally vote for their favorite map within any given Theory.
Please refer to the following section for an illustration of how the utilization of WebEx would have
enhanced this activity.

Demonstration

In activity 2.2 students had to analyze an assigned Theory of Distance Education, create a Concept Map
representing that Theory, and then post their map onto the discussion board for review by other students.
In activity 3.2 Students were asked to review all of the Maps, vote for their favorites and indicate what
makes this map better than the others in that group.

With the use of WebEx activity 2.2 and 3.2 could have been combined into one where students were
asked to construct a map (either individually/or in groups) that represents their Theory then, demonstrate
and present it to the class during a synchronous course chat using the white board. This would give the
class an opportunity to listen to the student’s (or groups) explanation giving them more insight to not only

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Natasa Cacija EME5457 Final Project

the theory but why the individual (or group) chose to represent the concepts in a particular way. Using
this tool would not only give students instant feedback on their illustrations but would also make sure that
they understand all the components of a theory. It would allow them to compare their own understandings
to others and possibly expand or even change their perspective of that Theory.

Slight modifications to this activity would allow students to make presentation of Theories. In
this case students could team up in groups of 2-3 and each pick (or be assigned) a theory that
they would be responsible for. Then they would work together to create a PowerPoint
presentation and Concept Map illustrating that particular Theory. Each team would have to
present their theories to the rest of the class during a synchronous class chat. For those student
unable to attend that particular chat the session could be recorded and they could be provided
with a copy of the chat assuring that they have the chance to watch the presentation on their own
time.


Below is an illustration of a Concept Map on the Theory of Industrialization being presented in
WebEx using their whiteboard feature.




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Natasa Cacija EME5457 Final Project


Below is an illustration of a live PowerPoint presentation in WebEx. WebEx can be set up to
automatically run a presentation it can be live or pre-recorded. Also presenters can make use of
the thumbnail view and many other features, such as switching to supporting document using
tabs, while presenting to ensure easy navigation.




Advantages of WebEx

WebEx offers many advantages that should be utilized in Distance Education Courses including:
   It allows for synchronous chats.
   It allows students to experience a social presence in distance courses, allowing them to interact
      with both the professor and their peers.
   It makes it easier to hold didactic conversations with students, assuring that active learning is in
      fact taking place.
   Allows student to collaborate and share documents when working in groups.
   Allows groups to hold their own group meeting where they can brainstorm and discuss their
      assignments.
   Allows instructors to take polls during chats.
   Allows instructors to record meetings for later use or absent members.




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Natasa Cacija EME5457 Final Project

Specific advantages of WebEx over the current way of conducting activity 2.2 and 3.2 include:
    WebEx allows students to conduct real-time presentations with class members and instructor
        presents.
    Allows instructors to give student immediate feedback.
    Let’s student realize if they have a good understanding of the concepts/theory.
    It let’s students see how their peers illustrated the concepts and gives them a chance for
        immediate question/answer sessions.
    It lets student discuss the theories and their individual importance to distance education
        immediately after watching the presentations.
    Allows students to actively engage in discussions.


Disadvantages of WebEx

As with all other tools there are certain disadvantages to using WebEx they include the
following:
     Some student may be unable to attend the chat.
     Some student may not be confident presenters and dislike the activity.
     Students may feel uncomfortable having to actively participate in discussions.
     As with any product technological issues may be experienced during sessions.

Vendor and Model Comparisons
There are many different Web Conferencing Software programs to choose from. Below is a comparison
of WebEx and some of its best known competitors on the market today.


                 WebEx           Microsoft Live       IBM Lotus Sametime       Dimdim
                                 Meeting
Live Meetings    X               X                    X                        X
Presentation     X                                    X                        X
Capabilities
File Sharing     X               X                    X                        X
Capabilities
Desktop          X               X                    X                        X
Sharing
Audio            X               X                    X                        X
Support
Chat Support     X               X                    X                        X
Video Support    X               X                    X                        X
Brake-out        X
sessions
Co browsing      X
capabilities
Mobile Device    X                                                             X
Support
Cost             .45/min/user    .35/min/user         $338/YR                  25/Mo. up to 50 users
Vendor           Cisco Systems   Microsoft            IBM                      Dimdim Inc.



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Conclusion

WebEx is a great tool and should be used in EME5457. It allows individuals who are separated in time
and space to come together in a live meeting where they can discuss, brainstorm, present, share, and most
importantly learn information. It allows instructors to have active didactic conversations with their
students allowing them the opportunity to experience a “Learning moment”. Personally I think that the
use of WebEx in online classes is genius, it is by far my favorite activity in the class where it is utilized. I
find that the discussions on WebEx enhance my understanding of the concepts and theories presented in
the readings. This technology should be exploited by each and every distance education course.




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