Besides DimDim, what are some other hosting sites and what are the costs involved.
There is a large variety of services available. Some of the bigger names are WebEx, Adobe Connect, GoToMeeting, Elluminate. They all have price packages that vary. DimDim has the best free package option, and even their pro-version is still a great deal $25/month for 50 seats. Price really varies per product (they all have different features and positive/negative attributes). Most places base their pricing on the number of seats. There are other web conferencing options that I haven't mentioned that you might want to check out. Just Google "web conferencing". I've selected tools that are more well known and established, but that doesn't mean the other services would not be a good solution for you. I like DimDim because of its free option, but also because its easy to use, doesn't really have cross-platform issues, and because it uses Flash, which comes pre installed on 98% of all computers.
What are the costs involved for the service?
Usually its just a monthly fee or yearly fee and the price is usually dependent upon the number of users. Adobe Connect is a little bit different because instead of using a service that they host you can purchase the software from them and run it on your server. DimDim's pro-version is $25/month for 50 seats. The free version is for 20 seats.
What do you do if users do not give you feedback?
Honestly the first thing I would do is make sure that my audio is working. This happened to me in the 3rd webinar of this series. If you are asking questions and no one is responding, verify that they can hear you. If you want a guarantee that you will have some level of participation in your event then you should consider having a "plant." Have someone on staff be on the webinar that will ask a question or throw out a comments. No one likes to go first so having a plant can fix that. You might need to also look at what you are asking and possibly adapt your questions/conversation starters for your next event. If you do a practice session with volunteer participants, you will have a better sense of whether or not you need to change the way in which you are seeking participation. The other possibility is that you just did a really good job presenting a piece of info and there really are no questions. Another is that they just don't have the answer so just do a follow-up question and adapt. Through a simple yes/no response you can at least find out if people are following you or if they are lost. If they are lost then back-up a bit. If they are good, then continue forward.
You mentioned using a whiteboard. Can you explain what that is?
A whiteboard works the same way as the whiteboard in a classroom or meeting room. You've got a plain whiteboard and a set of colored markers. You can give everyone a marker and they can write on the whiteboard. Most web conferencing services include a whiteboard as a standard feature. So instead of seeing PowerPoint slide in front of you, you see a white board. The presenter can then allow meeting attendees to pickup a virtual marker and start writing on the whiteboard.
Would this webinar be considered a "basic" webinar with regard to the technology available?
Yes. In my opinion the most basic webinar is one in which you share a PowerPoint presentation and talk over your slides. DimDim is perfect for this. I would also add that another type of standard or basic webinar is one in which a presenter is leading people through a website. Software like Adobe Connect allows you to do more complex things like have breakout rooms.
Is DimDim fairly intuitive to use, or is there a big learning curve for someone with average technology skill?
I chose DimDim to use because it's free, AND very easy to use. You definitely don't need to have tech skills. You do need to spend time practicing how to navigate the website, and spend some time learning how to turn things on and off, but as I mentioned before, it's really a matter of mastering how to navigate a website. If you are comfortable navigating a website, can attach documents to emails, and are willing to practice, you really don't need to have any other tech skills. Of all the services I've tried this is the easiest to use from a host, presenter, and meeting attendee perspective.
Could you please explain what the 4th computer would show?
So ideally you've got one computer for your host and one for the presenter. If possible, its nice to have a view what the participant's are seeing. So in addition to the host/presenter computer its nice to have a view of what windows users are seeing and a view of what your mac users are seeing (a total of four computers). Its nice to have these views so that you as the presenter don't have to say "do you see the slide yet" or confirm that features have been turned on/off. By having these views you can see when the changes take place. Also, there may be times where some will ask a question that it specific to a mac or windows, so it saves time in the troubleshooting process when you can see exactly what they are seeing.
How close are the two computers? Same room, different room?
Today I happen to be in the same room as the host computer, but it doesn't have to be that way. We could be in different states. So you could startup a meeting in California and then assign presenter privileges to your presenter in Colorado.
Are the practice session included in the cost if it's not free?
Most services allow you to have unlimited sessions (pricing is usually based on the number of seats) so they don't know really know the difference between a practice or a "real" session. If you were paying a service per session, you should expect to pay for a practice session.
Could you talk about accountability in a webinar with regard to offering CEUs?
This question came up in a prior session. If you need to offer CEUs based upon the amount of time spent then I would still try and stick to the 60 minute rule. If you have more content, then consider a series. Another option is to have a pre or post activity. For example, for one of the SpecialQuest webinars we had people view a video ahead of time. As far as tracking who is online, I would just look at your login transcript or have someone note who actually logged on.
What are some things to consider regarding accountability?
In past online courses I've participated in, the university outlined what needed to be done to obtain credit and that included being an active online participant. They were quite specific as to what that did and did not look like. For example, if you only posted comments such as "I agree" or "interesting" you wouldn't receive participation points. I often hear people say "how can we know they did this online activity". My response is "how do you know they read that text book you assigned in your face-to-face class."
Does the version of their software effect the use of these programs?
It can. Many of the web conferencing services require its users to download a plugin. DimDim relies upon Flash which is already built into most browsers so that's less of a problem. As Microsoft, Apple, and browsers update their software, that can have an effect on how the web conferencing service will (or will not) run on your computer. Web conferencing services also update their software and an update can cause some issues. For example, DimDim just did a major update yesterday so its really no surprise that we had a couple people that were unable to see the slides.
For those needing written verification that they participated in a webinar....how do you recommend this happens?
If I were offering CEUs I would create a certificate and save it as a pdf. Then I would have Kathy note who logs in. Following the webinar I would send an email to everyone that logged in asking them to complete an evaluation. Upon completing the evaluation they would receive a link to the pdf as well as the webinar resource page. If CEUs were only available to people that were active participants, I would have them send an email requesting the pdf. I would then look at the chat transcript to see if they were an active participant before sending them the pdf. *Most web conference services let you save a copy of the chat transcript. Its also just as easy to just copy/paste the chat into MS Word.
What was the part about a web page?
I like to spend a lot of time on the front-end so I don't have to spend a lot of time on the back end. So prior to delivering the first webinar of this series I put together a web page that contains all of the files, and links to products/ resources I suggested. A recording of this webinar is also available on the web page. I made a recording of this webinar with a regular microphone so you don't hear phone quality audio. Aside from typing up the chat questions and answers, my follow-up work is complete. Also, its nice having the recording in place along with the related resources.....you never know when you'll want to reference this information again.
Can you suggest any free web services?
I like http://www.yola.com and http://www.weebly.com