RIKE Project – Webinar Design Evaluation 07/02/2022

Promoting Innovation Through Immersive Webinar Designs: Solent RIKE Starter Research Proposal
Anthony Basiel, School of Computing Module Leader
The goal of the project is to promote collaboration with external partners of Solent University to conduct a pilot study examining blended learning technologies to support peer/self-assessment review using a range of interactive discourse designs.
SMART Objectives:
• Conduct a literature review to establish a sound pedagogic design to use a Socratic discussion model in a blended learning model
• Develop the use of augmented reality through a 360* camera in the middle of a student presentation for the COM621 UX Strategy module.
• Explore the 45* blended tutorial model (developed by Dr Mike Howarth, Middlesex University).
• Provide guidelines for other Solent modules using presentations for individual or group presentations.
• Produce a summary report and conference paper from the project results.
• Produce eLearning resources in the form of 360* video recordings or assessment presentations.
More information and examples of this research can be seen at https://abasiel.wordpress.com/elearning-r-d
Starter Project: £1500 (For student participant Amazon book vouchers, Conference costs for SU host).
Resources: 360* camera, 10 COM621 Students
Solent University Partnership with:
• Solent Alumni Association (Mike Toy).
• IT and eLearning Teams (for 360* cameras and appropriate software)
• Partnership with Computing School Research Groups
External Partners:
• Middlesex University – Dr Mike Howarth, Case Study for the 45* Learning Design
• Westminster University – Li Jin (Jin02@westminster.ac.uk), Provides students to survey and interview on the value and usefulness of the video recording resources.

Funds will be used to buyout time for Academic members to conduct research and write up documents. Possible funding for student involvement (e.g. focus groups). Any materials, software licences, etc. that will need to be added.
How have you identified the need for this work?
The pandemic has highlighted the need to improve student engagement through blended learning designs. Student surveys conducted over the Coronavirus highlighted the need to improve webinar pedagogy. This study will use a Socratic discussion model to promote peer review and develop a blended learning social exchange.

How does this fit with the research theme or knowledge exchange area?
The study supports the Solent research theme by using appropriate project management procedures and protocols. The project findings and deliverables aim to impact on student academic learning and informal social learning opportunities. Peer review to promote creativity and innovation can be achieved through a Socratic discussion circle model. This learning design can be supported through a blended augmented reality webinar design using a 360* camera in the middle of the discussion circle with stakeholders also using smartphone videos to provide their perspectives on the online learning event.

Knowledge exchange can be promoted through working with interested parties from cross-faculty collaboration within Solent University. We aim to get Faculty in the Computing School to liaise with the IT/e-Learning Teams, TV Production Department, as well as any other interested partners. Externally, we can collaborate with other UK universities such as Li Jin (Jin02@westminster.ac.uk) at Westminster University and internationally with an eLearning Consultancy – Kirsten Garbini (kirstenc@cps.co.za )

Who will benefit:

1. Computing Students will have samples of good practice eLearning resources for presentation assessments. Follow-up research projects can expand the learning models and technology designs.
2. Faculty will benefit from the project guidelines to apply the learning models and technology to the context of their modules.
   External beneficiaries
   Externally, we can collaborate with other UK universities such as Li Jin (Jin02@westminster.ac.uk) at Westminster University and internationally with an eLearning Consultancy – Kirsten Garbini (kirstenc@cps.co.za )

External beneficiaries
Externally, we can collaborate with other UK universities such as Li Jin (Jin02@westminster.ac.uk) at Westminster University. I also have contacts with Middlesex University through Professor Carol Costley (c.costley@mdx.ac.uk) and in the Digital Arts Department, Magnus Moar (m.moar@mdx.ac.uk).

In the UK industry, I have contacts with a London Mixed Reality production company in London – Amplified Robot with Steve Dann (steve.dann@gmail.com)

Internationally with an eLearning Consultancy – Kirsten Garbini (kirstenc@cps.co.za ), we can expand our project reach by offering our Bended Learning solutions.

We will involve them in the project by providing our initial proposal for feedback. When the study is done, we will provide them with the research report and invite them to our research conferences and webinars.

The stakeholders will benefit through our collaboration in several ways:

We will expand our professional social network
We will share our findings, blended learning models
Provide access to any information to improve webinar engagement design
Provide recommendations on technical specifications to create an immersive online learning experience

Towards Panagogy: Webinar Blended Learning Design 21/11/2021

This draft paper explores learning theories applied to webinar design. You are invited to contact me if you would like to collaborate. Please email abasiel@gmail.com so we can set up a web video conferencing discussion.

https://abasiel.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/towardspanagogy-dranthonybasiel-nov21-v8.docx

Transactional Webinar Design 10/11/2021

Please see the full paper from the introduction and conclusion below at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IOoZMrcRCH7XWTNj-NVlaus2jJRAM5vV/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=115658292435481901964&rtpof=true&sd=true

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iLRN Conference: Transactional Webinar Design
by Anthony Basiel and Mike Howarth April 2020
abasiel@gmail.com | michael.howarth@mhmvr.co.uk
https://abasiel.wordpress.com | http://www.mhmvr.co.uk/

Introduction
During the time of the 2020 Coronavirus, there was an unprecedented increase in web video conferencing for professional and academic use (Business Insider 2020). From the trial-and-error approach used by many organisations, it has become apparent that guidelines for conducting webinars are needed. What are the protocols that can inform webinar design? A theoretical foundation is needed to provide a clear plan forward in the research and development of webinar interaction. This paper puts forward a ‘transactional webinar design’. A starting proposition for any webinar event is for the stakeholders to recognise the nature and degree of self-directedness. In doing so, we are working towards autonomous, self-managed webinar participants and stakeholders. The narrative of this paper moves through a series of questions. First, WHAT are the key factors of a successful webinar? Next, HOW can we blend the tools with the interactive/transactional design? Lastly, WHY would we choose this webinar model?

When engaging in an argument, a starting common language is needed. What do we mean by ‘transactional’? Dewey (1949) explains ‘transaction’ in an education context, as the individual’s pattern of behaviour in an environment. The webinar virtual 2D space is addressed in this paper. According to Moore (1997) the separation of [stakeholders] is sufficiently significant that special [engagement] strategies and techniques are needed.
This webinar analysis begins by looking at WHAT elements comprise a successful event and the related evaluation criteria. This section starts with the technical components and moves to examine the stakeholder’s profiles. When hosting or attending a webinar, is there a clear model of the expectations of the participants? Is there an inherent expectation for the interactions to be identical to a face-to-face discussion, classroom lecture, seminar debate, role-play enactment, or unstructured brainstorming? This expectation needs to be explicit so there is a criteria to measure success. In this way, there is a benchmark to form the ‘transactional webinar design’.

Conclusion

This paper investigated three questions in relation to webinar design:

1. WHAT are the key factors of a successful webinar?
2. HOW can we blend the tools with the interactive/transactional design?
3. WHY would we choose this webinar model?

For a variety of learning environments, Moore (1997) suggests that distance learning requires changes in the traditional role of teachers to be able to select media for (webinar) instruction. This paper has shown these key issues:

• Successful webinars require technical and pedagogic blending depending on the profile of the stakeholders,
• The degree of learner autonomy is related to the instructional design,
• The next-generation of webinar design may move from the current 2D (outside-looking-in) view to include a 3D immersive (inside-looking-out) perspective,
• Webinar pedagogy can provide learning opportunities from traditional Behaviourist instructional design to Humanists creative brainstorming,
• One approach to addressing ‘learning entropy’ in a large Socratic webinar discussion can be to use techniques such as a fishbone diagram,
• The Transactional Webinar Profile Toolkit (2020), provided in this research, gives the reader software to apply Moore’s Transactional Distance Theory to a real-world webinar event,
• Ongoing evaluation needs to be part of the webinar design.

By building a virtual learning community researching webinar design, we can progress towards the next-generation pedagogies and technology blends presented in this paper. The authors challenge readers to contact them to provide case study feedback on the results of using the Transactional Webinar Profile Toolkit and webinar learning theory offered. Through the analysis of the case study examples tends can inform the future designs of webinars. The authors predict a paradigm shift to more creative brainstorming webinars in the near future to promote autonomous learners.

UC Expo – London, Excel 24/09/2021

I will be on an expert panel for the 7 October ’21 discussing the Future University.

You can see the Expo at https://tinyurl.com/4s99v3m4

Please read my book chapter about Blended Learning in the Future University.

Interactive Video: Ipsative Assessment 11/10/2020

Please see the two YouTube videos that provide an interactive learning experience where you get to control a live online athletics sprint game.

It is in two-parts. You will need to have an online device which has a keyboard so you can control your sprinter using the ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ arrow keys.

You can add to our text discussion board at: https://groups.google.com/g/regent-assessment-forum

Play video 1 of 2: https://youtu.be/2ZyOU5pDzmk

Play video 2 of 2: https://youtu.be/wkpxOuMzj-g

The feedback form below will help us improve the videos. Please do send comment. Thanks, Dr Anthony ‘Skip’ Basiel

Engaging with and Empowering Employees, Customers and Communities 27/08/2020

Stephen Citron is preparing to publish a new book. Included is a chapter about an eLearning project done with my colleague, Dr. Mike Howarth – ‘Work Based Learning Wednesdays – Monthly Webinar Project’. Here is a brief draft epilogue:

Beyond Work Based Learning Webinars

Dr Anthony ‘Skip’ Basiel                             August 2020

The Work Based Learning Wednesdays Webinar Project was ahead of its time. We hosted monthly webinar interviews with Middlesex University Alumni to unearth ‘tips to success’ from action projects done in their organisations. Along with the live webcast, we had a phone-in option and live text chat for questions or comments. Volunteer students supported the event as webinar facilitators, digital video recorders and editors. eLearning and eMarketing video testimonials were project deliverables.

The project was so innovative that the Deputy Vice-Chancellor extended the model to include the Deans of each Faculty to share good practice and build a virtual community. Additionally, the project was given inter/national recognition through publications and the Peer Awards.

How has the WBL Wednesdays webinar model evolved to address current online learners’ needs during the Coronavirus in 2020? We have embraced a paradigm shift from an interview design to an immersive Socratic discussion model using 360* video augmented reality. Experts sit in a circle promoting brainstorming and creativity to solve a problem or address an issue. The face-to-face audience sitting in the next circle out, swap seats with the Experts when asking a question. The 360* video camera records the event while a live webinar engages the virtual audience through live text discussion facilitated by the host. All audio is converted to auto-text transcripts and tag clouds. Participants are encouraged to use smartphones to record or webcast the event from their perspective using a meta-film approach[1]. Readers are encouraged to explore the ‘Immersive Fishbowl Webinar Design’ at https://abasiel.wordpress.com/elearning-r-d/.

[1] https://youtu.be/TQXk2sHItmk , https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_FtlGNw3xU8TNmYwhQpUaf_PGNJY82Dm

ucisa DCG-DEG Spotlight Webinars 2020 06/06/2020

Webinar Design to Promote Quality Engagement: Towards a Transactional Model and Toolkit

Date: Wednesday 1st July (Recording information below)

Interactive video has grown over the last decade to engage learners through a range of instructional designs and supporting technologies. Webinars are now commonplace, but as with early eLearning pedagogy, a ‘talking head’ design falls short of meeting the potential of the media. Next-generation learners need to master virtual collaboration skills to construct solutions to higher-level problem solving using interactive webinars.

How do academics, instructional designers and students design and use webinars to construct new knowledge through social meaning making? The Webinar Profile Toolkit is a methodology and toolkit aimed at providing distance learning stakeholders with the techniques and resources to construct their own effective webinars. First, we look at WHAT are the main features of a webinar? Next, WHAT possible instructional designs and Web Video Hard/Soft Skills are developed. Then, we look at WHY a webinar model linked to Transactional Distance can be a way forward to promote autonomous, creative learners. A software toolkit will be used as part of this ‘hands-on’ workshop to give participants to apply their learning.

This is an action-packed 60-minute workshop that promises to stretch your understanding of how to engage learning through a webinar. Be ready to do some pre-event tasks, collaborate with fellow ‘webinerds’ through Socratic ‘fishbowl discussion. And make smartphone recordings from your own room to share your reflections on the event.

The PowerPoint slides are available to download and you can see the ‘bad example video’ https://youtu.be/X09GCZ1FZgM – The Webinar Profile Toolkit can be downloaded so you can use it for your next video. Please email a copy back to me to discuss the Transaction Distance Model at abasiel@gmail.com

City of Westminster College Webinar Forum 29/05/2020

On Friday 22 May, Dr Mike Howarth was hosted by Esam Baboukhan, of the City of Westminster College with me as Facilitator. The interactive session covered valuable and important topics around video for eLearning. Please see our YouTube video:

We encourage anyone who is hosting or presenting a webinar to look at our paper on ‘Transactional Webinar Design’ at https://abasiel.wordpress.com/2020/04/16/transactional-webinar-design/
and try out our online toolkit form to create a profile or self-assessment of your webinar at: https://abasiel.wordpress.com/awards/

Happy to hear from you by email at abasiel@gmail.com