Look at web conferencing as a tool to augment educational professional development

1. WU 8841 Diffusion and Integration of Educational Technology
Synchronous Professional Development
Kalman Mannis

2. Digitally Delivered Professional Development,
Provided synchronously
Definitions to Insure Common Understanding:

3. Innovation Bias
Pro Innovation Bias
Business success depends on human interaction. You can often get
more done with a few minutes meeting face to face than you can in
strings of emails or trying to explain things over a telephone.
VIA3 (http://www.via3.com/Info/Products/Features/Default.aspx)
Everyone in the meeting sees the same presentation
as the presenter, including animations, video clips
etc. The presentation is automatically scaled to fit
each audience member's screen so everyone sees
the entire slide without having to scroll.
Small webinars and collaborative presentations
show all meeting members video and audio in the
meeting. The presenters see the audience video
next to the presentation, and can use it with chat
message feedback and spoken questions from the
audience to pace the presentation similarly to face
to face meetings.
VIA3
(http://www.via3.com/Info/Products/Features/Pres
entations.aspx)

4. Innovation Analysis
using McLuhan’s Tetrad
Enhancement
• Fiber Optic telecommunications backbone
• Increase in computer processing speed
• Greater access to broadband
• Fiscal constraints on travel
• Globalization pressures
• Increase in long distance collaboration
Obsolescence
•The need to travel for meetings
• The need to be away from home and the
workplace to be involved with valuable
professional development.
• Reliance on third party providers of
Professional Development.
Retrieval
•Ability to meaningfully interact with experts
• Ability to develop collegial contacts and
collaborative partners.
• Sense of partnership in a community of learners
Reversal
•Increased use of 3 dimensional projection for a
holographic format for participation.
• Better tools /equipment will allow more
efficient image and audio transfer, making the
format more common and less emerged.
Web Conferencing:
Synchronously Delivered
Professional
Development

5. Innovation Decision Process
Diffusion
Consequences

6. Need
KnowledgeStage
Distance Professional Development for
K-12 Districts provided synchronously:
1.Financial Considerations for providing quality
P.D. without the need to send staff away from
campus. Thus incurring travel expenses, and time
lost to travel.
2.Staff’s desire to remain close to home to
maintain domestic harmony.
3.Ability to encourage staff collaboration
internally by providing the P.D. when multiple
members can attend.
4.Encouraging collaboration of district team with
distant colleagues.
5.Provide up to date information to staff on
relevant issues and research.
6.Inefficiencies of travel
7.Protection from communicable diseases.
8.Fear of Travel long distances following attacks
of 9/11 ( Mayrhofer, Back, & Hubschmid, 2004)
9.Globalization of experts

7. Research
Distance Professional Development for
K-12 Districts provided synchronously:
1.Emerging Technology’s affective
barriers to implementation.
2.Authoritative pressures to
implement the technology
3.Social pressures to accept the use of
delivery format for Professional
Development.
4.Institutional pressure for using the
format.
5.Research on format successes

8. Development
Distance Professional Development for
K-12 Districts provided synchronously:
1.Fiber Optic Backbone deployment
2.Software
3.VOIP
4.Connectivity/Bandwidth needs
5.Implementation samples
6.Pros and Cons of the format

9. Commercialization
Persuasion Stage
Distance Professional Development for
K-12 Districts provided synchronously:
1.First Adopters
2.Demonstration Locations
3.Mass Media advertising
4.Innovative advertising – podcast
support (GoToMeeting.com)
5. Exploitation of format as a financial
center.
6.Various pricing and delivery models.
7.Implementation as a delivery format
for higher education and corporate
distance training.
8.Archiving of meetings
9.Increase in collaborative productivity

10. Diffusion
• Decision Stage – Adoption/Rejection
Communication Channels
– Mass Media (Knowledge Stage)
• Lack of centralized advocate
– Interpersonal Channel (Persuasion Stage)
• Perceived value
• Organizational Resistance
• Ease of Use
• Affective Barriers

11. Hype Cycle
Entering Slope of Enlightenment

12. Usage of Web Conferencing 2000-2010

13. Data on ‘Ease of Use’
Variable to Adoption
Wainhouse Research, 2009

14. Affective Barriers as a
Variable to Adoption
Wainhouse Research, 2009
3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8
Web conferencing should be easy to use
b/c mishapscan potentiallywastetime
Offer with fewer features but greater
ease of use can be of higher valuethen
one with more features that is…
Users who are uncomfortable with tech
are reluctantto host onlinemeetings
becausethey don’t want to look…
3=Neutral, 4=SomewhatAgree, 5=StronglyAgree

15. Consequences
Implementation Stage
• As a product in the market since the late 1990s (WebEx, the first
large scale provider of web conferencing was founded in 1996)
implementation was first adopted by corporate and government
entities. Web conferencing obsolesced video conferencing
equipment by incorporating a web based platform and by
placing collaborative tools into the hands of the user (WebEx,
2010).
• Its use was boosted by the terror attacks of September 11th
,
especially for European companies and those who were required
to travel to and from large metropolitan centers. (Mayrhofer,
Back, & Hubschmid, 2004).
• From 2002 – 2007 there was a 40% per annum on use of the
products across the business, government, and education
sectors. By 2009 the business model was earning nearly one
billion dollars per year ((Mayrhofer, Back, & Hubschmid, 2004;
Wainhouse, 2009).
• In 2009 access to the internet during airplane flights provided an
additional boost to productivity, collaboration and connectivity
to members of private and public sectors (Web Conferencing
Council, 2009).

16. Consequences
Confirmation Stage
• Adoption of the evolving tool is still a factor across the private and public sectors. Major barriers are affective and ease-
of-use obstacles (Wainhouse, 2009).
• White papers by the Web Conferencing Council (2010), discuss the pros and cons of the top 10 (according to their rubric)
web conferencing providers. A quick analysis of the topics covered refer back to ease of use, customer service, and
security as key distinctions between companies. This level of discussion would indicate that the tool has reached a level
of integration into the business and public cultures. They are at the point of minor difference. The pressure appears to
be driven by Increasing Return (Thornburg, 2008), where competing companies are vying with each other for
predominance.
Web Conferencing Council’s 2009
Ranking of top 10 Web Conferencing
Companies (pg 8).

17. Commercialization/Implementation

18. USTREAM
Ustream was founded in the summer of 2006 by John Ham,
Brad Hunstable, and Dr. Gyula Feher as way to help
overseas soldiers connect more efficiently with their
families. (Ustream, 2010)
The founders noticed an opportunity for revolutionizing
communication. Soldiers were limited by the phone or
instant messenger to connect with family and friends back
home. They could only talk with one person at a time. John
and Brad wanted to find a way to allow soldiers to connect
with all of their loved ones at the same time. The goal was
to create a way for them to stream with family members in
cities all over the U.S. and the world.
2003 Ham and Hunstable worked with Dr. Gyula Feher on a
photo sharing site developed by Dr. Feher. In 2006 the trio
used Dr. Feher’s work as the base of their video streaming
venture. Beta testing was done in privately in 2006 then
publically in 2007.

19. Commercialization
USTREAM has a multilayered interaction
approach with both free and pay per use
offerings. With the expansion of 3G
networking USTREAM has downloadable
apps for Android and iPhone.
Diffusion
With little mass media except international
technology awards, this company
relied/relies heavily on interpersonal
communication streams for diffusion. The
company is often mentioned in technology
related podcasts (this week in tech, Leo
Laporte, tech chicks, etc.) and has been used
by politicians (Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama),
entertainers, news production companies,
and countless military personnel stationed
oversees.
Consequences
For the tech savvy this is a site that is well
used and could be considered emerged. For
the early and late majority this format is still
emerging. While the site has an ease of use
that supersedes most web conferencing
tools this site does not have many of their
collaboration functions. Because of this the
tool does have a niche use for education as
a tool for distance classroom interactions .
Thus making it a tool for global citizen
development, a standard set forth by ISTE in
their technology standards.

20. Need
This program originated in 1989 as a by
product of the increased use of the
internet for information delivery. The
founders wanted to create a system that
would help unfetter IT workers from
their offices. This idea evolved into what
is commonly viewed to be cloud
computing.
Research
The platform has evolved to develop a
collaboration format that would be both
cost effective and useful. The idea was
to allow companies to reach new
markets and new clients. This was done
initially with mainframe computing,
then moved to distributed computing in
the early 2000s.
Development
Platform has been kept current with the
change from mainframe to distributed
computing to cloud computing. The idea
is to free the employee, sales staff, or IT
professionals from the office.

21. Commercialization
GoToMeeting has used both Mass Media
and personal communication channels.
This company uses radio, t.v., cable, and
internet based advertising. They also
heavily sponsor podcasts targeting the
more educated oriented programs
(quickanddirtytips.com,
universetoday.com)
Diffusion
More than 230,000 organizations
worldwide use gotomeeting.com .
Citrix partners with over 10,000
companies worldwide in more than 100
countries. Founded in 1989, annual
revenue in 2009 was $1.61 billion.
(Citrix, 2010)
Consequences
Citrix is spending research and
development time and money to focus
on developing a platform that will
augment and support the virtual
workplace. With the infusion of capital
from Citrix, the gotomeeting product
will likely remain a leader in the web
conferencing industry.

22. Originating in 1996 as an outgrowth of the founders work in collaboration software. The
founders and their technical staff developed the platform that was to become webex in
1995 and distributed it for the first time in 1996. They did this as an outgrowth of the
growing popularization of the internet and their background in collaboration software.
Background on collaborative software (non-internet based) was the industry that
the founders come from. They segued their research and development
background into a web-based, on –demand product targeting companies with less
then 100 employees.
In 1995 the company developed a web-based platform for collaborative
software. This was distributed starting in 1996. In 2005 WebEx
expanded and started targeting medium and large companies.
By its 2007 acquisition by CISCO Systems WebEx was a leader in the
web conferencing industry.

23. Commercialization
WebEx uses a combination of mass media and
interpersonal communication channels. Its
advertising includes internet advertising, and
the sponsorship of innovative outlets like
podcasts and corporate sponsorships.
Diffusion
In 2009 over 7 million monthly users,
35,000+ unique customers. Purchased by
CISCO Systems in 2007 and integrated
into CISCO business services programs.
Targets include Education, Financial
sector, Healthcare, High Tech, and
Manufacturing.
Consequences
As a leader in an industry still developing, WebEx
was aided by its 2007 sale to CISCO Systems.
Through the incorporation into CISCO the platform
moves into a multinational information systems
corporation. This should boost both continued
research and development as well as market access.

24. Need
VIACK Corporation was formed in 1999 in
San Jose, CA. They currently are
headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ with a
satellite office in Redmond, WA. According
to their mission statement VIACK developed
VIA3 ‘’to meet the need for a complete, fully
secure, and affordable online collaboration
service.”
Their idea appears to be making available a
product that provides a conduit for secure
internet based collaborative that simulates a
natural work environment. By doing this
they can assist clients to with bottom line
savings and increased productivity.
Research
This company emphasizes its time spent learning how
people interact , They used their research to create a
format that encourages collaboration by incorporating
multi directional audio and video feeds. Their stated
goal is to have a product that mimics a natural working
style even if the interaction is over large distances and
web-augmented.
Development
VIA3 is developed to be easy to use and intuitive in
the implementation. This while being secure. The sites
also allows for private archiving conferences for later
access.
Of the many programs this one has the most to offer
at a competitive price point (Web Conferencing
Council, 2009).

25. Commercialization
There is no mass media involvement by
VIACK. They appear to be heavily invested in
interpersonal communication channels mainly
focused on Government and Military contracts
due to their emphasis on high security.
Diffusion
This company maintains a user friendly website, but
does very little mass media advertising. Even though
it was incorporated in 1999 it is not mentioned in the
web conferencing link on wikipedia, nor does it come
up in the first two pages of web conferring tools
searches. The product is good but mainly relies on
interpersonal communication and government and
military contracts.
Consequences
VIA3 along with its competitors are still evolving and
developing new products to entice the public and private
sector to use their tools. VIACK notes in its mission
statement that it is constantly looking to meet the changing
needs of its customers by adding and upgrading its various
conferencing and collaborative tools.

26. According to Michael Tomey of WebEx (personal communication, October 26,
2010), Greg Smith of Webconferencing.com (personal communication,
October 15, 2010), and Teresa Lockhard of VIA3 (personal communication,
November 2, 2010) the majority of webconferencing companies use the same
technology. The variations exist in their business models and add-on choices.
They suggest factoring the following concepts before deciding on a company:
1. How is the product licensed?
2. Does the product require a download?
3. Can the product function with your district’s security protocols?
4.Can your conferences be archived, if so where, and is this an extra cost or included?
5.What is the quality of the Audio and Video?
6.Does the system use VOIP or phone only?
7.Is video collaboration included or exta?
8.Price
9.Product utilization (where can it be used – desktop only or mobile apps)
10.What is included in the fee and what is an add-on.

27. Webconferencing Links
• VIA3 – www.via3.com
• WebEx – www.webex.com
• GoToMeeting – www.citrix.com
• iLink – www.ilink.com
• Ustream – www.ustream.com
• DIMDIM – www.dimdim.com

28. References
• Citrix Brochure. (2010). Corporate Brochure. Retrieved from:
http://www.citrix.com/site/resources/dynamic/mediaResources/CitrixBrochure.pdf
• Citrix About. (2010). The virtual computing revolution. Retrieved from: http://www.citrix.com/lang/English/aboutCitrix.asp
• Coleman, D. and Young, J. (2004). Critical Factors for Adoption of Collaborative Technologies . Retrieved from:
http://collaborate.com/white_papers/mem/white_papers/new_CriticalFactorsforAdoptionofCollaborativeTechnologies082404.pdf
• Library and Archive Canada (2010). Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan. Retrieved from:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/innis-mcluhan/030003-2030-e.html
• Mayrhofer, D., Back, A., and Hubschmid, R. (2004). Web-Conferencing software tools: A comprehensive market survey. St.
Gallen, Switzerland: Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik.
• Nilsson, A. and Greenburg, A. (2009). Ease of use in web-conferencing: Why it matters. Duxbury, MA: Wainhouse Research.
Retrieved from: http://www.wrplatinum.com/Downloads/9854.aspx
• Think of it. (2004). Conferencing on the web. Available: http://www.thinkofit.com/webconf/index.htm 8 January 2004].
• Thornburg, D. (2008) Red queens, butterflys, and strange attractors: Imperfect lenses into emergent technologies.
Retrieved from: //sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/14936/crs-wueduc8812-3730077/red_queens,_butterflys,_ and
strange_attractors.pdf
• USTREAM. (2010). About USTREAM. Retrieved from: www.ustream.com/about
• Web Conferencing (2010). Wikipedia: Webconferencing Companies. Retrieved from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_conferencing
• Web Conferencing Council. (2010). Top 10 web conferencing vendors for 2009. Retrieved from:
http://webconferencingcouncil.com/Whitepapers/Web%20Conferencing%20Council%20Top%2010%20Web
%20Conferencing%20Vendors%202009.pdf
• WebEx. (2010). Company Overview. Retrieved from: http://www.webex.com.au/companyinfo/company-overview.html