'TEL Friday' (or move over, Webex!)
The South West Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Forum comprises eLearning Leads from across the region. We meet quarterly in Taunton to share TEL news and updates, exchange views and queries, and usually run a CPD session. Some members travel up to 80 miles to attend, and our most distant member is 120 miles away in Cornwall so we considered what alternatives might exist.
‘Perhaps we could have an online meeting?’ was suggested at our Autumn Forum. Someone murmured ‘Webex?’, but these can be as appealing as a picnic on a cold November morning. Then Paul (aka 'Mr Livestream') volunteered, ‘Hey, we could stream a live meeting!’ and a seed was sown. 24 hours later the moniker 'TEL Friday' was agreed, and a logo adapted from the 90s Friday evening show, 'TFI Friday'. Then the planning began...
‘Perhaps we could have an online meeting?’ was suggested at our Autumn Forum. Someone murmured ‘Webex?’, but these can be as appealing as a picnic on a cold November morning. Then Paul (aka 'Mr Livestream') volunteered, ‘Hey, we could stream a live meeting!’ and a seed was sown. 24 hours later the moniker 'TEL Friday' was agreed, and a logo adapted from the 90s Friday evening show, 'TFI Friday'. Then the planning began...
Our hosts were Hiblio, an NHS WebTV service powered by Torbay Hospital; Paul Norrish, Head of Digital, agreed to stream the event live from their Devon studio.
Myself and Will from Musgrove Park Hospital joined with Jo from Hiblio to plan the broadcast. We felt 90 minutes should suffice; three 15-20 minute CPD ‘programmes’ separated by 'advert breaks' of short reports of items of interest to members (in the ratio employed by commercial television). To start we chose a recent simulated major accident. A short video of emergency service response to an explosion on a train was followed by a live interview with its organiser, Martin Copeman. This was followed by an break which contained short reports on National TEL News from Jaz Bance, and a recent TEL Hack from Richard Price and Susan Kennedy.
Next we entered the world of virtual reality in healthcare training - a short video provided a blistering look into the future accompanied by a studio interview with an expert in the VR field, Nick Peres. In the break, Nicki Healey gave a book review, then we moved on to the last CPD section, which comprised a module from a new MOOC on visual support for eLearning. Meeting attendees used login credentials received earlier in the week to try out the course and share ideas. The video from this module is available here.
Myself and Will from Musgrove Park Hospital joined with Jo from Hiblio to plan the broadcast. We felt 90 minutes should suffice; three 15-20 minute CPD ‘programmes’ separated by 'advert breaks' of short reports of items of interest to members (in the ratio employed by commercial television). To start we chose a recent simulated major accident. A short video of emergency service response to an explosion on a train was followed by a live interview with its organiser, Martin Copeman. This was followed by an break which contained short reports on National TEL News from Jaz Bance, and a recent TEL Hack from Richard Price and Susan Kennedy.
Next we entered the world of virtual reality in healthcare training - a short video provided a blistering look into the future accompanied by a studio interview with an expert in the VR field, Nick Peres. In the break, Nicki Healey gave a book review, then we moved on to the last CPD section, which comprised a module from a new MOOC on visual support for eLearning. Meeting attendees used login credentials received earlier in the week to try out the course and share ideas. The video from this module is available here.
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Questions came in via Padlet and were moderated (centre) and
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Our producer Jo trims a nail as we near 'go'!
The professionalism of everyone involved was truly impressive; our two studio guests wouldn't have looked out of place on a BBC chat show. Those of us involved with recording videos know how difficult it can be to keep to time when experts talk about their own subject, yet we had no such problem. Each of our external 'reporters' kept their video clip down to the allotted time (these were pre-recorded because streaming a live Skype link-up had proved challenging during rehearsal, and we decided not to risk them for our first live meeting).
Our meeting attendees responded with enthusiasm and the event went smoothly. We received positive feedback and the meeting had quadrupled its usual attendance. A further 25 viewed the online recording later (available here).
Organising TEL Friday required a lot of time from the team, and we estimate the hours of travelling time saved by attendees probably equalled the extra hours we put in to make it! But this was our first live meeting, and it will undoubtedly require less planning and preparation next time.
Will we do it again? Definitely! It didn't replace the interpersonal communication and networking that takes place over coffee and a biscuit, so we're planning to use this format once a year. We feel the real strength of this meeting design may lie in its utilisation for a national communication event, and we are looking to appeal to a wider audience for TEL Friday 2017.
Will we do it again? Definitely! It didn't replace the interpersonal communication and networking that takes place over coffee and a biscuit, so we're planning to use this format once a year. We feel the real strength of this meeting design may lie in its utilisation for a national communication event, and we are looking to appeal to a wider audience for TEL Friday 2017.
With special thanks to Hiblio behind the scenes production from Jac and Andy on camera. Let's do it again next year!
