Thing 3: Online Meetings

For this assignment, I viewed archived webinars in both Wimba and Opal.

Wimba... I looked at "Learning about Illuminar" which is then new Kansas Library Catalog patron interface from Autographics. Presented by Rhonda from the State Library. I found this to be an informative webinar and I was glad to see some pointers on how to use the new KLC interface. I have used Wimba for some training provided by Follett, so the software was familiar to me.

Opal... I viewed "Connecting Kids with Great Websites," which was presented by Meagan Albright and Sharon Haupt, who are responsible for ALA's Great Sites for Kids . I viewed about 15 minutes of this webinar in Firefox and was disappointed by the fact that the slides didn't show up correctly. Then, I started over, trying Explorer and it worked perfectly. Very good information, especially about how the websites are evaluated and considered for inclusion in the Great Sites list.

Already, online meetings are becoming a routine part of training. I can see this technology progressing rapidly within the next 10 years, with better graphic and video capabilities. Personally, I like the archived meetings better than live meetings. The archived meetings allow me to pause when I have interruptions.

Thanks for the great lesson, Brenda. It was not boring! I was especially glad to be introduced to Opal. I found several other webinars on the Opal list that look intriguing.