Live Webinar

The webinar I attended was presented by OK2Ask through Teacher’s First and was titled Resource Roundup: FREE Tools from the Edge. How I did not know about this resource, I will never know. It is a must have resource for all things web 2.0. Earlier in the semester we talked about review criteria for web tools. They have taken the guess work out of it with their own ratings. You must hop on over and check out this amazing resource.
Now, as for the webinar. It was one of the best professional development opportunities I have had either in person or online. The webinar was an hour and a half and covered 6 web 2.0 tools that could be used in the classroom. I had heard of some of them, but not all.
It was well organized and the presenters were knowledgeable about the tools they shared. Additionally, more web 2.0 tools were used to check comprehension. We had to do a Flipgrid response for one task, a Padlet response for another, and google form for the last one. They presented it in an “I do” then “You do” format. They showed us a tool and then allowed us to play with it prior to our response.
I would definitely participate in more webinars by OK2Ask. Not only are they well produced, but they are free and come with a certificate of completion. The only part of the webinar experience that I don’t like is the chat feature. While I understand it is needed for questioning, it is distracting to try and follow conversations and pay attention to the presentation.
The software used by OK2Ask was Adobe Connect. I can see using a webinar format as a teacger at the elementary level to have extended hours for study help. Or to use in the event school needs to be cancelled (think snow days). I can also see students using it for morning announcements or as pen pals with another school (collaborating on a project).
Overall, after teaching all day, I was dreading spending an hour and a half of my time on a webinar, but am so glad I did. I can not recommend Teachers First enough….you must take an OK2Ask webinar yourself and learn some amazing new tools.