My First Web-Based Distance Learning Experience
Hi Friends!!!
This is my third
blog post and I’m going to explain you about my first web based distance
learning experience.
As we are final year undergraduates of
the Department of Marketing Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, we
are lucky that we have to follow the Digital Marketing course unit. Because of
this subject I had this great opportunity to experience the web based distance
learning.
Last Wednesday (8th May) we
had this wonderful opportunity and the lecture was conducted by Mr.Suranga
Priyashantha (Senior Online Marketing Consultant at Netstarter - Australia) who
is also a proud product of our very own department. He conducted his lecture
from Sidney, Australia. The lecture was regarding the Search Engine
Optimization and it was conducted by using webinar facility.
According to the “Webopedia”, webinar can be defined
as “Web-based seminar, a presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is
transmitted over the Web”. It’s kind of similar to the Skype Video Chatting but
for all most all of us it was a totally new experience.
Webinar can
be also defined as a way of attending a conference in a convenient place for everyone
who engages in that. Here we can hear and see the presentation as well as the
presentation slides used by the facilitator by using a computer and a telephone
or an internet connection. The presenter will not be physically present at the
location but we can see and hear all the things that he presents through the
internet.
A key
feature of a Webinar is its interactive elements such as the ability to give,
receive and discuss information. Contrast with Webcast, in which the data
transmission is one way and does not allow interaction between the presenter
and the audience.
Benefits of Webinars
Time Saving
It saves
the travelling time of all the participant and we can have the lectures from
anywhere in the world.
Cost effective
Webinar is
the best option to gain more knowledge without spending lot for travelling.
Convenient
We can
attend the lectures from any place that is suitable for us. It is not a problem
that whether you are in your home, office or the lecture hall.
Easy to use
It is very
user friendly and all you need is a computer, a high speed internet connection
and a high quality microphone.
Hot and applicable topics
Interactive
This is a
very interactive method since we can ask questions from the lecturer at the end
of the session and we can clarify our questions also.
Adopting new
forms of technology like webinars can feel somewhat scary. But the cost of
providing programming like this is quite economical compared to planning a
"live" lecture in a typical lecture hall, travel costs and energy
expenditure required by the lecturer and the students to attend the lecture. So
I hope that we can have more lectures by using this webinar facility in future,
not only for our Digital Marketing subject but also for other subjects too. Hope
my friends from other departments may have this kind of experiences in near
future. Finally I would like to show my gratitude to Mr. Amitha Amarasinghe and
the Ogilvi team for all the support that they have given to create this
wonderful opportunity for us.
