My First Web-Based Distance Learning Experience

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 (8^th 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 

           Can gain all the required information on most up-to-date topics by the reputed and trustworthy sources or else experienced presenters.

• 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.