More on Using Webinars to Inform

Preparing to Present

In our last blog posting, we talked about how to develop an engaging webinar. Now let's turn our attention to the next steps for insuring that your webinar is successful. Once you have your presentation prepared, it is important to practice, practice, practice. I personally don't advocate creating a very tight script, but you should have a loose script for each slide. Your audience can tell if you are reading your script, and to be frank, if that's what you are doing, they'd rather you emailed them the script and let them read it.  Decide beforehand how you'l handle the chat.  Will you, as the presenter, scan the chat and read it aloud? Will you have the producer read the questions/comments at certain points during the presentation? You will notice that I have only spoken about how to minimize the cognitive load of the learner--I don't want to scare you, but the cognitive load on the presenter is quite high. So be prepared. I estimate that the load is twice as high as a F2F training. You will be tired--but if your learners enjoyed your session and got a lot out of it it is all worth it.

Preparing for Disaster
OK, that sounds bad, but really, it is important to think about what you will do if the video suddenly crashes, or if the audio isn't working.  I use two computers whenever I am presenting. I log in to one as a moderator and the other as a guest. That way if one suddenly crashes, I can hopefully stay connected via the second one. I prefer using VOIP to present, but will call-in using a phone line in a pinch. You should be very familiar with how to troubleshoot the audio and video before your first webinar. I also print out a copy of my PowerPoint--I lie, I print out two, one has each slide individually, the other has the outline with the trainer notes. I also prefer to give learners a second phone number and email address that will connect them directly with the producer. That way, everyone on the line isn't listening as the producer troubleshoots Susie's problems with her java download. Once I have my redundancies in place, I hope for the best and if the worst happens I try to keep calm and carry on. Remember, your learners won't know if things are not going as planned if you don't let them know!  

Informing Using Webinars

Webinars
Hosting webinars, and recording for later viewing, is another way that we can inform and support families and professionals. But it is important to understand that a webinar is not as simple as taking your current face-to-face presentation and showing it via the internet. All learning requires that the learner take their current knowledge, examine the new information and somehow combine the two. While webinars mean that learners can do this from the comfort of their living rooms, it also means that they have many more distractions--dogs, kids, Facebook, email. You get the picture. But have no fear, there are ways to grab their attention, keep it and inform them! 

Developing Instruction
Think about what your audience wants to learn. How will you help them combine this new knowledge with what they already know? To be useful, your instruction must meet their needs. Do not to overload them--really think through if you need that animation or audio clip.  Balance using the available technology with its usefulness. It is important to base your instruction on how people learn. Thankfully there is plenty of evidenced-based practice in this area. If you have both words and pictures on a page, place your words near the pictures. A separation of words and pictures tells the brain that it is looking at two different ideas. You are already asking the brain to work hard, don't mistakenly ask it to overwork.

Engaging the Learners
One of the advantages of a webinar, or synchronous learning environment, is the interactivity.  You can post a poll, ask people to raise their hands, answer questions using the microphones or in the chat box. If you want your audience to interact, you should begin your session asking folks to answer a question. Where is everyone?  Are they at home? the office? When planning out your presentation think about natural points where you can check in with your learners. This helps them stay engaged. With a webinar you need to be more deliberate than in an face-to-face (F2F) training. In a F2F training you know if the room is with you, against you or asleep! Online, you've got limited ability to see what others are up to--some webinars allow you to "peek" at your learner's desktop--but it seems too "Big Brother" for me! Rather than stalk your learners, make sure you are more engaging than Farmville! One way to prepare participants that you are expecting this to be a two-way interaction is to open the room early, begin to engage with participants using the available technology. I often open up the webinar room a half-hour before the session, which means that my producer (the person who handles all of the technical aspects of the training) and I are "in" the room about an hour before the session.  We have the PowerPoint loaded, we've checked the audio, the call-in line, etc. And we hope, fingers crossed, that we don't have any glitches.

Community of Practice

Professional Development
Another way to inform and support is to create a Community of Practice (COP). As long as the internet has been around, there have been COPs. Sometimes these were accomplished using listserves. A local or national group would create a listserve and invite people they know to join.  In the last few years COPs have migrated to sites like Ning! The T A and D Network, a network of programs funded by OSEP has had COPs for some time and is now using a Ning site as well (You can see more on OSEP here or here). To operate a COP like the one used by TADNET, requires paying the fees required by Ning! and hoping that folks can find your COP, or you can simply join TADNET.

Part C Regulations

In my last post, I discussed how one might use social media to inform families and the field about potential policy changes.  Today, I'll talk about real policy changes that will have impacts on early intervention.  The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, was reauthorized in 2004, and the final regulations were just released in September of 2011.


Reviewing the Regulations
Many groups reviewed the proposed regulations.  In 2009, the IDEA Infant and Toddler Coordinator's Association (ITCA), Part C Coordinators for many states, worked with the Division of Early Childhood of the Council of Exceptional Children (DEC) to produce joint comments.    The Early Intervention Family Alliance,  (EIFA), a group of family leaders (disclaimer--I am a Founding Board Member and Past President), submitted comments on the proposed regulations.  More information can also be found at the OSEP-funded National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center website.

Using Social Media to Affect Change

Potential Policy Changes for Part C
Social media can be used to help individuals and organizations to affect change, to influence policies and to stay informed.

Staying Informed  
It is important to be aware of current policies.  Many federal and state programs maintain websites.  These websites can keep you informed about the current policies and proposed policy changes.  For instance, the US Department of Education hosts a website about Part C of IDEA.  The US Department of Education also funds technical assistance centers that share information, like NECTAC.   It is a good idea to subscribe to email lists run by your state programs.  The New York State Department of Health has a subscriber list, some localities, like the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, has an RSS feed.  You can also create your own google alert to let you know when something new is added to the internet.

Web 2.0 Can Help Provide Families with Basic Information

Families Need Basic Information
When families first discover that their child has a diagnosed disability or they suspect that s/he has a delay, they need basic information about how early intervention works.  Let's think about how Web 2.0 can help families think about:

Can Web 2.0 Support Families?

There are a number of factors to consider when deciding whether or not to use social media to interact with potential website visitors.  In order to make that decision it is important to look at the current social media landscape, your company’s focus and your website.

What is Web 2.0?Web 2.0 means that users are no longer limited by what they can find and download (Web 1.0).  Now users can upload and create their own internet content without needing extensive expertise in programming code.  Users can also refashion what they have found elsewhere and link it to their own work and that of others[i].    It is important to recognize that information posted to the web will be repurposed and repackaged by users.  It is also important to stay connected to a site’s users, to identify user’s informational needs and how they are repackaging information found your site.  One way of doing this is to use other social media sites to both drive users to your site and to interact with them.  

Social Media Can Support Families Enrolled in Early Intervention

Welcome!
If you have heard of social media, but haven't had the time to figure out how to use it to reach families of young children with disabilities, this is the blog for you! If you have a Facebook fanpage but you haven't figured out how to make the most of it, this is the place for you! The internet is exploding with new ways to find, share and inform families of young children with disabilities.  Many families of children with disabilities are comfortable with these platforms, but they continue to report that they are not finding the facts or support that they need from official channels. These new platforms can help you to build your brand, support your existing website and keep families and professionals informed.


We'll discuss how web 2.0 is a game-changer, what it means for families and providers, and more importantly, how to use different social media platforms to reach families and share information. We will discuss why it is important to create a social media plan, how Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and other social media platforms work and how to use them effectively. We'll also talk about how to inform and engage families and professionals without violating their privacy rights or spending 24/7 at your computer.