I am always looking for ways to help build communities and find ways to communicate. Especially when it comes to connecting parents and schools. So when I happened upon Webcast academy and Edtechtalk I knew that there were some good things going on in this community. I am technically literate and a have a good knowledge of how to use the Internet and related technologies. Thankfully the door was opened and I dove right into a world of screencasts, broadcasts and exciting visionary people to help me out. Despite my skills, some days I felt totally overwhelmed and challenged. I was told it would be like that.

As I set up the Parent Involvement webcast, Parents as Partners, it became very clear that the audience that the web cast would be targeting would need some hand holding. Parents. teachers administrators 35-?? with 2 or 3 children and maybe a few grand kids. Like all learners they don't like to raise their hand and say they don't know how or don't understand. How many adults go to the back of the class? Many most likely will be computer shy. Any one have the statistics on the capabilities of this age group?

It became clear as I worked with a “listener” that my coaching was needed to help her find the way to the “live” section of the webcast. I have to tell you how proud I was of her tenacity to figure it out. How easy it is to forget what it was like to be new at all this. What it must be like to not know what a media player is. Questioning is Flash a camera setting? Java must be a cup of coffee. What do I do when I am asked to save or run this program? Do I trust this site?

I had to make sure that there were speakers attached to the computer. Simple things we forget to consider when our world revolves around computers. When I prepare for the next webcast I will be spending just as much time making it easy for listeners to participate, as I will be producing the show. This will be a huge barrier to the success of the webcast. Any advice is welcome….