Web conferencing or synchronous online conferencing allows students and instructors to meet online and from a distance. Frequent uses for web conferencing include online courses, presentations by lecturers at a distance, small group conferences, and even office hours. Depending on the tool being used, web conferences can be simple, passive engagement or extremely robust, active engagement experiences.
Adobe Connect
Adobe® Connect™ is a web conferencing platform for web meetings, eLearning, and webinars that work on virtually any device. Adobe Connect is currently used in Geisel by TDI, TDC and the Family Medicine Clerkship for both simple and more robust interactions.
Device Agnostic (with limitations)
BlueJeans
BlueJeans is a video conferencing service that is device ubiquitous and allows for screen sharing, video sharing, chat and voice.
Device Agnostic
Conferences in Canvas
Conferences in Canvas are primarily used for virtual lectures, virtual office hours, synchronous student presentations, and student groups. The tool used by Canvas to provide the Conferences feature is called Big Blue Button.
Google Hangouts
While not built as a web conferencing system, Google Hangouts enables video conferencing and meetings (including screen sharing), text chats and voice calls. Individuals (up to 10) can join from anywhere on any device.
Device Agnostic
WebEx
WebEx, by Cisco, provides web conferencing, online meeting, video conferencing and webinar applications. How robust the experience is will depend upon the licensed services. WebEx is used at DHMC, but it not a service supported by Geisel.
Device Agnostic (with limitations)
Zoom
Zoom is a Dartmouth supported video conference system that lets Dartmouth users host engaging meetings and instructional sessions. For more information please refer to the links below. Geisel School of Medicine faculty and staff should contact Geisel.Instructional.Technology@dartmouth.edu for additional information and training.
References
The following are a list of references about the use of web conferencing in teaching and learning.
- Online Course Delivery Modes and Design Models in Radiological Sciences
- Asynchronous Video Streaming vs. Synchronous Videoconferencing for Teaching a Pharmacogenetic Pharmacotherapy Course
- Synchronous distance learning as an effective and feasible method for delivering residency didactics.
- Pragmatists, positive communicators, and shy enthusiasts: three viewpoints on Web conferencing in health sciences education
- Seven Things You Should Know about Video Communication