Live Teaching Reflection

I have to admit, I was really turned off by this assignment. I do not prefer group projects, especially in this type of setting where the class doesn't meet. I would rather have my grade represent me and only me. Although I do see how useful using a live meeting room is, especially now with how much people communicate from far distances, it is not something I see myself choosing to use in the future. First of all, it makes me extremely uncomfortable to be on a computer screen in front of a group. I don't even like to Skype or FaceTime my friends, let alone give a lecture with my computer webcam capturing me at weird angles. Secondly, I think it is distracting for the people giving the lecture and the people following along. We tried to set up our laptops so that we could each stay in one seat and simply switch from computer to computer. This didn't work due to typical technical difficulties and we just had to keep switching for the main seat. I also think that since it is online and no one can see anyone except the person presenting, there is no way of telling what those people are doing. Are they even paying attention? Did we just waste our time giving a 30 minute presentation to empty rooms? This just isn't the same as a face-to-face meeting where you can see if your audience is engaged and change your ways if they aren't. There aren't transitions where nothing is happening, providing time for the audience to get distracted.

With that being said, I think we did fairly well. After we did a little research on polleverywhere.com, we realized that it really isn't too complex. We were worried about how we could possibly talk for a half hour about making a poll with minimal customizations. We wanted to meet the time requirement but didn't want to ramble on if we felt we'd covered everything. It all ended up working out, we shared all the information we wanted to and with minimal technical difficulties. I was proud of my group for their organized notes and online presentation and I'm just glad it's finally over.