Torah tech using technology to enhance teaching of Tanach and Toshba
You can download supporting Smart Notebook examples here. Here is a much more extensive Smart Notebook presentation with many more examples which I used for a presentation to the New York Metropolitan Area Chapter of the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL-NYMA) on Being Smart With Smartboards A New Tool For School Librarians 3-8-2011.View more presentations from Tzvi Pittinsky.
Since this presentation was entirely web-based, my big question was where to host it. I considered Skype which now has screen sharing in addition to its excellent video and audio quality. The problem with Skype is that one can either share a screen or show video. One can not do both simultaneously. Skype also does not offer the ability to upload a presentation. I wanted people to be able to see me and my screen at the same time while I was also showing them my presentation.
Therefore, I chose Big Marker as my platform to host my webinar. Big Marker offers unlimited free video conferences, is very easy to use, and provides all of the features usually reserved for the platforms that cost money like Adobe Connect including sharing video, audio, presentations, screen sharing, and chat with multiple participants.
The only problem I experienced with my conference using Big Marker was with the audio which seemed to be a few moments behind the video. I solved this by using Skype for my audio and Big Marker for the other features of the conference. This worked fairly well except that Big Marker plays soft background music during a presentation when sound is not enabled (which it wasn't since my audio was coming from Skype). This was mildly annoying for my participants. I have contacted Big Marker to see if they have any solutions to this problem. Stay tuned for further updates.
Big Marker support responded to my issues. Here is what they wrote:
ReplyDeleteHi Tzvi,
Glad to hear that your session went well! When there is a background music that means you are the only one in the voice conference room. Just click on the headset icon on the top left and leave the voice conference. We apologize for the delay in sound, we are in the process of upgrading our VOIP system to have better sound quality as well as adding the ability for people to call in via phone. The update should be completed in 2 weeks.
This is great info. I'm considering Big Marker for a Bridal Webinar series I'd like to host. Thanks.
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