Self Training

Self Training (Webinars)

For this professional development activity, a online webinar is to be viewed by the student.  The webinar must relate to the class and be at least 1 hour in length.  A different webinar will need to be used for each class should a student be given this assignment in multiple classes.  Upon completion of the the webinar, the student is to write a summary essay about the Webinar. The summary essay is to include:

This first section should have a heading of “Webinar Location“.  The location of the webinar must also be included with the report.  The report should start with the webinar location before detailing any of the report information.  If the webinar is not available through the information given, the report will be considered invalid.  A notation to the reader should be here also if the webinar will require the signing up on a service.  If you happen to be using a pay service provided by a third party, the instructor most likely will not have that pay service at their availability.  This would be counted as unavailable to the instructor and invalidate the report.

This second section should have a heading of “Webinar Summary“.  The next section of the essay report that summarizes the contents of the webinar.  There should be more than just a list, there should be summaries of each of the major topics covered in the webinar along with the minor topics covered in the webinar.  Each major topic will most likely be a paragraph containing the information along with the minor topics under that major topic.  A single paragraph can not be used to summarize an hour long video.  This is not to be a list of bullet items thrown together either.  This section needs to be written like an essay with complete sentences and paragraphs.

This third section should have a heading of “Webinar and Course Coverage Comparison“.  The next section of the essay report will detail out how the webinar relates to the class.  Possible topics include mapping the webinar topics to the module in the class or the chapter in the text or the specific topic which the class and webinar both cover.  The student is to compare the coverage of the topic by the class and the coverage of the topic by the webinar.  If a student chooses a topic not yet covered in the class at the time they watch the webinar or write the essay, the student will need to read ahead in the text and base the comparison on those readings.  If there are portions of the webinar that the student would recommend others to view in relation to the topic, that information will also be presented in this section of the report along with why those sections of the webinar are recommended.

This fourth section should have a heading of “Presenter and Presentation Critique“.  The next section of the essay report will take a different viewpoint.  This section is to focus on the delivery and coverage style of the webinar instead of the content of the webinar.  The section is to discuss HOW the topic was covered instead of WHAT the topic was.  The section is critique the webinar on the HOW and the METHODS used in conveying the information to the watcher.  Not every webinar is for every person.  The student is to look beyond the content and look at the way the content was presented.  A webinar can have great content but be delivered in a way the viewer cannot process it.  There are different learning styles.

The use of proper grammar and correct spelling will be part of the criteria on which this report will be evaluated.  Word choice, fractional sentences, missing subject, and incorrect presentation voice are just some of the items that fall into this criteria.  There is not a minimum length given but this is not a brief assignment and can not be properly completed without a significant level of detail presentation.

A report should be proofread before being submitted.

Reports on webinars that the instructor does not find relates to the class will not be considered valid either.  If there is ANY question in the mind of the student on if a Webinar is acceptable, the student should contact the instructor for prior approval of the webinar.  Webinars must be accessible by the instructor for evaluation so many internally presented webinars will not be acceptable as the instructor will not have access to the webinar.

No other forms of self based training will be acceptable for this professional development activity.  This activity focuses on web accessible webinar style presentations.  Many organizations publish their webinars in YouTube channels or on YouTube.  These are acceptable forms of webinars.