Abstract
Physically dispersed Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) communities often require support for collaboration over extended periods of time, in what are effectively very long meetings. While there are a wide range of support systems for foreground interactions, such as phone calls and short meetings, and a similar range of tools for 'background' interactions, such as email and instant messaging. This paper presents data from a virtual ethnographic study of a working TEL community using the FlashMeeting videoconferencing application and the Hexagon ambient video awareness system, over month of active at-a-distance project planning. The study is a naturalistic insight into the use of online synchronous communication to support extended synchronous interaction between a working community of practice. Over an extended working period it seems that a complex mix of planned and opportunistic interactions require a new set of working tools, managing the trade-off between awareness and disruption. Switching between foreground and background 'meeting activity' remains a very big challenge.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 97-106 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | CEUR Workshop Proceedings |
Volume | 308 |
Publication status | Published - 2007 |
Event | 2nd International Workshop on Building Technology Enhanced Learning Solutions for Communities of Practice, TEL-CoPs 2007 - Sissi, Lassithi - Crete, Greece Duration: 18 Sep. 2007 → 18 Sep. 2007 |
Keywords
- Ambient video awareness
- Backchannel
- Extended meeting
- Foreground channel
- Synchronous communication
- TEL communities of practice
- Videoconferencing