I really enjoyed last night's video conference with David, Asanka and Trish. I hope we will hear from Antonio soon.
I think video conferencing still can be called 'innovation' while practitioners are still working out what is best practice. Using a new gizmo does not stop being an innovation until it has been assimilated and chewed over by practitioners.
It was helpful that we were given moderator status - I hope we can get that every time!
For me video conferencing is an absolute necessity on an online course. Discussion forums are a key element too, but you can't beat a chat for getting to the heart of what your peers are thinking and feeling. My previous OU tutor thought that video was a distraction but I like it.
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Totally agree with your sentiments John. Thanks for taking the time to blog them. As you say, being able to chat via Elluminate not only helps the learning process but adds that personal bonding element. And if the theories underlying our Distance Education course are constructivism and connectivism then we should be making the most of synchronous and asynchronous modes of communication to exchange ideas and learn from each other. Whether the tools are part of the OU's VLE or taken from our own preferences e.g. Skype, Google Hangout, Adobe Connect etc. is not relevant, but what can be gained from group discussions is.
It's difficult to understand why your H800 tutor was not in favour of using the webcam, as paralinguistic cues are a significant part of communication. You can read and give approval, you can see if someone is confused, in disagreement, bored, in need of a break etc. All cues, that we can then react to. When testing comprehension with my langauge students, there are tasks that I structure where I deliberately shift us into another virtual space where we can't see each other, but this is for a specific purpose.
Best Trish