Mississippi Library 2.0 Summit: Library 2.0 Virtual Learning Spaces: Meebo Rooms vs Skype Conferencing for Real-Time Online Library Instruction Classes

Library 2.0 Virtual Learning Spaces: Meebo Rooms vs Skype Conferencing for Real-Time Online Library Instruction Classes
Mississippi Library 2.0 Summit
Avril Cunningham (presenting remotely through iChat and Adobe Connect)

This presentation was given remotely through iChat and Adobe Connect—the first virtual presentation for the Mississippi Library 2.0 Conference! Cunningham works for the University of Southern California Libraries. You can view the different parts of her presentation at breeze.usc.edu/summitintro, breeze.usc.edu/summit, and breeze.usc.edu/summit1.

The USC has 20 libraries on campus, there are 67,000 “regular” reference questions a year and 8,000 e-reference questions a year. Instruction at USC includes 1,200 instruction sessions across the main and medical campuses. Cunningham coordinates 600 of those—with 11 librarians teaching writing course students who need to do research papers. Currently they are using the Distributed Learning Model which lets people be in virtual classrooms when instructing. Instruction librarians use social networking tools to supplement their work.

They looked at using Meebo or using Skype. Meebo has over 25 million users. There are 5 billion messages sent every month with Meebo. (wow!) Meebo allows for IM, file sharing, and group chat. It is compatible with other systems too, like TokBox, which offer audio and video chat services too. Meebo video is stable and the connection is instant. Unfortunately, the voice quality is tinny and the lighting can be problematic. On InstructionWiki.org/Meebo you can see instructions for setting up a Meebo room.

Skype has 30 million users and 12.6 million users are online available to communicate at any 15 minute interval. They ofer video features and voice conference calling. The voice is crystal clear in quality. You can use Skype on the iPhone and embed it into MySpace and Facebook. Video chat offers nice basic features: file sharing, chat, hold, mute, and call duration information.

The Robyler and Ekhaml Rubric is a way to measure four separate dimensions that contribute to a course’s level of interaction and interactivity. The four dimensions are:

1. Social rapport-building activities created by the instructor
2. Instructional designs for learning created by the instructor
3. Levels of interactivity of technology resources
4. Impact of interactive qualities as reflected in learner response

Cunningham raised the issue of having unidirectional communication “a closed communication system” – where information is ping-ponging back and forth between two people, as opposed to multidirectional communication – where information is shared between all members of the group simultaneously. “Chaotic, inspirational communication.”

The lessons she wants us to take away are to build systems that allow 3-way communication, use social network systems that have built-in 3-way connections, and to use Skype for great voice quality and Meebo for its ubiquitous presence and availability.