The power of e-seminars in higher education

The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze the pedagogy in distance education and web-based learning, with a focus on students’ participation and collaboration in interactive e-meeting system. The research questions are: • What is the impact and added value of interactive webinars at distance for students learning and development? • How can the students learning and development be supported and assessed in multimodal webinars? Methodologically have interviews with student teachers and their participation of the webinars in the e-meeting system, Adobe Connect, been investigated and analyzed. During the webinars gives the opportunity for students and teachers to communicate directly face to face through web-video and audio, as well to chat. Here they can have discussions about theoretical concepts, course literature and course assignments, but also give and receive peer feedback, collaborate with common notes and whiteboard, share screen and software with others, report project presentations and written papers. All webinars were recorded and made available online after the meeting in their web-based learning management system, It's learning, for repetition and further reflection and critical review. The point of departure for the choice of methodology is based on the concepts of computer self-efficacy, CSE (Bandura, 1997; 1982; 2002; Compeau & Higgins, 1995; Tams, 2011), in which the sense of self-efficacy, i.e. the belief in their own ability, impact, outputs to carry out distance education successfully. CSE can be concretized through three interrelated dimensions: magnitude, strength and generalizability. The student's perceptions of webinars and ability to participate and use of the meaning content of the communications during the e-meeting are identified and described. Another point of departure is based on the theories of computer supported collaborative learning, CSCL, in which our understanding of language, communication, culture and various aspects of the social context for students learning is central (e.g. Koschmann, 1996; Papastergiou, 2010; Stahl & Hesse, 2008). The result shows that there is an essential learning potential of webinars in relation to students self-efficacy, collaborative learning, participation and influence. However, there are challenges to develop further didactic strategies for multimodal webinars and prevent the preliminary technical dilemmas. References Bandura, Albert (2002). Growing primacy of human agency in adaption and change in the electronic era. European Psychologist 7(1), 2-16. Bandura, Albert (1997). Self-efficacy: the exercise of control. Basingstoke: W. H. Freeman. Bandura, Albert (1982). Self-efficacy Mechanisms in Human Agency. American Psychologist 37:122-147. Compeau, Deborah R. & Higgins, Christopher A. (1995). Computer self-efficacy: Development of measure and initial test. MIS Quarterly 19 (2), 189–211. Koschmann, Timothy (1996). Paradigm Shifts and Instructional Technology: An Introduction. Illinois: Southern Illinois University. Papastergiou, Marina (2010). Enhancing physical education and sport science students’ self-efficacy and attitudes regarding information and communication technologies through a computer literacy course. Computer & Education 54, 298–308. Stahl, Gerry & Hesse, Friedrich (2008). The many levels of CSCL. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 3(1). Tams, Stefan, Craig, Kevin, & Murphy, Richard (2011). Coping with Interruptions in Computer-Mediated Environment: the Role of Computer Self-Efficacy Retrieved 2012-03-10, from http://sais.aisnet.org/2011/TamsEtAl.pdf