Almost the end...: Webcast-ing!

Last week, we had a webcast exchange with a group of students from Middlebury College in Vermont, U.S.A, studying Italian. We all presented a PowerPoint work about a specific topic. Alice, Susanne and I chose to talk about fraternities and sororities organizations in North America and the Goliardia in Italy, while our classmates discussed about eating habits, national celebrations and immigration. On the contrary, the topics chosen by American students were all focused on how women and love are represented in Italian literature. The main aim of these presentations was to compare Italian and American cultures.

In a few words… it was a great experience! Thanks to webcast technology, we had the possibility to do a cultural exchange “in real time” with people on the other side of the Ocean and immediately comment on each presentation, either by means of the microphone or by chat.

What I really appreciated was the fact that the audience could intervene, comment on each presentation and ask questions. That way each student could give and receive feedback. It was not a ‘unilateral’ process in which one student talked and the others simply listened to him/her, but rather a 'multiple communication', an exchange with many ‘tentacles’, since everyone had the opportunity to talk and intervene.

I think that each of us contributed with his/her presentation to the construction of a wide interactive environment, where each piece of work was the fruit of the collaboration, co-operation and negotiation between students. In my opinion, what really mattered was the fact that everybody’s knowledge crossed the borders of their respective countries to create an ‘intersection of experiences’, a cross-cultural world.

Maria Chiara

The last two “–ings”…: Video-ing and Webcast-ing!

As I have already pointed out in my previous posts, the whole coursework can be divided into some subgroups, a series of three basic “-ings”, i.e. blogging, wiki-ing and Skype-ing, which have triggered other kinds of significant “-ings”, such as learning, reading, writing, searching, reflecting, talking, discussing, comparing, etc. Today I’d like to add a further “-ing” to the list: video-ing.

On Monday 16, we had our last exchange with the students from Tulane and it was not a Skype exchange, but rather a “video exchange”! Obviously, if on the one hand the fact that we had to talk to someone we had never seen before by means of a video camera raised our curiosity, on the other it also presented a significant challenge. While in the context of Skype exchanges we only had aural contact (and it was difficult as well!), in this case we had both aural and visual contact. I think that our initial “hesitation” (nobody wanted to break the ice…!) was due precisely to this “double contact”. However, after a few minutes of “disorientation”, we all talked to the students from Tulane and it was very nice!

Talking together “in real time” through a video camera laid the basis for an interactive environment, generating a particular kind of “distant connection”, and provided a face-to-face “meeting” with people physically located in a different continent.

As far as I’m concerned, it was a powerful experience and, most importantly, it was the “crowing” of our online exchange with the students from Tulane.

Next week, we will have the possibility to try out a new technology: webcasts. We will have a webcast exchange with a group of students from Middlebury College in Vermont, U.S.A. We will present our PowerPoint work (Alice, Susanne and I chose to talk about fraternities, sororities and the Goliardia) and they will do the same, presenting a work on women in Italian literature. The voice of those giving the presentation can be heard and their presentation slides seen on the screen, but, most importantly, the audience can intervene, thus laying the basis for a wide interactive environment, as was the case of “video-ing”. Even though this time there won’t be any video on the webcast, I think it will be nice to do a presentation online, mainly because it is the fruit of our collaboration and co-operation. We’ll see!

Maria Chiara