In this edition of the Real Time Minute, Jonathan explores the benefits of offering real-time closed captions for your live online events.

Download Episode

Transcript:

I’m Jonathan Finkelstein, and this is The Real Time Minute. Thanks for joining me. When conducting real-time online meetings, what do you do to ensure everyone feels included?

One thing you can do to reach everyone in your session is use real-time closed captioning. Subtitling the session ensures that those with hearing impairments aren’t left out.

There are several other benefits, too. Can you think of any?

Closed captioning can be helpful to visual learners and those with different learning styles. I also find that non-native speakers appreciate being able to follow along with the captions. As do those with technical problems. Finally, closed captioning leaves behind a useful artifact of the experience — a searchable written transcript.

Think about how you might use the written word to make your real-time sessions memorable for everyone. Until next time, I’ll see you on the Real Time Minute.

In this underwater edition of the Real Time Minute, Jonathan urges us to look beyond the surface of our computer screen, through the interface of our virtual classroom, and interact with our learners in a deeper, more meaningful way.

Download Episode

SPECIAL NOTES: Meet Jonathan Finkelstein online during the following upcoming events:

• Online Workshop on Synchronous Learning: Leading Effective Live Online Events: Next Two Workshops Begin January 26, 2010 and March 15, 2010. In this four-part live online workshop, Jonathan Finkelstein guides participants as they learn and practice effective, practical and creative strategies and techniques for the live online environment. Concrete approaches for synchronous facilitation abound, as do ideas for the design of real-time activities that take learning and collaborating online to a whole new level.
• Online Workshop on Podcasting: Producing Great Audio and Video Podcasts: Program Begins May 10, 2010. In this three-part live online workshop – taking place over a two week period – Jonathan Finkelstein guides participants as they learn and practice the practical skills and techniques needed to produce high-quality, highly engaging audio and video podcasts.

In this Australian Outback edition of the Real Time Minute, Jonathan reflects on the value of silence during real-time online sessions.

Download Episode

SPECIAL NOTES: Meet Jonathan Finkelstein online during the following upcoming events:

• Online Workshop on Synchronous Learning: Leading Effective Live Online Events: Begins January 6, 2009. In this four-part live online workshop, Jonathan Finkelstein guides participants as they learn and practice effective, practical and creative strategies and techniques for the live online environment. Concrete approaches for synchronous facilitation abound, as do ideas for the design of real-time activities that take learning and collaborating online to a whole new level.
• Online Workshop on Podcasting: Producing Great Audio and Video Podcasts: Programs Begin March 3, June 2 or November 3, 2009. In these three-part live online workshops – each taking place over a two week period – Jonathan Finkelstein guides participants as they learn and practice the practical skills and techniques needed to produce high-quality, highly engaging audio and video podcasts.

In this special Australian outback edition from one of nature’s wonderful places, Jonathan notes that participants in real-time online sessions can sometimes feel small because of the newness of the technology or constraints imposed by a facilitator. He suggests that those leading live online events can look for ways to make participants feel their own size so they are comfortable getting fully involved.

Download Episode

In this special episode from the American Association of Museums Annual Conference, Jonathan sits down with Nina Simon, author of the Museum 2.0 blog, who shares a fascinating approach to exhibit creation that turns the process inside out — and it involves the use of three-dimensional online worlds. Nina also shares her vision for museum experiences that adapt to visitor's interests in real time.

Download Episode

About the Guest:
Nina Simon joined the Tech Museum of Innovation in October 2007 to curate their Tech Virtual Museum Workshop project, a collaborative, distributed approach to exhibition design that merges online, Second Life, and real-world content development. She also maintains Museum 2.0, a blog about ways that museums can integrate social networks, user-focused design, and etc. into their institutions.

Nina Simon, author of Museum 2.0, at AAM in Denver, CO.

In this special episode from the American Association of Museums Annual Conference in Denver, Jonathan steps into a voting booth created by the Liberty Science Center. Using a touch-screen voting interface, museum visitors in Jersey City, NJ, see — with graphical results tallied in real time — how they match up to current presidential candidates and other “voters” on scientific issues. Wayne LaBar of the Liberty Science Center walks Jonathan through the experience and its context.

Download Episode

Wayne LaBar demonstrating the virtual voting booth that is currently in action at the Liberty Science Center.

About the Guest:
Wayne LaBar is Vice President of Exhibitions and Featured Experiences at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey.

In this extended edition of the Real Time Minute, Jonathan shares excerpts of a conversation with four museum professionals using three-dimensional virtual worlds to conduct meaningful learning activities in real time.

Download Episode

Chris Lawrence, Nora McCartney, Paul Sparrow, and David Klevan at AAM in Denver.

Show Notes:

In this special edition from the American Association of Museums Annual Conference in Denver, Jonathan catches up with four museum professionals immediately after their panel session entitled, “Charting New Territory in Virtual Worlds”. The conversation featured Chris Lawrence, Nora McCartney, Paul Sparrow, and David Klevan.

About the Guests:
Paul Sparrow is Vice President/Broadcasting and Programs at the Newseum.

Chris Lawrence is Supervisor of Distance Learning Programs at the New York Hall of Science.

Nora McCartney is Educational Technology Curriculum Manager at the New York Hall of Science.

David Klevan is Education Manager for Technology and Distance Learning Outreach Technology at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Related links:

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“Witnessing History: A Teen Second Life Exhibit” – Video on YouTube
Newseum
New York Hall of Science
PowerUp the Game

During the panel session on virtual worlds, Chris Lawrence acted as a human “applause meter” to gauge audience interest in various topics the panel was prepared to discuss. Seeing a live demo of virtual worlds in action topped the charts.