The webinar format certainly works. It gives you incredible access to some of the most thought provoking leaders in education without having to leave the comfort of your own home. Most webinars give participants a chance to ask questions, receive feedback, and actively participate in the discussion. The webinars that typically appeal to me the most are the ones that are less powerpoint driven and more conversational in nature.
I recently had the chance to watch a Google Hangout webinar put on by Scott and Tim Bedley (a.k.a. The Bedley Brothers). They host a weekly webinar on all things education and innovation. With this assignment, I decided to watch one of their webinars from their achives of an interview/discussion with Catlin Tucker. Catlin is a teacher in California who is re-defining the definition of blended learning. The conversation between Catlin and the Bedley Brothers was both engaging and informative. Click here to watch webinar.
There were so many things that came out of their conversation, but here are a few highlights:
a) flipping your back to school night (brilliant!)
b) back channeling using TodaysMeet
c) It's not about the technology! Rather, start with what you already do well and use the tech to enhance it!
Perhaps my only suggestion for their webinar format is to allow viewers to pose questions during the broadcast. Some of the more professional webinar tools I have seen out there allow for this. This way, you can take relevant questions and comments from viewers in real time (pretty powerful).
As an instructional technologist, I can certainly see the value of bringing webinars into the "classroom". As of right now, I think the easiest way to initiate this is with Google Hangout. Many students have Google and joining a free hangout seems like it would pose the least amount of technical issues. For the ones that don't, they can always watch an archived version on YouTube. As far as what can be done in the webinar format, here are a few ideas:
1. Invite your students to a live webinar for a test review or graded socratic discussion
2. Have kids create their own group webinar discussing in a "round table" format an essential question.
3. Hold a Webinar as a way to introduce a new project/entry doc (PBL Model)
Whatever the case, I strongly recommend checking out your first webinar. You will not only pick up some great tips and resources for your teaching, but also begin to forge solid and valuable relationships within the educational industry.