Web Conferencing

The Technical and Social Challenges

Abstract

Society, people, and institutions have reaped the benefits of technologies that allow online meetings and collaboration in real-time ¬¬¬¬- often known as web conferencing technologies. Most of the benefits of these technologies were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, where efforts to prevent the spread of the virus introduced mass social distancing. In higher education, web conferencing benefits a growing number of students across the world. It enables synchronous online learning, where learning takes place in real time, with communication technologies that permit live audio, video, and text transmission. Extant research suggests that the interplay of technical and social challenges within synchronous online learning, before the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, has not been comprehensively investigated. Additionally, there is a need for thorough studies on the effects of prolonged virtual interactions on individuals, teams, and organizations, stemming from the features of web conferencing technologies. This paper reports ongoing research aimed at exploring the technical and social challenges that affect the success of web conferencing in synchronous online learning. The research investigates the experiences of students and teachers who use these technologies for learning and teaching, and the challenges they face. The work uses theories of technology acceptance and the psychology of user behaviours. The research aims to advance knowledge and offer valuable information to educators and learners. It seeks to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning processes using web conferencing technologies, ensuring that they successfully achieve their intended outcomes. The results of this study, in the long-term, will also inform the development of better and improved interventions, practices and strategies for web conferencing, that can be applied in educational and even commercial contexts. The paper also discusses an exploratory study that was conducted to explore the effects of webcam usage on learner engagement in training and tutorial sessions among higher education students. The exploratory study showed that the webcam, even though rarely used in most sessions, had an impact on learner engagement, and can be explored further. Additionally, the technical and social aspects in these online sessions are complex and need more examination.