New e-Conferencing service offered

MOREnet is pleased to offer a new e-Conferencing service to eligible MOREnet customer organizations. “Access to this e-Conferencing tool suite powered by Centra offers MOREnet customers synchronous learning/meeting capability that complements the videoconferencing and asynchronous learning/meeting tools in their distance communication/education toolbox,” said Bill Mitchell, MOREnet Executive Director.

The Centra 7 Universal License includes Centra Symposium, Centra Conference and Centra eMeeting for live virtual classrooms, Web seminars and online meetings. e-Conferencing is an Internet-based tool suite that allows people to communicate and create virtual learning and meeting environments over the Internet. Audio conferencing, live one-way video, application sharing and collaborative Web conferencing are all components.

Minimal technical requirements

• Internet connectivity (28.8 Kbps; 128 Kbps or greater recommended)
• Computer (laptop,desktop)
• Microphone
• Sound card, microphone and speakers OR headset with microphone
• Web camera (optional)
• Detailed requirements are available from the MOREnet e-Conferencing site

“e-Conferencing will allow the MOREnet community to leverage its existing infrastructure to provide real-time instruction, events and meetings,” said Mitchell. e-Conferencing will allow customers to use their existing computer and bandwidth resources without the cost of maintaining brick and mortar or incurring productivity losses when people leave their work environments to attend off-site meetings and events. This service promises to be a cost-effective and efficient solution both for MOREnet and its customers.”

Why e-Conferencing?

MOREnet is one of the few state networks to serve a diverse community of constituents that include public and private higher education, public and private K-12, public libraries, state government and other affiliated organizations. In its initial roll-out phase, MOREnet will offer the new fee-based e-Conferencing service to its education and library members and education-based affiliate organizations.

"This is the first virtual classroom interface that has been developed with the benefit of the student in mind, as well as that of the teacher," stated Professor David Anstaett, a course instructor for MOREnet's pilot e-Conferencing project. Anstaett has been teaching in K-12 and higher education for over thirty years and is a pioneer in distance learning. From an instructor's perspective, Anstaett believes that Centra Symposium addresses the issue of teacher-student interaction in a user-friendly format that he and his students have found to have a positive impact on work processes.

Opportunities for using the new MOREnet e-Conferencing service powered by Centra might include:

• Credit and non-credit course delivery
• Professional development
• Administrative meetings
• Research team meetings and information-sharing
• Virtual fieldtrips
• Meet the expert sessions
• Public forums
• Program and application development
• And more

”Two important adjectives come to mind to describe the impact Centra has made on my individual educational experience: ‘personal' and ‘efficient,'” said Patty Rose RDH, a student in the Degree Completion Program UMKC School of Dentistry, Department of Dental Hygiene. “The experience of relating to other students in a ‘live' situation where we can communicate and also see one another through the use of the video cameras has made my online experience much more meaningful. By using this type of technology I feel that I'm getting to know my instructors and classmates on a much more personal level. We interact as if we were in a normal classroom, exchanging information and providing feedback.”

Training and technical support

MOREnet offers instructor-led training sessions for people involved in creating and managing e-Conferencing events. This training will be delivered via the Centra tool. Asynchronous training tools and materials also are available. MOREnet Technical Support staff will work with local Event Managers to train them to create, modify and manage events, manage user accounts and to set up the site's default Centra domain.

Pricing

MOREnet's e-Conferencing service is sold in packs of 10. Each 10-pack is priced at $3,000. For each 10-pack of licenses, a maximum of ten participants can attend MOREnet e-Conferencing events simultaneously. The $3,000 per 10-pack price is good for March 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005. After July 1, 2004, renewals will be on a 12-month basis.

Contact information

For more information about, or to subscribe to, MOREnet's new e-Conferencing service powered by Centra, contact your MOREnet program group's Program Manager at (573) 884-7200 or by e-mail:

• K-12 TNP: Eric Nicklas at eric@more.net
• Higher Education: Nancy Piringer at piringern@more.net
• MOREnet Affiliates:Nancy Piringer at piringern@more.net
• REAL: Jeanne Sullivan at jeanne@more.net

Find out more

MOREnet's e-Conferencing service
http://www.more.net/services/e-conferencing/

Centra home
http://www.centra.com