The Role of Teleconferencing in Distributing Educational Content
Increased globalization in business is making face-to-face communication an exception rather than the rule
that was once the only way of holding meetings and conferences (Foroughi
,
Perkins
&
Jessup, 2005). Increased
awareness of the personal impact of time and costs spent traveling to participate in conferences are compelling
companies to take advantage of teleconferencing as a way of eliminating or reducing these intrinsic and extrinsic
costs. Today, with the integration of teleconferencing applications conference delegates can participate from
disparate locations.
A teleconference is a virtual meeting among two or more participants involving technology that is more
sophisticated than a simple two-way phone connection. In its simplest form, a teleconference can be an audio
conference with one or both ends of the conference sharing a speakerphone. With more equipment and expense a
teleconference can become a videoconference, in which the participants can see still or motion video images of each
other. Because of the high bandwidth necessary for the transmission of video and the demand for larger, and
multiple display screens, a videoconference requires special telecommunication arrangements and a special room at
each end. As equipment and high-bandwidth cabling become more commonplace, it is possible in the foreseeable
future that videoconferences will be available on personal computers or in a mobile device setting.
Teleconferences eliminates the need for traveling to remote locations to attend an educational session,
meeting, or a conference; it reduces various costs of traveling such as accommodation and transportation; it saves
time for the attendees, allowing them to participate in the conference or meeting from their office or their home. For
all these reasons, teleconferencing is predicted to become a mainstream business application.
One of the main functions of associations is to provide learning opportunities for its members through
education and training sessions held throughout the year. They may hold these education and training activities at
their annual, semi-annual meetings and conferences, or perform these more often through the year. Thus, they
require that their members come together in a place to present the educational content. However, as is illustrated so
far this kind of method of delivering education and training is costly and time consuming for all parties, which in
turn may lead associations to utilize the new technologies presented above such as webinars and teleconferences.
These technologies when used by the associations to deliver content in a real time transmission also hasten/speed the
process of getting the content delivered and help members to stay up-to-date on current issues within an industry.
Another major advantage of these technologies is allowing members to access the content just in time, which
support members in preparing for certification exams that are required in may fields. Today, many associations have
access to provide its membership with a variety of educational opportunities through the application and integration
of these new communication tools that are cost effective to both the association and its members.
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