Apparently I did not get the exact meaning of the assignment from the beginning so now I switch topics to the one that was assigned to me. Wikipedia describes web conferencing in the following way.

Web conferencing is used to conduct live meetings or presentations over the Internet. In a web conference, each participant sits at his or her own computer and is connected to other participants via the internet. This can be either a downloaded application on each of the attendees computers or a web-based application where the attendees will simply enter a URL (website address) to enter the conference.

A webinar is a neologism to describe a specific type of web conference. It is typically one-way [1], from the speaker to the audience with limited audience interaction, such as in a webcast. A webinar can be collaborative [1] and include polling and question & answer sessions to allow full participation between the audience and the presenter. In some cases, the presenter may speak over a standard telephone line, pointing out information being presented on screen and the audience can respond over their own telephones, preferably a speaker phone. There are web conferencing technologies on the market that have incorporated the use of VoIP audio technology, to allow for a truly web-based communication. Webinars may (depending upon the provider) provide hidden or anonymous participant functionality, enabling participants to be unaware of other participants in the same meeting.

What I can tell you from my personal experience is that everyone I have been to was bad. Either the video was poor, inconsistent and choppy or the audio was intermittent or altogether lacking. I am not a fan of the technology as a whole but in clearly does have advantages it bring groups together over large distances.  The most sucessful webcast I have been involved in incoporated web technology in conjunction with teleconferencing  equipment to create an effective working cynergy.

In terms of application to this course I am not sure it has a practical application I think there are other technologies that are of better use and are more efficient such as podcasting.  However, I do believe like all technology as time goes on it uses will expand and for that to happen the technology will have to advance beyond what I have viewed.

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