Online seminars are conducted in a
familiar "chat-room" - type setting, but with moderator controls and other
advanced programming features that make the system a very useful resource for online education, which traditional chat rooms are not suited for.
- Online Seminars Are Approx. One Hour Long And Are Free Of Charge To AFDA Members
- In keeping with AFDA's long-standing purpose of providing an inexpensive online service to federal defense attorneys and related professionals in the field, these online seminars are completely free of charge if you are an AFDA members. The fee for being a member is only $65 every six months ($40 if you contribute to the online brief bank). The online presentations are prepared with the expectation that they will be completed within an hour. Thus, the presentations are offered at 12 Noon on each coast on Mondays.
- Moderator Controls Allow For An Orderly, Uninterrupted
Presentation, As Well As A Managed Q&A Session At The End
- The text of the online presentation will be posted from a separate Moderator forum. All attendees who type a comment or question are sending that remark to the Moderator, and the Moderator will then decide whether to post it to the main board where everyone can see it. This is an important feature, as it guarantees that online seminars can be presented without interruptions by attendees.
Any remarks written by an attendee while the online presentation is being
conducted will not be allowed to be seen by the other attendees, so as to ensure the
continuous flow of the presentation. Regular chat rooms don't have this feature, with the predictable result that the room can become chaotic with many people writing simultaneously. The Moderator
Controls in the AFDA web site prevent this problem from occurring and thus
create an online environment that is conducive to professional education.
At the conclusion of the seminar presentation, the Moderator will open the floor to questions
and comments. Attendees will write to the Moderator, who then manages the flow of the discussion
by posting the questions / comments in an orderly, timed manner so that the system isn't being inundated with too many people "talking" at one time.
- All Attendees Can Download A Transcript Of The Entire Online
Presentation At The Conclusion
- Attendees will see a bar entitled, "Get Transcript." At the conclusion of the seminar, you click on that bar, and the download box will appear on your screen by which you can select the subdirectory into which the file goes. This allows you to have a verbatim transcript of the entire presentation, including the Q&A session.
- The Presentation Includes Links To Outlines,
Published Cases, Government Documents, Web Sites, And Other Materials Pertinent To The Seminar Topics
- One of the marvelous programming features of AFDA's Online Seminar system is that the seminar presentation has hypertext-link capabilities. This feature allows the Moderator to insert
within the seminar presentation a link to a document or a web site. For example, a seminar that provides updates on key cases on a particular topic will include
an outline that can be obtained simply by clicking the link to that file, and
you download the outline. Also, there will be links to the F.3d opinions
referenced in the online presentation, so you can click on each link, access that opinion in PDF format (which will include the F.3d citation and jump cites within the opinion) and download that opinion into
the hard drive. Similarly, if a presentation pertains to Dept of Justice policies and there are DOJ documents relevant to the seminar topic, there will be a link to each of those documents so you can download
them (eg, Ashcroft policy memos). If there is an Internet web site that offers important information on the seminar topic, there will be a link to that site.
- Another nice aspect of the link feature is that when you click on a link, it accesses the file or web site in a separate Popup Window, so that you don't lose your place in the Online Seminar.
- Attendees Are Listed By Name And Can Send Each Other Private
Instant Messages While The Online Seminar Is Being Conducted
- When you click the Online Seminar bar on the home page, you will be prompted to enter your full name in a sign-in box. This allows every attendee's name to be displayed in the online seminar forum. If you want to have a private Instant Message chat with another attendee while the seminar presentation is ongoing, you simply double-click on that person's name, and an Instant Message box appears. It's a very nice feature, and everyone is encouraged to use it.
- There Is No Limit To The Number Of People Who Can Attend An Online Seminar
- We have programmed the system to accommodate as many people as are interested in attending. Because the system has Moderator Controls, there is no risk that attendees will "crash the party" by flooding the forum with comments. Thus, we have an online environment that is like an unlimited auditorium.
- MCLE Credit Is Available To California Attorneys But Must Be Applied For By Individual Attendees From Other States
- The online seminars will be conducted in a manner designed to meet the MCLE requirements of states that recognize MCLE credit for online education. Attendees will be given specific questions and the answers to those questions based on the seminar topics,
and asked to put them in an email addressed to AFDA that also includes the attendee's name, address and state bar number. The deadline for sending the email will be ten minutes after the completion of the online presentation. AFDA will maintain a permanent
archive of these emails. In addition, the seminar will include a link to a PDF file containing a certificate of attendance for each attendee to download. This file will not be available after the conclusion of the seminar. Because AFDA is an MCLE-approved provider in California, credit will be issued to California attorneys. Attorneys from other states will have to apply individually to their respective state bars. They can submit the certificate of attendance and the transcript of the online presentation (see above for explanation), and AFDA is pleased to confirm attendance by reference to the individual's email in our archive files.
CLICK YOUR RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON AND CLICK "BACK" TO RETURN TO THE MAIN
ONLINE SEMINAR SCREEN
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All rights reserved
No reproduction permitted
