Welcome to The Webcast Academy. The Academy is a hands on, collaborative training center for people interested in learning how to produce and host live, interactive webcasts. It is part of the Worldbridges Webcasting Network and was founded to help train those who would like to webcast on Worldbridges, but all are welcome to make use of the open source learning resources here.  Registration is required in order to post to the forum and comment on posts.

   Academy Sessions are held periodically (however often academy graduates offer to lead them) and generally last about six weeks.  Information about becoming in intern is in the Application Section.  The current session (Class of 2.4) began on January 13, 2008. 

Overview

The goals of the Webcast Academy include

• increasing the number of people who are capable of producing live, interactive webcasts
  
• applying the open source community approach to skill development
• creating a place that formally recognizes proficiency,  excellence, and innovation  in these new media skills

It is our hope that those who complete an internship here will put their skills to use on the Worldbridges Webcasting Network and elsewhere, but there is no charge for participation and no formal commitment required following the completion of the internship.

To keep things manageable in terms session administration, server resources, and security, we can only accept a limited number of interns for each session.   Interns are provided with 100 MB of space to publish their audio and access to the Worldbridges Sandbox stream.  Interns will need to spend at least 3~5 hours a week working on developing the necessary skills, working with other members of the Academy, and banging their heads against their monitors.  

Everyone is welcome to participate in other ways - posting in the discussion forums, commenting on posts, contributing to the Book of Webcasting, and learning along with the interns

 Admission Policies
The Webcast Academy does not charge any fees, but we do ask that interns continue contributing to this collaborative learning community following the completion of the Basic Program.  If we receive more applications than we can accept for  any session, we will select participants based on the quality of their application materials,  compatibility of their goals with Worldbridges values and goals, and the unique contribution they would make to the world of webcasting.  Those who are not accepted as interns for this session are welcome to participate as non-interns and to reapply for the next session.

Certification

Upon successful completion of their 3 interncasts, webcaster portfolio, and a 'commencement webcast',  interns will receive a Worldbridges Webcaster Proficiency Certificate and can apply for a Worldbridges Webcasting License and become eligible to become a 'producer'  at one Worldbridges' webcasting communities.

 

  Academy graduates (webcasters) are asked (not required) to serve as guides for at least one future Academy session (not necessarily the one immediately following theirs). They are also eligible to receive advanced certification from The Webcast Academy (details of which will be ironed out during future Academy meetings).

 

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 Thanks again for your interest in the Webcast Academy.  If you have additional questions, please post them in the 'About Webcast Academy' section of the Discussion Forums.