1st Video Conference

Our first video conference with Pace University New York clearly marked the differences between each group's approach to the course. Whilst Pace appeared to have a significant number of texts covered, it
became apparent that Dr. Murphy's chosen approach to focus more coherently on a lesser number of texts proved to have noteworthy advantages.

1. Our understanding of the texts and indeed their cultural contexts provided greater lucidity as to the position of the heroes within the text and the role they played for the communities of the text.

2. The classic juxtaposition between the hero and the monster he is required to battle was investigated more vigorously. Particularly interesting was our hypothesis on the justification of these conflicts, notably in Beowulf - is Beowulf justified in his hunt of Grendel's mother who is acting against Heorot entirely out of revenge for the murder of her own son?

3. Our focus on the general relations between the King's and heroes between our chosen texts proved to be quite concise and once again more coherent. For example, the concept that the emotional and physical state of the King directly translates to the environment within which he resides is a common theme throughout each of the studied texts.

Of course, studying a greater number of texts in less detail offers insights into Medieval Heroic culture in different respects.

The video conference proved immensely useful and interesting as we compared our views on the course. Notably the comparison between the two translations of Beowulf showed how two approaches to the same text in different interpretations culminates in a different outlook on the text itself. Heaney's translation, though not entirely accurate in terms of literary merit, holds true to the original poetic form of the text. It was a hugely rewarding and exciting experience to correspond with a trans-continental university approaching the exact same course from a different angle.

I happened across an interesting article which outlines the benefits of University Video- Conferencing. It illustrates the effectiveness of this method as paramount to education even when compared to the traditional lecture method favoured by the majority of courses:

http://www.distanceeducationuniversitye.com/effectiveness-of-videoconferencing-in-learning-long-distances.html