Videoconferencing Out on a Lim

Moving My Blog to WordPress

2006-02-03T09:44:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been wanting to move my blog for a while. I wanted a tool with categories... so my reviews of content providers, program lists, etc. are easier to find! So I've switched to WordPress. My other reason is that WordPress is more "school friendly" since it doesn't have the "Next Blog" link that can take students off into never-never-land. So update your links & subscriptions please!

Nothin' Like a Good Template

2006-01-27T15:34:00.000-05:00

Today one of my 4th grade teachers wanted to meet with me to plan a videoconference on Lighthouses in Michigan. She's done Michigan Week and Read Across America, so she knows the "exchange" format. She's also done Where in Michigan, and understands the MysteryQuest format.

So as we discussed the possibilities, it was clear quickly that these had given her an idea to do a MysteryQuest: Lighthouses.

Having a template format ready to go really helps teachers who want to try their own planned videoconference! And having experience with an "official" project like MysteryQuest or Read Across America helps teachers see the possibilities for creating their own projects!

That makes the headaches, challenges, and trials associated with these big projects all worth it!! (I'm in the middle of matching "leftovers" for Read Across Amercia. Fun fun!)

Math Mysteries from the United Kingdom

2006-01-26T15:50:00.000-05:00

Here's a little videoconference report from Sturgis, South Dakota. Recently a class there participated in a math mystery called The Milton Mansion Mystery from the Athena Excellence in Cities Education Zone.

Here's the program description from Athena:

Join the famous detective Sherbet Holmes in his quest to find out who stole the Milton Mansion Diamond. The pupils are ably guided through the investigation by Advanced Skills Teacher Jaz Dhillon. At key points in their investigation pupils get to meet the famous detective who enlists their help in order to piece together the evidence and to identify the culprit, their motives and their modus operandi.

The teacher commented,

I felt the results of the project to this point meet or have exceeded my expectations. ... I feel this should be an on going part of the course work for sixth grade and possibly be developed into something more with students from each site communicating with one another. It also fits nicely in a across the curriculum activity for the sixth grade. ... I would be very open to using VC'ing again and on a yearly basis. The opportunities that it allows for the students and instructors is endless and life-lasting.

This sounds like a really cool program and one that I'm hoping our schools can do soon! Remember when you're scheduling videoconferences with the United Kingdom that they are 5 hours ahead of EST; +6 for CST; +7 for MT; +8 for PST. So you might need to be flexible and thoughtful in scheduling this one! Click this link: Athena Excellence in Cities Education Zone for a list of all their programs as well as scheduling details.

Exploring Shakespeare

2006-01-25T08:49:00.000-05:00

This morning we're trying out another provider we haven't visited before -- The Indiana Repertory Theatre. They've been doing distance learning for quite a while and I could tell from the beginning that this would be a good program. St. Joseph High School English students are participating in the program, Exploring Shakespeare. The presenter and teacher interacted quite a bit via email and phone before the program to tailor it to the teacher's curriculum.

The program began with great conversation and interaction to set the students at ease. Then the presenter read a monologue "boringly" as if she was reading homework. Students had a hard time figuring it out. Then she read it again with expression and a prop. Students quickly figured it out.

The program included students trying different scenes in Shakespearan English and modern English. This helped students understand the emotion behind the Shakespeare scenes.

Discussion included comedy vs. tragedy, plot devices, writing style differences between comedy and tragedy.

Another exercise included a "Red Rover" argument exercise where students read sassy lines between Petruccio and Kate from the Taming of the Shrew. The students really got into the program.

Discussion also included how and why Shakespeare used verse and iambic pentameter.

This was a great program. I think it's the first time I've seen a high school program where students are getting up and moving around. Nice interaction between the provider and students and also between students during the program. Definitely worth it for Shakespeare classes!

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

2006-01-24T13:17:00.000-05:00

Today we're trying out another content provider we haven't connected to before -- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We have a class from Lighthouse Education Center participating in the program, Rock and Roll Reactions: Records, Radio and the Birth of Teenage Culture in 1950s America.

The program started with pictures of various music groups and the students had to identify them. Great opener as the students who were sitting with crossed arms quickly started answering questions and interacting.

What a great way to learn about history and what it was like to live in the 1950s. A nice set of pictures, video clips, and audio clips helped students understand that decade.

This would be a great program for Black History Month because it also shows the history of racial segregation in the music industry and what life was like just before the Civil Rights movement.

Students really enjoyed this program. At the end, the teacher told the presenter that this was the best program they had attended out of 4 or 5 different videoconference field trips. So, you should try out this provider if you haven't connected to them yet!

Welcoming a NY VC Blogger

2006-01-23T09:34:00.000-05:00

I'm delighted to share with you that another of my VC buddies, Andrea Israeli, is blogging about videoconferencing in the New York City Public School System Region 4.

Got Videoconferencing? is her new blog, begun January 16. I can see already that I'll be learning how to do a Poetry Slam! I have a high school media specialist who has been interested in this idea for a while now and we just haven't gotten it off the ground. I'm glad to be learning from another pioneering colleague!

Welcome, Andrea, to the community of K12 videoconferencing bloggers!

Ice Age Geology

2006-01-20T11:59:00.000-05:00

Today we're doing our first program with a new content provider, the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. Sixth grade students from Patrick Hamilton are doing the Ice Age Geology program. Jason Dennison used to be distance learning coordinator at the Milwaukee Public Museum. He's doing the presentation today. I like to judge videoconferences by the students' posture during the program. These kids were leaning forward and clearly interesting and engaged in the program. Jason included many questions, discussions, and other interactions during the program.

Another way I judge VCs is by the visual content. Since it's a visual medium, we expect to see some good things! Jason included many visuals to explain morains, straiations, and other evidences of glaciers. I especially liked the rock simulation shown where he showed how the glaciers make the different types of morains.

It was great to see also how well prepared the students were. They were aware of the content and had thoughtful questions to ask the presenter.

Genocide Discussion

2006-01-17T13:43:00.000-05:00

Today I'm really excited to be watching a videoconference planned by two of my local teachers at New Buffalo High School and Lakeshore High School. This VC is an assignment in my Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections online class, where teachers plan project connections over a period of 5 months.

The lesson began with classes working in groups (muted) to come up with a definition of genocide. Then each class shared their definitions and negotiated a group definition.

Next each class worked to brainstorm a list of genocides they know of... both historical and current.

Then the classes brainstormed what they remembered from their December connection with a local expert who discussed prejudice and racism and how it might connect with the genocides listed.

Each class had a copy of an article on fighting hatred. The classes read the article separately and then discussed it together.

Finally students came up with possible solutions/responses to genocide.

Loosen the legal definitions that determine genocide so that intervention can happen quickly.
Make ourselves more aware of current events.
We need to educate people to treat those of all races the same.
We need to stay open-minded to hear the different sides to a story.

I really like the format of a team teaching here where the classes were led through a discussion and students had time to brainstorm in groups locally and then share with both classes. This format worked really well.

Spellers of Note, CIM

2006-01-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

This morning 2nd and 3rd grade music students from Eagle Lake Elementary are connecting to the Cleveland Institue of Music for their Spellers of Note program.

CIM is wonderful at how they get students engaged right away in the program. Mark George had the students telling what they knew about music and Mozart, and as they answered, someone played music or sang off screen. It was very fun and you could tell the students loved it.

Students also sang with the presenter and the ensemble, and the students also presented a play they had prepared ahead of time.

This program was definitely well designed for young students. There's lots of variety and interaction in the program. I highly recommend it!

Chris Crutcher Interview

2006-01-12T09:15:00.000-05:00

(From January 11)

After a few tense moments with the network (love the Internet these days), we successfully connected St. Joseph High School students to the Orange County Department of Education, coordinating a videoconference with author Chris Crutcher on his latest book, The Sledding Hill.

We started with introductions, and then started with questions. Here are some of the more interesting ones:

How was Billy able to come when his dad was not?
How did you write the part for Eddie? His comments are quick but for the most part incomplete. Is his personality like yours?
Where did you get the idea for Montana West?
Why did you use religion in this book?
Why did you criticize one of your books in your own book?
Have you ever written a book that has not been censored or banned?
At one point should schools ban books? or should they?
Are there any topics that you are hesitant to write about in a novel?
How long did it take you to write this book? Which of your books take the longest to write?

It’s always entertaining to hear the author interact with the students. The author sees how students have thought deeply about the book, and the students hear interesting stories behind characters, names, and ideas in his book. Both seem to enjoy the conversation and students definitely increase their understanding and appreciation of literature and the writing process.

Some fascinating quotes from Mr. Crutcher:

“When does innocence turn into ignorance?”
“It’s fun to poke fun at myself in the story.”
“Every human in the world has some creative way to express him or herself.”
“You hear 5 stories, 10 stories, and 50 stories, and some truth rises to the top.”
“I will tell you the truth in its native tongue.”
“Any issue that comes up, we need to be in a position where we can talk about.”
“Your body of work does represent what you’ve learned in life.” in answering a question about the message in the book.

Thank you to Orange County Department of Education for sharing this program with us.

Our Internet is Down!

2006-01-11T21:00:00.000-05:00

I know a bunch of you fellow distance learning colleagues are trying to get a hold of me for Read Across America, MysteryQuest and other distance learning events. The TWICE website and of course my Distance Learning website are hosted on the BCISD webserver, and our web & email is down. Both my read@remc11.k12.mi.us for Read Across America and my jlim@remc11.k12.mi.us account is down too.

For those of you trying to finish up your Read Across America registration by Jan. 11. Please don't worry. I'll give you through the end of January 12 if it's back up tomorrow; and if not, then through January 17. I'll be offline anyway the 13th through the 16th. Good time for a long weekend! :)

Time to take a break, rest, and consider what's most important in your life. We can live without the Internet. Right?!

The Power of ASK

2006-01-10T11:22:00.000-05:00

My VC friend and colleague, Sue Porter, just received letters for author Ethel Footman Smothers in response to the videoconference we did in November on her book The Hard Times Jar. Sue coordinated the program and is collecting all the letters from the participating schools to send to Ms. Smothers.

These letters are an incredible testimony to the power of ASK programs! Get out your Kleenex box!

Dear Ms. Smothers,

I cannot tell you how much our videoconference meant to all of us. Paris, Texas, is a small town, and many of our students have never been outside the city limits. Opportunities for low-income and minority students are limited.

In one stroke, this videoconference enlarged these students’ world. They loved the snowball! (It rarely snows here, and it was about 60 degrees that day.) Although we had already located Grand Rapids on the map, the moderator’s comments really made distances understandable to my students. But the most wonderful event for my class was seeing an African-American woman as a successful author.

I am sending letters that my students have written to you. One of the African-American girls in my class states in her letter that she was surprised to see that you are “chocolate brown and not buttermilk.” (She paid attention!) It shocked me that after all of our class discussions on the book, that she imagined its author to be white. She simply couldn’t imagine it.

This videoconference opened my eyes as well. It brought home to me the importance of putting before my students images of successful adults who look like them. Thank you for sharing your wonderful stories, your home-made toys, and your time with us. Please continue to visit students through the technology of videoconferencing!

Sincerely,

Nancy Bratteli

Third Grade Teacher

Aikin Elementary

Paris, Texas

The first letter written by a student was difficult for me to read, but was followed by the following letter from the teacher with the note at the bottom.

Dear Mrs. Smothers,

You inspire me in many different ways. You are an African American and fulfilled your dream. You have courage, and you stick to what you say. You care about children. You are my role model, just like my teacher. You are an encouragement!
Your friend, *A*

Note: *A* struggles with severe dyslexia, but as you can see, she is a very bright young lady. She also just lost her “best friend,” her grandmother who lived with their family. Your book, and our visit with you, came at a wonderful time for her.

Incredible! To read more about the ASK process, visit www.projectask.org. See also the ASK programs we're doing in Berrien County, the ASK programs TWICE is running, and the ones that Polycom is sponsoring.

If you are coordinating distance learning for a large district or an educational service agency, you too can offer these types of programs to your schools. Start with the book list on the www.projectask.org website or with books suggested by your media specialists. Look for local authors or local specialists you can interview related to the books. Start with local presenters so that the cost is less than with nationally known authors. Your districts will greatly appreciate the service, and as you read above, with these programs you can make an astounding impact on student learning!

Have your kids present at Megaconference Jr this year!

2006-01-06T16:01:00.000-05:00

Have you watched Megaconference Jr.? Then you should present this year!

Never heard of Megaconference Jr.? Then you should participate AND present this year!! Don't be shy!

Think of a class doing something really cool in your building: music, drama, reader's theater, science experiments/research, an invention, etc. Present!!

Here's the official announcement that has gone out on the various VC listservs.

Deadline for presenter proposals/activities - January 23, 2006

We look forward to your involvement!
--------------------------------------------------------------

WHAT IS MEGACONFERENCE JR.?
Megaconference Jr., now in its third year, is a project designed to give students in elementary and secondary schools around the world the opportunity to communicate, collaborate and contribute to each other's learning in real time, using advanced multi-point video conferencing technology. Presenters will design and conduct videoconference-based presentations and activities focused on both academic and cultural issues. Participants will be able to address questions to presenters and to collaborate with geographically diverse peers in collaborative learning activities, thus building international cultural awareness.

WHEN IS IT GOING TO BE?
The event will be on May 18, 2006, and it will run from 7:00 am until 7:00 pm EDT (UTC-4). The 12-hour duration will make it possible for schools from many time zones to participate during their regular school hours. We strongly encourage schools to open up participation to parents, administrators, and the community and to stay connected for as long as possible so that they can actively participate with sites from around the world in different time-zones. Museums and libraries are especially encouraged to invite children and library patrons to participate during non-school hours.

HOW CAN I CONTRIBUTE?
You can propose a 10-15 min. interactive presentation or showcase an interesting collaboration project that you have been doing in your school. You can also suggest activities that could be organized at "downtimes" between the blocks of presentations. Or you can join us as participants, with no special presentation given from your side. (Questions at the end of presentations are more than welcome from everyone.)

WHO CAN BE A PRESENTER?
Students and teachers can be presenters. Presentations with multiple sites are strongly encouraged.

HOW DO I SUBMIT A PROPOSAL?
The proposal submission process has been streamlined again this year to ensure a successful conference for all. Anyone who wishes to submit a proposal must first register as a presenter for Megaconference Jr. 2006. Once registered, sites will be contacted about testing their network connections. Upon successfully testing, those who wish to submit a proposal will be able to do so. This will ensure that all sites proposing presentations have passed a preliminary connectivity test and will allow presenters more time to focus on their dress rehearsals.

HOW WILL PROPOSALS BE EVALUATED?
Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria:
1. Title: The title is catchy and unique and related to the objective of the presentation.
2. Presentation is Related to Theme: Student presentations should focus on academic or cultural issues and incorporate global awareness and collaboration.
3. Collaboration/Interactivity: The ideal presentation should include collaboration with students in another geographic location. If your project includes another site please identify that in the "Overview" section of the proposal submission form.
4. Creativity/Uniqueness: The presentation is delivered in a creative way and presents a different or unique topic.
5. Multimedia: Without distracting from the proposal objectives, the students use a variety of media resources and appropriate distance learning activites.

WHAT TECHNOLOGY DO I NEED TO PARTICIPATE?
Most sites will need Internet2 or comparable high-speed connection and access to H.323 video-conferencing equipment. Presentations must be made using H.323 technology, preferably at 768 Kbps, and they will be made from the presenter's location. Presentations with multiple remote presenters are encouraged (see evaluation criteria above).

WOULD I BE ABLE TO REHEARSE?
Yes, all presenters will be required to hold at least one dress rehearsal prior to the event to rehearse and refine their presentations.

HOW TO REGISTER AND SUBMIT A PROPOSAL:
Presenter registration and subsequent proposal submission (upon successful testing) should be completed online at: http://megaconferencejr.org/?id=registration

DEADLINES:

Submit your presenter proposal(s) by January 23, 2006.
(If you are unable to submit by this date due to special circumstances such as extended holiday break, please let us know and we will do everything possible to accommodate your schedule.)

General registration opens February 10, 2006.
General registration closes April 28, 2006.

AND....
Please forward this message to anyone you feel would be interested in being a presenter site, anywhere in the world.

Check out the NEW Megaconference Jr. 2006 website at http://megaconferencejr.org

Questioning Lesson Plan for Videoconferences

2006-01-06T10:51:00.000-05:00

Something that's been on my todo list for quite a while is to write up something for preparing questions for videoconferences. We've all seen VCs that were less than ideal due to lack of preparation. So here's a lesson plan: Preparing Questions for Your Videoconference. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or links to add, send them along!

New ISTE Article

2006-01-05T08:58:00.000-05:00

Linda McDermon, Rural Hall Elementary School, North Carolina, has a nice article on videoconferencing in the December/January issue of Learning and Leading with Technology on pages 28-30. (Access restricted to ISTE members)

She lists several videoconferences and content providers they've participated in, including Megaconference Jr., NASA programs, local programming, and the one that caught my attention, TWICE's Read Across America celebration. A little sidebar delves into the issue of costs & the rationale for using videoconferencing in the classroom.

Find an ISTE member near you & read the article!

New Easy URL for Polycom-BCISD Content Database

2005-12-16T09:10:00.000-05:00

The Polycom-BCISD Content Database has a new easy to use URL when entering from the Polycom site: www.polycom.com/education/content/

Easy to use & share! Try it!

VC Islands 2.0

2005-12-13T15:13:00.000-05:00

It used to be in the "old days" with videoconferencing that educational organizations, consortia, states, etc. put in videoconferencing islands for shared classes. The main use of videoconferencing then was sharing high school and college level classes and usually an organization just shared classes within their network.

We've made great progress in moving away from these VC islands and doing more collaborative, creative activities with videoconferencing. Now we participate in events like Megaconference, Megaconference Jr., connect to content providers, and create collaborative videoconferences.

But with these new activities, we're running into VC Islands 2.0: The next generation of videoconferencing islands, if you will. These new islands are created by special dialing schemes and the never-ending challenges with firewalls.

Lately I've been working on test calls for Read Across America, along with our wonderful Verification Partners. I also just began serious work on the implementation of the 2005 USDA RUS DLT Grant we were awarded last week.

It's amazing to me that many vendors still don't get it! We really do want to connect easily to ANYONE! And that generally just means a plain old simple IP address or ISDN number. None of this alias stuff or dialing extensions (which I've seen for both IP & ISDN connections). Very annoying! Not all units can connect. Not all bridges can connect to these extensions. Why they even recommend this type of dialing scheme to K12 education is beyond me!

Admittedly I'm not a network technician, though I've learned more about the network than I ever thought I could. So I don't know everything about how these things could work. I just know that I want to connect to my VC colleagues around the world as easily as possible! No extensions!

Enough ranting. Get to work! As my colleague Kevin says.

Camden Children's Garden

2005-12-08T12:48:00.000-05:00

Today Eagle Lake Elementary, Edwardsburg, is connecting to a new content provider we haven't connected to before: Camden Children's Garden. The 2nd grade students are learning about soil.

The presenter, Betsy Payne, engaged the students right away in questions and answers about soil. A little video clip showed the worms in the soil. As you can see in the picture, they have an attractive background for the presenter. The program includes many different types of visuals which makes it very interesting.

The students also made predictions about an experiment demonstrated by the presenter and then watched to see if their predictions came true. This helped to increase their understanding of how much water soil can hold.

Camden has a nice set of programs tailored specifically to several different grade levels. They also offer their programs in Spanish or English! We'll be connecting here again for sure!

ASK: The Ultimate Gift

2005-12-07T12:23:00.000-05:00

Today we're doing an ASK program with author Jim Stovall on his book, The Ultimate Gift. This program is provided in partnership with several organizations as follows:

Author coordination/liaison: Elaine Shuck, Polycom, Inc.
Event coordination: Janine Lim, Berrien County ISD,
Blog and Event Facilitation and Bridging: Jim Wenzloff and Arnie Comer, Macomb ISD.

In addition to reading this report, you may wish to review the Polycom Press Release on this program. We are delighted and thankful that Polycom is sponsoring this event and others like it!

We also thank Oklahoma State University for providing a videoconference room for Jim Stovall to connect to the students.

In preparation for this event, students have been writing responses and stories for the various gifts presented in the book. They also followed the ASK process in journaling and preparing quality questions for the event.

The classes participating in this session include:

Algonquin Middle School, MI
Bayless Intermediate School, MO
Mad River Middle School, OH
North Middle School, SD
River Valley Middle School, MI

The program started with Jim Wenzloff, Macomb ISD, giving a welcome and reviewing the procedures for the program.

Following this, Jim Stovall began with a welcome message with his background and experiences with life and especially on writing books. Then we began with questions from each school, rotating with two questions from each school. Some questions included:

If you had to pick one gift, which one would you pick and why?
If you had to add another gift, what would it be?
Have you thought about expanding each gift into its own book?
What problems in your life inspired you to write?
When you became a writer, was that your first dream, or did you have another dream before you wanted to be a writer?
Do you think the lessons in the Ultimate Gift are directed toward a specific age group?
In the book there is a blind man with a wonderful sense of humor. Is this character similar to you?
In your movie, the Ultimate Gift, who would you like to play the character of Jason?
When you were younger, did you have any books that were inspirational to your life?
In the book we read about friendship. Do you have a friend who means a lot to you?
In the book, Jason wrote about what he'd do on the last day of his life. What would you do on the last day of your life?
Which gift do you think the world needs the most of?
At the beginning of each chapter, you have a quote. Why did you choose to begin the chapter that way?
Of all the characters you created, which character did you like the best & why?

What a wonderful interaction with the students and the author! It's incredible how friendly and accessible he was to the students.

We are doing this event again, March 6, 2006, and we have room for one more class to participate! Details here.

Flight: The Four Forces

2005-12-06T10:33:00.000-05:00

Today Lighthouse Education Center students are connecting to NASA Live. This is our first connection with this provider. The students are doing the program, Flight: The Four Forces.

As part of the program, students are making several different types of paper airplanes (vehicles) and learning about the way they fly. I love how the presenter says, "The airport is closed" (or open), so that students know when they can test their vehicle.

In addition, students asked career and flying related questions of the presenter who has flown 40 different types of aircraft. He has over 5000 hours of flight time and has landed aircraft both on water and land.

We really enjoyed this program and will definitely be connecting to NASA Live again in the future!

ASK: Traders in Time

2005-12-05T10:11:00.000-05:00

Today we have a full day of ASK programs with Janie Panagopoulos, author of many books about Michigan history, among other things. E.P. Clarke Elementary, St. Joseph is hosting, the Berrien County ISD is bridging, and TWICE is sponsoring the cost for member schools participating.

Janie's stories are so interesting and funny. She has so many interesting stories to answer the students' questions. Here are some of the questions I enjoyed today:

In the book the two boys argue all the time. How is it that two people who didn't get along ended up working together? Have you ever worked with someone you didn't get along with?
Why did you choose boys as the main characters?
Of all the food in the book, which do you like the best?
One student started his question with, "I like Michigan history a lot better than I did before I read this book."
In the book the Indians paddled without lifting their paddle from the water as a silent paddle. I think I know what you mean, but can you explain it for me?
How did the turtle rock get to the big tree in the forest?
We both loved your book. In our class we had to rename the chapters. How did you decide on the chapter titles?
Do you think people will ever be able to travel in time? And what time period would you travel to?
How do you write to meet the needs of your audience?

The questions today showed clear evidence that the teachers had worked hard with the students on writing good questions, thinking about the writing process, and understanding the Michigan history content.

The Polycom Ghost

2005-12-05T09:51:00.000-05:00

Last night I spent a couple hours at E. P. Clarke Elementary setting up for our ASK: Author Interview with Janie Panagopoulos today.

We had a funny experience with their Polycom VSX 7000. We had set everything up easily for the classroom layout. You can see in the picture we have the students facing the author (off screen to the left) and the microphone is in between the author & the student asking her a question.

We set the presets and then discovered the alert about the remote battery being low. (Isn't it great that the new Polycoms report this! Someone was thinking when they invented that feature!) As we were finishing changing the batteries, we were talking and joking, and someone set the remote down and we heard a weird voice from the Polycom. We looked at each other and we all thought the other person had said something. It was very funny, as such things can be late at night when we should be sleeping instead of working!

Then I looked at the Polycom and it was on the dialing screen and with three extra nines at the end of the IP address we had just tested with. So I hit the 9 and it was exactly the sound we had heard. Nine. In that "Polycom voice." We all laughed hysterically.

Do YOU have a funny Polycom story?!

Two Favorites

2005-12-02T13:03:00.000-05:00

Today we had two great videoconferences with two of our favorite content providers.

New Buffalo Middle School students connected today (and this past Wednesday) to COSI Toledo to learn about the states of matter, in the program Heart of the Matter. Even though the students were a bit shy and didn't want to talk, the interactive program drew them into the experiments and activities designed to help them understand the states of matter.

This afternoon we have 2nd graders connecting to the Columbus Zoo and they are learning about nocturnal animals. Students are doing hands-on activities and looking at different animals while they learn what senses and adaptations animals use to survive while they are awake during the night. I can hear from the kids' reactions that they are really enjoying the program!

In Depth: Autopsy

2005-11-29T13:04:00.000-05:00

Today I also have two classes participating in the pilot tests of COSI Columbus' new program, In Depth: Autopsy. We've now done three pilot sesions of this new program. COSI has revamped their Forensic Autopsy Interview into a program with a live presentation of a taped autopsy. Students receive case materials, toxicology test results, and more. As part of the program students have to determine the cause of death.

For classes studying forensics, this program is as real life and detailed (graphic!) as it gets! I know with the previous forensic interviews, my teachers wanted to see more. Well this new program certainly shows more! Perfect for forensics classes. Distance learning coordinators with squeamish stomachs might want to leave the room, though!

ASK: Clever Beatrice

2005-11-29T10:55:00.000-05:00

Today I'm bridging a set of ASK programs for TWICE with author Margaret Willey on her book Clever Beatrice, a fairy tale set in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan.

We have two of my local classes participating, Three Oaks Elementary and Hollywood Elementary, as well as several classes across Michigan and one from Texas.

Ms. Willey's husband is French Canadian from Ottawa Canada, which explains her interest in the lumberjacks in both Michigan and Canada.

As usual, the students' questions are very fun to hear, as well as the answers to them! Here is a sampling of the questions:

Do you think the giant will ever realize that Beatrice tricked him?
We noticed at the beginning of the story the giant is rich but he doesn't seem to work very hard. Do you think it's important to know how he got rich?
It didn't seem like Mr. Giant had family with him. Why did he live alone?
Do you think Beatrice's mother wanted her to go to the giant?
What will Beatrice do when she grows up?
How long did it take to get Clever Beatrice published?
Where do you sit or where you go to start writing a book?

ASK programs always amaze me. The quality of student's questions is incredible. Clearly they have thought carefully about their reading. Ms. Willey commented that she appreciated the students' questions too.

NASA Digital Learning Network

2005-11-21T16:18:00.000-05:00

Today I finished up scheduling my first program this year with the NASA Digital Learning Network. I'm really impressed with the new system for scheduling programs with NASA Johnson Space Center and NASA Glenn Research Center. It was quick & easy and very efficient.

So if you haven't scheduled anything with NASA yet this year, you should!!

Providing Content For Your Schools

2005-11-18T08:59:00.000-05:00

If you're an educational service agency supporting your schools' use of distance learning, you should be providing content for your schools!

I'm always looking for good ideas for projects for my schools and there are two from Avon, Ohio that I'd like to try sometime with my local schools:

I Spy Geography, a multipoint geography skills event
Story Time, a multipoint story telling event.

These projects are so simple, but are wonderful for getting teachers' feet wet with a short curriculum event that takes advantage of multipoint capability.

Invasive Species in the US & UK

2005-11-16T08:07:00.000-05:00

This morning Lakeshore High School is connected to Caereinion High School, Wales, United Kingdom. Students are again sharing facts about an invasive species in their area. The Lakeshore High School students are sharing their Zebra Mussels presentation again and the students at Caereinion High School are presenting the American grey squirrel, which is a threat to the survival of the native red squirrel.

The question and answer time was more informal and fun this time. The students very quickly wanted to ask questions about each other. Some of the questions included from the Lakeshore students included:

How many pounds are in a dollar?
How old are you?
Do you know how they make the red squirrel reserves so that the grey squirrel can't live there?
How does the disease spread from squirrel to squirrel?
What time is it there?
What age can you drive there?
Has Harry Potter come out for you yet?

The Welsh kids asked questions as well:

Do you have black squirrels?
Do you have red squirrels?
Do you think you'll have a resolution to the zebra mussel problem or will it get worse?

The classes enjoyed quite a bit of humor in the conversation back and forth. The teachers are hoping to do another connection again on another topic.

Invasive Species in the U.S.

2005-11-15T08:24:00.000-05:00

This morning we have 5 schools around the east coast connecting to a Lakeshore High School advanced freshman biology class, which is hosting an event on Invasive Species.

We have three classes from Michigan, presenting the Zebra Mussels, the Emerald Ash Borer, and Purple Loosestrife; as well as a class from North Carolina presenting the Myocaster Coypus, a class from New Jersey presenting the Asian Longhorn Beetles, and a class from Pennsylvania presenting the Northern Snakehead Fish.

The classes are using a variety of presentation methods including PowerPoint slides, photos on document cameras, charts & graphs, objects and other visuals. One class used the news show format using different areas of the classroom for interviews. Each presentation includes the following information:

Where the species came from.
How & when it was introduced.
What effect it is having on the ecosystem (i.e. the disruption it's causing).
Are there any natural controls on it?
How are we dealing with it, or are we letting nature take its course?
Ways to prevent new invasive species in your area.

After the presentations, Lakeshore High School students facilitated a discussion, rotating through the six schools and giving them a chance to ask questions.

This is the first multipoint project that I've been involved in planning that we taught the students to facilitate the multipoint. I'm pleased with the results and I hope to use this format for other high school level projects in the future.

10 Years for SBC Videoconferencing for Learning

2005-11-14T09:13:00.000-05:00

I was on the SBC Videoconferencing for Learning website this morning, and noticed the date at the bottom of the page. "First posted in 1995." Wow!! Did you realize this great resource is 10 years old? After all these years, I think it still is the best VC site for beginners! And if you're not on the "ed1vidconf" or Collaboration Collage listserv - you're missing out on great opportunities for videoconferencing!

Can Teachers Do This Alone?

2005-11-10T14:53:00.000-05:00

This morning I gave a 5 minute overview of our distance learning programming to the curriculum directors from the 16 school districts in Berrien County. Then I stayed and listened to the rest of the meeting. It was a vivid reminder on the curriculum and assessment pressures on schools. Teachers have so many things to worry about these days! New 8th grade assessment, 300+ benchmarks for math teachers to cover, updates on professional development opportunities we offer to our districts, etc. etc.

There's so much to think about... so much pressing in... so many things to do.

Yesterday I started reading Doug Johnson's blog, a presenter I enjoy hearing at the annual MACUL conference. This question has simmered in my brain since. What drives your technology initiatives? He asks:

How much is it the technology department’s job to promote technology use? How much is the technology department’s job to support the technology initiatives of the pedagogical experts?

You can apply this question to videoconferencing as well. I talked to another colleague yesterday who expressed concern that someone always has to coordinate and drive the use of videoconferencing. "When will the teachers be able to do it on their own," he wondered.

However, after hearing what our curriculum directors are dealing with, and in turn passing on to their teachers, I don't think it's reasonable to expect teachers to do this on their own. I'm doing verification tests for Read Across America today too. Think of the work it takes to make a connection work.

You have to be trained on the equipment and able to troubleshoot.
You have to be able to navigate all the different ways to schedule and test with content providers. I did a test call yesterday that would have been quite confusing even for my building level distance learning coordinators, let alone a teacher on their own.
You have to understand the technology well enough to imagine the curriculum possibilities.
You also need a firm grounding in curriculum and pedagogy so you can imagine the curriculum possibilities!
If you want to use it a lot and creatively, you have to be able to keep up on all the creative ways other people are using VC. Reading and finding articles, paying attention to the listservs, etc. This activity informs your ability to imagine the curriculum possibilities.

I think that takes a coordinator at some level! Even if media specialists are responsible for all this, they seriously need support as well!

When you know the possibilities, you can dream up some really great VCs that tightly match the curriculum. Like the Invasive Species project I'm running next week for a biology class at Lakeshore High School [Feel free to copy this idea!]. Or the wild ideas I'm dreamed up with our fine arts consultant this morning for drama, theater, and dance classes.

It's not just that the technology is still not as simple as a phone call. It's also that teachers need assistance imagining how videoconferencing could enhance their curriculum and knowing who they could connect to!

So for now at least, distance learning coordinators at all levels are essential people!

Distance Learning Mixers

2005-11-09T10:18:00.000-05:00

Linda McConville, E. P. Clarke Elementary, St. Joseph, emailed me this morning with a great question for her Voices of the Twin Cities project. "Do you know of any good distance learning or videoconference mixers?" Which reminded me of the training we did in early 2000 at the beginning of our distance learning training. Shirley Freed, Andrews University, did some of the training for us and I remember doing some creative things across a multipoint connection. Here's what I found in my investigation.

Quick Introductions
Some of these would be really fun to do jumping between the two sites, each having two students share at a time.

Participants give their name and a word to describe themselves, making an alliteration. e.g. Super Sally.
Participants introduce someone else giving their name and something unique about that person.
Participants give one-two word descriptions of what they expect from the class.
Participants give one word explaining how they feel about the content or process or how they want to be remembered.
You can increase the level of engagement for #4 and #5 by asking the participants to give the word in alphabetical order - fast! e.g. ambivalent, bogged-down, confused, dangerous, etc. And sometimes start at different places in the alphabet.

Here's another list of introductions.
These might be longer and some are better for adults than fourth graders. But with a long partnership between classes such as this project requires, it might be worth having a few students share their answer to one of these questions for each connection.

What is your favorite place in the whole world? Why?
Where do you go to "re-energize" yourself? What makes it revitalizing?
Think back to kindergarten. In what ways are you still the same? How have you changed?
What is the story behind your name? How did you get your name? Have you ever had a nickname? What was it? Did you like it? What name would you have chosen?
Have you ever been in danger? Did you know it at the time? How did you survive the situation?
Think back to special celebrations in your early childhood. Which celebration is particularly memorable? What made it so special?
Who is your all-time favorite teacher? Why?
What was your favorite toy or activity as a kid?
What is the most difficult thing you've ever done?
What has been the proudest moment in your life? What lead up to that moment?
Who is someone you trust? What did that person do to win your trust?
What is your favorite holiday? Why?
What are three of your all-time favorite songs? What makes those songs personally significant?
What is the most frustrating experience that you have had with a computer? What is the best discovery you've made with a computer?
Who is your favorite hero or heroine? What qualities do you admire in that person (or character)?
What leader do you most admire? Why?
What would you look for in a "best friend?"
Who in history would you most like to meet? Why? What would you like to ask that person?
If you could visit or live anywhere (besides here), where would it be? Why?
If you could witness (or take part in) any event in history, what would it be? Why?
If you could change one event in history, what would it be?
Do you believe in "love at first sight?" What makes you believe or disbelieve?
Can money buy success (or happiness)? Explain your rationale.
What would you do with one hundred dollars?
If you could go "back to the future," where would you go? What time period would you choose? What social changes would you make?

Icebreakers for Teachers
Then I did a Google search for ideas. Icebreakers for Teachers has some great ideas. Here's how a few could be adapted for videoconferencing between two classes.

The Venn Diagram idea could be done as a Venn diagram between the two classes. Only one of the classes would need a document camera to do this activity. Students from both sides could brainstorm what could go in the Venn diagram.
The Data Processing idea would be fun with most groups made up of local students, but one group has 5 students from each site & then the students work together over VC. I think it could be loud and noisy but would be fun to try and see if it worked. If you did it several times, the groups could be rotated so that each student got a chance to work with a group via VC.
The Who Am I would be fun with the other site helping the student figure out the name on their back. You'd need a really big sticky note. The challenge with this one is that some students would be watching. If you rotated students fast enough and only did it for 5 min. or less, they might find it interesting enough to watch. This one would need an experiment to see if it worked.

Post-It Note Answers
Another great idea comes from Carol Fleck and Kim Perry, two teachers team-teaching via videoconference in Ohio. Students can write answers to a question on Post-It notes and then everyone brings the answer up quickly to a paper with a grid under the document camera. Then both classes can see everyone's answers very quickly and easily.

More Icebreakers
These ideas are from a training document [PDF] the University of Tasmania, Australia.

Knowing each otherÂs names is the most common way of introducing a group of last. The first student says their own name, the next student repeats that name and adds their own and so on. While it may seem silly the benefits are that students do get to know a few names, they laugh, this breaks the ice and they are enabled to talk to each other when it matters later on. This would be good to do alternating between the two classes as well.
A more structured activity is to ask students to pair up and to interview each other for about 3 to 4 minutes and then swap. Suggest that they take notes. Each student introduces their partner to the group. Students can find this less intimidating than introducing themselves. Students would introduce their partner to the class at the other site.

As I'm writing this up, these would be great to use for Read Across America connections and other short term videoconference projects as well.

Teaching with Documents

2005-11-08T16:00:00.000-05:00

This afternoon we have several teachers learning about using primary source documents in the classroom. Leann Potter, an archivist at NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration. She's a great story teller and knows what items will pique our interest. She showed us the patent documents for the light bulb and telephone, the check that paid for the purchase of Alaska, rough drafts of presidential documents, and many other cool things that can really enhance historical studies.

This is a great PD session for all levels of social studies teachers. I highly recommend it!

Living History Museums

2005-11-08T10:16:00.000-05:00

Today we're taking two trips back in time to living history museums.

First we have Lighthouse Education Center connecting to Conner Prairie, IN for the Creating Communities program. This program really explains to kids the difference between goods and services - a great introduction to these social studies concepts.

It's pretty funny when kids ask a question about something outside of the time period - such as "Do you have pizza in your store?" Mr. Whittaker stayed in character for the whole interview to the slight frustration of the kids. "He doesn't know what pizza is!" they said. It was a good learning experience for them!!

Then this afternoon we have Lawton students connecting to the Historic Cold Springs Village, NJ. Students are learning what it was like to live and learn 200 years ago.

Both programs connect students to presenters dressed in period costume in a historical setting and students get to interact with the historical person. Conner Prairie also had a map for students to work with in addition to interacting with the presenter.

Save the Cincy Zoo DL Program

2005-11-07T16:01:00.000-05:00

I just heard from Ken Freeman at the Cincinnati Zoo, one of my favorite content providers. Ken needs our support. Please take the time to write explaining to the Director of Education the great value of distance learning programs at the Cincinnati Zoo. Here's details of the situation from Ken:

The reason I called you today (and am writing you) is to ask for yourhelp. Serious consideration is being made by the Director and Assistant Director of Education to eliminate, or at best, drastically scale back, the distance learning program at the Cincinnati Zoo. One of the main reasons is because they believe that the value of the visitor experience, the visitor who physically comes to the Zoo, outweighs the value of a virtual experience. While I believe that we do need programs for students who physically come to the Zoo, I can't imagine eliminating a videoconferencing experience for students unable to travel to a Zoo or museum due to distance or financial constraints. In addition, I know how many students and faculty we have reached in the five plus years I have been involved with the program, and I do not want to eliminate this valuable resource.

Would you be willing to write a short letter to the Directors of the Education Dept. highlighting the benefits of videoconferencing, in addition to how our programs have impacted the students in your region? Responses can be sent to my zoo e-mail address at ken.freeman@cincinnatizoo.org.

So please take the time today to write a response to Ken to support distance learning from the Cincinnati Zoo!! Thank you!!!

Here's a link to my blog entry on a recent program we did with the Cincinnati Zoo.

Interviewing Senator Levin

2005-11-04T10:04:00.000-05:00

Today high school government students from Coloma High School, Decatur High School, and New Buffalo High School are interviewing Senator Levin. He has taken time from his very busy schedule to talk to our students, even though an important bill is on the floor. We certainly appreciate his willingness to talk to our students.

Today students asked questions about many topics, including Iraq, Michigan's economy and the loss of manufacturing jobs, Hurricane Katrina, taxes and the feasibility of a flat tax, the secretive nature of the current administration, the consolidation of agencies under the Department of Homeland Security, and other topics.

Students questions showed they had researched and considered current issues, they had visited Senator Levin's website and thought carefully about their questions. One of the classes had participated in the Exercise in Hard Choices videoconference on the federal budget, and you could tell from their questions that they were prepared!

It's been a great week - 17 videoconferences! I can tell that MEAP (our state testing) is over! Everyone is ready to connect somewhere!

ASK: Stellaluna

2005-11-03T11:10:00.000-05:00

Today we're doing a set of three ASK programs on the book Stellaluna. Tw0 classes from E.P.Clarke Elementary, St. Joseph; two classes from Countryside Charter, Benton Harbor, and three classes from Hollywood Elementary, Lakeshore are participating. We also shared the program with a class in Rosenberg, Texas, and a class in Hudsonville, Michigan.

Students read the book Stellaluna, journalled, and then wrote questions in preparation for the program. Yesterday's ASK program was an interview with an author. Today's ASK programs are with a specialist, a staff member from the Bat Zone at the Cranbrook Institute of Science. We're actually doing a modified version of their program, Bats of the World. We listen to part of the program, see a live bat, and then take a set of questions from the students. This pattern rotates throughout the program.

In ASK programs, the difference between interviewing the author and interviewing the specialist is the focus of the questions. Interviewing the author focuses questions more on the writing process; while interviewing the specialist focuses questions on the content of the book. If you're thinking about starting an ASK program in your area, it's easier to start with books that you can interview a specialist related to the book.

It's pretty funny to see the little Jamaican Leaf Nose Bat chewing on Dawn's finger as she talked about him. He's pretty unhappy because he wants to sleep!

Kids questions are fun to hear too:

Can you have a bat as a pet? (No! It's illegal. Plus they don't make good pets for several reasons.)
Why do some bats hibernate & some bats hibernate?
What should we do if we find a bat on the ground?
Which bats are found in southwest Michigan?
How are bats helpful to humans?
Would a fruit bat ever eat a fruit bat eat an insect if there was no fruit available or would they starve?

Another great ASK program finished for today! Great questions from students and interesting facts about bats. Kids especially liked seeing the live bats.

ASK: The Breadwinner

2005-11-02T12:26:00.000-05:00

Today students from Niles High School are interviewing Deborah Ellis, a Canadian author writing about tough international issues such as AIDS, poverty and war. The students read the book The Breadwinner, and followed the ASK process to prepare questions for the videoconference. Other books include: Parvana's Journey, Mud City, Looking for X, The Heaven Shop, Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak, A Company of Fools.

Ms. Ellis shared with the students what Afghan food is like, what it's like to live in an orphanage, and stories of her experiences in Afghanistan & how they were built into the story.

Some intriguing questions:

Did you ever want to give up on writing and what did you do?
Why does her father call her by a nickname?
Did you ever meet someone in Afghanistan who was beaten?
Why did you choose not to have Parvana and the window woman meet?
If you were to sum up your writing experience in one sentence, what would it be?
If you could go back, are there any parts to the book you'd change?
Has writing this book impacted you in any way?
What would have happened if Parvana's dad died?
What was the most interesting job you saw in Afghanistan?
Is Afghanistan really like we see on TV?

A powerful learning experience for our students! It was sobering to hear the plight of women in Afghanistan. Ms. Ellis is a passionate spokesperson for their experiences and I'm sure our students have a broader understanding of the world and a greater compassion for others.

[On a sidenote, sometimes you just have to suffer through announcements and ringing bells in a videoconference. I can't think of a good solution for that.]

Halloween Slime Time

2005-11-02T09:15:00.000-05:00

This morning we're taking a 1st grade class to the newest Michigan content provider, Ann Arbor Hands On Museum. We're doing a program called Halloween Slime Time, and the students are talking to Witch Patricia. Today they'll be making slime in a study on the states of matter.

The museum has some great visuals to explain the states of matter within the context of Halloween, such as gas coming from the cauldron.

Now the students are using pipettes to follow a simple recipe to make two kinds of slime (a polymer). The kids are really enjoying playing with the slime. They say it smells like glue. Witch Patricia encourages the students to investigate the slime and see what it can do. I hear the joy of learning coming from my TV!

The second slime had properties of a solid and a liquid and students used their knowledge of solid & liquid to describe the slime.

Kids really enjoyed the program. Some kids said, "Can we do this again?" and "Can we keep our slime?"

Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum offers programs seasonally. The next opportunity is Critters in the Cold, offered December 1 through March 3. Schedule a program by request during that time frame.

High School Writing

2005-11-01T14:08:00.000-05:00

A few of my local high school writing teachers have asked me about videoconference options lately. So here's a list of options.

Writing/Author Related Content Provider Programs

Schooner Christmas: Creative Writing with a Historical Perspective from Pier Wisconsin. Available in November & December.
Unity & Diversity from the Cleveland Institute of Music addresses skills for writing.
Author/Computer Illustrator Bill Davis is willing to tailor programs for schools. See two of his listed programs for an idea of what he can share with your students.
Cooperating School Districts has a set of author programs.
Rutgers Camden Center for the Arts has two programs for high school on Poetry and Prose.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum has a program on Visual and Language Arts that can be used as a springboard for writing exercises.

Related to that, here are a few literature based high school level programs:

Don Quixote, Faust, or A Midsummer Night's Dream and Edgar Allan Poe from the Center for Puppetry Arts.
Harlem Renaissance from the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Several programs are available on various Shakespeare related topics.
The Indiana Repertory Theatre has a program on Bringing Dickens' Characters to Life.
The Mid Atlantic Center for the Arts has a program on Victorian Literature that can be tailored to requested author/literature.

Classroom to Classroom Connections
Another option is to consider having your class connect to another class for a celebration of writing. Some ideas include:

A poetry fest/poetry jam/coffee house event where students share poetry. This could be done point-to-point with another class, or multipoint and over a lunch period.
A story starter session. Classes could present to each other a visual story starter: a picture, a still life pose, a skit or other visual. After sharing the story starters via videoconference, students could write stories and share them for feedback via email, a blog, or an online class discussion space in Moodle or a similar tool.
Journalism Club/News Teams. Any writing related clubs or school news teams could meet with a similar club in another school. Students could share what activities their club is involved in, learn from the other club, and brainstorm new ideas together.

These are just a few possibilities. I'm sure you can think of more!

Empower Peace Nov. 10. Participate!

2005-10-28T11:28:00.000-04:00

Ran across this in my email a few times. Looks like something you should do!!!! Perfect for Broadcast Clubs and World Issues Classes.

Project "Empower Peace" has been connecting high school youth in the United States with their contemporaries in the Arab and Muslim world for a few years now. This "connection" is made possible through video conferencing and the Internet. To date, nearly 10,000 students from

over twenty countries have participated in or viewed our "virtual" cultural exchanges.

Here's where we need YOU! Our most recent broadcast was the best to date, on September 29th, hundreds of students in Boston and New York interacted live with hundreds of students from Cairo, Egypt and Islamabad, Pakistan. Additionally, thousands watched the broadcast on

the Internet.

However, a few days later, disaster struck Pakistan in a form of an earthquake...tens of thousands dead, millions homeless...the Empower Peace students in Boston and New York wanted to do something to help their new friends in Islamabad...in an effort to do so, we are

organizing a LIVE TV/INTERNET TELETHON...entitled, "EMPOWER PEACE, PLEDGING FOR PAKISTAN."

The TV/Internet Telethon will be broadcast live on Thursday, November 10th at 1-2PM (ET) in Boston on WB56-WLVI-TV and will also be streamed over the Internet (empowerpeace.com). Of additional significance, the broadcast will be transmitted by satellite back to Pakistan enabling viewers there to see the telethon.

We need a lot of schools from around the USA to pledge via e-mail..... would like them to pre-register on the empower peace web site http://www.empowerpeace.com we'd like to read their pledge out loud during the broadcast...so let them know they can compose a sentence or

2 to be read....

Also, if at all possible, we would like for your school to produce a high quality video message to youth in Pakistan we will review for airing...message should be no more than :30 in length....

Go to http://www.empowerpeace.com for more information.

BCISD VC Programs Update Oct. 28

2005-10-26T14:53:00.000-04:00

More updates to the BCISD-Polycom Videoconference Program Database.

New expert programs from COSI Columbus.
New ones from Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach.
New Holiday Storytelling series from Vanderbilt Virtual School.
New more detailed descriptions from the Library of Congress.
NASA Glenn updated some titles and descriptions, deleted some programs, and added some new ones.
New content provider: Stark Parks, OH.
New content provider: Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, OH.
Deleted a few providers who quit offering programs.

High School Graphics Arts Programs

2005-10-26T14:04:00.000-04:00

On Monday I talked to our Graphic Arts CTE (Career Technical Education) program teachers. We brainstormed some possibilities for their classes. Here's what we came up with.

Animation: Not Just for Saturday Morning, from the Museum of TV & Radio.
Programs from Author/Computer Illustrator Bill Dallas Lewis. I think this is a really good option because Bill is willing to tailor the programs to what the teacher is looking for. He can do Photoshop, Flash, and more. Visit his website for more details as well. BTW, he does web cam videoconferencing too. He can guide a project as well.
Students could create computer generated art to share with another class for feedback and review.
Finally I shared my notes from the Keystone Conference session: The Orange County Animation Project : Mentoring From The Real World.

A Receptionist Via VC?

2005-10-25T15:45:00.000-04:00

Quoted by Ian Jukes in his blog,

A Pakistani company, The Resource Group, seeking more call-center work from U.S. firms, set up an office this year in Washington, D.C., a block from the White House, and installed a receptionist, live from Karachi, via a flat-screen TV on the office wall. According to a May Washington Post report, Ms. Saadia Musa cheerily greets visitors, answers and routes phone calls to the Washington office, lets in deliverymen, and orders sandwiches from down the street. [Washington Post, 5-10-05]

Another intriguing business use of videoconferencing! Who would have thought of that? Now what are the implications for K12 VC in this little story?

One-on-One with Teachers

2005-10-24T15:12:00.000-04:00

Today I met with our Career Technical Education (CTE) teacher advisory groups from around the county. They were participating in a professional development day and had an hour to work in groups. I floated from group to group to talk about what they could do with videoconferencing.

It was very interesting. Most of them are interested in using VC, but there aren't any "ready made" programs in their area: marketing, business, advertising, computer graphic arts, building trades, public safety, firefighting, EMT, etc. So we talked about guest speakers. I asked them if you could bring any expert in your field to your teachers, who would it be? We made lists of ideas to work on.

We also talked about project connections with other classes. One of the more intriguing ideas we came up with is for the building trades class. We're talking about our class locally sharing a video clip of a field trip to an local historical building, interesting for its construction. Then we'd share that with another building trades class in a different area who was also studying about a local interesting building. We hope to make this happen in May. It's a morning class, so we'd need a partner school in EST or CST time zone. If any of you reading this blog have an interested class, send me an email. We'll probably be working out the details in April.

This confirms what I've been thinking this year about my local teachers use of videoconferencing. They know what VC is and what it can do, but they really need someone to talk to them one-on-one or in small subject area groups to assist them in selecting or creating a videoconference opportunity for their curriculum.

Balancing the Federal Budget

2005-10-20T08:17:00.000-04:00

This morning Coloma High School students are balancing the federal budget! Actually they are participating in Exercise in Hard Choices, a simulation that helps students understand the federal budget process. We're connected with the University of Akron, Ohio, who is facilitating the videoconference, and a class in Decatur and Midland, Michigan.

The program started with an overview of budgeting, at a student level, state level, and federal level. Additional graphs helped students compare U.S. federal spending with other countries.

Student groups start by setting a budget goal of when (and if) they want to balance the federal budget. Each group is diverse with different viewpoints so that students experience the process of negotiation that occurs at the federal level. Then students make choices on 8 main areas: National Security, Income Support, General Government, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance, Health Insurance Coverage, and Revenues. Students enter their choices into an electronic scorecard that shows the longterm consequences of their decisions.

After they have deliberated and made their choices, the facilitator asked the students to share where their hot topics were and what issues came up as they debated. Students shared stories from people they knew and how the budget decisions affected those stories/experiences. Students clearly were engaged in the discussion and considered the country's choices. Great experience!

Planning Global VCs

2005-10-19T13:42:00.000-04:00

My most recent article in the MACUL Journal is now available online. If you want to start doing global videoconferencing, read Global Videoconferencing will Catch Their Attention [PDF]. Enjoy!

Nobody Likes Me: Bats

2005-10-18T08:46:00.000-04:00

This morning we have a Kindergarten class from Hollywood Elementary connecting to the Cincinnati Zoo to learn about bats. Ken was kind enough to tailor his Nobody Likes Me session to just the bats part of the program.

It's so fun to see to the awe on the kids' faces when they hear a voice and just see a logo on a document camera. They get so quiet!

Ken, as always, does a great job of getting the kids talking and interacting from the very first of the videoconference.

Today the kindergarten kids saw bats in the Cincinnati Zoo, answered questions, practiced flying like bats, and learned all about bats! We ended with questions from the students. They have been studying bats, so they had good questions ready. Why do bats hang upside down? Do bats go to school to learn to fly? How high can a bat fly?

The students are building a bat house on Friday, so the teacher asked Ken for advice on where to put the bat house.

Ken was really sensitive to the attention span of kindergarteners and worked with the teachers even during the program to make sure the length and discussion covered what they wanted to learn.

BCISD VC Programs Update Oct. 17

2005-10-17T09:34:00.000-04:00

More updates today to the BCISD-Polycom Videoconference Program Database.

The Ocean Institute has a new program on Earth Science.
The Center for Puppetry Arts rewrote all the study guides this summer. New links to study guides!
The Indiana Repertory Theatre has a new program on the Holocaust, The Story Must be Told.
The Great Barrier Reef HQ has added IP!!!! That's great news!!
The Indianapolis Museum of Art has some new programs.
The Library of Congress has new workshops for teachers.
Mote Marine Laboratory has a new workshop for teachers.
Amon Carter Museum has new programs.

BCISD VC Programs Update Oct. 14

2005-10-14T11:28:00.000-04:00

New providers & programs added to the BCISD-Polycom Videoconference Program Database.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is now offering VC programs! They look very intriguing.
Author/Computer Illustrator Bill Dallas Lewis has just acquired videoconference equipment to offer his writing process & animation programs to schools via IP.
HealthSpace Cleveland has added new programs.
The Western Reserve Historical Society has added new programs.
The Alaska Sea Life Center has a few more programs.
Two more new programs from the Baseball Hall of Fame - on Science & Special Needs.

Also new! You can now access the database directly from www.bcisdvc.org or www.polycom.com/education.

Two New VC Articles

2005-10-13T11:15:00.000-04:00

Innovate, an online journal, recently published two new articles on videoconferencing. Just added them to the TWICE Bibliography of articles. One from Scott Merrick, who has published many articles on videoconferencing, and another on college/university classes using VC to bring experts to the classroom. Cool that universities are seeing possibilities for VC other than regular classes.

Conversation Brings Compassion

2005-10-11T15:24:00.000-04:00

What experiences help students learn to care about the news & what happens in the world?

If you've been reading my blog, you know we connected a world issues class and a 2nd grade class to Karachi, Pakistan the end of September.

Now both classes have emailed me wondering how they can send a care package or do something to help their peers in Pakistan affected by the earthquake.

It was just a simple conversation, really, those connections two weeks ago. Yet look at the concern now from these students. All of a sudden they know someone in Pakistan and what a difference it makes! If more students could participate in global videoconferences, maybe they too could learn to care about the world around them & want to make a difference!

Winding Down...

2005-10-05T18:06:00.000-04:00

So the Keystone Conference is winding down. I'm spending the next session making
sure I'm all set for my presentation. It's been a great conference and I've especially
enjoyed the networking. Now I'll be offline for a few days as I take a complete
technology break and attend a cousin's wedding in Canada. I'm looking forward
to it.

Here's the links I'll be sharing as "solution resources" for the issues/problems
I'll be addressing in my session. You might find them useful.

Administrative Issues

Training for tech & media specialist support is available from several locations.
Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections is offered regularly by the Berrien County ISD. http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl/picc
Workshops from CILC & Vanderbilt Virtual School have been advertised on the Collaboration Collage listserv recently: http://www.kn.sbc.com/wired/vidconf/ed1vidconf.html
The Megaconference listserv has shared information about IP technical training recently. http://www.megaconference.org/
Many websites have good information as well.
SBC’s Videoconference for Learning is one of the best resources available to learn about videoconferencing: http://www.kn.sbc.com/wired/vidconf/vidconf.html
Find a wealth of good information at http://www.TWICE.cc and http://www.CILC.org.
Other good listservs include:
K12-IVC: http://neirtec.terc.edu/k12vc/forward/listserv.cfm
A new IVC ISTE SIG is starting October 1 which will have a listserv: http://www.iste.org
Solutions for funding programs:
Automatic search of the BCISD-Polycom Videoconference Program Database for free programs: http://tinyurl.com/46j84
Create your own projects. For assistance, take one of these two online classes offered by Berrien County ISD:
Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl/picc
Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl/k2k
Tons of project ideas on the TWICE website: http://www.twice.cc/projects.html
See also the CILC Collaboration Center: http://www.cilc.org/collaboration_center.aspx

Curriculum Issues

Share teacher made materials & lesson plans: http://www.twice.cc/projects.html
Blog your videoconference experiences so we can learn from each other! See my blog: http://bcisdvcs.blogspot.com. Email me to add yours!
Correlation to Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations: http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl/glce/
See also the training experiences mentioned in Administrative Issues.

Teacher Issues

See training experiences & blogging above.
Help teachers pick programs. See the selected lists I do on my blog: http://bcisdvcs.blogspot.com.
Use media specialists to assist teachers. Building level support details from our consortium: http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl/techsupport.htm

Animation Mentoring

2005-10-05T17:04:00.000-04:00

The Orange County Animation Project: Mentoring From The Real World with Michael Guerena, Program Specialist, Orange County Department of Education (CA, UNITED STATES), Dave Master, Director, ACME Animation, and Don Isbell, Animation Teacher, Century High School.

Dave started by explaining the need for students well trained in animation. When professionals review students' portfolios, they only keep 1 in 1000 of the portfolios that come in.

He showed a video how how students get feedback from professionals on their work.

They have 3 levels of telecasts:

Audition room for students who are just learning the basics. At this level they have a year's resources for teachers.
The intern level is for students who are really serious. The students work is evaluated by professionals in the industry.
The apprentice level is the same as in the industry. Students have to have 5 pieces of work that are at the level to get a job.

The pros in the studios just walk down the hall to their videoconference room to evaluate the students' work.

He showed another clip where the students at the intern level are given an assignment. The students work on it for two weeks, revise, review, and then the professionals critique the students work. Then the students do an informed revision on their work. The teachers in the classes around the US also interacted and learned with the pros through the program.

Their group is now considered a major source of talent by the studios!

They do have room for other schools to join (jr high, high school, & college). The telecasts are a round-robin. They make webcasts available for other classes as well.

How do you participate? Contact Debbie Brooks, 323-334-6191, dbrooks at theacmenetwork.org who is the director of this program.

It's $1000 a year to participate online or $12,500 for all the telecasts which is about half the cost of what it really costs to do the program.

Here's the project website.

Next we're hearing from Michael Guerena, and he's explaining how they are implementing this project on a county wide basis. The project goals include developing opportunities to showcase student animation work through exhibitions, broadcasting, and the Internet, as well as preparing students for a wide range of animation careers.

They partner with local colleges and also work to develop highly-skilled animation instructors.

It's incredible really how students interact with professionals and get live feedback on their work. One student shared how good it makes him feel to realize that pros care about giving feedback to them and helping them work with their work.

On a side note, you can really tell that these guys are all into video. They have a great background and really good lighting that makes the presentation really easy to listen to & watch.

Now Don Isbell, Animation Teacher, Century High School, is explaining how the program works in his school. His school is in a high poverty and most of his students haven't been to a museum or traveled much. This program brings an incredible experience for the poorer students and expands their understanding of the types of jobs open to them and gives more of them the realization that they CAN go to college!

Don shared how his students learned collaboration skills, how to behave professionally interacting with the professionals, and how to mentor each other. In addition, the program raised the literacy levels of students as they had to use technical jargon in communicating about animation.

Neat program! My ideas of what can be done with VC have expanded again!

Strolling Around the Earth Garden with Mike Griffith

2005-10-05T16:03:00.000-04:00

Another global session with Mike Griffith. He started off with an email quote with his colleague Atsuku in Japan (not sure I'm spelling her name correctly). She said something to this effect regarding Mike - The world earth is a garden to him. He's always strolling around the garden freely.

Mike has been doing the Global Leap project since 2000, and has been doing international projects for over 10 years.

He's talking about a connection with students speaking English and French and how they were really struggling to talk to each other. Mike suggests instead that we show something - for example if you're discussing soccer/football - bring the ball & show it! Then everyone knows what you're talking about. And remember that you could take a digital camera out and get footage to share with your class.

Communication. Communication. Communication. Mike has three Tips & Tricks:

Have a signature on your email! (He asked us how many of us have received an email we didn't know who it was from!).
If you're working internationally, give the date in full: October 3, not 10/3/05 because not all countries use the same shortcut format.
List your time/my time. Think about where people are and what time of day it is. If you go wider than 6 hours time difference, then the teachers have to be flexible in connecting to each other. Two good sites are TimeandDate.com and TimeZoneConverter.

Mike suggested that using technology to communicate is 4th world (vs. old world, new world, 3rd world). We need to be sensitive to the types of connectivity in other parts of the world in our planning.

He mentioned connections with the Imperial War Museum, an iEARN project, and a conversation between students about genocide.

Mike asks us: Is this important? Is it important to get classes to connect to talk to each other and understand each other? We have the technology that can bring kids to talk to kids & teachers to talk to teachers to help create greater understanding between cultures.

Dr. Stanton, the expert they interviewed in the genocide program said, "if we were all videoconferencing, there'd be no genocide." Mike added, if we were talking to each other and understanding each other, there'd be no genocide.

Mike emphasized how in doing these connections, not everything needs to be done in the videoconference. Other tools and resources can be used to make the connection more engaging and rich.

Mike also reminded us to set the context. The classes need share pictures of their life with the communication so that we know what it's like to live in that area.

Kathy Lewis shared a cool project with a class in Taiwan where the Taiwan class posted a newsletter online and then the U.S. class edited the grammar... this way both classes could practice English grammar.

The first link is easy to do - just comparing cultures and saying hello. But what is sustainable and of value? How do we create projects that are more in-depth and have specific curriculum outcomes? I asked, what topics are good to discuss & create projects around that take advantage of the international connection. Mike suggested - addressing stereotypes, learning to respect etiquette in other countries, etc.

This session ended way too soon!!!

VC Standards

2005-10-05T15:27:00.000-04:00

A reference everyone should know about is NYIT EEZ & CILC's Videoconferencing Standards document. This link is to the document on the Keystone Conference handout page. If you're involved in VC, you should definitely check out these standards & apply them to your program....

What Tree Am I?

2005-10-05T14:21:00.000-04:00

Ok here's the coolest idea I've run across in a while....

Bill Johnson from OneNet in Oklahoma just sent this email to the Megaconference listserv:

My H.323 IP address is below, my system is always in "auto-answer" mode

and my remote camera control is enabled. Simply dial my IP with your

system, select remote camera control and pan hard left. You should be

able to see a lite-green tree out side my window. So far, no one has

been able to tell me what kind of tree it is. Can you tell? If so,

please email me. Only a few weeks left to figure this out as the "Fall"

season is upon us and the tree will be bare soon.

Bill Johnson

Director of Network Operations - OneNet

Director - Netrad Infrastructure for CASA

President - Oklahoma Distance Learning Association

Video 164.58.250.185

What a cool idea! Imagine kids making a problem like this & sending it out to many schools to dial in & try to solve! Imagine putting several clues around your classroom & setting a time when other school could dial in and pan the camera remotely around the room....

What curriculum based ideas can you think of???

David Thornburg's Keynote

2005-10-05T14:10:00.000-04:00

It's always fun to hear David Thornburg's keynote presentations.

One of the first technologies he showed was Skype & Festoon, which we had just discussed in the Global Collaboration Birds of a Feather, so that was pretty cool.

A questions to think about: We spend 13 years on reading & writing. How many years do we spend on media literacy?

He's talking about places you can find images online. Reminds me of a thought I had last year when listening to a session on visual literacy. The cool thing about connecting to an art museum such as the Cleveland Museum of Art, is you get the visual literacy interpretation and instruction along with the pictures. Whereas it takes more work to put together a lesson using online materials, figure out how to connect it to student learning & curriculum benchmarks and make it an interesting lesson all at once.

He showed several other interesting technologies too....

Including MIT's new hand crank $100 computer.... which will really change one-to-one computing....

We need that same one-to-one access to videoconferencing. Access in classrooms is certainly what we need to aim for because that's where the action is!

Collaboration Birds of a Feather

2005-10-05T11:02:00.000-04:00

Paul Hieronymus, Lorain County Distance Learning Consortium, is facilitating this session on collaborative projects.

Resources mentioned in the sharing:

Projects people have:

Paul is doing "storytime" with teachers who haven't done a VC before. They read a story for 20 min. and then do some conversation. It's for k-2 classes. The teachers just have to mute and unmute the mic, and call on kids. Paul reads the story and asks them questions about the book. He uses it as a recruitment tool to get teachers hooked.
Susan Altgelt shared the Texas Connects project which can be replicated in other states.
Rowena shared information about iEARN.
I talked about Read Across America, MysteryQuest World, and MysteryQuest USA.

Rutgers Camden, the Indy Zoo, and COSI Toledo, are all interested in doing programs that include collaborations between schools in their programming. I think there's certainly room for content providers to facilitate projects.... the more ideas people have & share the more VCs we can all do!

The conversation also centered around doing cluster projects where classes connect to a content provider and then continue connecting to each other for similar projects in the future.

Paul shared how they are doing problem based learning projects - giving students a big problem - usually related to environmental problem - and then presenting solutions to the experts. CILC has a Community Partnerships program to do these types of projects too that includes grants and partnerships to make these types of events happen.

Not surprisingly, someone brought up the issue of increasing student test scores. iEARN has research on their PD page on how their projects improve student learning. Another person suggested focusing on communication skills that businesses are looking for. We also discussed how the events need to be meaningful and tied to higher level thinking skills.

Paul has a VC Classifieds page with good ideas to get the word out with his teachers.

Robyn Phillips shared information about a project they are planning for Veterans Day connecting with a marine in Iraq. They are working through the Freedom Calls Foundation.

What a fun session sharing connections. Now we

Global Collaborations Birds of a Feather

2005-10-05T10:13:00.000-04:00

This morning I'm in the birds of a feather session led by Mike Griffiths from Global Leap.

We looked through the Global Leap website and how to register our schools and find other classes.

We talked quite a bit about the technology and how we could connect. Tools for connecting other than traditional H.323 and H.320 were discussed. We talked about using Skype and Festoon to do free connections with other countries.

We also talked about iEARN projects, and Rowena Gerber from Florida shared how she has done projects with classes that have to travel 10 miles to access one computer. iEARN has lots of standard yearly projects, projects you can stop by for a bit, and projects that are more long term. You don't have to be a member of iEARN to get on all these projects, but to access the forums there is a membership fee. Most of the projects are via email, but some are via videoconferences through iSight, MSN, through IP/H.323 videoconferencing...

Andrew Knox from the Center for Distance Learning Research shared projects that he's working on: a internation fitness oriented project, a charity project, measuring steps & progress in P.E. class, etc.

We also talked about the Global Nomads Group and the work they are doing. They have incredible experiences shared each year. Those of us who have done VCs with GNG shared what it was like for our students.

Russ Colbert, Polycom, shared with us some things happening in Australia, New Zealand, etc.

Then I shared my sessions with Pakistan on my blog: with the high school class and the 2nd grade class.

Now we're moving into a second session on collaboration.

Flying with Butterfly Puppets

2005-10-04T19:09:00.000-04:00

Last session of the day! I'm back in the Teaching strand for a videoconference with the Center for Puppetry Arts. We are doing the Butterflies program. This is one of my most favorite videoconferences of all!

Patty is great at making the program interactive. She asks questions, getes us to comment, uses student names, and more.

But the really interactive part is how we learn a concept, glue part of the puppet, learn another concept, glue another part of the puppet, etc. Or as I like to say, Learn a little, glue a little, learn a little, glue a little. Perfect for young students with short attention spans! What a fun end to a very full day!

If you haven't gone to the Center for Puppetry Arts, plan to schedule a program this year! Excellent programming!

Creative PD for Teachers

2005-10-04T18:01:00.000-04:00

Bringing Teachers on Board with Professional Development by Dave Miller and Paul Heironymus from The Lorain County Distance Learning Consortium.

Dave and Paul started their session with an IVDL Jeopardy game that they use with their teachers in training.

Dave and Paul have a very creative professional development program going with team teaching projects that occur locally within their consortium.

I really like how they categorize their types of videoconferences - it's fresh & new compared to what I've seen elsewhere:

content providers
team teaching
school initiated partnerships
specialized programming
course offerings
student operated classes

Dave & Paul had some video clip examples:

a team teaching session where students were working on writing samples
a virtual recital
a virtual college tour

In the session, we learned about the extensive PD model that they use instead of one-shot inservices. They work with a set of 75-80 teachers each year. Their consortium buildings have to send at least 2 teachers to the program each year.

The first day covers what is VC, who can I connect to, what's a content provider, how do I mute the mic, etc. They also have to select a partner to work with before they leave in the first day.

After that, they have to do 4 videoconferences: A meeting between the teachers, a planning session with your partner teacher, an introduction of students, and the fourth is a connection with a content provider with the two classes connected.

Two months after the first day, they come back and share all the things that they did. Then they build skill sets. They learn to team teach with their partner.

Then they do 4 more videoconferences with their partner class.

This pattern is repeated for four days during the school year and a total of 16 videoconferences together in their partnerships.

They have also a pool of existing trained teachers as they repeat this process year after year. Then, these existing teachers participate in continued training. They learn to develop programs and look for partners locally, within the state, nation, and internationally. They have to offer at least 3 projects during the school year.

Their term for local district contacts is "district advocates". I really like this term! Might borrow it!

They have an incredible reporting system as well to help districts see their use & set goals for using the equipment in the next year.

Each year at the end of the year they do an end of the year showcase and each teacher presents their favorite videoconference of the year and they make it into a DVD to share with the other schools and teachers to get ideas for new programs.

I think Paul and Dave's model is incredible. I've never seen anything as comprehensive, sustained, and effective for integrating VC in the curriculum. This program is fantastically successful and I think we have a lot to learn from it! They do about 1000 connections a year with their 16 member organizations and 38 videoconference units! I think I need to set my goals a bit higher!

As with the other sessions, you can get the handouts online at the Keystone Conference website and their distance learning website is LCDLC.org.

As I was listening, I was thinking about my new online class, Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections. I was worried that requiring 1 VC a month between the partner classes would be too much, but I don't think so! I hope that we get many people to participate in the class so we can do at least a mini-version of what Paul & Dave are doing in their county in Ohio. The class starts November 1. Registration details online here.

I hope that someday I can actually try this type of full year model with my districts as well.

Global Connections

2005-10-04T16:28:00.000-04:00

Global Connections: Learning With, not About, People from Other Countries
By Atieno Adala (from Kenya) and Deb Hutton, (from Canada) from the Indiana University. Yet another Keystone Conference session.

This presentation covers programs done by the International Studies in Schools content provider. They connect US students to international locations, and also allow students to talk to international people who are studying or working at Indiana University.

They showed a nice collection of pictures of international connections they’ve had.

We also saw a 5 min. clip of a connection from last week where students in several locations around the world discussed the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

Undergraduate students at IU and other places shared their thoughts on how governments are addressing the problems in their countries and in the world.

As always with multipoint videoconferencing with tons of sites, there’s some mic rattling sounds coming from an unknown location. Fun fun! But we’re learning anyway!

I really like how Deb addressed the question on time zones. She said “it’s about mutual respect.” This means who is it that comes in at a inconvenient time to connect for the program? Sometimes the only way we can connect with an international school is if we connect in the evening our time.

Atieno shared a good set of tips for working with international presenters. This included focusing on contemporary information, using the presenters strengths, preparing students for a thick accent, and preparing students to ask good questions and to make respectful comments. As is true with good ASK programs (link), don’t ask questions or look for a presentation on something you can find in the textbook! Take advantage of learning from the experiences of the presenter.

Another good tip included: being respectful of their date, time, holidays, safety, context and needs. Share equally the connection time for their benefit as well as that of your students. I.e. plan the program so that both classes are learning what they need/want to from the program.

Tips on good instruction was included as well: short activities, involving learners, focus on 3-4 main points, etc.

Sample sessions they’ve done (requested by teachers not designed by Deb Hutton):

Affects of the African Rainforest Biome on the Local Culture
The Daily Culture of South Korea
Living Under Apartheid in South Africa
All About Paris
Germany: Memories of WWII
Travel in Spain
Mathematical Symmetry in Turkey
Raising Children in Kenya & Russia
Transitions: Communism to Capitalism
Series: The Daily Cultures of Bulgaria, India & Kenya
Series: What do you want to know about Afghanistan? Iraq? Islam?

I think that International Studies custom programs are hidden resource many of us haven’t considered or realized! This possibility of designing a custom program tailored to your curriculum is wonderful!

Deb’s handouts have a wonderful set of links for international programming – both VCs and email projects. Scroll down on the page to find her presentation handouts. Great set!

6 Tools for Effective Videoconferencing

2005-10-04T15:47:00.000-04:00

Powerful Video Conferencing-Opening New Doors to Learning presented by Geoff Turrell.

I’m now in the Teaching strand watching the first presentation from Athena Education Action Zone in the United Kingdom. They are working with students with special needs, and are using videoconferencing as one of many interventions for meeting students learning needs.

Cool ideas include an interactive soap opera for VC, a ROCK IDOL with students performing to a panel of judges via VC, and a classical dance class.

Teachers have VC systems at their desks and they also do VCs with schools internationally.

They are addressing the “no significant difference phenomenon.” They aimed to answer the question: How can we make sure it is BETTER than direct teaching?

In answering this question, they have 6 tools for effective videoconferencing.

It’s cool to see that they are really trying to do more than just a talking head. They sent a 6 parcels from the UK to us here in Indy and he’s getting the audience to open the parcels. What a fun way to get the remote site interactive! This is the creativity I like to see!

The 1^st tool was a teddy bear and represented was “interactivity.” Yes!! The best interactive videoconferences have hands-on materials and conversation back and forth. Cool way to explain it!

Interaction includes, according to these presenters: questioning pupils, setting tasks, exercising communication skills, and creating an awareness of audience.

The second package has an owl teddy bear. It represents the 2^nd tool is teachers or pedagogical presence. The program needs to be coordinated by a real field teacher who has good classroom management skills, an understanding of good teaching practices, etc. The presenter also needs to understand the importance of telepresence skills.

The third package has a package of tea. It represents the 3^rd tool or contextualization. This is about having students experience a “real life” context and incentive for learning. It adds an extra dimension to learning and brings the task to life. It puts the excitement back in learning.

The fourth package has a set of nappy pins, or otherwise known in the US as diaper pins. This represents the 4^th tool or underpinning. This includes focused planning, use of worksheets and supplementary information sheets to support the lesson content, and accommodating learning styles.

The fifth package has swimming goggles. This represents the 5^th tool or an immersive learning environment. The includes using core materials from the Internet, interactive white board content, supplementary materials, etc.

The final package had a jigsaw with a piece missing. This presents the 6^th tool or collaboration because the missing piece was over in the UK. This tool allows for shared writing, design and composing, application sharing, and teacher & student collaboration across many miles, and distributed learning, which we just heard in the keynote.

A great session and a great model of interaction during the session!

Tuesday Keynote: Millennial Learning Styles

2005-10-04T14:04:00.000-04:00

The Keynote presentation today is coming in live from the Harvard School of Education. Chris Dede, is talking about Emerging Digital Media and "NeoMillennial" Learning Styles.

Dede is describing Millenial & Neo Millennial Learning Styles - students using the web to compare multiple sources of information, individually incomplete and collectively inconsistent. Is it mindlessly accumulating or seeking, sieving or synthesizing? He's wondering about his daughter multitasking... can she really concentrate? He described his daughter and her virtual "think tank" of friends on IM doing their homework.

He's describing how Cisco is using multitasking for meetings and using PDAs for multitasking and instant messanging.

And here I am in this session multitasking! Showing IM to the person sitting next to me, IMing my office back home, blogging the session, and listening to it all at the same time!

Now Dede is suggesting we use distributed learning instead of distance learning. The term distributed infers how the learning is spread across time, space, and media.

This reminds me of reading The World is Flat this summer and how companies are collaborating across space and time using videoconferencing, instant messaging, and other real-time and asynchronous collaboration tools.

I still want to design some type of international project that uses this same type of multitasking learning environment that Dede is describing. How could we create a learning environment and videoconference project that requires students to collaborate across time & distance to solve or attempt to solve a difficult challenging real world problem?? That is the question I keep mulling over.

Another VC Blogger!

2005-10-04T11:25:00.000-04:00

I just found another VC blogger... one of the great reasons to attend the Keystone Conference is the networking with other people. Paul Hieronymus from Avon, OH is blogging VC experiences there in the Lorain County Distance Learning Consortium. Looking forward to learning from great colleagues in Ohio!

Keystone & PICC

2005-10-03T10:31:00.000-04:00

Today I'm off to the Keystone Conference in Indianapolis. It's not too late to sign up to view the conference streaming! And you can access the handouts online as well even if you can't come. Just scroll down to the sessions & you'll see uploaded handouts there. I am lucky enough to be one of the last presenters on Wednesday night. I'm sharing Issues in Integrating Videoconferencing in the Classroom, qualitative data from my online class, Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections. The issues are in three big categories: administrative, curriculum, and teachers. Looking forward to a great conversation with the participants!

I plan to blog the Keystone sessions too if I can get online. Hopefully!!

Also, today we begin another session of Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections. This session I have a participant from Saipan! We're a small crowd but I think we'll definitely have fun learning together! If you want to join us, you can still sign up. Call Jo at (269) 471-7725x149 by Wednesday at 12:00 EST and I can still get you started in the class.

World Issues Class Connects to Pakistan

2005-09-30T08:24:00.000-04:00

This morning we connected again to Pakistan, this time with a sophomore World Issues class from Edwardsburg High School.

Our class shared the seven themes of culture: social organization, holiday celebrations (Halloween & corn mazes), language (slang), arts & literature (types of music), religion, government, and economics.

They used skits, pictures, costumes, and props in their presentation.

The class in Pakistan shared information on their form of government and what parts of their culture are similar to the U.S. Another student shared how they celebrate religious holidays in Pakistan.

They showed us the shalwar and qamis national dress and held up examples of handicrafts to show us. They also showed us their money which has the picture of the founder of Pakistan on it, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

We also listened to their presentation about the different provinces and types of terrain in Pakistan.

In the last 5 minutes, students asked questions back and forth.

We connected a bit late because they had lost electricity in Pakistan. It's quite typical in the summer months to lose power occasionally.

The classes talked about summer holidays, winter holidays and other times off of school, and how education is not compulsory for some students in Pakistan. They also talked about sports and explained the rules of football and discussed favorite teams etc.

It was a great experience for all & I'm sure we'll connect again!

Janine

Historically Black Colleges and Universities Recruitment Event

2005-09-29T10:07:00.000-04:00

This morning Benton Harbor High School students participated in a college recruitment event coordinated by CILC. This unique event allows students to hear from many recruiters from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The recruiters are onsite in Indianapolis. Each recruiter comes up and the classes get to ask questions of the recruiter in round robin format.

The recruiters only get a few minutes, but they cram in useful information, trivia, and fun facts into their quick presentation. After one set of recruiters present their information, students ask questions in round robin format. Then we disconnect and reconnect to another set of recruiters at another location in Indianapolis.

Students get a great overview of the myriad options available to them for college. This is the second year Benton Harbor has participated in this tightly organized event. It's a good model for others trying to get a college recruiter interview videoconference organized.

Sharing Communities with Pakistan

2005-09-28T08:21:00.000-04:00

Today after hurried preparations, we did our first international connection of this school year. A second grade class at E. P. Clarke Elementary in St. Joseph connected with some 2nd, 3rd and 4th class students in Karachi, Pakistan.

The two classes shared information about their homes and families. One Hindu student in Pakistan shared how he lived with his nuclear family. Another student in Pakistan shared how he lived with his extended family.

The two classes shared clothing and the students in Pakistan showed their shalwar qamis. Both classes shared what type of weather and climate are common in their area.

The class in Pakistan shared their alphabet with us. They are going to email us the whole alphabet and how to say the letters.

The classes also shared their holidays. Our class shared how we celebrate Halloween, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and birthdays. They also shared holiday celebrations with us and showed how the bride & groom dress for a wedding.

The format of the videoconference was basically sharing back and forth. Students at one site would share information, then the other class would share information on the same topic. Other topics covered included money, transportation, sports, entertainment, school topics, and landforms.

The students in Pakistan taught our students how to say, "how are you," "thank you," and "we are fine" in their national language, Urdu.

We finished with questions back and forth between the schools, thanks and goodbyes! An excellent experience for everyone involved!

New Middle Schools Online

2005-09-22T08:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I tested with the three Benton Harbor middle schools who just installed used Polycom 512s. I'm so excited that they now have access! A huge barrier to using videoconferencing in my middle schools is the transportation to the high school to access the technology. It's easier for one or two elementary classes to come over and use it, but for 6 sections of a middle school subject area, it's pretty much not worth the hassle. So now that these middle schools have the technology in the building, I know they will be using it much more this year!

A few other factors will make them successful this year, I'm sure. Each building has an assigned distance learning coordinator, mostly media specialists, who are in charge of the equipment. They are excited about the possibilities and find the Polycom remote easy to use. Having an enthusiastic "advocate" is what makes the difference in usage among the schools in our two counties.

In addition, most of the teachers already know what videoconferencing is. So instead of doing "awareness" sessions, we're doing "pick your program" sessions. We're trying out a new format for this professional development. The school will connect to me in my office for the whole day. Then as teachers have their conference hour, they will stop by the library to talk about what program(s) would be appropriate for their curriculum. They will be able to see the technology in action, experience how their videoconference setup works, and talk to me about possible programs or projects. I'm hoping that this will help teachers feel comfortable with their selections. I will help them fill out our mini-grant/scheduling request forms as well.

To my local principals & distance learning coordinators, if you want to schedule this type of professional development for your teachers, just contact me!

Best 2nd grade VC programs

2005-09-20T14:34:00.000-04:00

So you're a 2nd grade teacher and trying to pick the best VC program for this year? Here are what I consider to be your best choices.

Science
Of all the possibilities we've correlated to the Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations for 2nd grade, I'd say choose one of these providers:

The Center for Puppetry Arts has excellent programs. They are designed well for young students' attention spans because the students work on making a puppet, glue a little, then learn something while it's drying, then glue a little more. By the time the program is done, they have a puppet! I highly recommend these programs!
We really enjoy both the Columbus Zoo and the Cincinnati Zoo for the adaptations and/or life cycle/bug programs.
Consider also the Lake County Waste Management District for their environment programs. The presenter is an incredible storyteller and connects very well with the students. Plus they are free!
If your students are "designing a system that encourages growing of particular plants or animals" MI.SCI.III.5.3, consider sharing your "system" or worm farm or other experiments with another class. Last spring we did a worm-farm sharing project that was highly successful!
If your students are studying weather, you may want to connect to a class in a different area and share local weather/climate conditions.
If your students are learning about "seasonal changes in Michigan's weather" MI.SCI.V.3.2, you may consider presenting the four seasons to another class. Or connect to a partner class four times during the school year to share the four different seasons.

Social Studies: Communities

Joan Roehre, Kenosha, WI, shared a really neat local community history idea on her blog. She's running this project for her local districts in March. We could do the same thing here in Berrien County if we have a few interested teachers!
The Around the World program from the Museum of TV & Radio is one of the best programs that shows different types of communities around the world. Highly recommended!
You could also connect with a class in a different type of community anywhere in the world, really. Canada & the U.S. are the easiest places to find a partner class, but other international locations aren't out of the picture - they just take a bit more work to find! To my local teachers, email me if you want to do this!

Language Arts

Of course, don't forget the possibility of participating in Read Across America in March 2006. That would be free.
For my local teachers: We have some good ASK programs coming up that you'll want to consider. Remember we send you the books.
****Stellaluna by Janell Cannon; Grade Level: 2-3, Topic: Bats.
Date: November 3, 2005: 9:30-10:30; 10:45-11:45; and 1:00-2:00 p.m.
You'll interview experts at the Bat Conservatory at the Cranbrook Institute of Science.
****Ice Bear and Little Fox by Jonathan London, Grades 2-3. Topic: Polar Bears
Date: March 16, 9:30-10:15 and 10:30-11:15 a.m. (3 slots each time).
You'll interview an expert at the Indianapolis Zoo.
You could also, at any other time of the year, present a choral reading, play, or original class book to another class.
There are several good content provider programs based on children's literature as well.

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

Best 1st grade VC programs

2005-09-20T14:08:00.000-04:00

So you're a 1st grade teacher and trying to pick the best VC program for this year? Here are what I consider to be your best choices.

Science
Of all the possibilities we've correlated to the Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations for 1st grade, I'd say choose one of these providers:

The Center for Puppetry Arts has excellent programs. They are designed well for young students' attention spans because the students work on making a puppet, glue a little, then learn something while it's drying, then glue a little more. By the time the program is done, they have a puppet! I highly recommend these programs!
The Columbus Zoo is excellent at tailoring their programs to your students' level. These are also very good programs, but you'd be schedule ASAP! The fall schedule is full and the rest of the year is filling up very quickly!
Consider also the Lake County Waste Management District for their environment programs. The presenter is an incredible storyteller and connects very well with the students. Plus they are free!
If your students are "designing a system that encourages growing of particular plants or animals" MI.SCI.III.5.3, consider sharing your "system" or worm farm or other experiments with another class. Last spring we did a worm-farm sharing project that was highly successful!
If your students are studying weather, you may want to connect to a class in a different area and share local weather/climate conditions.

Language Arts

Of course, don't forget the possibility of participating in Read Across America in March 2006. That would be free.
You could also, at any other time of the year, do a reading project with another class. One idea is to share a pattern book, such as Chica-Chica-Boom-Boom or Do You See What I See? One TX teacher who took my online class, Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections, partnered up with another class in NY. Each class took a turn at reading the book to each other, then they read the book aloud together. What a fun simple idea! You could extend it and have each class write their own book following the same pattern, and share that with each other via VC as well.
There are several good content provider programs based on children's literature as well.

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

What About Math? Elementary Possibilities

2005-09-20T13:36:00.000-04:00

If you're interested in doing a videoconference related to math, you may have found that there aren't as many opportunties as other subject areas. However, there are still some good choices.

Content Providers

On the Wall: Drawing on Math from the Indianapolis Museum of Art. We've really enjoyed this program. Students use math to solve an art problem, show their solutions to the presenter, and then at the end of the videoconference they see how the artist solved the problem. Real-world applications of perimeterand area!
We really like the Lake County Waste Management District, and they offer two free programs: Scales & Tales – Environmental Fun with Measuring and also Talkin’ Trash. I haven't seen these two particular programs, but I've heard good things from DL colleagues who have done them.
If you've been reading this blog, you already know we love COSI Toledo here in Berrien County. Andy Campbell has a program called What's the Chance? If it's anything like the rest of his programs, it will be excellent!
We enjoy the Baseball Hall of Fame as well. They have a program called Math: Batter Up for 5^th grade & up. It covers long division, batting averages, and slugging percentages.
Another possibility is Mathematical Visions from the Rutgers Camden Center for the Arts. I haven't seen this one yet, but it sounds interesting. Same with Ani-math from the Indianapolis Zoo.

Math Projects with Other Classes
Don't forget that you can do creative math projects with other classes. These are usually free too! Here's some possibilities:

Math Problem Solving is an idea shared by teachers at a TWICE workshop.
Linda McDonald, Katy ISD, TX, has a great project she runs called Math Marvels. Her website has the flyer information, sample problems, etc. under Documents. (Note, the links don't work if you're using Firefox, so look at this in Internet Explorer.)
I'm sure you can think of other ways your math class could share a love of math with another class!

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

BCISD VC Programs Update Sept. 16

2005-09-16T09:08:00.000-04:00

Just a couple tweaks to the BCISD VC Program Database today.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo just opened registration for their free programs. They fill up quickly with these date specific programs. They also have a few new ones.
Added new free October author programs from MAGPI (Internet2/384K H.323 only).
Updated the Museum of TV & Radio, LA listing.

Dream Factory VC Idea

2005-09-16T09:07:00.000-04:00

In August I read an article in Wired Magazine titled The Dream Factory where the author designed his own guitar, sent the design to a "fab lab" and for about $1000 received his own guitar back in the mail. Very intriguing in the possibilities!

Of course I'm always thinking of the videoconferencing possibilities! Wouldn't it be neat to somehow find around $500 for two classes to work together to solve a problem with an invention. You could have one of the classes be a class in New Jersey close to the fab lab mentioned in the article so they could go pick it up and avoid shipping costs. A middle school technology/computer class would work, as well as a high school design/manufacturing class. If the two classes met at the same time, they could easily connect to each other. The two classes could decide together on a program and/or design the problem together. Then they could have teams of students design solutions. A panel of student judges from both classes could pick the winning design. After they send it in, the class in NJ could pick it up, get a tour of the "fab lab" and make an iMovie about it to share with the other class. Maybe they could then ship the "invention" to the partner class?

Just some wild ideas that I thought of when reading that article....

Metablog (thinking about blogging): The cool thing about a blog is you have a place to keep your wild and crazy ideas!

High School Expert Interviews

2005-09-15T15:20:00.000-04:00

There's also a stack of expert interviews from several locations. We really like the COSI Columbus ones. They are available on many science topics.

COSI Columbus has many experts available on topics such as: climate change, migratory birds, athletic performance, PC robotics, memory, ecology, genetics, forensics, and more!
Vanderbilt Virtual School and Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach both offer several expert interviews on science topics and career interviews.
And don't forget all the great NASA programs. Most of the NASA Glenn programs are interviews with NASA scientists.

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

Foreign Language Classes

2005-09-15T14:54:00.000-04:00

We've had quite an increase this year in programs available for foreign languages. Here's what's available:

Spanish

The Cleveland Museum of Art, one of our favorite providers, will present a couple of their programs in Spanish if requested.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art offers an excellent interactive program called the Speak to Learn Game Show. It's available in Spanish, French, German or ESL! I love this program. Kids speak in the language about the art they are viewing and get points & medals for their work in the game show. Very fun. Students often say afterwards, "We should talk in the language more!"
Global Education Motivators has a program, Recognizing the Rights of People with Disabilities that can be presented in Spanish. The presenter is a gymnast from Columbia who suffered an injury to her spinal cord while performing on the vault. This sounds like a powerful program for English or Spanish!
The Indianapolis Zoo has a new program on Animales en Español. It says K-8 but would probably be good for a 1st year Spanish class as well.
Camden Children's Garden is offering all of their programs in Spanish this year (as well as English).
The Videoconference Organization Seminary in Spain offers several programs. A little on the pricey side, but they are a connection to Spain!
To my local teachers: In addition, I have a couple contacts in Latin America that we could set you up with a class to class conversation if you wish. You could also connect to another local Spanish class and talk to them en Español if you wish. A couple neat projects ideas are: Epals Hablar and Simon Dice.

French

The Indianapolis Museum of Art offers an excellent interactive program called the Speak to Learn Game Show as mentioned above.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, one of our favorite providers, will present a couple of their programs in French if requested.

German

The Indianapolis Museum of Art offers an excellent interactive program called the Speak to Learn Game Show as mentioned above.

Italian

The Cleveland Museum of Art added a new program, Italian Art, that can be presented in Italian if you wish.

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

Studying the Holocaust & World War II

2005-09-14T08:28:00.000-04:00

Is your class studying the holocaust? There are several good options of videoconferences to supplement your studies.

The Museum of Tolerance offers interviews with holocaust survivors. A little expensive, but well worth it. They are in California, so classes in the EST timezone can't schedule before about 12:00 noon.
The Holocaust Memorial in NY has a nice set of programs. I haven't seen them, but they look good! These could be scheduled during your class period.
Global Leap offers connections with the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. They are scheduled about 8:30-10:30 a.m. EST (at least right now - daylight savings might change that) about one Wednesday a month. This sounds like an incredible experience!
Mr. Sacavage from Intermediate Unit 29 in PA offers a program on Holocaust and Tolerance Education. He has lots of experience, stories, pictures, and resources to share and can tailor the program to what you wish. We used him as the expert for the ASK: Daniel's Story program last year and probably will again this year.
Note to my local teachers: This ASK program is available for scheduling if you wish. If you use the ASK format, we pay for it. Otherwise you can apply for a mini-grant. We could schedule Mr. Sacavage to go with a different book such as Night or Anne Frank's Diary. Email or call me at the ISD to discuss options.
Vanderbilt Virtual School is offering four 35-40 min. videoconferences with survivors this fall. They are scheduled at specific times, so plan ahead!
In addition, you may want to search the BCISD VC Database for World War II for additional choices, or check out Eyewitness to American History from the Battleship New Jersey or the programs from the Arizona Memorial Museum Association.
In February, we will be offering Lest We Forget interviews with our local World War II veterans. Depending on scheduling and local interest, we may have a few slots for classes outside our area to participate. Stay tuned here for details.

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

Best 5th grade VC programs

2005-09-13T10:49:00.000-04:00

So you're a 5th grade teacher trying to decide which VC programs to do this year? Here's my "best picks" list.

Social Studies

For U.S. geography and history, consider the program we run in April every year: MysteryQuest USA. My local teachers pick times & dates, then we advertise to everyone else. This program is always free.
Another highly recommended program is Musical Geography of America from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
See also our list of programs for 5th grade: colonization and exploration. I haven't seen any of these enough to strongly recommend any, but they all sound good.

Language Arts

For my local teachers: We have some good ASK programs coming up that you'll want to consider. Remember we send you the books.
****Roanoke: The Lost Colony by Jane Yolen. Grade Level: 5th. Topic: Colonial times. Date: March 16, 2006; 1:00-2:00 p.m. 3 slots available.
Students will interview a historical impersonator: a colonial craftsman.
****The Bobbin Girl by Emily Arnold McCully, Grades 4-5
Topic: Labor / US History
Date: March 14, 1:00-2:00 p.m. EST (3 slots)
****Night of the Twisters by Ivy Ruckman. Grade Level: 4-7 (5th is best). Topic: Tornadoes - weather. Date: Open to scheduling when you want it. Students will interview a local meteorologist.
See also the Grade Level Content Expectations for 5th grade language arts. These are all good choices.

Science
Of course look at the Grade Level Content Expectations for 5th grade science. Of those, I highly recommend the following:

Gadget Works from COSI Columbus for your simple machines unit. Excellent program! Kids take apart toys and learn about the simple machines in them during the program. Very highly recommended.
Anything from the Cincinnati Zoo, Columbus Zoo, Buffalo Zoo, COSI Toledo, or the Lake County Waste Management District.

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

Best 4th grade VC programs

2005-09-13T10:16:00.000-04:00

4th grade teachers, need help picking a videoconference for this year? Here's what I consider to be your best choices.

Social Studies
Of course there are many great options for studying Michigan!

Local Teachers: The free LAPS programs offered by Macomb ISD are one option. I've already emailed this information out. If you missed it, send me an email.
Michigan teachers: Check with your ISD distance learning coordinator. This was advertised to TWICE members.
Local Teachers: Janie Panagopolous ASK programs: Train to Midnight, Journey Back to Lumberjack Camp, and Traders in Time. We supply a set of 30 books for you. You'll interview Janie, the author of the books. We're working with Macomb and Kent ISDs to schedule these. We may have openings in December, February and May. Send me an email if you are interested so we can save you a slot! (Free to my teachers.)
This may be available to other Michigan teachers through TWICE but hasn't been officially advertised yet.
The very best content provider program on Michigan history is Great Lakes Native Peoples from Cranbrook. This one is really good and includes hands-on and group activities on trading, economics, types of government and more.
MSI: Museum Scene Investigation (Case File A Fur Trader’s Cabin) from the Michigan State University Museum. I haven't seen this one, but it sounds excellent.
Don't forget the free TWICE coordinated Michigan Week Connections in May! Where in Michigan and Michigan Exchange are the two formats. During the May 8-19 window.

Language Arts

Of course, don't forget the possibility of participating in Read Across America in March 2006. That would be free.
And see the ASK programs listed above, as well as the MI Grade Level Content Expectations file for 4th grade language arts.

Science
Be sure to check out the MI Grade Level Content Expectations for 4th grade science. Of those, these are most worthy of consideration:

Gadget Works from COSI Columbus for your simple machines unit. Excellent program! Kids take apart toys and learn about the simple machines in them during the program. Highly recommended.
Anything from the Cincinnati Zoo, Columbus Zoo or COSI Toledo.
Don't forget the free NASA programs for your solar system units.

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

Best 3rd grade VC programs

2005-09-13T09:48:00.000-04:00

So you're a third grade teacher and trying to pick the best VC program for this year? Here are what I consider to be your best choices.

Social Studies: Regions
If you're studying regions, here are some great options.

Musical Geography of America, Cleveland Institute of Music. Also advertised for 5th grade, but we had a 3rd grade class do this last year and it was excellent. Highly recommended.
Geography from the Intrepid.Sea.Air.Space Museum is also excellent for 3rd grade region studies. We had a class do this last year who loved it!
Geography: Baseball Coast to Coast from the Baseball Hall of Fame would work well too. It's advertised for 4th & up, but I'm sure they could tailor it as needed.
I just found this one from NY. Regions of the U.S. from McClure Productions. Haven't seen it yet but it sounds excellent!
For my local teachers: If you want to connect to a class in a specific region to discuss their area, let me know and I can find a class for you! Another project idea would be to hook up a couple local 3rd grade classes and give clues about a region and try to guess which was presented.... These options would all be free.

Language Arts

Of course, don't forget the possibility of participating in Read Across America in March 2006. That would be free.
For my local teachers: We have some good ASK programs coming up that you'll want to consider. Remember we send you the books.
****Stellaluna by Janell Cannon; Grade Level: 2-3, Topic: Bats.
Date: November 3, 2005: 9:30-10:30; 10:45-11:45; and 1:00-2:00 p.m.
You'll interview an expert.
****Ice Bear and Little Fox by Jonathan London, Grades 2-3. Topic: Polar Bears
Date: March 16, 9:30-10:15 and 10:30-11:15 a.m. (3 slots each time).
You'll interview an expert.
****The Hard Times Jar by Ethel Footman Smothers, Grade Level: 3
Topic: Poverty, value of education, economics
Date: Still working on scheduling, 2nd semester. This one will also be available to Michigan classes through TWICE but hasn't been announced officially yet.
You'll interview the author.
****Searching the Noonday Trail by Johnny Tuitel. Grade Level: 3-4. Topic: Cerebral Palsy. Date: Still working on scheduling, 2nd semester. This one will also be available to Michigan classes through TWICE but hasn't been announced officially yet.
You'll interview the author.

Science
Of all the possibilities we've correlated to the Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations for 3rd grade, I'd say choose one of these providers:

COSI Toledo, one of our absolute favorite providers because of the hands-on experiments you do during the program.
Lake County Waste Management District for their environment programs. The presenter is an incredible storyteller and connects very well with the students. Plus they are free!
If you are studying adaptations, try the Animal Adaptations program from the Columbus Zoo or the Cincinnati Zoo, my two favorite zoos.

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

BCISD VC Programs Update Sept. 13

2005-09-13T09:18:00.000-04:00

A few little updates today.....

COSI Toledo has a few new programs: Animal Adaptations and Ship Science.
Hook's Discovery and Learning Center's programs increased to $100.
The Indianapolis Zoo has some new programs: An Afternoon with Jan Brett (Oct. 12), Animales en Español, and Nature's Neighbors.
Added the fall programs from the Vanderbilt Office of Science Outreach.

Enjoy!

Finding Demos with Content Providers

2005-09-12T16:01:00.000-04:00

A few people have asked me this in the last couple days, so I thought I'd share it here too. If you're looking for a demo with a content provider, the best place to look is the TWICE Professional Development page. It has a customized search to the BCISD VC Programs database to find all the programs targeted to teachers. You can also do the search yourself and type "teacher" in the standards field and even adjust the cost to find free demos if you wish. Good luck planning your PD sessions!

Neighboring District VC Project

2005-09-12T14:14:00.000-04:00

Last year, two of my local elementary buildings took on a wonderful project to study the local history between their two cities. With a Rotary Grant, they bought Polycoms for the two buildings, and used the distance learning technology to bridge across the river that is often said to divide their two communities. I encourage you to read more about the Voices of the Twin Cities Past project and do a similar project with a partner class this year!

Middle School Geography Videoconferences

2005-09-09T11:16:00.000-04:00

There are a number of excellent opportunities for middle school geography classes. This list is for Michigan 6th grade classes studying Western Hemisphere and 7th grade classes studying Eastern Hemisphere. However, the ideas apply to other grade levels if your school studies geography in a different grade level.

MysteryQuest: World Geography. We run this project every year with sessions for Western Hemisphere, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It has been in the fall, but due to state testing moving to October, we'll be running this in late January, early February. My teachers pick the dates & times, then we open up registration for all the rest of you! There's no way we could run enough for everyone interested, so you'll find information on running your own there as well if you want to do that. MysteryQuest is free for my teachers and the rest of you too!
For my local teachers, you could connect with a class in another country! I've been collecting contacts and could set you up with a class in Alberta or Ontario, Canada, or in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, Pakistan, or Taiwan. We could possibly find other partner classes too. These are free!
I would really like to do an Around the World project like I've seen online a few places. I don't really want to stay up all night, but we could do a morning to evening time frame. Also we could focus on just one hemisphere as well. This idea would be free and we could have lots of local classes participate. Here are links of websites who have done this: Around the World in a Day, Boston, 2002; NJEdgeNet 2003, 2004 and a press release.
There are a few good content provider programs on Canada: Inuit: Survival in the Canadian Arctic, and Kigluait Adventures has some programs that mention Canada.
Another good one would be the Cleveland Institute of Music's new Musical Geography of the World. I really want to see this one, so to my teachers: write a mini-grant for this one!!
For Central and South America, tying in with science and doing something on the rainforest might be good.
For Eastern Hemisphere, try programs on Africa or Asia.
Searching geography in the standards field also will bring up a good list. You'll have to sort through the U.S. geography ones, though.

This should give any middle school geography teacher a good start at the possibilities!

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

Funding for Programming

2005-09-08T13:55:00.000-04:00

So where do you find funding for programming when doing videoconferences? The most creative list I've seen yet is from Karen Mosier, Allendale Michigan, media specialist supporting her teachers.

Ink Cartridge Recycling Program Funds
Local business contributions and civic organizations
Presentations made at Chamber of Commerce meetings
Funds received from Target and Meijer rebate programs–held in school activity funds
PTO fundraiser donations
Application for grants

Karen shared this list in a final project for the class Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections and I'm sharing it here with her permission. I always learn so much from participants in that class! We all learn together! Feel free to join us for the next session starting October 3!

First Videoconference of the School Year!

2005-09-07T12:54:00.000-04:00

Today we're off to visit the Columbus Zoo in the first videoconference of this year. Thirteen third graders from Marie Wolford Elementary in Galien are learning about Animal Classification. As usual the Columbus Zoo is great at getting the kids to talk and interact during the program. The first animal students learned about was the legless lizard (see the picture). The Columbus Zoo always has wonderful hands-on activities for kids to do during the program. Today's activities included writing out your home address to compare with the process of classification, and working in groups to classify pictures of animals. Some other pretty cool creatures were shown too!

The Columbus Zoo's programs are excellent and they are booked pretty much solid for the fall already! So if you want to go to the Columbus Zoo, schedule soon!!

Best Kindergarten VC Programs

2005-08-31T11:44:00.000-04:00

So you're a Kindergarten teacher and you want to do a videoconference this year? What are the best interactive programs for kindergarten level?

One of my absolute favorite programs is Let's Go to the Show from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Highly interactive. Students sing and dance during the program. It's excellent! You have to be able to clear the floor in your distance learning room to do this one, so hopefully you don't have fancy furniture bolted down.
See the K2K Connection 2005 post on Joan Roehre's blog. A year long partnership between two classes. I quote: Kindergarten (YES- Kindergarten!) teachers Lynette Powers (Southport) and Kim Frost (Somers) are once again connecting their students throughout the year using videoconference technology. Starting in September with "All ABout Me" students will present and share interests to their buddy at the partner school. Projects following are "Monster", "Nursery Rhyme", "What Should You Do?", "Catch a Leprechaun", "Activity Riddles" and lastly, a face-to-face picnic in May!
Sounds like a great year long project. I'm sure the kids love it!
Read Across America! Getting matched up with another K-2 class for an exchange is a great way to start off with videoconferencing. Techs should register in November, teachers in December.
The Center for Puppetry Arts has great hands-on programs. Check out the K-2 programs. Learn a little, glue a little, learn a little more! End up with a finished puppet! Perfect for short attention spans!
The Cleveland Museum of Art is another great provider. They have two K-1 programs. I haven't seen them yet, but they look excellent! We love the CMA programs, especially their green screen technology!
Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum (new provider) has a program for winter on Critters in the Cold.
Space Center Houston has two K-2 programs. They are new this year too - just got a flyer in the mail a couple weeks ago. Worth checking out it seems.
Camden Children's Garden has several K-2 programs. Haven't seen these either but they sound really good.
The Cleveland Zoo has K-2 programs, but they schedule them and you have to sign up quickly because they are free & fill up fast! Their schedule for this fall isn't out yet.
If you search our database for PreK, you get several programs that are good for young students.
Michigan teachers, be sure to also check out our Grade Level Content Expectations & Videoconferences project.

Not a comprehensive list, but a list of favorites!

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

BCISD VC Programs Update Aug. 31

2005-08-31T11:31:00.000-04:00

More updates!

New! Cincinnati Art Museum is now offering programs.
New! Just added The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
New! Just added McClure Productions. The programs look really good!
Vanderbilt Virtual School added a series on explorers.
Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin has a new program on the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Updated Global Education Motivators programs. Words to Deeds is focusing on Water as a Human Right this year.
President Benjamin Harrison Home is offering a special on the constitution on Sept. 16 for the new nation wide Constitution Day. Another good option for this celebration would be The Constitution program with NARA.

Register for the Keystone Conference!

2005-08-29T09:02:00.000-04:00

If you're participating in the Keystone Conference this year, register quick before the early bird registration ends on September 1! You can participate onsite in Indianapolis, via videoconference from your school, or via web streaming!

Don't miss it! Looks like a great lineup of sessions again this year. This is THE premier videoconference conference in the world!

BCISD VC Programs Update Aug. 26

2005-08-26T16:11:00.000-04:00

BCISD VC Program Database updates for today....

Good news. I think the crashing problems we've had in the last three weeks have been solved. I apologize for how the down time affected everyone's trainings! We should be up and stable now. Here's what's new this week:

New George Eastman House offering programs on Ellis Island and child labor.
Vanderbilt Virtual School's fall schedule is now available.
Rutgers Camden Center for the Arts has new programs.
Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin has new programs.
Ann Arbor Hands On Museum, Michigan's latest new content provider, has just added all their program materials. Nice PDFs so you know what to expect and how to prepare students.
New programs from the Videoconference Organization Seminary in Spain. They have a special deal on their programs til September 30.
COSI Columbus is working on a new autopsy program that will involve students determining the cause of death. It will be available in December. I know our classes are looking forward to this additional option!

Exciting New Class!

2005-08-26T15:27:00.000-04:00

I'm just today filling out the paperwork for an exciting new class we'll be offering starting November 1. Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections or K2K VC. 2 graduate credits. 5 months (November to March) with one week of readings/discussion and one K2K videoconference with a partner class each month. Stay tuned for more details. Registration will open sometime after Labor Day.

Here's the description to tantalize you....

Videoconference (VC) connections between classes open up a whole new world of collaborative learning for students! Immerse yourself in videoconference connections with partner classes. Do one kid-to-kid (K2K) videoconference each month during this class. Learn about structures/templates for projects with other classes and implement them with your students and a partner classroom. During the class you’ll reflect on exemplary student-to-student projects, receive support during your own project connections, and apply your learning in your classroom. This class is best for teachers with easy access to videoconference technology. Interested distance learning coordinators or media specialists are strongly encouraged to sign up with a local teacher.

Videoconference or Video conference?

2005-08-22T10:53:00.000-04:00

I was just exploring Alberta's VCAlberta.ca website, and ran across a nice collection of Frequently Asked Questions. They are more creative and useful than the usual run of the mill FAQs out there, including the one on my site!

I quote Question #3:

Question: Do I spell it: videoconferencing or video conferencing or video-conferencing?

Answer: All three are commonly used and the use tends to follow what a localized community has decided is the right way. Videoconference as one word is the most common usage in Alberta and in fact the proper spelling. The oxford dictionary, among many other dictionaries, refers to videoconferencing as one word: Oxford Dictionary

Now you know!

BCISD VC Programs Update Aug. 19

2005-08-19T14:38:00.000-04:00

Ok, lots more updates today! Big news too! We hit over 1500 programs yesterday! I've been saying we'd hit that number by the end of August and here we are already!

Did you know? All the Camden Children's Garden programs can be presented in Spanish! The foreign language choices just increased exponentially!
COSI Columbus sent out their first email update (which you can sign up for) and there are a few more experts added to what I already had posted.
CILC is offering their Historically Black Colleges and Universities event again in September.
Cleveland Museum of Art has a nice set of new programs, including one available to be presented in Italian!
Unfortunately, Aquatic Research Interactive, Inc., isn't offering programs due to financial changes in their organization.
Global Education Motivators has new prices and a new program: Preys of War: The Liberian Conflict and Child Soldiers.
New! The Cincinnati Museum Center is now offering programs. Jason Dennison, previously at the Milwaukee Public Museum is heading up their programs, so I expect good things!
Mote Marine Laboratory has new programs, new prices, and a deal if you order before August 31, you get $10 off the regulary cost.
New! The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum is now offering programs. These were piloted in Michigan this last year and I heard GREAT things about the programs. I look forward to seeing them with our students!

Constructing Support & Analyzing Errors

2005-08-19T13:48:00.000-04:00

I've been in a workshop yesterday and today with Diane Paynter, learning about Classroom Instruction That Works. Today we delved deeper into the Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers strategy to look at complex reasoning strategies such as Constructing Support and Analyzing Errors. See Dimensions of Learning p. 162-179 or so.

As always, I'm thinking about videoconference applications to what I'm learning. It seems that these ideas could be used to refine the "debate" videoconference template. One class could present something using the specific Constructing Support complex reasoning process and the viewing class could be Analyzing Errors. (It's analyzing errors in thinking, that is, not the steps in the skill.) Then the classes could swap and the other class presents. This template could be used on many issues, especially in social studies and science.

There's also the Analyzing Perspectives method of complex reasoning. In the class we took the issue of cloning, and brainstormed all the people who would have a perspective on the issue. We came up with 10-12 different groups of people and then wrote what they group of people might think for a "yes" position or a "no" position. It'd be interesting to have two classes present four perspectives each on an issue that is as convoluted and controversial as cloning, and then discuss it further after the presentations.

BCISD VC Programs Update Aug. 12

2005-08-12T11:34:00.000-04:00

Well, we had a bit of a rough week with the database. It crashed at least once a day! I apologize to everyone who was trying to use it! I believe we have the problem resolved now.

Here's the new updates from this weeks' work:

COSI Columbus has their Expert program list published, so those programs have been added.
Received a brochure in the mail today for the Space Center Houston, a new content provider. They have a very interesting list of programs and seem to be reasonably priced. I look forward to seeing them!
The Buffalo Zoo has a new program, Who's at the Zoo for K-3.
Camden Children's Garden's prices went up slightly, but they still are a good deal at under $100. New descriptions for some of the programs, and a few new topics, including one on Chocolate and Vanilla! Sounds fun!
The Adventure Science Center has a new program, What's the Matter?
The Albany Institute of Art has new descriptions and a new program, The Rise of Modern America.
The Baseball Hall of Fame has been hard at work this summer with a redesigned website and new preparation materials online for all of their programs! Looks great and makes me want to see all the programs! Plus a new one on Labor History.

The Best VC Demo Ever!

2005-08-11T12:27:00.000-04:00

I've been at the Macomb Summer Technology Academy for the last three days presenting The World is Your Classroom with my good VC friend Arnie Comer. We've done the usual demo with a content provider to show teachers how videoconferencing works.

We're also talking about collaborative connections, and another great VC colleague, Ken Conn from Lamar Consolidated ISD, has been giving clues about his location to help teachers see how collaborative projects such as MysteryQuest can happen. Well today we are lucky enough that the students are back in school. So today the clues came from students at Navarro Middle School. The teachers here loved it! It was also amazing and impressive to see how the students were able to remember VCs they did last year and tell our teachers about them. Nothing like hearing about videoconferences from the students' perspective!

So the next time you do a VC demo, try to include kids if you can!! It's a wonderful experience for the teachers to see!!

BCISD VC Programs Database Update Aug. 5

2005-08-05T14:01:00.000-04:00

Another week of work on the BCISD VC Programs Database...

This week we redesigned the site with a new look to match the new BCISD website (which isn't live quite yet)

Also, before there were two entrances to the database done by the BCISD: one from our distance learning page, and one from TWICE. This was due to scheduling procedures locally here in Berrien County, and a desire to share the site with a wider audience. Now we have just one look for both sites. This should make it easier to manage!

There's a few new cool features too. I added a "Find All Records" feature. As of this moment there are 1461 programs and 192 providers listed. I fully expect to hit 1500 programs this fall as we continue updating. There's also a new "pick a random program" feature that's pretty fun to just get a feel for what is in the database.

Updates to programming listed:

More work on NASA's programming. Due to needing to keep the contact information connected to the right provider, the programs are listed separately for NASA Glenn, NASA JSC and NASA Langley/LIVE. I'm sure we'll continue to tweak this to accurately represent the extensive programming provided by NASA. One thing I noticed when going through the NASA programming is the specific grade level target for their programs. So while the program may say "k12", they really have different online curriculum packets and activities for the various grade levels. This is wonderfully useful and helpful!
Added the programs from Global Leap.
Added The Ben Martinez Project. This provider doesn't currently have specific descriptions for programs, but they sound very flexible in tailoring their jazz music education programming.
Virent Broadcasting has a couple new presenters. No new descriptions for the people they represent quite yet. I'll post them when I get them.

BCISD Content Database Update Aug. 1

2005-08-01T14:47:00.000-04:00

Ok, now starts the big work of updating the BCISD Field Trip Database. I'm blogging it for those of you distance learning coordinators who want to know what's new! And also to keep track of which ones I want to advertise to my schools.

COSI Columbus' prices increased by $5.
Updated descriptions for the Discovery Center of Springfield. Their new descriptions reflect a widening audience beyond Missouri. Good for them!
Pennsbury Manor can do IP now. They can also do 384K ISDN too. They have a new program: The Request: Slavery in 17th Century.
You probably know this already, but NASA Glenn and NASA Johnson Space Center programs are now listed under one site: NASA Digital Learning Network. They have several new programs as well.
The Cleveland Institute of Music has some neat new programs... the core curriculum related ones include spelling and world geography. Must see those!
A new provider, The EarlyWorks Museum, has some interesting programs on history, particularly the civil war.
The Center for Puppetry Arts, a perennial favorite of mine, has a new program on Anne Frank! I know several 8th grade teachers who will be interested in that one!
New programs listed from Cooperating School Districts. Those of you looking for forensic programs might be interested in their programs.
Michigan State University Museum is now charging for their programs, but a nice low price of $50.