Posted on November 10, 2009 by Janine Lim
Yesterday and today I’ve been running our first attempt at HistoryQuest8: Revolutionary War. Last year we tried running it in the spring on the whole year’s curriculum and were only able to get enough classes to sign up for one session. This year, in talking to one of my teachers, we decided to try running it with a narrower focus: Revolutionary War. It’s going so well that I think I’ll be doing HistoryQuest8: Civil War in April/May for sure.
I had several scheduling problems, so the sessions today and yesterday have only two classes in them, which is never ideal. Still we are learning some things:
- HistoryQuest doesn’t really need the Q&A. The history mysteries aren’t as challenging as finding out a country and a city with MysteryQuest.
- Running it in 45 minutes seems like it will work great. The true test will be the sessions with four classes on November 23 & 24.
- Giving dates for a clue is definitely a bad idea. Too easy! It’s like showing the flag or map of the country in MysteryQuest World Geography.
- Also, mysteries like the Boston Tea Party are too easy because it is something the students should know off the top of their head if they have studied the Revolutionary War. The mystery and clues should be obscure enough that students have to use their knowledge of the Revolutionary War and their research skills to figure it out.
We’ve had time at the end of the sessions for the students to ask each other questions, and the classes have enjoyed that. I put up the timer for a minute to have them brainstorm questions first, and then let them ask questions. This gave the teacher time to get the questions organized and made it a little less like a free for all!
Stay tuned for updates on this project in a couple weeks! Also I have one spot left on Nov. 24 if you want to join us! (FREE)
Filed under: MysteryQuests | Tagged: HistoryQuest8, Revolutionary War | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 5, 2009 by Janine Lim
I’ve been watching a lot of multipoint VCs lately, and so I thought I’d write today about what seems to work well. Most of these tips I’ve learned from COSI Columbus with their surgery and expert interviews or from Arnie Comer’s ASK and LAPS programs at Macomb ISD.
- Make sure all sites are muted in the waiting time before the session.
- Have a splash screen with a logo or graphic representing the program.
- Greet each site as they enter.
- Connect all sites 15 min early with 3-4 sites; 20-30 minutes early with 5 or more sites.
These simple rules can tighten up a multipoint meeting and make it much more professional.
Sometimes issues and problems can happen, but there are ways to address them:
- If sites are unmuted, ask them to mute. If they don’t hear respond, the bridge operator can hard mute them on the bridge. Yes, I’m one of those control freak bridge operators! Silence at all costs!
- If sites are not connected, call them on the phone to figure out what is wrong and trouble shoot/solve before the program starts.
- If a participating (not presenting) site is late, start without them so that the other sites aren’t penalized.
- If facilitators are at more than one site, have the side conversations before the classes join and stop when the other sites join in. Think of it as talking in front of live audience with a podium and mic. You wouldn’t have a side conversation by a live mic in front of a waiting audience if you were in person.
- If there are any other problems, as the facilitator, unmute your microphone and address them as soon as possible.
What other tips would you add? Please comment!
Filed under: Communication Tips | Tagged: ASK Programs, Facilitating videoconferences, Multipoint videoconferences | 3 Comments »
Posted on November 4, 2009 by Janine Lim
This week I’m finishing up a session of the Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections online class. One of the participants, a high school media specialist, wrote an excellent plan for supporting VCs in her school. I wanted to highlight a few points:
Here at the high school, I can also be available to assist teachers during the actual connection. This includes assisting with the equipment, setting up the room appropriately, and making students aware of what to expect and how to speak and act during the VC. From my experience, most high school teachers feel fairly confident with the equipment after they are given instruction on how to use it. High schools students can also assist in running the equipment (muting microphone, changing camera presets, etc.). It is imperative to provide teachers with sufficient support during a VC program. If they feel overwhelmed by the technical aspects of a VC program and keeping their students engaged and on task, chances are they will not enjoy the experience and will not be interested in scheduling future VC programs. Therefore, communication is the key. Teachers should not be left alone until they feel comfortable with running the VC program by themselves. Once they express that they are comfortable, they can be left with contact information in case they face technical problems. – Alma Holtgren, Lakeshore High School, Stevensville, MI
Do you agree? Are you able to provide this type of support to your teachers? If not, how do you compensate? Please comment!
Filed under: Implementation, Professional Dev. | Tagged: high school VCs | 1 Comment »
Posted on October 30, 2009 by Janine Lim
This has been a Halloween themed week of videoconferences. It was our first busy week since October state testing ended. Here are the programs we enjoyed:
Monster Match
This monster's name is "The Blob."
We had 21 classes participate in Monster Match with Region 12, and 1 class do Monster Exchange with Dallas ISD. Be sure to read more about how Region 12 runs Monster Match here, here, and here. There are other methods of doing this project – see Dallas ISD and Humble ISD’s pages. I noticed a lot of Monster Match copycat projects in CAPspace too.
Scary Art
We have an 8th/9th grade art teacher that annually participates in Scary Art with Arielle at The Cleveland Museum of Art. Paintings not for the faint of heart! The class that participated this year was a drawing/painting class and the program fit well with their studies.
Dia de los Muertos
A 6th grade Spanish class (teacher was a Jazz 09 grad) had 3 classes participate in the new Dia de los Muertos program with the Cleveland Museum of Art. It’s a “special request” program not even on their listing. The presentation could have been in all Spanish, but ours students weren’t ready for that. So we had partial Spanish, mostly English. The program includes an art project making a skeleton. Students really enjoyed it and learned all about the celebration.
Boo! I’m a Bat!
A preschool class connected to the Cleveland Zoo for their Boo I’m a Bat presentation, led by an educator in a witch costume. Students learned all about bats.
Day of the Dead
Tommy Bearden invited my schools to participate with his national audiences for a Day of the Dead all day celebration. I wasn’t able to get anyone to sign up soon enough to actually present, but I have 5 high schools connected all day with Spanish classes rotating in and out watching throughout the day.
Halloween Slime Time
Finally, I have a first grade class that every year participates in Halloween Slime Time on the states of matter with the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum. This is a great program with hands-on experiments for each pair of students. Highly interactive and visually appealing!
Next…
Next week we move into our ASK programs with ASK Specialist: Stellaluna, interviewing bat experts at Cranbrook.
So have you done any of these VCs or similar ones? Please share and comment on your experience/recommendations…
Filed under: Collaborations, Content Providers | Tagged: Ann Arbor Hands On Museum, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Monster Match, Region 12 ESC TX, Region 14 ESC TX, The Cleveland Museum of Art | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 29, 2009 by Janine Lim
I’ve been thinking the last couple of months about professional development on videoconferencing. I had a nice line-up of face to face, online, and via videoconferencing workshops this fall for my schools. But since our 3 year RUS grant is over, the pressure is off to meet the PD requirements of the grant. That factor, plus the uncertainty of budgets, MEAP test stress, etc., means that I have little to no registrations for my fall professional development sessions.
So, how are my teachers continuing to learn and improve their VC practice? By doing actual videoconferences! I’ve noticed that I have several new teachers signing up for programs this year. They don’t seem to feel the need for any official / formal professional development on how to use videoconferencing in the curriculum. They are learning as they go!
As I’ve watched the Monster Match sessions this week, I have realized that carefully and well-designed VC projects can provide professional development for teachers. What are they learning in Monster Match?
- How to effectively compare similarities and differences with venn diagrams
- How to zoom the camera in on their monster
- What a wiki is and how to use it (pasting their descriptions)
- How VC can help students learn about different areas (like TX students asking our students about the color of the leaves to supplement their seasons unit)
- How to prepare questions for their partner class
So I’ve been thinking about this more. What if we deliberately designed mass projects like Monster Match and others to teach teachers how to teach 21st Century Skills, specific instructional strategies like Marzano’s research based strategies, specific effective methods for meeting state standards, thinking skills (i.e. Linda’s projects) etc. Obviously we can’t do all PD this way, but could we make a bigger dent in that direction by carefully designing our projects to meet curriculum and professional development goals? What do you think?
Filed under: Collaborations, Professional Dev. | Tagged: Monster Match | 4 Comments »
Posted on October 27, 2009 by Janine Lim
Today is our first day of MoNSteR MaTcH 2009 with Region 12. I have 22 classes participating this year. The H1N1 virus has already made us reschedule two of the conferences, but we’re rolling with the punches!
Classes zoom in to share and compare their venn diagrams.
This year, Roxanne added a Venn Diagram procedure for comparing similarities and differences between the classes. I’ve noticed that the schools are also muting to consider the differences, which gets more students thinking about what is the same and different. The quality and length of comparing is much higher this year as well. I think this addition has strengthened the thinking/learning quality of Monster Match.
Here are some of the pairs from the connections today. These pairs are done by two fourth grade classes:
These pairs are done by two fifth grade classes:
One of the classes created a little decorated paper curtain to hold in front of their monster until it was time to reveal:
These last pictures are from a 1st grade / 2nd grade pair.
What a great day of learning and sharing! Three more days of Monster Matches to go!
Filed under: Collaborations | Tagged: Monster Match, Region 12 ESC TX | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 23, 2009 by Janine Lim
Greetings to my Tech It Up International 2009 audience in British Columbia! Here are some resources we’re using in my sessions today.
Designing Quality Interactive Classroom Projects for Videoconferencing
Resources for Collaborations
Berrien RESA Collaborations
Collaborations Around the Planet
Read Around the Planet
Enriching Your Curriculum with Interactive Videoconferencing
TWICE Information
Berrien RESA Resources
More Information
Filed under: Collaborations, Content Providers | Tagged: TechItUp2009 | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 20, 2009 by Janine Lim
This morning Bridgman Elementary is connecting to Wales in the UK for a project that was written in the Jazz workshop this summer: Guess My Pet. Before the videoconference started, I noticed the teachers using best practice to set presets on their visuals (which were neatly mounted to hold them still). Nice to see Jazz lessons being put into practice.
Each class had little introductions ready to share to get to know each other and where they are. Then the classes began sharing the clues about their pets. Everyone took notes on the clues; then the classes muted for a while to guess. here are some examples of the clues:
- It’s got long or short hair.
- It makes a squeaking noise.
- It lives in a cage.
- It runs on a wheel.
After guessing, the classes shared pictures and facts about their pets. The classes also shared a graph of what types of pets they have represented in their class. 
We had a few technical glitches along the way, but overall the students enjoyed the process, practiced their reading, listening, and presenting skills, and got to know students in another country! The classes plan to continue the partnership with pen pal letters between students.
Filed under: Collaborations, International VCs | Tagged: jazzivc | 1 Comment »
Posted on October 19, 2009 by Janine Lim
Posted on October 12, 2009 by Janine Lim
This morning I took a trip up to Van Buren ISD (which just was awarded a RUS grant – congrats!!). They are hosting the Tandberg Roadshow. (By the way you can see where the Road Show will be next here.)
The audience here is mostly tech coordinators from the surrounding districts. Many of them are expecting to get VC as part of their new RUS grant.
The program began with an introduction to VC by Doug Meyer at CILC. He gave an overview of content providers, collaborations, professional development, and of course the CILC Content Dollar Bank.
Then we headed off to the Pro Football Hall of Fame to learn about their programs and had a nice overview, plus a little history of the Detroit Lions.
Lance Ford was the next guest speaker and he told us the story of the Howell videoconference story beginning with a foreign language class. Their courses are supported by Moodle and Rosetta Stone in addition to the live videoconferencing. Fun quote: “those standards are weighing on teachers like a wet blanket on a hot August afternoon.” His examples included content providers, Mote Marine, Great Barrier Reef, as well as collaborations – book clubs with Canada, DNA experiments, connections to Norway, etc. Students creating a field trip (the KC3 program) is another major part of their programs. Lance showed a video clip of students onsite at a local museum dressed in costume teaching about the westward expansion. Lance’s superintendent asks him to have a matching dollar for every dollar the district spends. They call it “leveraging” dollars. Lance uses grants to match other grants to get even more funds for technologies.
Next we heard from Stephanie about the grant program Tandberg will help you (for free) write grants to get videoconferencing. Finally we got a tour of the truck with all the equipment. I had some good time networking with the tech coordinators as well, many of whose districts are members of our REMC. Great morning & very informative!
Filed under: Techie Stuff, Vendors | Tagged: Tandberg | Leave a Comment »
