Last Thoughts for 2006

Posted on December 14, 2006 by Janine Lim

This is my last post for 2006. It’s been a great year and thanks to everyone who has read and commented, and especially thanks to those of you who have started blogging about VC too. I appreciate the opportunity to learn from you!

Polycom RSS 2000
If you missed the ASK: Jim Stovall streaming today, review my blog entry on that and login to view the archive. The streaming was really easy to do. I just logged into the admin side of the RSS, dialed out to Macomb ISD’s bridge with live streaming checked, and voila it was up and running. Quality looked great from my end at least. I hope some of you had a chance to try it out. Please leave a comment on how the streaming and/or archive works for you.

1.7.07 Update. Added after reading The Weblog Handbook. The RSS 2000 mentioned is on loan to Berrien County ISD from Polycom to support Polycom Special Events.

Read Around the Planet
I wanted to say a few words about Read Around the Planet. The teacher registration has been extended to January 19, and a new quick overview of the two ways to enter match requests has been posted online.

If you haven’t noticed already, RAP is a huge project and growing very fast. The system seems complicated and while we are working on that, it’s because the project is complicated. It’s very difficult to meeting the needs of all the ways that connections and coordination happens throughout the areas participating in the project. Our programmers mutter that it’s like trying to bring order to chaos and not easy to do.

Thankfully, the system allows everyone to see their buildings and match requests (if everything is entered correctly! :>), which we didn’t have possible before. In addition, this is the first year that the matching will be done by computer. It’s about time! Last year it took me three weeks to match 1000 requests by hand.

So, I know things are pretty bumpy this year, and I thank everyone who has been so patient. Hang in there! We will make it through yet another year of this amazing project. If you have questions, you can send them to Sue Porter, read@remc11.k12.mi.us. She’s off Dec. 21 through Jan. 2, but otherwise can answer your questions.

Merry Christmas
So now I’m off til January 8. Tonight I’m decorating a gingerbread house (made from scratch) with a friend and her two daughters. When I come back in January I may have a special treat of pictures to share with you too. Enjoy your holidays and be sure to rest and spend quality time with family and friends – AWAY from technology! :)

Filed under: ASK Programs, Collaborations, Special Events, Techie Stuff, VC Community | Comments Off

Trading PD for Project Partners

Posted on December 14, 2006 by Janine Lim

Here’s an interesting model for finding partners. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I’ve been working on finding partners for our 6th grade classes studying Canada. This week I found the last set in an interesting way.

In August at the Alberta Broadband Summer Institute I collected business cards of several schools willing to connect to our 6th grade classes.

In following up with one of them, I discovered that this particular district, Peace River, has used VC mainly for high school classes. So while they were interested in connecting to us, they need more info on enrichment VCs.

So on Tuesday I did an hour workshop for them with an overview of field trips, resources, examples of projects, MysteryQuest, and more. And then in the last 20 minutes, I sprung my request on them! By the end of the hour, I had partner teachers for the last four slots I needed to fill! So we traded PD for project partners and it worked great for both of us!

I think we all like to compare weather at the beginning of a VC, and when you’re in Michigan and the snow just melted and it’s raining, you want to know the weather in northern Alberta! So I asked them to show me the snow out the window. Listen to Fred Churchman’s description of that moment in our training:

It’s the little things that sometimes stick in my mind: I think I’ll always remember looking out your window at the wet mess, and then going to the trouble of moving the monitor and camera to make sure you got to see the snow outside our window. Thanks for that memory!

By the way, above the picture is from the Confluence Project.

Thank you, Peace River, Alberta, for yet another VC and the promise of more to come!

Filed under: Collaborations, International VCs, Professional Dev. | Comments Off

Live VC with a Court Reporter

Posted on December 13, 2006 by Janine Lim

This morning we are excited to be connecting to the St. Louis County Courthouse in St. Louis, MO. Students from our Niles High School and Ottawa ISD Careerline Tech Center are learning about the career of court reporter.

The program began with a simulation of a guilty plea, showing what each role is and what things are said. If the classes had transcribing machines, they would have been encouraged to transcribe the event. But they didn’t, so today they are just listening. We heard from two court reporters, a bailiff, and a judge.

Next the judge explained carefully and clearly what the court reporters do and how they fit into the courtroom. Then the students asked questions of the bailiff and the judge before they had to leave. The remainder of the time was spent asking questions of the two court reporters.

This program was coordinated by Cooperating School Districts and Tim Gore and Jim Sturm, who brought us the Lewis & Clark VCs the last few years. Our career tech classes want to see more than just a talking head in an expert career interview, and so this is the first of several programs we’ve requested CSD coordinate for us and others. Tim and Jim are great at facilitating VCs, and have good ideas of what students can see onsite in various career settings. So watch the listservs so you can sign up for the next ones! The sessions are $150 per interactive site (so far).

Filed under: Content Providers, Special Events | 1 Comment »

Evaluations of Codecs

Posted on December 13, 2006 by Janine Lim

Just found this on the Megaconference Listserv. JANET, the UK’s education and research network, has done very specific tests and evaluations of various codecs. What a wealth of information for those making decisions on purchasing equipment!

Filed under: General, Resources, VC Community | 1 Comment »

ASK: Jim Stovall Live Streaming Dec. 14

Posted on December 12, 2006 by Janine Lim

If you’ve been wanting to see an ASK program, Thursday is your chance! December 14, several classes across the country are connecting to blind author Jim Stovall to discuss his book, The Ultimate Gift. You can read about last year’s session here.

To access the live streaming (or a recording after the event), visit streaming.bcisd.org and login (polycom) enter the password (special). (This is a Polycom Special Event.)

The sessions are at 12:00-1:00 US EST and 1:30-2:30 US EST. You can connect in 10 min. before the session starts to access the live streaming. Then leave a comment on how the streaming worked for you. We’re using the new Polycom RSS 2000 for the streaming (for the first time), so I’m interested in your feedback.

Filed under: ASK Programs | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

K12 Videconferencing in Ontario

Posted on December 12, 2006 by Janine Lim

I just ran across a community site for interactive videoconferencing in Ontario. It looks like a Moodle site with RSS feeds from several VC blogs including mine. Neat site. Seems like they are just getting started. Check it out!

Filed under: Resources, VC Community | Comments Off

Dalcroze Eurhythmics

Posted on December 11, 2006 by Janine Lim

This afternoon Lighthouse Education Center is connecting to the Cleveland Institute of Music for the program Dalcroze Eurhythmics. We already love programs from CIM, but hadn’t seen this program yet.

The program began with clearing the floor of tables and chairs. Students learned about opposites in music (high/low, sound/no sound) while practicing following instructions. Stopping when the music stops. Jumping a a high trill. Touching toes with the bass notes. Marching to quarter notes. Jogging to eighth notes. Running to sixteenth notes.

The instructor plays the piano and gives the students various instructions and movements to do to express the music. In the next activity the students are divided into groups and each group is assigned a different speed.

Next the students apply what they experienced in running and jogging and marching to seeing the various types of notes and what they look like. In the next activity, students practice having feet move at one speed and hands at another speed.

This program is full of activity, learning, listening, and following instructions. We loved it!

Filed under: Content Providers | 2 Comments »

Dec. 7 Interviewing WW II Veterans

Posted on December 7, 2006 by Janine Lim

Today we had a full day of interviewing our World War II Veterans in remembrance of Pearl Harbor Day. Several local history classes, as well as classes from Illinois and New Hampshire participated in the sessions. You can read more about the questions in my blog entry about last year’s VC.

This time I want to say a few words about running these kinds of events.

First, I do these for my local schools (that’s my job of course!). But if I can’t fill them locally I offer them free to the rest of you. This year I turned away so many. So, here’s what I think. It’s time for more schools and educational service agencies to be producers of content and not just receivers. And the good ideas should be copied! Like this idea. Take it and do it yourself!

I’m sure you have local veterans who would love to participate in such an event. One of the students today asked the veterans how they felt coming home. The answer included this: “Programs like this are still a welcome home and make us feel appreciated.” They long to tell their stories and to share their experience with younger students. It makes them proud and honored to see students asking quality questions and thinking carefully about World War II before talking to them.

So take the plunge! If you have access to a bridge to connect several schools together and share the incredible value of live interviews with our treasured veterans, do it! I depend on one of our veterans to coordinate, call the veterans, remind them to come, etc. They appreciate the opportunity and help me make it happen. You can do it too!

Filed under: ASK Programs, Special Events | Comments Off

Support VC Research: Take Two Surveys

Posted on December 6, 2006 by Janine Lim

We all know that more research needs to be done on videoconferencing. So, help that get done by completing two surveys today! These are two direct quotes from emails.

The first is from the UK:

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you can take a few minutes to help with a survey that my daughter Tamsin has prepared. Tamsin is preparing a dissertation looking at the impact of videoconferencing in the classroom. The survey is designed to give her research some basic information about who, why and where VC is being used. Tamsin is a student at City University, London, studying Business computing. Her particular interest is HCI (Human Computer Interaction) which is why she is interested in videoconferencing.

The URL for the survey is:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=414602995487

I am also hoping to introduce this method of getting feedback for the VC sessions next year. It will be interesting to see the response and the information the survey generates.

Many Thanks in advance.

Mike

Global-Leap/ Videoconferencing in the Classroom Teachers Association
Supporting, Delivering and Extending Content and Promoting Interactive Communication Technology to add value to teaching and learning across the curriculum around the world.
http://www.global-leap.org
Global-Leap/ Videoconferencing in the Classroom Teachers Association is a Not-for-Profit organisation funded by UK member subscriptions.

And the second from Massachusetts:

I am a doctoral candidate at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and I am surveying K-12 videoconferencing educators, as part of my research.
Click on this link to be taken directly to the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=161492304337
This study looks at ways videoconferencing is actually used in classrooms. We are trying to identify some videoconferencing techniques that are based on learning theory so that everyone may benefit from this information.
Your participation in this survey will be confidential and only studied as part of a group. You will remain anonymous. Also, I will post the results back to this listserv, so that you may use this research when writing grants, planning research or while implementing more videoconferencing opportunities.
The results of this survey will be useful to educators using videoconferencing as well as future research projects.
If you have questions you can e-mail me at sweeneym@chelmsford.k12.ma.us
Thank you so much for your contribution to technology research,

Marilyn A. Sweeney
Doctoral Candidate
University of Massachusetts Lowell
and
Technology Integration Specialist
Chelmsford Public Schools

Take just a few minutes today to support VC research with your time!

Filed under: VC Community | 1 Comment »

Talking to Mrs. Claus

Posted on December 5, 2006 by Janine Lim

Thanks to CESA #7, we have several classes this year connecting to Mrs. Claus in the North Pole. The session starts with questions from the students such as:

  • What’s your favorite cookie?
  • What’s the weather like in the North Pole?
  • What do you like to cook for Santa?
  • What is your favorite color?

Next the program includes a couple of stories and songs. A great first VC for young students, and covers language arts skills too. I think CESA #7 has a few slots left if you want to participate this year. What a fun connection!

Filed under: Content Providers | 1 Comment »

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