Yesterday I snapped a picture of the cart that was used to go out and about on the conference floor to send sessions and posters etc back to the IVC ops room and then out to the remote ISTE sites.
It’s a Logitech HD 9000 on the top of the cart – hooked up to Vidyo (GCI Alaska supplied logins).
Nice setup, huh?!
Poster Session: Amy Colucci, Jefferson County Public School with Jeremy Renner
Just stopped by a poster session on the way that Jefferson County Public Schools uses classroom-based videoconferencing systems to facilitate real-time lesson studies without interrupting the classroom instructional.
I talked to Pam Caudill, who is the videoconferencing contact supporting the project. It’s a really cool professional development model. (In case you’re interested, they are using Tandberg equipment.)
So imagine this:
Sweet, huh?!
Think of this:
Neat use of VC!
ISTE Session: Elizabeth Percival, Timberlane Regional School District (NH) with Christina Hubley
Elizabeth and Christina are describing how they are using videoconferencing in the elementary classroom.You can get their PowerPoint from the ISTE site here.
News: Center for Puppetry Arts is trying to get funding so they can offer their programs via Elluminate for schools that don’t have H323 videoconferencing.
Tips for connecting to content providers:
Tips for Collaborations
Ideas for One Time Connections
Camera Tip:
Make sure teachers talking to each other over a videoconference collaboration is to face the camera so students see that they are talking to someone on the television.
Collaborations: Multiple Connections
They only do collaborations that actually tie into their curriculum.
Some collaborations evolve because other teachers have really cool units and teachers want to learn from each other.
They fund programs with special funds for distance learning and they connect with the community to help raise funds and raise awareness.
Community Connections
NASA Demo
For the videoconference they connected to the NASA Glenn Research Center and gave an overview of their programs. NASA has several centers across the country that all over videoconferencing programs. We learned some cool things about NASA, weightlessness, facts about John Glenn, etc.
NASA is also thinking about offering their programs via Elluminate, Adobe Connect, and other tools for those who don’t have videoconferencing. But they can NOT do Skype due to security issues.
Don’t forget also that the NASA DLN offers webcasts as well that anyone can participate in.
NASA correlates everything with the national standards because the state standards change so much.
NASA showed off some of the cool technology they use in their sessions and some of the neat videos – like from the vomit comet – and what water does during a free fall. It stays in a ball due to surface tension. We learned how to go to the bathroom in space, which of course kids love. Liquid waste is recycled to turn into drinking water and for washing.
(This session featured the clickers and that was pretty cool although Quizdom was late bringing them in.)
They are also working with the Great Lakes Science Center to be able to offer more programs with and for NASA as well.
NASA (and other providers) have some programs that are more than one VC; and students do projects in between the videoconference sessions.
NASA programs are free (well actually you pay
for it every April 15.)
Other Notes
Tips for Choosing Providers
They gave away two programs during their program. Sweet! Drawing was given to the people who had the oldest coins in their pocket/purse.
Note for planning: The sessions that are hosted by educators in the trenches and include what they are doing plus a connection somewhere are really well attended and very well received!
This morning I popped into the SIG IVC Ops room to see what’s happening. Today at ISTE the videoconferencing peeps are running remote ISTE. Remote ISTE is a way to bring a day full of ISTE experiences to a site that is remote.
Every year one of the sites is always from the state that is hosting ISTE the following year – so this year MAGPI is hosting Remote ISTE for Pennsylvania. You can check out their website here to see how they are organizing it. There are three other places across the U.S. hosting Remote ISTE.
It costs about $1500 to host a remote ISTE; and you have to have videoconferencing capabilities (H323!). Some places pay the cost for their attendees, other places charge their attendees to recoup the cost.
Agenda
The agenda for today includes:
So if you ever wondered why there aren’t any more SIG IVC sessions on Tuesday, it’s because the crew is busy with remote NECC. I did find a couple other poster/sessions and will blog those later today. Don’t forget also that you can follow ISTE remotely with ISTE Unplugged.
Just learned in the SIG IVC Forum that there are two new content providers: Denver Museum of Nature and Science; and the Minnesota Historical Society is launching this fall. Watch for their new programs to be posted on www.VCcontentproviders.org soon!
It’s ISTE SIG IVC Forum time, and we’re getting our tickets for the prize drawing!
First, we’re hearing some presentations on various things going on in VC land:
News:
After that there was some time to share business cards & eat snacks; some items of business from the leadership; and some time to share what everyone is doing, and a whole bunch of prizes. If you missed it, you missed out!
One of the most interesting pieces of information I learned at ISTE today was through @kusdiva who visited the Avermedia booth. She found out and shared via Twitter that they will offer this fall a new HD videoconference system – small and low cost – but cost not set yet as you can’t buy it yet!
Check out the picture from their website. You can sign up to learn more about it when it comes out. I’m hoping to get a chance to stop by their booth.
(Who says H323 is dead? Certainly not with new players entering the market!!)
SIG IVC Showcase: Charice Black, Utah Education Network
Charice described the full length courses they offer and coordinate across the state. You can see their website describing their network and courses here.
Utah Education Network has been operating the state-owned videoconferencing system for over 25 years, currently managing approximately 250 events per day. The classes and training events are broadcast to over 500 IVC sites and thousands of students in every corner of the state. The courses highlighted in this session are operating at the highest standards and with consistent positive feedback and student performance outcomes.
All sites are equipped with the capability to broadcast video and content over two separate channels, allowing for the use of document cameras, video, computer presentations and other media without losing the ability to see and interact with the instructor. Instructors from highlighted courses will share ideas and techniques they use to deliver their content in effective and interesting ways.
We VCed with one of their broadcast sites to hear about what they are doing; we also talked to one of the teachers in a automotive class with an SUV in the auto shop behind him as he talked to us. We also heard little video clips from various teachers across the state who teach on the system, including clips of students in an American Sign Language class. I get the sense that Utah really has the full course method of VCing down pat! They are experts at making it work well! Nicely zoomed in; great best practice use of VC demonstrated.
They usually do their calls at 768 or 1080+ – so they usually do high speeds and high definition – so doing 384K for the conference was “coming down” for them!
It was great to talk to the automotive teacher and hear how he’s teaching and ask him questions!
SIG IVC Showcase: Helen Headrick, Higher Education Channel-Television with Tim Gore
HEC-TV’s programs are not available on demand – because they take videoconferencing onsite live to a location. The programs are also live on television and streamed through HEC-TV. Their programs are also archived on their website, and also in iTunes University. You can be view only in the session, or you can be interactive. Each session has only 4 interactive sites. These are television shows, and hosted by a producer and includes “b-roll” video clips to include in the program.
While their funding is from St. Louis and they do their programs free; they welcome participation from other areas and states.
Sweet – they have a Tricaster for their programs -and they gave a great overview of how it works.
Your students are interacting with a LIVE TELEVISION program – in terms of videoconference and production quality of the session.
We watched a clips where they went onsite to Shakespeare in the Park; an explosion in a quarry actually onsite (The Science Behind Explosions) – and an artist in a contemporary art museum. Students are interacting with the experts onsite.
Tim Gore and his team did a by request program for us a couple years ago where we needed a judicial program – and they went onsite and we talked to the judge and court reporter and saw a bit of an actual trial. You can email live@hectv.org for requests too. A few years ago Tim was involved in the Lewis and Clark re-enactment and VCed live from the trip. Amazing programs!
They totally allow bridges to dial in and connect to a whole bunch of schools behind it.
They are doing a program on Sept 17 for Constitution Day and they are doing it on the Supreme Court selection process. Sweet! Gotta sign up for that! Sign up for their e-list here. Registrations open up about a month before the program. They are doing a The Giver program next year! They are starting a new series of programs on The Civil War. They also have a series of Holocaust survivors.
Their programs are an hour long; and they don’t mind – you just need to let Tim, the host know that’s what you are doing.
A nice ending to the session was a comment to Tim from the audience: “you retired after 29 years of teaching and landed the most awesome job in the world. Thank you for staying passionate about education, as this is exactly what we need in our schools.” Awesome!!
SIG IVC Showcase: John Goehrke, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
John is giving an overview of the programs that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame offers. The room is again jam packed with a great group of educators.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame does point to point connections because they believe in the interactive engagement. They use rock and roll to teach about social studies, language arts, and other curriculum areas. Their programs are correlated to national standards. All the lessons are an hour long and include lessons and units to prepare the students and extend the lesson after the videoconference.
Their most popular program is Ball of Confusion: Rock and Roll and Social Change in the 60s and 70s – which is great for social studies classes – especially those that study the decades.
Clips from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are awesome – everyone in the room really enjoying them. (There’s another thing you really couldn’t do with Skype!)
This program is so popular and so requested, that they have added another program on the decade of the 80s.
One of the best programs that I know of out there for computer/technology classes is the Hip-Hop Technology: From Turntables to Computers – where students learn how the technology has changed through time. Very cool – we’ve had several middle school computer classes do this…. John showed the turntable used in the program, and described how the students produce a song that is sent to the class as an MP3 afterwards.
One of the activities they use is the Rock and Roll Jukebox – and participants get to choose the song to be played. The audience really got into that too!
Another great showcase – if you haven’t visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, be sure to schedule with them for next year!!
