Monthly Archives: April 2011

ISTE Early Bird Registration Ends May 1

Are you going to ISTE this year? Need a reason to?

Early bird registration ends May 1!

Join the SIG IVC pirates – on site in Philly – or via distance!

Participate in the ISTE Videoconference Playground!

Here’s a snippet from Roxanne Glaser, Lead Pirate and Planner of this amazing experience:

Work has begun on the Video Conference Playground at ISTE 2011. Last year, I led a band of pirates as we shared our passion for video conferencing with others in Denver. Here are some of the pictures from last summer.This year, in Philly, the playground will be even bigger with more connections and equipment for you to learn about in a fun, hands-on environment.

We are looking for more people to help us create an exceptional learning experience for attendees who want to learn more about the power of video conferencing in the curriculum.

Read the full post here and get involved!

2011 Teachers' Favorite Awards: Vote by May 19

Thank you to everyone who has already voted! If you haven’t, please vote soon!

Berrien RESA is hosting 6th Annual Teacher’s Favorite Awards to select the Best Content Providers for the 2009-2010 school year. Results will be shared via the Berrien RESA VC Content Providers Database and the videoconferencing listservs.

Many of you use the Berrien RESA VC Content Providers Database.

Polycom has chosen to do a drawing for prizes to random participants of the survey to encourage participation. If you wish to be included in the drawing, add your contact information at the end of the survey. Polycom will select the winners randomly.

Click this link to vote for your favorite content providers in each category

You must complete the survey by May 19, 2011 to be included in the drawing but voting will be open through June 3.

Please share this announcement with your local videoconferencing colleagues. We welcome entries from teachers, even if they vote in only one category/subject area.

Thank you for taking the time to vote!

Showing Off VC at a School Opening

Earlier this year we had one of the coolest VCs that we’ve done. It was very simple really, but it was who attended that made it cool!

Her Royal Highness, The Princess Anne, was attending a school opening at one of our collaborative partner schools in Wales.

The school officials wanted Princess Anne to see a videoconference IN SESSION while she was touring the school!

So our class worked with one of their classes to prepare a very simple VC:

  • Introductions on both sides
  • Info about our communities
  • Some question and answer time

We had to submit info about our school for security to check us out ahead of time.

Our students prepared a special greeting for Her Royal Highness.

Think about it!

  • How do you promote videoconferencing in your school?
  • Have your administrators seen a successful, powerful engaging videoconference?
  • Have you invited parents to watch a videoconference in your school?
  • Who else might be interested and therefore willing to support (financially and otherwise) the videoconference program in your school?

I was very impressed with our colleagues in Wales who found videoconferencing important enough to show off to an important visitor!

Hooking Teachers on Videoconferencing

The perennial challenge of videoconferencing is to get teachers to use it! They have so many good reasons to resist using it! If you’re just getting started, here are some ideas to get past that first block.

Select a Couple Teachers

Think about who you could start with. Pick someone who:

  • Willing to try something new
  • Flexible
  • Based on content/what’s available

Ask Teachers Questions

As you try to find videoconferences that meet curriculum and teacher interests, ask your teachers these three questions from Linda McDonald.

  • Ask what about the critical target objectives based on testing data.
  • Ask about areas of curriculum that teacher think are important but don’t seem to have time to teach.
  • Ask which content students struggle understanding.

Plan on a Progression of Support

Start off with a very high level of support, and then slowly teach your teachers additional skills so they are more independent.

  1. In the first year, or at least for the very first videoconference, do everything for your teachers. Register for them, give them prep information and help them know how to prepare, remind them a few times before the VC, connect for them and run the camera / remote for them.
  2. As soon as you can, teach your teachers how to do their own registrations.  Keep assisting with connections  and using the remote.
  3. Next, start handing the remote to the teachers and have them mute/unmute, move the camera, and use presets during their VC. Help them set the presets before the VC.
  4. Finally, teach them how to dial on their own too!

Through all of this progression, staying available to assist is critical for the sustainability of the use of videoconferencing in your school/area.

Your Turn

What about you? What tips do you have for hooking teachers on videoconferencing their very first time? Think of the last teacher you got started with VC. What was it that caught his/her interest? Please comment!

TxDLA: Skype vs. Standards-based VC: The Showdown

Here are links and resources for my second TxDLA presentation today (Skype vs. Standards-Based VC: The Showdown):

Links:

H.323 Desktop VC Options (a few… please comment to add more)

Hybrid / Cross-Over Solutions

  • Vidyo (send a link to anyone to join your VC; also connects to H.323)
  • Blue Jeans Network (connect Skype, phone, H.323 etc. all in the same conference)

Previous Blog Comparisons

Please feel free to comment, add additional resources, or share different views!

TxDLA: Inspiring Teachers' Use of VC

Here are links and resources for my first TxDLA presentation today (Inspiring Teachers’ Use of Videoconferencing):

Other blog posts on working with teachers:

Feel free to comment or ask questions!

Exciting Changes in the VC Industry

Did you see these blog posts yesterday?

And, in other news:

All these changes raise several questions:

  • If schools want to connect to content providers and other classrooms globally, what should they buy?
  • If content providers want to upgrade their current systems or start providing programs for schools what should they buy? (Seems to me a LifeSize Passport might be an interesting choice for the ability to send high quality content to both H.323 advanced videoconference systems and to Skype. But does it have enough inputs for all the great visuals content providers share with us?)
  • Do all these changes make it so that teachers need less or more support figuring out how to connect to whoever they want to bring to their classroom? My gut is they need more. What do you think? Seems like full service support providers such as Whirlidurb can make this much more seamless for schools. The array of choices and options is getting dizzying!
  • If you were going to use videoconferencing for full length courses now, what kind of videoconferencing would you choose?

Your Turn

What questions and potential changes do you see from these developments? Please comment!

Lest We Forget: Korean War

Today we had a great group of Korean War veterans to talk to our students locally and around the country. This is part of our Lest We Forget series that occurs in collaboration with our local Lest We Forget veterans organization.

Panel members participating today:

Red Sage, Jim O’Malley, Jim Brinkman, Jim Ball

Here is a sampling of the questions from today:

  • What did you do in your leisure time?
  • What techniques did you use in interrogation?
  • How did the terrain affect combat?
  • What impact did the Korean War have on American citizens?
  • How did you feel about the firing of General MacArthur?
  • Did you share a lot of experiences with soldiers from other UN countries?
  • What lesson should we learn from the Korean War?
  • Were you drafted or did you enlist?
  • How often did you hear from home?
  • How were both sides of prisoners of war treated?

Our high school Lest We Forget Vietnam session in May is full; but we still have room in the middle school version based on the book The Wall. May 17. Would love to have you join us!

What's Up with SIP?

So, have you seen the rumblings of using the SIP standard instead of H.323 in schools?

I ran into this during Read Around the Planet.

Some schools with TANDBERG installations on the east coast gave out their address to dial as an email address! This caused some confusion and trouble for Read Around the Planet this year. They didn’t seem to know that most schools with H.323 couldn’t dial it or didn’t know how to.

I don’t really understand all the technology – but I see the effect on educators trying to connect “advanced videoconferencing” with other schools who have “advanced videoconferencing” (i.e. Polycom, Lifesize, Cisco-TANDBERG, etc.).

These are the questions that are raised in my brain. What about for you?

  • How does an old Viewstation connect to SIP?
  • What has to be in place for H.323 to connect to SIP?
  • Why is it that the school with the new TANDBERG HD installation couldn’t dial an IP address with the dial protocol on auto? They had to select H.323. That’s not very educator/user friendly. Most educators don’t know the difference between H.323 and SIP. I barely understand it!
  • Why is it that this school with new TANDBERG HD equipment couldn’t call older Polycom systems during Read Around the Planet? I think it might have been Viewstations they were trying to dial. Shouldn’t H.323 be able to call any H.323?
  • If a content provider buys a new system that uses SIP – who will advise them on how to connect to schools that can only dial out?
  • Is Cisco-TANDBERG really pushing SIP now?

I am trying to understand the ramifications of this for programs such as Read Around the Planet, collaborations between schools through CAPspace, connections between schools and content providers around the world, etc.

What do you think? Any ideas? Please comment!

How to Expand a Collaboration: Poetry with England

Note: This is a real post; even though it’s April 1. 🙂

This week we’ve had 14 classes in England and Michigan connect together to share poetry! We’ve had performances, recitations with actions and motions, and even costumes! What a celebration of words! Thank you to Heather Hadfield for collaborating with us!

Note the technology is used to connect the students and to see and hear each other; but print materials are very important! Love the book and the map in this picture!

How to Run an Extended Collaboration

I thought it might be helpful for you to learn how we set this up so that you also can do more collaborations. I’ve used this strategy for many collaborations in the last few years. It’s one of the ways we provide programs to our schools.

Step 1: Preparation

  • Pick a partner: I started with someone I knew who also supports several schools using videoconferencing.
  • Pick a curriculum topic: We picked a topic that is in our curriculum and theirs: poetry.
  • Pick dates: This one was fun because our spring break is April 4-8; England is off for Easter from April 11-22; then they are off again for the royal wedding. We didn’t want to wait till May, so we picked this last week before our spring break. It was a little off because our schools do poetry in April, but we still had interest.

Step 2: Get Organized

I really prefer a wiki for this type of collaboration so that all the information is in a place where all the partners can access it. In 2009, I standardized all my project websites to make my work flow more efficient (anything to get more VCs!).

We worked together to set up a wiki with these essential components:

Step 3: Advertising and Registration

Next, Heather and I advertised to our teachers and schools.

  • Registration: When one of us found an interested teacher, we entered all the details on the scheduling page.
  • Pairing: If the teacher matched with one already listed, we matched up the pair.  If not, we made a new pair table on the page.
  • Confirmation letter: After a pair was complete, I used our confirmation letter template to send an email introducing the teachers to each other and giving additional directions.

Heather and I both subscribed to changes on the wiki, so we knew when new registrations came in that needed to be partnered.

Both of us reached out to particular schools and teachers to finish all the pairing.

It took us about two weeks to get every interested teacher matched.

Step 4: Test Calls

Sometimes when I do this type of collaboration, I’m collaborating with a region that we already know. Then we skip test calls entirely! This time though, we tested.

  • Set a date & time window: We picked a Friday morning my time; afternoon in England. Heather made sure the schools had their equipment on; I tested dialing out to them.
  • Skype: We talked on Skype. This removed the international phone calls from both sides; and made it easy to troubleshoot any issues that arose. We did have a few things to solve – mic cables, muting and unmuting, etc.

Step 5: Videoconference!

Finally, make the actual connections. We still stayed in touch this week.

  • Skype:We used Skype to solve any connection issues – and to communicate when the schools were up & running.
  • Feedback: We also shared with each other – mostly via Skype and email – any feedback or comments from the participating teachers.

Your Turn:

Have you done collaborations like this? What tips and tricks do you have to make it go smoothly? Please comment!