Day 19: Now, Participate in Megaconference Jr.

20 Days to Being a Better VC Coordinator

Now that you’ve been through this little training experience, it’s time to join the global learning community!

Megaconference Jr. is one of THE videoconferencing events of the year for K12 videoconferencing. It’s a 12 hour videoconference, facilitated by students, with student presenters featured. An incredible global experience, a chance for networking with other schools, and an opportunity for learning what other schools are doing with VC.

What to Expect on February 19, 2009

Because this is a large videoconference with many sites participating, it’s quite different than point to point experiences. So make sure you come into the experience with appropriate expectations.

  • You will see 30 minute sessions on all kinds of content and topic areas. The presentations come from elementary, middle, and high school students.
  • You will see a variety of presentations styles and tools. Some you’ll learn best practices; others you’ll have ideas on how to improve the presentation. Take it as a learning experience for everyone.
  • You will NOT have perfect audio and video. You should lower your expectations for the video quality.  This is partly due to the huge number of sites connecting and the variety of bandwidth capacity represented.
  • Megaconference increases the opportunities for global education. So INCREASE your expectations for global learning, and increase your patience and tolerance for international connections.
  • You will also see that some participating sites are new to VC and don’t know how to behave. i.e. MUTE your microphone in a multipoint. Take it as a learning lesson of what not to do. And make sure you are MUTED unless you’ve been called on to ask a question or interact.

Make the Most of Your Participation

  • Set up Megaconference in your library and have different classes come in and out throughout the day as they have time. Take the schedule and share it with your teachers. But warn them to be flexible because sometimes Megaconference gets off schedule due to the realtime nature of the event.
  • Make it an event to showcase the possibilities. Invite teachers and administrators to view.
  • Offer refreshments.
  • Have prizes. Make a geography game of it. Who can identify the location of the presenting site?
  • Hang up a large world map and have students mark the locations of the sites presenting throughout the day. Print the participants list (after registration closes) and have students find and mark the participating sites on the map.
  • If you’re not an interactive site, pretend that you are. Have the students answer the questions (but stay muted!).

Registration Choices

  • You can sign up to be a view only or “not interacting” site. Some schools prefer this for getting their feet wet.
  • Or you can sign up to be an interactive site. 3 schools get to interact in each session. The interactive spots go quickly, so hurry if you want to do this.

Comment Challenge

  • So, take a moment now to sign up! (If you usually register for VCs through someone else, you may want to check with them first on how you should register.)
  • If you have a story or suggestion for participating in Megaconference Jr., please comment and share!

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