Critical Supports for Teachers

This post is part of a series of posts with some of the results from a survey of my top VC-using teachers. Read more about it in the first post of this series. Remember, they are using videoconferencing to support curriculum instruction (not full length courses).

The question featured in this post is the following:

What are the supports that are critical for you to keep on using videoconferencing?

This is a qualitative representation of the results using Wordle. Click the graphic for a larger version. This time instead of including all the words, I renamed them similar topics to the same words so that the results were more understandable.

Critical Supports to Sustain Use

To me, these results are a mandate to continue the following components of our videoconferencing program:

  • Our online registration which provides scheduling for most of the programs our schools do
  • Supporting, training, sustaining VC Coordinators, making sure they are replaced and trained if they leave
  • Providing resources, both print and web-based, to help teachers see how VCs match their curriculum
  • Offering free programs to our schools (ASK and collaborative projects) that are tightly matched to their curriculum, including the “boxes” that come with the ASK programs
  • Offering mini-grants to help pay for programs
  • Increasing access to VC in every school
  • Assisting principals and tech coordinators in the districts with supporting VC

How would your teachers answer this question? If you’re a teacher, do you agree with this list? What supports must continue to sustain your use of videoconferencing? If you support teachers, are you able to provide most of this support? Do you provide any other supports? What do you see as most important? Please comment!

2 replies on “Critical Supports for Teachers”

  1. Like all the process of teaching, VC requires prep time. These preparation may include class discussions, printed materials and research.

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