Today I spent the day helping out at the AT&T / MACUL Student Technology Showcase. Teams of students displayed technology projects in the halls of the Michigan State Capitol Building. After the teams had set up their display boards and laptops with sample student projects, the halls filled with legislators, photographers, and reporters. A nice variety of multimedia, programming, video production, podcasting, and digital storytelling projects were shared as students practiced their presentation skills.

Of course the team with the word “videoconferencing” in their title caught my eye! A class had a book club conversation with another class within the district. They used 12 webcams in the lab. The other school had 12 webcams as well. Students talked about the book one-on-one with the student at the other site. They usually talked to each other during their lunch time. They used NetMeeting and used the chat when the picture/audio was freezing up.

It’s an interesting use of desktop videoconferencing. I think we’ll continue to see applications of both web based and classroom videoconferencing that make sense for the curriculum. What great uses of desktop VC in the classroom have you seen recently?