Author Archives: Janine Lim

The Problem with Free

As you know, I keep processing Skype vs. H.323 and other ramifications and changes in the videoconference world.

One thing I’ve been thinking about is how stable and sustainable a videoconference cart is. Our Polycom Viewstations from 1999 are for the most part still running! And teachers haven’t had to relearn how to use them in 11 years.

Some Free Videoconference Services

On the other hand, free services can be challenging. Free services I’ve heard mentioned in the last couple years include:

  • Oovoo
  • DimDim (oops, it’s gone already!)
  • Skype
  • TokBox (oops, it’s gone too!)
  • TinyChat
  • Can you think of any others?

Challenges of Free

  • Free services can have flaky, unreliable service. Think of the December 2010 2 day outage of Skype.
  • Think of the Delicious scare last December. The service could disappear just when you’ve gotten attached to it. (See Doug Johnson’s blog on tech longevity in the context of the Delicious scare)
  • Sustainability. You might try all these other free little VC tools. The quality is iffy & the site may go away.  You can certainly dabble in using it in your classroom; but if you want to do anything sustainable you need something you can count on.
  • Some teachers are happy to change up tech tools every six months or so. But many other teachers will not waste their time learning something they can’t count on being around in the future. Changing tech tools often jades them on technology and soon they don’t want to try anything new.
  • With free sites, often the product they are selling is YOU! Read more here. Do we really need that in education?!

What do you think? Does the “free-ness” of free tools outweigh the disadvantages? Or do you think we should be cautious and thoughtful about investing time and energy in free tools?

Board Meetings via Videoconference

The TWICE board has been meeting over videoconference since we started in 2001. The “Jazz workshop” leadership have always met over videoconferencing since it started in 2005.

So it’s a little amusing to me to read articles like this one from the Wall Street Journal. (Unfortunately I’m a little slow in blogging this 4/25/11 article, so you can only read the full article with a subscription now.)

As videoconferencing technology becomes more sophisticated, it is slowly moving up the corporate ladder to the boardroom.

In the article, board of director concerns with videoconferencing were listed while also describing the growing use of VC:

  • people feeling “at a distance”
  • people getting less involved over VC than they would face to face
  • lack of ability to have side conversations

You may think of additional issues from your experience.

On the TWICE board, we have tried to bridge the distance in a variety of ways:

  • Side conversations with a back channel chat tool such as Skype
  • A “roundtable” section at the end of the agenda for people to share their projects, programs, ideas, questions, issues
  • People make appointments with each other after the meeting for further conversation or switch to the phone after the VC
  • The chair of the meeting with call specifically on people who haven’t commented recently
  • We use the split screen to have everyone seen
  • We use thumbs up or similar gestures for voting or getting attention or requesting the floor
  • We meet TWICE a year face to face
  • We try to be deliberate about collaborating and connecting with each other outside of the official board meetings

What tips would you add for making videoconference board meetings more effective?

Interviews via Videoconference

Well, it’s job interview season, and so I thought I’d share some links and resources for interviewing via videoconference.

What about you? Have you experienced a job interview via videoconference? From either the employer or prospective employee perspective? Tips or suggestions? Please comment!

Behind the Scenes VC Tips and Tricks

As the school year winds down, I’ve been thinking about some of the strategies I use to make VCs as smooth as possible. Here are a couple of tips from a bridge control freak!

Force Video

When facilitating an ASK program with Janie Panagopoulos (a veteran VC-er), I forced the video to the school that came in late so she could see a new site. Then I quickly forced it back to her. Now she’s looking at the new school; and the other schools only saw a quick blip of that school coming in. Without interrupting her flow, I could send her a subtle message that the late school has joined.

During MysteryQuests, I like to force the video to the class that is presenting to avoid any switching. This also keeps their visuals up on screen even when the other classes are asking for clues to be repeated.

Sometimes my old Tandberg MPS acts up and the video flips like crazy. Sometimes I can fix that by forcing it to the presenting site and not allowing any video switching.

Mute Video

Another trick I discovered just this spring.

My old Tandberg MPS doesn’t get along with the Codian and RMX bridges. Both bridges tend to take over the conference so I can’t force video. Or in a scenario that happens with a couple of bridges in a south western state, the site coming in through the Codian takes over the conference and voice activation no longer works.

In both of these scenarios, I found a unique solution! Mute the video on the offending bridge!

In one MysteryQuest this spring, ALL the sites were coming in through bridges. Side rant: who in their right mind installs VC so schools can only connect through a bridge? I strongly believe they should be able to connect directly in addition to through a bridge. In that session, to make it work, I had to mute the video of all the other sites to make it work. The surprising good side effect though was that when teachers and students were seeing a loopback of their presentation, they could adjust posters and other visuals to make them easier to see.

What about you?

I realize that VC is moving towards end user control and away from bridge control. But when I’m running/facilitating/bridging a program, I like to make it as smooth and excellent an experience for the teachers and students as humanly possible. Yes, I’m a control freak!

What do you think of this kind of manipulation? Good/bad?

What other tips and tricks do you do?

Do you think new desktop VC solutions will allow for this kind of support during the program?

HD projectors in schools… or lack thereof

Do you know any schools that have all HD projectors in the classrooms yet?

Plug and Play

I remember the days of the Polycom Viewstation and VSX 7000, when you could just buy the codec, and plug it into any projector in any classroom in the school (via S-Video).

No HD!

Now, I have a school looking to replace a unit, and we’ve run into a bit of a problem! The classrooms don’t have HD projectors! The new projectors they are buying this summer are NOT HD projectors!

So… if they want to invest in a new Polycom HDX or Tandberg Edge or C20… they need an HD display! Which they don’t have in the classrooms.

You can no longer buy a codec and run it around the school / district plugging into whatever display is in the classroom. Is that really true? Please someone, prove me wrong!

Where did the middle go?

Does it seem this way to you?

  • Hardware based videoconferencing has moved up and is getting out of reach of “do-ability” for schools…
  • Skype is super easy, but not H.323 and difficult use a pan/tilt/zoom camera with it…
  • Where’s the middle option?

Is desktop VC getting more attractive?

Does it seem to you also that for ease of use and implementation through the whole school it might be easier to use desktop videoconferencing pushed beyond it’s design limits to show and share for the whole classroom? instead of trying to get the hardward based – HD videoconferencing working?

I still like carts…

I still like the ease of use of videoconference carts. But I was hoping we’d be able to soon have solutions that could be in every classroom. But a cart with an HD flat screen might still be the way to make VC the simplest for teachers. No fiddling with the settings and connections as you have to for desktop VC solutions.

I suspect the vendors think HD is the way to go now; but don’t realize that K12 schools are a few years away from having a proliferation of HD projectors.

Just thinking out loud here… do you agree? Do you notice this problem also? Is it just that our area is more rural and funds are tighter? How is it in your area? Please comment!

Reflecting on MysteryQuests Over a Decade

As I’ve finished up the MysteryQuest USA and HistoryQuest5 sessions this spring, I’ve been thinking about how our experiences with the MysteryQuests have changed over the years.

With Learning Space in 2000-2004

Our early experiences with this were with the Washington state based group Learning Space.

  • 8 classes connected at a time
  • The facilitator was at one of the classrooms
  • We all connected via ISDN
  • Everyone used maps and print materials to guess… computers / laptops weren’t available
  • 2.5 hours didn’t seem too long

Early MysteryQuest World sessions

You can watch a clip from the early quests here.

  • 6 classes presented at a time
  • Cities presented weren’t too small – they had to be on standard maps
  • I don’t remember the students struggling with taking notes
  • ISDN and H.261 made for low quality connections; but everyone loved the challenge of it!

This spring

Is it just me? I seemed to notice more issues this spring:

  • Students are really struggling with taking notes – how to identify the keyword to write down. It’s showing up in teacher evaluation comments.
  • Classes on a whole have struggled to make clues that are clear and easy to write down. I think teachers have less prep time due to ever tightening and more constrictive/restrictive curriculum.
  • I saw more evidence of less practiced presentations – which I would guess is also due to less time to devote to the project.
  • Almost every class is connecting from the classroom or the library (vs. the high school distance learning room in the early 2000s).
  • Laptops abound! Everyone seems to have much more access…
  • Much more variety in the variations on this format: 2.5 hours; 2 hours; 1.5 hours; even 45 minutes or point to point agendas!

Perish the thought, but do you think that in learning more “tech skills” students are losing their note taking and basic academic skills?  Some of you have participated in many MysteryQuests over the years. What do YOU think? How has it changed? What do you think of how it has changed?

Still, Students Love It!

Here’s a great quote from this year:

My students LOVED it. They were so busy looking for the states and cities. It was a great way to review what they had learned about geography and history this year. Parents have come to me and told me how excited the kids were about doing Mystery Quest. We LOVED it!

I think this format has consistently engaged students no matter their skill level throughout the decade or so we’ve been doing this. It remains a compelling, highly engaging and interactive videoconference format. Do you agree?

Favorite Videoconference: Brownsburg Challenger Learning Center

I’m still cleaning our old website, and archiving old things here on my blog. These are featured articles and video clips on our favorite content providers from 2000-2001 and we still love these providers and programs!

Content Provider
The Brownsburg Challenger Learning Center is a learning laboratory where students experience simulated space missions. BCLC also offers interactive distance learning programs written and presented by our flight directors. Integrating science, math, and technology, the Challenger experience fosters curiosity, discovery, and the pursuit of lifelong learning.

 “This is a great program. Entirely interactive-no real presentation. The students go right to work. This was a little pricey but in my opinion it was well worth it.””The principle was that our students were based on the moon and they were to guide another group of students who were at the
center. The other group of students were trying to decide a location on the moon to land. Both groups interacted directly with mission control. This made it very realistic.”

Teachers
Alpha Base One
Alpha Base One (your class) has been living on the Moon. The Alpha Base Two Team is enroute to the Moon and needs your assistance!! Your students will conduct hands-on experiments to acquire information that is vital to the success of the mission in progress and communicate directly with Mission Control. You have one hour to complete the simulation successfully. Good luck, Mission Specialists! This program offered during the months of October, November, January, and February. Video clip from March 21, 2001. Get QuickTime.

Budget Dust: Invest in VC for Next School Year

As the end of the school year looms, are you also cleaning up accounts and spending last bits of funds? 

Doug Johnson has blogged in the past about ways to spend “budget dust“. I think it’s a great term to describe that last little bit to spend at the end of the school year.

If you want to invest in your videoconferencing for next year, there are two excellent options. Both options allow you to spend this year’s money and use it for programs in the next school year (or even later if you want/need)…

CILC Content Dollar Bank

  • Minimum $5,000 deposit required
  • 20% service fee
  • Funds can be used on all programming on CILC including content providers, professional development, CILC Spotlights, and special events
  • If your district requires preferred vendor documentation, just do it once instead of for each provider!
  • Reduces scheduling hassle
  • More info online

Whirlidurb Membership

  • Minimum membership is $595 and you can get a custom quote.
  • No service fee
  • Access to a wide range of engaging high quality programs for K-8 students
  • Reduces scheduling hassle
  • The certification process eliminates test calls!
  • More info online

Bonus: TWICE Membership

While you’re at it, if you are a TWICE member (or were thinking about it), you might as well buy membership for next school year too!

  • Discounts on ASK program author and specialist interviews
  • Access to special facilitated projects such as Holiday Hoopla and Poetry Idol!
  • Learn more online

Plan now to expand or sustain your videoconference program for next school year!

A Good VC is Curation; A Good Lesson is Curation

Roxanne Glaser often sends me interesting ideas that I mull over. In the last several months, I’ve been thinking about her comments about curation. You’ll find that some people are suggesting that in the noise of social media, curation is “the next big thing”. For example:

Teaching is Curation

I’ve been thinking about….

  • how people are applying curation to the “noise” of the web
  • the poor search results on typical elementary research topics
  • the rumblings I’ve heard from a laptop school where teachers in higher grades grumble about the quality of scholastic skills from those students
  • the content generated sites at the top of search engines… sites that are jammed with ads and have low level quality content created for a few cents a page

I think that good teaching is curation….

  • Choosing an instructional design that meets the needs and interests of the students
  • Selecting the best resources to teach that concept
  • Creating a comfortable yet challenging learning environment
  • Selecting a few good information sources (not just Google!) for student project based learning
  • Teaching students to select quality information sources for their own research

A Good Videoconference is Curation

Arielle from The Cleveland Museum of Art presenting: “Race” is a Four Letter Word

I’ve been thinking about quality, engaging videoconferences….

  • Many are offered by museums who are already great at curation…
  • It’s true that teachers could collect the images and video clips and resources to teach a lesson the same as the videoconference; but it’s packaging all that which is hard.
  • Many awesome videoconferences are packaged lessons full of rich, visual resources…
  • Good teaching in a good videoconference is curation!

Find a Good Videoconference

Even as budgets tighten, there is still usually funding for instructional resources… great videoconferences are another excellent choice of instructional resources.

Favorite Videoconference: U.S. House of Representatives

I’m still cleaning our old website, and archiving old things here on my blog. These are featured articles and video clips on our favorite content providers from 2000-2001 and we still love these providers and programs!

Content Provider
United States House of Representatives housed in Washington, D.C. began with its first Congress March 4, 1789. It was not until recently Congress had the ability to use e-mail and videoconferencing to communicate to constituents. Teachers can videoconference to the House of Representatives by contacting their Representatives FIRST then the House of Representatives Videoconference Director.

 “I learned about his views on different topics, such as laws and regulations.”

“I think this experience was wonderful because in this case we could talk with US congress and ask about our questions, and hear about other questions in other schools.”

Students
Interview with Your Congressman
This conversation with Mr. Upton is tailored to the students questions. Teachers and students work ahead of time to generate questions on various current issues. During the video conference Mr. Upton will introduce himself and the schools participating will take turns asking their questions.

Video clip from March 13, 2000. Get QuickTime.