Category Archives: Videoconferencing

Is VC an Expensive Luxury?

This morning I had the privilege of presenting some of my research to the Schools Videoconference User Group in the UK. Here are a few interesting tidbits & comments.

Safety and Videoconferencing
I didn’t get to hear this presentation due to its early morning time, however, I checked out Heather’s slides. You should too. See what you think of her perspectives on the safety of students in a videoconference. Do you agree? Does your school follow these policies?

France Videoconferencing Site
There was a brief presentation on this site for collaborative videoconferences between French and UK schools. I asked if US schools were welcome too, and the answer is yes! I’ll be sharing this with my French teachers.

Night and Day Around the World
Also hear a brief report of this Night and Day Around the World videoconference hosted by JVCS. Among other things, they connected students to a scientist with a telescope in Australia – to see how it is night in Australia while day in the UK!

UK National Parks
All 14 UK National Parks now have videoconferencing! (They beat us to it! There’s a movement in the US to get all the national parks to offer distance learning as well. I guess we have a few more parks though.)

Is VC an Expensive Luxury, or Now More Important Than Ever?
After my presentation, Tim Boundy led a discussion of this big question. What would you say? Please comment!!

Here are some of the interesting comments I noted during the discussion:

Head Teacher (aka Principal) Vision
There was quite a bit of discussion about leadership and the need for leadership to support videoconferencing. In one very successful school, the videoconference coordinator shared that her head teacher has a vision: that they take the learning to the students – vs. taking the students to the learning. This vision drove their use of ICT, including videoconferencing.

What vision does your head teacher / principal have for technology, distance learning, and videoconferencing? How did they get that vision? Can we influence their vision? What if they don’t have the vision? How can we help them get the vision?

Two Views of Funding
Tim shared the dichotomy of views he is hearing on funding. Which one do you hear?

  • We have to cut our videoconferencing program. We don’t have enough funding!
  • We have to use videoconferencing now more than ever so we can save money.

Are you hearing these two views? Which one do you hear the most?

In my area at least, funding is super tight, and videoconferencing use is up!

Busy Content Provider: National Archives
It was neat to hear from the National Archives and what their perspective is on videoconferencing. They are booked a year in advance for onsite field trips from schools. The only way they can expand their outreach to schools is via technologies such as videoconferencing. They see it as a must to reach their goals of outreach to schools. In addition, they find it easier to meet the needs of secondary level classes by offering the programs on demand, vs. on Wednesday at 1:00 pm.

Using VC to Teach Science Teachers
I didn’t quite catch who shared this story – but I thought it was so intriguing. The speaker shared that science teachers don’t want to learn more about how to teach, they want to learn cool science things they can share with their students. So they offered a videoconference on how to do a squid dissection in your classroom – and the teachers loved it. It wasn’t about the VC – it was about the science. The technology just enabled it.

What do you think? Is VC an expensive luxury? What do you think of the comments & questions shared? It was a very interesting discussion, and I was glad to be invited. Please share your own thoughts on these issues!

Cameras for Desktop Videoconferencing

Yesterday I had a couple of excellent meetings with our district tech directors. We were discussing bringing desktop videoconferencing to our classrooms with interactive whiteboards or even just projectors to use as classroom based videoconferencing.

We had a great discussion on the different ways to do the web cameras. I had only been thinking about a basic under-$100 web cam. But they had some other creative comments.

Wide Field of View

Our Berrien Springs district has a long term collaboration with a school in Korea – using Skype. They have been experimenting with different webcams. They found that the teacher prefers a web cam with a wider field of view than the newer HD web cams that have a much narrower field of view.

In addition, they’ve been using a wireless mic with great success. Still waiting to hear which it is.

Document Cameras as Webcams

I learned yesterday that some document cameras can be used as a webcam. That if they come with a TWAIN driver, then they can be used as a USB webcam. But most document cameras only use USB to get pictures off the document camera; not as a webcam. Another district is considering whether they can find a document camera with enough features that can also be the camera for the videoconference. Imagine being able to use the same camera to show the class or a document. Could be easy for teachers.

Camcorders with USB Streaming

Remember when you could connect a camera via firewire to your computer and use that for your camera? We’ve mostly lost that functionality with USB connections. However, a couple tech directors shared about camcorders that could stream through USB. This would make an excellent camera for the desktop VC as well.

Not Standardizing

Someone suggested to me that I have our districts standardize all on the same webcam. But after hearing the discussion yesterday, I think we’ll get better research and ideas if we let them try out different options.

What webcams are you using? What do you prefer? What criteria are you using to choose? Please comment!

New Skype-Sponsored Skype in the Classroom Directory

Skype Classroom Interview Photo

Did you see that Skype is developing their own Skype in the Classroom Directory?

It’s supposed to come out in December, and you can pre-register now.

I am very excited about this development. Right now there are a several scattered sites and places to find people, but one central location would be super helpful.

While we’re waiting, these are the places I know of where you can find Skype partners. Do you know any others?

Lest We Forget Veterans Day

Today we had a several classes interview a panel of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam Veterans. Students had prepared questions and expressions of gratitude for our veterans.

One highlight from today was World War II veteran Arden Pridgeon sharing his “vmail” and explaining to the students how the letters were sent on microfiche and then printed in the U.S. saving several thousand pounds in postage.

Mr. Arden Pridgeon reads a snippet of one of his letters home.
On the document camera, we showed the small vmail letter compared to the original.

For the veterans, the highlight is always the thanks from the other classes. This class made posters to share with the veterans, which they really really appreciated!

We have more sessions coming up the rest of the year. December 7 is next. Hope you can join us!

 

Day of the Dead for Spanish Classes

Today I’ve been listening to four connections that are a result of the Jazz workshop. The lesson plan was written in the workshop this summer.

One of the pairs were two of the teachers in the workshop this summer; but my teacher needed 3 more partners, so we used other contacts to find the rest of the partners needed.

Our students were 7th graders, and our partners were 5-7th grade classes in TX and NY.

Hands-On Activities!

This is one of the first collaborations I’ve seen where BOTH! classes sent materials to each other to do hands-on activities during the videoconference.

Our class taught the partner classes how to do papel picado artwork with tissue paper. Students explained about the art, the history, and how it fits into the Day of the Dead celebration. Then some of our students led both classes in making their own papel picado tissue artwork.

Our partner classes shared different things with us.

  • One partner class was a music class. They sang a Spanish song and then taught it to our students. They had sent a hand-out with the words to our students so they could follow along and learn the Spanish words. The song was Yo Te Vide. With this partner class, our students wanted to share their Spanish alphabet song.
  • Another class shared their paper plate skeleton faces and popsicle stick art projects. They explained how they made it.
  • The other partner classes shared with our students their sugar skulls. They taught us the history and meaning of the sugar skulls. Then taught our students how to make sugar skulls and our students followed along. It was kind of like a student-led cooking show!

These connections were neat to watch. Students were actively engaged on both sides. Fantastic experience for all the students!

Monster Mayhem Ends with a Bang!

Today was the last day of Monster Mayhem for this year (although we have two rescheduled ones next week!). XX classes participated in a collaboration between Berrien RESA, Dallas ISD, REMC 1, and Whirlidurb. Here are a few more pictures of 4th and 5th grade monsters from today. I heard great comparisons and lots of learning about respective communities, too!

Next week we finish off the Halloween theme with 8 sessions with 3 classes each connecting to the Cranbrook Bat Conservatory for ASK Specialist: Stellaluna. Then it’s time to plan for turkeys and holiday videoconferences!

Monster Mayhem Day 2

Another 6 Monster Mayhem connections today (along with 4 TWICE ASK programs). Here are some highlights from today’s Mayhem!

Whiteboard Similarities and Differences

This teacher used their interactive whiteboard to display the PDF comparison sheet. Then while both classes were muted for 2 minutes, they made a list of similarities and differences. Then in sharing these observations with the other class, they zoomed in on the whiteboard to share.

More Pairs

Here are some more monster pairs from today.

Lots of Learning

Sometimes the pairs seem very different. This is where much learning occurs. In this pair, the original monster is on the left. The copy is on the right.

Below is the description that was written for the original monster. Does the copy match the description?! Pretty close – even though the monsters don’t look too similar. This comparison caused a lot of discussion on descriptive words, materials used, and what could have been done differently.

Beef the Schugl caused the toughest Marines to scream!
On top of her head is a 3 inch pink bow made of silk.
Her beady silver eyes (1 inch each) were ringed in white eyeliner and her nose was barely visible under her thick coat of brown, dusty hair.
Beef’s teeth (1 inch long and 1 1/2 inches wide) always stick out at odd angles from beneath Beef’s straight line of a mouth (4 inches), and are as silver as her eyes.
Her dress is so blue it almost makes you blind and has a shiny pink heart in its middle.
Her tiny feet (4 inches each), compared to her whole body (13 inches tall), make her fall over a lot.
Beef can’t wait for the fashion show!

New Extension Activity Idea

I listened to two third grade teachers discuss how it would be great to have the students write comparison paragraphs on the differences and similarities between the two classes. They decided to email each other pictures of the monsters so that they could study it further in class and write their paragraphs.

Monster Mayhem, Tornado Warnings, and More

Today was our first day of this year’s Monster Mayhem with Whirlidurb and Dallas. We had a busy, but learning-filled day! In addition to our monsters, we also had classes participating in the TWICE ASK programs on bullying with author Dana Lehman, and two connections with the Cleveland Zoo and the Lee Richardson Zoo. Here are some highlights and lessons:

Tornado Warnings

At about 9:15 when my first calls started coming up, the whole county was under a tornado warning. Originally it was till 10:00 am, but then extended to 10:45 am. Six of my videoconferences were affected.

I spent a goodly amount of time on the floor under a desk away from the window with my phone and laptop/Skype texting and messaging to rearrange, reschedule, and calm down involved educators. Four of the VCs we were able to reschedule for this afternoon.

Reflection question: What is the craziest thing you’ve done to make sure your videoconferences happened?

Monster Mayhem

Here are some of the monster pairs from today. Lots of great comparisons and discussions: what is the same? what is different? what could we have written better?

4th grade

5th Grade


1st Grade (I only caught pics for one pair of their monsters.)

TWICE ASK: Adventures at Walnut Grove & I Double Dare You

We also had several classes in the TWICE ASK program with author Dana Lehman, on two of her picture books: Adventures at Walnut Grove and I Double Dare You. Students asked questions about bullying and teasing, as well as the writing and publishing process. Great program!

The Cleveland Zoo

Another class connected to The Cleveland Zoo for their Boo! I’m a Bat program. Great session. Had two classes participate in last week’s program as well. Great visuals & costumes!

Desktop Videoconferencing

Finally, due to the tornado and a couple other problems, in one of my sessions, the teacher did the videoconference on her own! with a desktop videoconferencing solution that we are currently testing (and will remain unnamed). The software was installed on the teacher’s computer. Check out the video we received from them. Can’t tell the difference between this and a regular codec! Yay!

What a day! How did your VCs go today?

Sustained Collaborations: Weather Buddies

This is our second year participating in the Dallas ISD’s Weather Buddies program. While we do many collaborations, they are usually just one meeting between the classes. I’m just never sure how to make a long term collaboration work.

However, Lori Colwill at Dallas ISD has been running the year-long weather buddies program for two years now. It’s very popular and I’ve seen several copycat projects on CAPspace.

We had a couple connections last week, and we have two today as well. This October meeting is the first meeting between the classes. In the October session, they are learning about each other and about the weather in their respective locations.

Classes shared weather forecasts, and pictures from the community to show raking leaves, colored trees, etc.

Classes also like to turn the camera out the window to show what the weather is like right now. Today it was grey in Michigan and blue skies in TX, so of course our kids reacted excitedly!

Another class shared their weather bear – to show he just had a jacket on, but not a scarf, hat or mittens.

Last year I only had one class participate all year; but this year I have several more.

I’ve never really had an idea on how to make a long term sustained collaboration work on a scale. It’s easier when the teachers decide to keep connecting. But I’ve heard a lot of teachers say “let’s connect again” and they never do. It seems they need a nudge to schedule the next connection. Otherwise life gets busy and it doesn’t happen.

What I like about Weather Buddies this year is that each class has committed to a specific day of the week and time; and there is a specific week for Weather Buddies all year – October, December, January and May. This way it’s on the schedule! I find that if a VC gets “scheduled”, it will likely happen. But if it’s just an idea, often it doesn’t get past the idea.

I appreciate learning how to do sustained, long term, multi-connection collaborations from Lori. Maybe soon I’ll be inspired to think of my own. In the meantime, we love Weather Buddies!

Great VCs This Week

Now that September is over, my videoconference calendar has more programs. It’s getting busier! Here’s a flavor of some of the programs we did this week:

What are your favorite programs from this week?