Last evening I hosted a group of 18 preservice teachers from Western Michigan University who are part of an elementary science methods class. We took a trip to the Cleveland Institute of Music for a taste of their Science of Sound program. None of the students had experienced a videoconference before.

Afterward a great demo from CIM, we had some Q&A time.  I found it intriguing that immediately they wanted to know how they could access videoconferencing in the buildings where they are doing their practicums and student teaching. A few are non-traditional preservice teachers and wanted to know if their kids in local districts had access to VC. One of the parents has students in a district that shares one Polycom VSX 7000 among 5 buildings. She was interested in grants and ways to use building funding to get another unit for the building where her kids attend.

They immediately saw the value of videoconferencing. They were enthusiastic and hooked!

This class is taught by one of our local science teachers. She has used videoconferencing in her classroom and wants to make sure her students are exposed to it. We do this session each semester that she teaches the class; and clearly it works out well!