Tag Archives: Collaborations

Day 15: School to School Collaborations

This week in our 20 Days Challenge to Better VC Projects, we’ve been talking about how to scale your own projects. Another way to scale projects is to collaborate school-to-school, with multiple teachers from each school connecting with each other.

So how does that work?

Finding a school partner

It is very rare to advertise for a partner school and actually get a response. Most people aren’t willing to commit to multiple collaborations with an unknown partner. It’s better to build on a collaborative relationship and expand it further.

  • Think about your Read Around the Planet partners from the last few years. Would you like to work with any of them further?
  • Think about your other collaborations that you have done. Are there any partners who were easy to work with?
  • If your location has participated in the Jazz Workshop, other participants make great partners too.
  • If you haven’t done enough collaborations yet, then start building your network of potential partners by responding to collaborations on CAPspace and CILC; participating in Read Around the Planet, and following other videoconference coordinators on Twitter.

Planning Together

Videoconference to Plan Together

After you find someone willing to work with you, plan a videoconference with them.

  • Brainstorm possible simple sharing that your teachers can do. (weather, community, poetry, etc.)
  • Bring your schedules and compare them.
  • Bring a list of interested teachers.

One of my coordinators has done this successfully, and walked away from the planning time with 10 videoconferences scheduled!

Benefits

An in depth collaboration with another school has several benefits:

  • Less test calls! If you test once and know how to connect; you can have multiple connections without doing additional test calls.
  • More in depth collaboration. Often school to school collaborations expand to each pair of teachers connecting multiple times during the school year. It’s very difficult to get a “cold” / new partner to commit to multiple VCs from the start of the relationship. With school to school, this collaboration can evolve over time.
  • Long term relationships lead to more collaborations. As you get to know each other further; and compare curriculum and interests, you’ll think of even more collaborative VCs that your classes can do together.

Your Turn

Please comment! Have you done any school to school collaborations? What made it work? What made it challenging?

Don’t forget! Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections, a six week online course starts Monday January 25. We can still get you registered if you want to join!

Day 14: Key Communications for Project Success

Once you have a wiki set up with all the elements of your project, you will need to think about how to communicate with your partner(s).

Confirmation Letter

This letter is important to begin communication with partners. Timely and succinct communication is imperative. Always include the time zone. I try to always copy the technical contact on any communications to teachers, so that they are in the communication loop.

  • Project title, date & time (including ZONE)
  • Test call date & time (including ZONE) & connection details
  • Preparation information
  • Action Items: what to do next (including any benchmark dates)

Other optional components:

  • Information about recording and video releases (if applicable… I’ve been trying to record more to get examples to put online)
  • Contact information for partner teacher (for exchanges)
  • Suggested agenda (if not already determined/facilitated)

Test Call Reminder

Sometimes I combine the test call and preparation reminders.

  • Project name
  • Test call date & time
  • Connection info: IP, dial direction, trouble # to call

Preparation Reminder

Not all projects get a preparation reminder. MysteryQuests do for sure. Lots of reminders about presentation preparation and teachers really appreciate that!

  • MysteryQuest projects: don’t forget to send in your city-state / city-country / history-mystery
  • MysteryQuest projects: Tips on making clues, presenting clearly, making sure all the clues are included, a reminder to make a visual for revealing the answer
  • Encouragement!!
  • Timeline for when different parts of the project need to be completed.

Post-Project Email

  • Thank you for participating
  • Stats on the success/participation
  • Link to evaluation form
  • Link to a blog post about the project.
  • What else?

Challenge: When you get those confirmation emails from content providers or collaborators, keep a folder with really good examples to model yours after.

Day 13: Wikis for Teachers: The 4-1-1

By Roxanne Glaser

I can remember when I first heard the word wiki. I giggled and thought, “That is the goofiest sounding word” and went on about my business of emailing something or another. Then one day someone invited me to write on their wiki and it was so easy! When I also discovered how to track changes with the history, RSS feeds or even with email, I was completely in love with wikis and have been ever since. Here is a short video about the power of wikis.

The most effective way to learn is to take a bit of information and then do something with it. So let’s get going.

Step 1: Learn from Others

Here is a template for a project wiki that I created so that my teachers can have a standardized webpage to find information. Teachers are too busy to have to hunt for the information needed to participate in a project. Use a consistent format. This template also has links to how different organizations use wikis to manage their projects.
http://123vc.wikispaces.com/

Step 2: Play with a Wiki

After you look at best practice samples, it is time to play and tinker with a wiki. I created this Teacher 411 wiki for anyone to edit. It is set so that you do not have to have an account, just follow the link and start editing. There are specific tasks listed on the wiki for you practice.
http://teacher411.wikispaces.com/

Step 3: Make your Own

Now set up one of your own. Wikispaces has free upgrades for teachers. Enjoy!
Get your free educator wiki at http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers

If you find another example of an effect wiki used for project management, add the link the comments below.

If you are totally new to collaborative projects and/or would like step by step assistance making a collaborative project happen, from start to finish, sign up for Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections, a six week online course beginning January 25.

Day 12: Where Do Projects Come From?

So now that you’ve decided to take the plunge and run a project for a few of your teachers, where should you start?

First, you need a good idea that you can develop into a project for your teachers. So where do these ideas come from?

The Curriculum

First and foremost, they should come from the curriculum. Sometimes a careful or even cursory review of the required curriculum will inspire some great ideas.

  • How will students understand this content better by talking to students in another area?
  • How might students share their created work nationally or internationally as a motivation and inspiration (and to meet ISTE Student Collaboration and Communication Standards)?
  • Is there content already in the required curriculum that would be perfect to discuss, share, collaborate, challenge another class with?

Teacher Needs

Another great source of ideas for projects is the needs of your teachers.

  • What are they struggling to teach?
  • What units are frustrating or in need of “jazzing up?”
  • What amazing unit might they want to share with another class?
  • What student created work is worthy of a national audience?

Viral CAPspace Collaborations

Have you noticed this year that some collaboration ideas in CAPspace have been multiplying like rabbits?

  • First it was penpals.
  • Then it was Monster Match copycats and Halloween spin-offs.
  • Then Turkey Talk…
  • Then Weather Buddies…

These collaborations go viral for a reason. They are good ideas and simple to do! Educators create and share great ideas.

Bottom Line

  • A great project idea is simple.
  • It fits tightly to the curriculum.
  • It makes sense to teachers.
  • More than one of your teachers want to do it!

Tomorrow, we’ll start talking about how to manage a project with 3-4 or more of your teachers participating. For now, consider what project several of your teachers might want to do.

Your Turn

  • What do you think makes a great project idea?
  • Where do you get your inspiration for VC projects?
  • What is holding you back from creating and running a project for your teachers?

Please comment!

If you are totally new to collaborative projects and/or would like step by step assistance making a collaborative project happen, from start to finish, sign up for Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections, a six week online course beginning January 25.

Day 11: Bridging the Implementation Gap

This week in the 20 Day Challenge to Better VC Projects, we will be talking about designing and managing projects for your teachers.

But first, let’s talk about why you should run projects for your teachers.

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

Have you ever been to one of these types of sessions at a conference or training?

  • 101 Best Tools for Teachers
  • 50 Tech Tips for Teachers
  • 200 Free Web Sites for Teachers
  • Templates for Collaborative VC Projects 🙂

The Implementation Gap

Besides a bunch of ideas, how does a regular busy teacher jump from “101 ideas” to actual use in the classroom? Have you noticed that it is difficult for teachers to integrate “ideas” to actual classroom use? What are some of the barriers that create a gap between idea and implementation? Time. Of course. What else? Think about it.

Bridge the Gap

Roxanne and I have discussed this problem often. One conclusion we’ve come to, is that teachers need assistance to bridge the gap. Designed projects (like Read Around the Planet, Monster Match, and MysteryQuest) can help a teacher bridge the gap. How so?

  • The idea is developed.
  • The materials are created.
  • A partner class is provided.
  • Correlations to required curriculum are completed.

So, this week, we challenge you to design and run your own project for your teachers. Tomorrow we’ll start with how to find an idea to morph into a project.

Your Turn

  • Do you see an implementation gap in your school?
  • What barriers are at the bottom of the gap in your situation?
  • Do you think designed projects that teachers can register for are a potential solution?

Please comment! We want to hear your voices during this challenge too!

If you are totally new to collaborative projects and/or would like step by step assistance making a collaborative project happen, from start to finish, sign up for Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections, a six week online course beginning January 25.

Day 10: How Do I Work with Wikis?

Why Not Email

I hate email. While it is so easy to shoot off a quick email to someone, it is not always the most efficient way to manage or participate in collaborative projects.

In the beginning of MoNSteR MaTcH, I used email for everything. Registration was done by emailing me. Confirmations were emailed to the teachers. Teachers emailed descriptions to each other and copied me on those so I could keep track of them. I emailed other people to participate in their projects.

Many times not everyone is included on the email. Some people don’t have their email programs set to include the original text with the reply, so when I get the message, “Yes, that date and time will work for me” with no original text, I would have to begin the email excavation to try to determine the context.

Why Wikis

Currently, there are three different ways that we are using wikis to support projects. You will have to trust that the people running the project are really watching the wiki. Wikis are monitored by using RSS feeds or getting emails.

Weather Buddies (all one page project)
http://disdvideoconferencing.pbworks.com/Weather-Buddies

  • Click edit.
  • Use guest username and login.
  • Add your details for you teachers.
  • Click save.
  • You will get a confirmation email when the project manager is notified that the wiki has been edited.

Goods & Service (need 5 classes) (one wiki project – participating classes)
http://goodsvc.wikispaces.com/

  • Click Participating Classes
  • If you see a spot that will work for one of your teachers, click “Join this Wiki” at the top left.
  • Enter a comment. “I have a class that would like to participate in this project.” and click Request Membership.
  • Once you have access to the wiki, go back to the participating classroom page. Click EDIT and add your teacher’s information. Click SAVE.
  • You will get a confirmation email when the project manager is notified that the wiki has been edited.

Monster Match (page to edit)
http://www.monstermatchproject.com

Wikis ROCK for MoNSteR MaTcH because it helps me make sure all the descriptions are exchanged in a timely manner.

  • Go to the Participating Classes page.
  • Find your last name. Click it.
  • Look at the top right and click the EDIT button.
  • Copy your description from a word processing document and then paste it into the page.
  • Click Save.

Kid2Kid Footer for each post
If you are totally new to collaborative projects and/or would like step by step assistance making a collaborative project happen, from start to finish, sign up for Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections, a six week online course beginning January 25.

Day 9: Multiple Section Collaborations for Middle and High School

One of the challenges of using videoconferencing in the curriculum is the middle and high school schedules. High school structures make it difficult to be creative; and the cost of scheduling content providers for each section at the high school level is prohibitive. Many great high school content providers are guest speakers scheduled at specific times, and it doesn’t take long for teachers to get annoyed when the schedule gets disrupted. Time for preparation for a videoconference is challenging as well. These are some of the reasons that middle and high schools tend to use VC less than elementary schools (for curriculum videoconferencing purposes, that is.)

So, one of the ways that I’ve been trying to address this challenge, is to schedule collaborations for each section/class period. This way each section gets the same experience, and since it’s a collaboration, it’s free!

Steps to Success

  1. Start with the curriculum. The project has to fit tightly into the curriculum to be worth the precious instructional time.
  2. Define it. I work with the teacher to define exactly what each class will do, to make sure it’s focused to the instructional goals.
  3. Set the dates & times. Save yourself some negotiation time and just pick the dates and times. Some of my teachers like to have all the sections on the same day; others want them spread out a bit.
  4. (Optional) Make a web page or wiki. I like to make a web page or wiki for the project so that interested schools can easily see which times I still need to fill.
  5. Logistics: If you have a mobile cart, the teacher may prefer to have the system in their room for all of the sessions. Some of my teachers prefer it in their classroom; others prefer to participate in the library.

Examples

Sharing a water bottle race car in EcoConversations

Here are some examples of projects that I’ve been working on for middle and high school:

Point to Point Collaborations

  • EcoConversations for middle school science classes.
  • I really want to pull off a Black History Month set of VCs for my high school English teachers this year, but I’m not done writing the wiki yet. I am at stage 2 – working with the teacher to define what each class will do.
  • Another high school English one I’m hoping to run in April is Poetry Month. I’ve had some high school English teachers really enjoy performance poetry videoconferences. I want to systematize the idea to reach more teachers.

Multipoint Collaborations

These can easily be adapted to more simple point to point collaborations as well.

  • I’ve been running MysteryQuest World for a few years; and this year have converted it to a one hour session to fit into one class period. I actually will have a few more spots in this one either Friday or Monday, so check back if you’re interested.
  • HistoryQuest 8th grade has worked great for the 8th grade schedule this year. Civil War is scheduled for April.

Your Turn

  • How are you meeting the scheduling and curriculum needs of your middle and high school teachers? Please comment and share any other tips you have.

If you are totally new to collaborative projects and/or would like step by step assistance making a collaborative project happen, from start to finish, sign up for Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections, a six week online course beginning January 25.

Day 8: I Responded to a Collaboration and It Was Already Filled!

So what do you do when you send a great idea out to your teachers; 3 of them respond; but then when you contact the person who created the collaboration, they already have a partner. No worries; you can manage this too!

  • Be a fast email checker. If you have too much stuff coming into your email, trim it. Route the junk to junk and the trash to trash so that you can process it quickly.
  • Check with your teachers. Do they still want to do the collaboration. Find out what date & time is the best for them to participate.
  • Email colleagues or schools within your area. I like to start with this strategy because we know we can connect our equipment and I can generally get a quick response. Put a date of when they need to respond by. ASAP is a bit vague. Do you mean ASAP today or ASAP by the end of the week? An actual date is better than four exclamation marks.

If you need to post the collaboration back to CAPspace, use good etiquette.

  1. Change the title to be sure you don’t confuse anyone involved in the first project. For example you could call the collaboration “Southwest Michigan Weather Buddies” instead of just “Weather Buddies.” Or think of another creative title.
  2. Give detailed times. Save yourself the negotiation time and just list the date & time you want to do the collaboration. Be specific. Example: April 22, 23, and 24 at 1:00 or 2:00 PM Central.
  3. Give credit to the educator who created it. If you choose Collaborations–>New–>Detailed, there is a field at the bottom for giving credit to another person.

To collaboration creators: As soon as you have partners, log back into CAPspace and change the status to FILLED. (Login–>My Projects –>My Current. Scroll and change the radio button under registration to “FILLED”.)

Your Turn:

  1. How do you deal with this issue of getting into a popular collaboration?
  2. How do you organize your email to be able to deal with it in a timely manner?

If you are totally new to collaborative projects and/or would like step by step assistance making a collaborative project happen, from start to finish, sign up for Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections, a six week online course beginning January 25.

Day 7: I Posted a Collaboration and Got 500 Responses

One of the fun challenges of collaborations on CAPspace is the large number of interested people. There are 5000+ active videoconferencing educators (ever noticed the count on the front page when you login?).

This past fall, I heard that while some people found the perfect match and only one person responded, many collaborations quickly gathered much more interest. These fall into two types:

  1. You post your project and you need 1 partner; 20 people respond.
  2. You find a cool collaboration; 3 teachers want to do it; the person who posted it has found a partner already.

Now what? Let’s talk about how to handle these situations!

Too Many Responses
So what do you do when you post a project that’s clearly a popular idea; 20 people respond. Here are some suggestions:

  1. Wait. I prefer to wait a bit and see what responses I get in the first day. Sometimes the people who respond have very little to contribute; other times they have additional ideas to make the project better. Read them over and choose from among them.
  2. Save all potential partner information. Save the contact information for everyone who responded as you may be able to use them as a partner for future projects.
  3. Check with your other teachers. If you think other teachers might want to do it as well, you might want to add another session or two, but don’t feel obligated to connect with all twenty partners.
  4. Email each potential partner. Thank them for their interest. Let them know you’re keeping their contact information for the future. Don’t just ignore their email. Make a nice little “no” template and then copy & paste it to respond to each one. This will save you time, but will also courteously let the others know that you no longer need a partner.
  5. Close the collaboration. Once you’ve selected a partner, log back into CAPspace, and mark it filled. See: My Projects, Collaborations, My Current. This way others will know that you are no longer looking for partners. When you are finished with the project, login and mark it Past. Don’t delete it, as this builds your reputation in the site. Others can click the stars on your profile to see the collaborations you’ve created.
  6. Don’t forget to Say No Nicely!

Tomorrow we’ll talk about what to do when a collaboration is already filled.

Your Turn:

  1. How do you handle collaborations that get out of hand?
  2. What tips do you have these situations?

If you are totally new to collaborative projects and/or would like step by step assistance making a collaborative project happen, from start to finish, sign up for Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections, a six week online course beginning January 25.

Day 6: 5 Steps to Maximize Your Collaborations

Guest blogged by Roxanne Glaser

Last week, we began our challenge with how to participate in a project that has some support. This week, we will continue to focus on the Collaborations Around the Planet site, but focus on teacher-created collaborations.

Collaborations begin with an idea from a teacher. Be specific when entering your collaboration so that you will not have to email so much to establish a partnership. Videoconference collaborations can be more than just visiting with a guest speaker. Use the projects booklet to increase the educational value of your connections.

Step 1: Contact Information
Make sure that your name, email, phone number, and organization show correctly from your profile. (In CAPspace, go to My Profile to see what it looks like.)

Step 2: Create an Accurate Title
If you can be creative AND accurate that is great. Do not use special characters in it.
Example: Little House in the Big Woods Discussion

Step 3: Detailed-ish Description
You can create a collaboration from a template for a detailed plan, but the best way to start is simple. Here is an example.

Looking for a class in Wisconsin! My teacher is reading the book “Little House in the Big Woods” and would love to connect with a class in Wisconsin.

Just a few quick ideas for the video conference:

1) Sharing Favorite Day (of the week) Paragraphs (activity based on Ch. 2 Little House in the Big Woods when Laura shares her favorite days of the week,

2) Sharing Favorite Character Paragraphs (we usually do these when we are almost done with the book so that they have read several things about the characters in order to have a basis for their choice),

3) Compare and Contrast weather conditions in November in Texas and Wisconsin,

4) Sharing stories of how their imagination got the best of them (Ex. seeing/hearing something that wasn’t really there) (Based on Ch. 6 when Pa thinks he sees a bear because he had been thinking about them the whole time he was going in to town).

If you have an interested teacher, email rglaser@esc12.net.

Looking forward to working with you!

Step 4: Date Range
Instead of being completely open-ended add some specifics.
Example: November 16-20 any time beginning at 8:30 Central and ending by 11:00 Central (BE SPECIFIC!!)

Step 5: Final Details
Check grade, subject, equipment type, and website

There are additional fields where you can add learner outcomes, preparation time frame, activities, materials, responsibilities, and much, much more. You can get quite detailed, but for the beginners these 5 steps will save about 20 emails!

CAPspace will update Twitter and also email members daily and you will quickly get a response. Tomorrow, we will develop strategies for managing responses.

Challenge:

  1. Log into CAPspace–>My Settings–>About Me
  2. Enter your phone number, Twitter ID, school name, city, state/province, and country.
  3. Write a brief bio so that we know who you are.
  4. Click “Update Information”
  5. Go to Privacy and click Full Access so that other members can see who you are.

Your Turn:

  1. How do you find partners for collaborations?
  2. What is your favorite tip to increase your efficiency?

If you are totally new to collaborative projects and/or would like step by step assistance making a collaborative project happen, from start to finish, sign up for Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections, a six week online course beginning January 25.