Tag Archives: Collaborations

Marzano: Providing Feedback

This post is part of a series on integrating the McREL research on classroom instruction that works with videoconferencing.

Providing Feedback: Generalizations

  1. Feedback should be corrective in nature.
  2. Feedback should be timely.
  3. Feedback should be specific to a criterion.
  4. Students can effectively provide some of their own feedback.

Recommendations

Use these to improve your practice.

  1. Use criterion-referenced feedback.
  2. Focus feedback on specific types of knowledge.
  3. Use student-led feedback (Pitler, et al., 2007, p. 41-42).

Brainstorming for Videoconferencing: Current Practice

Predictably, the technology examples give include comments in Word, classroom response systems, grading software, using web rubrics for criterion referenced feedback, and using games and simulations that provide instant feedback.

What I found surprising was the inclusion of communication software in this section, including “blogs, wikis, email, instant messaging, and videoconferencing” (p. 53). As I read the examples in the book, I thought of these current videoconference programs:

  • “ASK Deluxe“, where students blogged two chapters of The Ultimate Gift and gave feedback to each other before the videoconference with the author.
  • Monster Match and all it’s variations are in some ways “feedback” to the students on how well they wrote their description.
  • The instant message example in the book is of students asking questions of their government representative, which we do on a regular basis with our Senator, Representative, as well as veterans and authors in the ASK program.
  • The videoconference example in the book has Spanish students talking to students in Spain, similar to the videoconferences we’ve done with Frank Garcia. In a twist, after the videoconference, students use a blog to give feedback to each other using the other class’ native language.
  • MysteryQuest and all its spin-offs is another way that students get feedback from an audience. They get immediate feedback on the quality of their presentation (how well the other classes can take notes). They get immediate feedback on their research skills as they find out the correct answer.

The main point in this section was the feedback from authentic audiences.

Brainstorming for Videoconferencing: New Ideas

So, how can we beef up the feedback in our videoconferences?

  • Emphasize talking to experts and authors. First, I think we need to continue to emphasize the value of real-time interaction with student-generated questions to authors and experts. I had a long discussion with one of our veterans who wanted to script the videoconference. The value is in the INTERACTION! There is major value to the students in hearing the answer to a question THEY wrote! We can’t forget this. We must continue to make time for it. To plan deliberately for feedback.
  • “Poetry Idol”. I can’t find a blogged entry, but we have had a couple high school poetry performance videoconferences that were stunning. The students performed (not just recited) a favorite poem (theirs or not). The other class rated them, with scores, acting as judges. In another exchange, both classes shared essays with each other, and after each essay, the other class gave specific helpful feedback to the student who just read their essay. Incredibly powerful. If this format could be polished a little more, and both classes used the same criterion-referenced rubric for evaluating work and giving feedback, the students could gain even more from the experience. Students could practice and learn ways to effectively give feedback to their peers.
  • Language Exchange. After watching my classes interact with classes in other languages (primarily Spanish), I believe we can beef up the quality of those interactions. With a little more preparation we can get more than just laughing, giggling, and a little bit of language practice. Students should prepare something to present/share in the language (a story, a skit, a song, their own writing, statements about themselves). As students tend to be nervous and self-conscious, visual cards to read and remind them of their lines would reinforce the vocabulary and usage. Students could also prepare their questions on cards as well. Have you experienced cross-language exchanges? What made them go well? What made them effective?

What do you think? Do any new ideas pop into your brain? Share them and I’ll add them, giving you credit, to the next iteration of the Projects Booklet.

Reference: Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Marzano: Setting Objectives

This post is part of a series on integrating the McREL research on classroom instruction that works with videoconferencing.

Setting Objectives: Generalizations

  1. Setting instructional goals narrows what students focus on.
  2. Teachers should encourage students to personalize the learning goals the teacher has identified for them.
  3. Instructional goals should not be too specific.

Recommendations

Use these to improve your practice.

  1. Set learning objectives that are specific but flexible.
  2. Allow students flexibility in personalizing the learning objectives or goals.
  3. Communicate the learning objectives or goals to students and parents.
  4. Contract with students to attain specific learning objectives or goals (Pitler, et al., 2007, p. 17-18).

Brainstorming for Videoconferencing

At first glance, it seems this doesn’t really apply to videoconferences. Certainly, I don’t think we can make a project template out of it, do you? Just the same, we can improve our practice. What about these ideas?

  • Have students make a KWL or KWHL chart before a videoconference or a unit with a videoconference included. Make sure it includes what you want the student to learn (your objectives) and what they want to learn (personalizing learning). Student motivation is higher when they set at least some of their own goals.
  • The KWL could create a foundation from which to prepare questions, for ASK programs, asking questions of the other students, Lest We Forget programs, and any program with a content provider who includes a Q&A time.
  • What if, before a videoconference, the two classes created a KWL together using a collaborative drawing/brainstorming tool? Dabbleboard looks cool! Do you think this would work? I’m thinking about Read Around the Planet, learning about each others’ communities, and EcoConversations.
  • Take your state standards and use them to create a rubric for the students on what they will learn from this videoconference.

Share Your Ideas!
So, what do you think? Do you have any other ideas? How do you currently set objectives for students as they prepare for a videoconference?

Reference: Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Creating New Marzano VC Project Templates

As part of my studies, I’m looking in depth at Marzano’s Instructional Strategies That Work. To learn more, I recommend the following books:

As you know, I’ve been sharing/publishing the Planning Kid2Kid Videoconference Projects booklet for the last 3 years. For this summer’s revision, I want to add templates for Marzano’s instructional strategies. As I’ve learned in a workshop on Marzano’s strategies, we as teachers may feel that we’re using that strategy already. However if we can improve and refine our practice of that strategy, we can raise our students’ achievement. So it seems worth our time to consider how we can create videoconference project templates that can refine our use of these instructional strategies.

Note to content providers: To those content providers reading this blog, I encourage you to evaluate your current programs to see how these strategies could also improve your practice!

The 11 Strategies

The Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works book reorganizes Marzano’s original nine strategies into eleven. Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback are split in two, and Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition are split in two. In addition, the strategies are reorganized around four guiding questions as follows.

What will students learn?

  • 1. Setting Objectives

Which strategies will provide evidence of student learning?

  • 2. Providing Feedback
  • 3. Providing Recognition

Which strategies will help students acquire and integrate learning?

  • 4. Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers
  • 5. Nonlinguistic Representation
  • 6. Summarizing and Note Taking
  • 7. Cooperative Learning
  • 8. Reinforcing Effort

Which strategies will help students practice, review, and apply learning?

  • 9. Identifying Similarities and Differences
  • 10. Homework and Practice
  • 11. Generating and Testing Hypotheses

Invitation
So as I think about these strategies in the next 11 posts, I encourage you to comment and share your thoughts, ideas you have, and questions that are raised. Let’s create some new ideas together!

Benefits of VC: In the Words of a Teacher

I have another session of the Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections class starting this week. We have 9 participants and two are from Guatemala! (We could squeeze you in if you register today or tomorrow.)

In the first week, the participants read some articles and share the benefits of videoconferencing. One of the participants, Kelly Hawn, is a teacher at F. C. Reed Middle School in Bridgman, MI, here in my service area. This year, Kelly has done Eco-Conversations and been an audience for a KC3 contestant class in Alberta. Here is her list of benefits of videoconferencing:

  1. Students are more engaged in learning from others than from textbooks.
  2. Students like presenting to other schools and they practiced their presentations ahead of time, therefore reinforcing their content.  They took their presentation much more seriously because they were presenting to someone they didn’t know. It’s so much better than presenting to their own classmates.  They put in more time and did a much better job than they would have if they just presented to their classmates.
  3. Students were allowed time to ask questions about the other school (weather, class schedules, favorite things to do, what music they like, class size, school uniforms, and so much more).
  4. The students became pen pals with students from other countries and states and we also exchanged gifts and pictures.
  5. The students want to reunite and show and learn more.  Currently my Social Studies class is studying Europe and they want to do another VC with England to ask them about some things we are learning in our textbook.
  6. The students love the fact that they can see and interact with another school with immediate feedback.  The Alberta school was amazed at how big our school was compared to theirs (and our school is small).  Students in England wore uniforms and was an all girls schools.

How about you? What do you see as the benefit to videoconferencing in schools?

The Circle of Sharing & Learning

Give and it shall be given unto you… (Luke 6:38).

This week for my studies I’ve been thinking about collaboration, and I’ve been getting ready for the beginning of 5 weeks of MysteryQuests and HistoryQuests starting April 20.

The “quests” started with us participating in Where in the USA with LearningSpace, an organization that closed its doors in 2004. Soon after we started running our own MysteryQuest USA, MysteryQuest World, and this year we added HistoryQuest5 and HistoryQuest8 to address new MI curriculum needs.

In the meantime, several spin-offs occurred, starting with Joan Roehre‘s Wisconsin History Mystery. She asked for permission to adapt our materials. So did Roxanne and Angela with Texas History Mystery, and Heather with MAGPI’s MysteryQuest USA.

It’s taken a few years, as they have grown their programs, but now the learning is coming back this direction. It circles around.

PPTs for Facilitation
Last fall I facilitated a Landmark Challenge for Roxanne and discovered the beauty of PowerPoint visuals to supplement the visuals. I’m a visual learner, and have a hard time with audible only instructions. Why didn’t I think of that before? So this week I asked Roxanne for her Texas History Mystery PPTs so I could get them up and running for my quests next week. The PowerPoints include:

  • A reminder to mute
  • The agenda
  • List of schools/teachers participating
  • Some little puzzles to guess related to the topic
  • A reminder on materials

Tips for Camera Ready Presentations
Heather just posted a great list of tips for camera ready presentations. I’ve incorporated this link into my “presentation reminders” email for my quests. What a great list!

So, are you wondering if you should share “your stuff”? Then… my answer is, YES, of course! The returns will come back to you eventually! As others use, modify, and improve “your stuff” it gets better!

What are YOU sharing with the K12 videoconferencing world?

Enhancing the Distance Learning Experience with Podcasting

This TxDLA session is by Shirley Boyd and Debbie Alston. (Wednesday afternoon; posted Thursday due to lack of Internet access.)

Videoconferencing is all about making connections. Their early connections included a videoconference with students in Iraq.

Podcasting benefits students by finding a way for them to respond to the curriculum, improves their writing schools, improves their self-esteem and gives the students a voice. Can use universal design with the same tools to meet the needs of all students.

We can connect our classrooms one at a time to the world. With podcasting as a follow-up they can become friends with the partner class. As they become friends, we can have peace instead of war because the students understand each other.

You can do an audio podcast, an enhanced podcast with pictures or other content, or a video/vodcast. You could use the interactive whiteboard files to save and export to a podcast.

Examples of how podcasting enhances distance learning from Killeen ISD.
Book reference: Drumming to the Beat of Different Marchers: Finding the Rhythm for Differentiated Learning (podcasting creates the beat for different marchers)

1. Snowmen at Night book – about what snowmen do at night. They videoconferenced with a class in New York. The NY kids built a small snowman and brought it inside to show in the videoconference to the students in TX. Then they made little podcast stories of what their snowmen did at night. The classes on both sides made these stories. Each slide in the movie were a kids picture and sentences on what the snowman does at night (goes to the moon, goes to the Alamo, goes to the beach). This was a first grade class. The kids drew their pictures in Pixie of the snowman and the place he went. In some cases the students put their picture on the face of the snowman.

2. Another podcast they did was on the rainforest, also done with Pixie. This one had student narration along with the music. The podcast told about different animals and creatures who live in the rainforest. Debbie says Pixie is the easiest way to make a podcast – even 1st graders can do it.

3. In another podcast, the students had to create a public service announcement about severe weather, a brochure, and a skit for Roxanne’s Texas Twisted Weather (Don Foshee Grant) program. The kids for this project were usually late to school, but for this project they came in at 7:00 every day. They were motivated to come to school! The PSA included tips for preparing for severe weather. The videoconference included a session with the local weather guy (Rusty!) and also a videoconference to share their skit in front of judges.

Someone in the room shared CrazyTalk, a way to get a live image to “talk.”

All these files were saved as MP3s to make into a podcast.

For another session with Belgium, they used a “Huckleberry” which is really a set of mirrors to make your Mac into a desktop videoconference system with the camera pointing out to towards the classroom – the back of the laptop. They used this to desktop VC with the kids in Belgium. They talked together a lot, and finally found out they both have Pixie. So they found an ftp server that they could share files and started to make a collaborative book together with Pixie.

Killeen has many military parents, so they could check in from where they were overseas and see their children’s work as well.

Students write the story, then make a storyboard with the visuals, and then create the podcast. Pixie and Frames both save into any form you want for a podcast server, Ning or Moodle.

The beauty of Pixie and Frames is the ability to save into any format – you can use that instead of fighting with Audacity and other podcasting tools.

Resources

Great job Shirley and Debbie!!

TxDLA Readers: Links for Designing Quality Videoconference Projects

Here are links to resources and projects mentioned in my Designing Quality Videoconference Projects hands-on session at TxDLA.

Designing Quality VC Projects PPT for TxDLA (without clips)

More results from my spring 2008 “Top Teachers” Survey

Featured Projects

TWICE Resources

Projects Booklet

Other Collaboration Tools

My Online Classes

Lit Review: The Global Classroom: Advancing Cultural Awareness in Special Schools Through Collaborative Work Using ICT

Lit Review: This is a post in a series focusing on the research studies on videoconferencing.

Abbott, L., Austin, R., Mulkeen, A., & Metcalfe, N. (2004). The global classroom: Advancing cultural awareness in special schools through collaborative work using ICT. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 19(2), 225-240. doi:10.1080/08856250410001678504

Summary: This article reported on a qualitative study which was comprised of 10 teacher interviews. The participants had been part of the Dissolving Boundaries Programme, which pairs schools in the North and South of Ireland to design and implement a year long collaborative project. Examples of the projects are here. Many of the participating schools are special needs schools serving a wide variety of students. Two technology tools were used – an asynchronous space with threaded discussion, and videoconferencing. The teachers preferred videoconferencing because many of the students did not have the skill to type or remember how to write to their partner. Talking was much easier.

The keys to success in this project were the strong support at the school level, good relationships with their partner school, planning a timetable carefully to meet the needs of both schools, convenient access to equipment, and both partners being comfortable with the technology. The project is highly supported by the department of education in both countries as well.

Comments: This is a great model of long term collaboration over videoconferencing. View the picture gallery online here. It’s interesting that for the special needs students, the real time videoconferencing was much easier. If you haven’t looked into this project, it’s worth your time!

Dear VC Vendors: Please Fix Dialing

This post has been simmering in my brain for a while, especially after another season of Read Around the Planet and all the dialing challenges that come with it. I know that my technical knowledge is not complete, and this may not be accurate within a few months or years. Still, I think it needs to be said. I invite anyone who would like to correct me to please use the comment feature to add your knowledge and opinions, especially the vendors.

The Problem of Dialing

So here goes. As the vendors try to find ways around the limitations of IP address dialing, firewalls, etc., they are creating a nightmare of dialing problems for those of us who use VC to connect 95% of the time “off net”, off our network, and with schools around the world. Here’s my view of the current situation.

Polycom IP##Extension Format

Polycom’s firewall traversal unit means that outsiders dial the IP of the unit and then ## with the alias of the endpoint behind the firewall. This allows for one public IP to be shared with other units. This is true for the V2IU, and I don’t know about the new Video Border Proxy. In addition, the RMX uses this format for it’s meeting rooms, and the MGC can be set up this way for meeting rooms as well.

However, here’s where it doesn’t work:

  • Tandberg endpoints can’t dial this format
  • Tandberg MCUs can’t dial this format
  • Anything registered to a gatekeeper can’t dial this format because gatekeepers strip off the ##extension.

Currently on the RMX, if someone can’t dial the IP## Extension, and you can’t dial out to them, there’s no way to get them into the conference.

TANDBERG Extension@IP Format

TANDBERG endpoints behind a border controller are dialed using the extension@IP format.
Here’s where this doesn’t work:

  • Polycom endpoints can’t call that format
  • It’s intermittent with at least my TANDBERG MCU. It worked before Read Around the Planet but then since then I can’t call 3 different places in 3 different states that use this format. Haven’t had time to open a ticket yet, but it’s annoying that nothing changed that I know of and it just quit working.

TANDBERG Codian Far End Camera Control

On the MCU side, the Codian MCU, recently bought out by TANDBERG, most often uses an entry room where the enduser uses far end camera control or tone dialing to enter the correct conference. It remains to be seen how TANDBERG will adapt the Codian technology. The far end camera control method works on most endpoints, except:

  • Getting far end camera control to work through another MCU is problematic at best. The tones or far end camera control usually aren’t passed from one MCU to the other.
  • Some legacy endpoints such as VTel (yes those are still out there in schools)

School Scenarios

Now I can just hear in my head all you techies telling me, why are you doing endpoint to MCU to MCU to endpoint dialing? Why are you dialing off net? Why don’t you just dial out to these problematic sites? Why doesn’t everyone just get rid of those “legacy” units? Well, here’s what’s happening in schools.

  • Dial out only. Fairly often, techs are nervous about NATing a static IP for H323 videoconferencing, so they only allow dialing out. If you can only dial out and you can’t dial the other site’s weird dialing, then what?
  • Dial out only through MCU. Many educational service agencies have a WAN where their schools can only connect out through the MCU. Hook two schools together this way, and you have to do endpoint to MCU to MCU to endpoint. A large number of my calls are like this. Sometimes not even by technical necessity, but because it’s easier to support the local schools by scheduling calls for them.
  • Dialing Predominantly Offnet. I wish I could just drill it into engineer’s heads that if a school or district is getting videoconferencing for enrichment/content providers/collaborative projects etc, they will do almost ALL their calls off net. But the vendors seem to be thinking mostly about internal corporate communications on a corporate network. All the while they enjoy and promote big events such as Read Around the Planet and Kids Creating Community Content which require offnet dialing to outside schools.
  • Legacy Lasts a Long Time. We also tend to get VC equipment and expect it to last 10 years. VC is still most often purchased with grant funds (not sustainable) and schools can’t drop $6-10K every 3 years or so to upgrade their VC equipment. It’s just not happening!

Gatekeepers

Some sales guys have told me that dialing should only happen through gatekeepers. I realize that the higher ed / Internet2 / Megaconference community has the Global Dialing Scheme (GDS) which sometimes helps. However:

  • Schools not familiar with GDS don’t want to neighbor to each other’s gatekeepers. Imagine in the two weeks of RAP, the huge participating schools with 120 connections. That’s 120 different sites to call in two weeks. Should we neighbor to every single other site we connect to. It’s insane to expect this.
  • Many small schools just get an endpoint only. They don’t have an educational service agency or statewide network to connect to a gatekeeper and get on GDS. How will they dial?

It’s not realistic to expect that the K12 VC community would be able to do dialing through gatekeepers only. The necessary structure isn’t in place, and probably won’t be anytime soon.

Dear VC Vendors: Please Fix Dialing

So, this is my plea to the vendors. Please think of us in the K12 community where we make most of our calls off our network. Surely corporate customers need to call off their network too. When will H323 videoconferencing work like a phone (platform independent, just works)?

I don’t know what the answer is. But dear vendors, would please get over your proprietariness and make the dialing work between all H323 endpoints? Please!

Teddy Bear Match with Wales

This morning we’re off to Wales to share a teddy bear match. The two kindergarten classes have created a 2D teddy bear, and then sent each other instructions to make each other’s teddy bears.

One thing they noticed was that we measure differently – in inches vs. centimeters. That made the project a fun challenge and a good learning experience!

Teddy BearGalien's Teddy Bears

The Wales students sang a teddy bear song to us.”Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your nose.” Our students sang a counting teddy bear song.

Our students explained how they learned that Wales is in the UK and that they could visit by going on a boat or flying in an airplane.

A quick little exchange for short attention spans, but a great experience for all involved.