Tag Archives: Content Providers

Printable Content Provider List

Here’s a little treat for you. I’ve just added a Printable Content Provider List to our VC Program Database linked on TWICE and Polycom. It pulls directly from the our database, so each time you print it, it’s the most up-to-date information we have at the time. At this moment, it has 219 providers and prints in 38 pages! Yikes! I wish it was even shorter for printing, but I don’t think you want the font even smaller! If you have any suggestions on this, I’m all ears!

This is the beginning of updates to several workshop tools and resources that I hope to update in preparation for summer workshops. I’ll be sharing them here so you can use them too!

Women in Aviation

Today Marcellus Elementary is connecting to NASA Langley for their Women in Aviation program.

This program ties in learning about famous women pilots, learning about the importance of math and science, and actually creating a kite.

Several visuals are used throughout the program, including this picture of a kite one of the presenters made to celebrate women in aviation.

The presenters tell stories about the different women and their stories and accomplishments.

After making a kite and playing with it a bit, students have an opportunity to ask questions. This class had many great questions prepared and so they got the full benefit of bringing an expert to their classroom.

NASA programs are free, easy to schedule, and high quality content! Thanks NASA for yet another great program!

Magic Bullet for High School?

Here’s an interesting thought. One of my local high school teachers won a free field trip from me at a workshop in February. Just recently her media specialist asked me if the money can be saved for next year. She commented that teachers love videoconferences when they can show up and participate, but if the videoconference requires preparation, it’s “like pulling teeth.”

So why is that?

The high school curriculum is very, very tight with so much to cover. It’s tough for teachers to find ways to integrate quality videoconference experiences. They have to choose activities that are the most efficient and time effective for covering curriculum. It’s very difficult to integrate time consuming creative constructivist lessons.

So what can we do about it? I think we need to develop more activities and projects that really tightly fit the curriculum. That cover required curriculum in an appropriate, engaging way. And whenever possible, make sure they are available to be scheduled during the class period. You can only pull kids from class so many times before the other teachers start to hate videoconferencing.

Does this vibe with your experience too?

Meet an Iditarod Musher

Lincoln Elementary students are meeting sled dogs in Alaska today. It’s part of the Meet an Iditarod and/or Jr. Iditarod Musher program from Kigluait Adventures. Before the program starts, students listen to an Iditarod trail song. Before getting into the content, Christina, the presenter, shares a geography lesson with the students, helping them see where they are compared to Alaska.

Next, they play a “dress the musher” game with a junior musher (15 years old). Next they go outside to meet the dogs. Lots of questions and answers during this section and great constant live images of the dogs. You can hear the dogs yapping in the background the whole time.

Students learn about a day in the life of a musher. The program ends with an activity to help them understand the relationship between the dog and the musher.

These are excellent programs and fill up very quickly in Iditarod season. We had to wait til April to get a slot for our classes studying the Iditarod. We’re going to request way ahead of time next year!

Blood, Sweat & Tears – Civil War Medicine

Today Edwardsburg Middle School is connecting to Fort Mifflin on the Delaware for their program Blood, Sweat & Tears – Civil War Medicine. The students are studying the Civil War in English and Social Studies classes.

Lee Anderson, presenter, is dressed in period costume and explains the weapons and fighting methods used in the Civil War. Then students learn about the instruments and methods used by the doctors to take care of those wounded in battle.

Students learn about how the soldiers were fed and how that affected their ability to heal. Lee demonstrates how a doctor would deal with the cases coming in. Then the students work in groups to solve cases that were mailed to the teacher ahead of time. As the students reported on how they handled each case, they heard what actually happened in that case in history. It’s pretty amazing how primitive their procedures were back then. Students really got into solving the cases.

This was our first time connecting to Fort Mifflin. We’ll definitely be looking at their other programs for next year.

Girls2Women

Today Sam Adams Elementary 6th grade girls are connecting to HealthSpace Cleveland for their program Girls2Women. The program is FREE this year due to sponsorship by Tampax.

HealthSpace presentations are high energy and visually rich. Lee, the presenter, handles sensitive and sometimes embarrassing subjects with grace and humor, putting the students immediately at ease. For example, “the model body’s name is Anita Shirt. Get it?”

Students learn about personal hygiene, PMS, toxic shock syndrome, reproductive anatomy, and more. Lee explains what ads for various female health products are talking about. Symptoms that indicate possible infections, toxic shock syndrome, or other diseases are also covered.

This high energy program is perfect for girls in grades 6-9 and would be a great addition to a health class. HealthSpace Cleveland still has room on their calendar, and this program is free! So if you haven’t visited HealthSpace yet, there’s still time this school year!

Great Lakes Native Peoples

Here’s a review of the Great Lakes Native Peoples program offered by the Cranbrook Institute of Science. This was written by Ren Baldwin, District Technology Coordinator. Thanks, Ren, for sharing this review!

Kelly Nimtz’s 4th grade class at Lincoln Elementary in St. Joseph, MI has a wonderful connection last week with Cranbrook Institute for a lesson on American Indians. It was great and the kids loved it. The presenter from Cranbrook communicates so well with the kids, was very skilled at imparting information and facilitating discussion. A great model for online instruction. He included great activites, having send the teacher the materials and lesson plan well in advance, allowing to prepare the class and have the room organized prior to the connection. It was a perfect example of the ways that we can “expand the walls” of our classrooms to offer our students quality educational experiences. I highly recommend this program.

Sea Me Read

This afternoon Eagle Lake Elementary connected to Mote Marine Laboratory for the Sea Me Read: Smiley Shark program.

Before the program started the students enjoyed a flash(?) show of interesting shark and ocean facts. In the beginning, enthusiastic presenter Kasey reads the story, Smiley Shark, to the students in a high energy fashion, and students interact throughout the student with actions, Q&A and more. Check out how Mote Marine inserts Kasey into the book! Mote Marine’s visuals are exceptional, a feast for the eyes.

Next the students play a game with comprehension questions about the story, followed by pictures of different types of shark smiles and visuals showing various facts about sharks, including the size of their teeth.

After 15 min. of instruction, Kasey switches to the shark tank view and answers questions from the students.

Eagle Lake students had carefully studied Sharks and had a great set of questions prepared. Mote Marine showed pictures & visuals to help answer their questions.

This program is targeted to K-3 students and is perfect for short attention spans. It’s short & sweet; packed with facts and comprehension questions, and visually rich. If you haven’t been to Mote Marine yet, now’s the time!

Author Janie Panagopoulos

Here are the updates from this week to our VC Program Database linked on TWICE and Polycom.

New Provider: Janie. L. Panagopoulos

I’m especially excited about having Janie (an author!!) on this list! I worked with her over the past summer getting her set up at home with a webcam and Polycom PVX. She’s really animated and very comfortable with VC, both point to point and multi-point. She can facilitate her own ASK programs, and can tailor any of her sessions for exactly what you need. And her sessions are very affordable too!

Changing My Mind on View Only Sessions

In the first few years of our distance learning program, I thought that view only sessions were a waste of time and energy. In those days, classes had to travel to the high school to get access to videoconferencing. VC is an interactive medium, so I didn’t want anyone to waste their time, energy and funding just to do a view only session. I’ve felt strongly for the past several years that VC isn’t worth doing if you can’t interact with the people on the other side.

However, I’m beginning to change my mind. Now most of our teachers have access to VC in their building. They don’t have to travel.

In addition, they are still very nervous about the possibility of videoconferencing. They want to know what to expect. They want to see how it works. They don’t want to commit to involving their students until they know it’s worth their time and meets the goals of the curriculum.

Enter view only sessions.

View only sessions allow teachers to experience the possibilities with students in a low-key environment. Everyone can watch how the event occurs. They don’t have to say anything or be on camera, but they can see what happens in a typical videoconference. While watching how others behave in a videoconference, they can learn how to teach their own students how to behave in a videoconference.

A view only session is a stepping stone to a full videoconference.

Do you agree?