Tag Archives: International VCs

Strolling Around the Earth Garden with Mike Griffith

Another global session with Mike Griffith. He started off with an email quote with his colleague Atsuku in Japan (not sure I’m spelling her name correctly). She said something to this effect regarding Mike – The world earth is a garden to him. He’s always strolling around the garden freely.

Mike has been doing the Global Leap project since 2000, and has been doing international projects for over 10 years.

He’s talking about a connection with students speaking English and French and how they were really struggling to talk to each other. Mike suggests instead that we show something – for example if you’re discussing soccer/football – bring the ball & show it! Then everyone knows what you’re talking about. And remember that you could take a digital camera out and get footage to share with your class.

Communication. Communication. Communication. Mike has three Tips & Tricks:

  1. Have a signature on your email! (He asked us how many of us have received an email we didn’t know who it was from!).
  2. If you’re working internationally, give the date in full: October 3, not 10/3/05 because not all countries use the same shortcut format.
  3. List your time/my time. Think about where people are and what time of day it is. If you go wider than 6 hours time difference, then the teachers have to be flexible in connecting to each other. Two good sites are TimeandDate.com and TimeZoneConverter.

Mike suggested that using technology to communicate is 4th world (vs. old world, new world, 3rd world). We need to be sensitive to the types of connectivity in other parts of the world in our planning.

He mentioned connections with the Imperial War Museum, an iEARN project, and a conversation between students about genocide.

Mike asks us: Is this important? Is it important to get classes to connect to talk to each other and understand each other? We have the technology that can bring kids to talk to kids & teachers to talk to teachers to help create greater understanding between cultures.

Dr. Stanton, the expert they interviewed in the genocide program said, “if we were all videoconferencing, there’d be no genocide.” Mike added, if we were talking to each other and understanding each other, there’d be no genocide.

Mike emphasized how in doing these connections, not everything needs to be done in the videoconference. Other tools and resources can be used to make the connection more engaging and rich.

Mike also reminded us to set the context. The classes need share pictures of their life with the communication so that we know what it’s like to live in that area.

Kathy Lewis shared a cool project with a class in Taiwan where the Taiwan class posted a newsletter online and then the U.S. class edited the grammar… this way both classes could practice English grammar.

The first link is easy to do – just comparing cultures and saying hello. But what is sustainable and of value? How do we create projects that are more in-depth and have specific curriculum outcomes? I asked, what topics are good to discuss & create projects around that take advantage of the international connection. Mike suggested – addressing stereotypes, learning to respect etiquette in other countries, etc.

This session ended way too soon!!!

Global Connections

Global Connections: Learning With, not About, People from Other Countries
By Atieno Adala (from Kenya) and Deb Hutton, (from Canada) from the Indiana University. Yet another Keystone Conference session.

This presentation covers programs done by the International Studies in Schools content provider. They connect US students to international locations, and also allow students to talk to international people who are studying or working at Indiana University.

They showed a nice collection of pictures of international connections they’ve had.

We also saw a 5 min. clip of a connection from last week where students in several locations around the world discussed the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

Undergraduate students at IU and other places shared their thoughts on how governments are addressing the problems in their countries and in the world.

As always with multipoint videoconferencing with tons of sites, there’s some mic rattling sounds coming from an unknown location. Fun fun! But we’re learning anyway!

I really like how Deb addressed the question on time zones. She said “it’s about mutual respect.” This means who is it that comes in at a inconvenient time to connect for the program? Sometimes the only way we can connect with an international school is if we connect in the evening our time.

Atieno shared a good set of tips for working with international presenters. This included focusing on contemporary information, using the presenters strengths, preparing students for a thick accent, and preparing students to ask good questions and to make respectful comments. As is true with good ASK programs (link), don’t ask questions or look for a presentation on something you can find in the textbook! Take advantage of learning from the experiences of the presenter.

Another good tip included: being respectful of their date, time, holidays, safety, context and needs. Share equally the connection time for their benefit as well as that of your students. I.e. plan the program so that both classes are learning what they need/want to from the program.

Tips on good instruction was included as well: short activities, involving learners, focus on 3-4 main points, etc.

Sample sessions they’ve done (requested by teachers not designed by Deb Hutton):

  • Affects of the African Rainforest Biome on the Local Culture
  • The Daily Culture of South Korea
  • Living Under Apartheid in South Africa
  • All About Paris
  • Germany: Memories of WWII
  • Travel in Spain
  • Mathematical Symmetry in Turkey
  • Raising Children in Kenya & Russia
  • Transitions: Communism to Capitalism
  • Series: The Daily Cultures of Bulgaria, India & Kenya
  • Series: What do you want to know about Afghanistan? Iraq? Islam?

I think that International Studies custom programs are hidden resource many of us haven’t considered or realized! This possibility of designing a custom program tailored to your curriculum is wonderful!

Deb’s handouts have a wonderful set of links for international programming – both VCs and email projects. Scroll down on the page to find her presentation handouts. Great set!

6 Tools for Effective Videoconferencing

Powerful Video Conferencing-Opening New Doors to Learning presented by Geoff Turrell.

I’m now in the Teaching strand watching the first presentation from Athena Education Action Zone in the United Kingdom. They are working with students with special needs, and are using videoconferencing as one of many interventions for meeting students learning needs.

Cool ideas include an interactive soap opera for VC, a ROCK IDOL with students performing to a panel of judges via VC, and a classical dance class.

Teachers have VC systems at their desks and they also do VCs with schools internationally.

They are addressing the “no significant difference phenomenon.” They aimed to answer the question: How can we make sure it is BETTER than direct teaching?

In answering this question, they have 6 tools for effective videoconferencing.

It’s cool to see that they are really trying to do more than just a talking head. They sent a 6 parcels from the UK to us here in Indy and he’s getting the audience to open the parcels. What a fun way to get the remote site interactive! This is the creativity I like to see!

The 1st tool was a teddy bear and represented was “interactivity.” Yes!! The best interactive videoconferences have hands-on materials and conversation back and forth. Cool way to explain it!

Interaction includes, according to these presenters: questioning pupils, setting tasks, exercising communication skills, and creating an awareness of audience.

The second package has an owl teddy bear. It represents the 2nd tool is teachers or pedagogical presence. The program needs to be coordinated by a real field teacher who has good classroom management skills, an understanding of good teaching practices, etc. The presenter also needs to understand the importance of telepresence skills.

The third package has a package of tea. It represents the 3rd tool or contextualization. This is about having students experience a “real life” context and incentive for learning. It adds an extra dimension to learning and brings the task to life. It puts the excitement back in learning.

The fourth package has a set of nappy pins, or otherwise known in the US as diaper pins. This represents the 4th tool or underpinning. This includes focused planning, use of worksheets and supplementary information sheets to support the lesson content, and accommodating learning styles.

The fifth package has swimming goggles. This represents the 5th tool or an immersive learning environment. The includes using core materials from the Internet, interactive white board content, supplementary materials, etc.

The final package had a jigsaw with a piece missing. This presents the 6th tool or collaboration because the missing piece was over in the UK. This tool allows for shared writing, design and composing, application sharing, and teacher & student collaboration across many miles, and distributed learning, which we just heard in the keynote.

A great session and a great model of interaction during the session!

Tuesday Keynote: Millennial Learning Styles

The Keynote presentation today is coming in live from the Harvard School of Education. Chris Dede, is talking about Emerging Digital Media and “NeoMillennial” Learning Styles.

Dede is describing Millenial & Neo Millennial Learning Styles – students using the web to compare multiple sources of information, individually incomplete and collectively inconsistent. Is it mindlessly accumulating or seeking, sieving or synthesizing? He’s wondering about his daughter multitasking… can she really concentrate? He described his daughter and her virtual “think tank” of friends on IM doing their homework.

He’s describing how Cisco is using multitasking for meetings and using PDAs for multitasking and instant messanging.

And here I am in this session multitasking! Showing IM to the person sitting next to me, IMing my office back home, blogging the session, and listening to it all at the same time!

Now Dede is suggesting we use distributed learning instead of distance learning. The term distributed infers how the learning is spread across time, space, and media.

This reminds me of reading The World is Flat this summer and how companies are collaborating across space and time using videoconferencing, instant messaging, and other real-time and asynchronous collaboration tools.

I still want to design some type of international project that uses this same type of multitasking learning environment that Dede is describing. How could we create a learning environment and videoconference project that requires students to collaborate across time & distance to solve or attempt to solve a difficult challenging real world problem?? That is the question I keep mulling over.

World Issues Class Connects to Pakistan

This morning we connected again to Pakistan, this time with a sophomore World Issues class from Edwardsburg High School.

Our class shared the seven themes of culture: social organization, holiday celebrations (Halloween & corn mazes), language (slang), arts & literature (types of music), religion, government, and economics.

They used skits, pictures, costumes, and props in their presentation.

The class in Pakistan shared information on their form of government and what parts of their culture are similar to the U.S. Another student shared how they celebrate religious holidays in Pakistan.

They showed us the shalwar and qamis national dress and held up examples of handicrafts to show us. They also showed us their money which has the picture of the founder of Pakistan on it, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

We also listened to their presentation about the different provinces and types of terrain in Pakistan.

In the last 5 minutes, students asked questions back and forth.

We connected a bit late because they had lost electricity in Pakistan. It’s quite typical in the summer months to lose power occasionally.

The classes talked about summer holidays, winter holidays and other times off of school, and how education is not compulsory for some students in Pakistan. They also talked about sports and explained the rules of football and discussed favorite teams etc.

It was a great experience for all & I’m sure we’ll connect again!

Janine

Sharing Communities with Pakistan

Today after hurried preparations, we did our first international connection of this school year. A second grade class at E. P. Clarke Elementary in St. Joseph connected with some 2nd, 3rd and 4th class students in Karachi, Pakistan.

The two classes shared information about their homes and families. One Hindu student in Pakistan shared how he lived with his nuclear family. Another student in Pakistan shared how he lived with his extended family.

The two classes shared clothing and the students in Pakistan showed their shalwar qamis. Both classes shared what type of weather and climate are common in their area.

The class in Pakistan shared their alphabet with us. They are going to email us the whole alphabet and how to say the letters.

The classes also shared their holidays. Our class shared how we celebrate Halloween, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and birthdays. They also shared holiday celebrations with us and showed how the bride & groom dress for a wedding.

The format of the videoconference was basically sharing back and forth. Students at one site would share information, then the other class would share information on the same topic. Other topics covered included money, transportation, sports, entertainment, school topics, and landforms.

The students in Pakistan taught our students how to say, “how are you,” “thank you,” and “we are fine” in their national language, Urdu.

We finished with questions back and forth between the schools, thanks and goodbyes! An excellent experience for everyone involved!

Global Business Uses of VC

So, I’ve been slowly working my way through The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. I know others are blogging on this too, but I’m interested in the business uses of videoconferencing, and other applications I see from the book for VC use in schools. I’m still not finished the book, but thought while I’m sitting in the airport waiting to fly home from NECC that I’d write a bit about what I’ve learned so far.

I am always very interested in how videoconferencing is used in the business world, because I think it informs our use of VC in education. So here’s some examples of VC from the book:

Infosys, he said, hold a virtual meeting of the key players from its global supply chain for any project at any time on that supersize screen. So their American designers could be on the screen speaking with their Indian software writers and their Asian manufacturers all at once. p. 6
Hmm. What kind of project could middle or high school students do with global colleagues that would simulate this type of collaborative work?!

Some of the Indian accounting firms even go about marketing themselves to American firms through teleconferencing and skip the travel. p. 14
Hmm. How about brushing up on your interview-via-vc skills?!

There are videoconferencing facilities on every floor of Boeing’s Moscow office, so the engineers don’t have to rely on e-mail when they have a problem to solve with their American counterparts. They can have a face-to-face conversation.
Hmm. I wonder how they resolve the time zone issues that we struggle with in K12 global VCs?

More next time….

International Gems

So today I went back to the Poster Sessions and the Global Gallery, and found a couple more great VC projects!

The first was Professor Dr. Reima Sado Al-Jarf from King Saud University in Saudia Arabia. She is a professor of ELT and Translation. She shared pictures of their videoconference classrooms and how they are connecting three campuses of the university together in maximize access to instructors. Two of the campuses are for female students and the other one is for male students. I’m so intrigued by how the technology is partially breaking down a traditional barrier, in a way that extends access to instruction to all students, while keeping within the cultural distinction between men & women. It’s very interesting to see how different cultures adapt a technology or communication tool to their specific needs. We had a wonderful conversation about the various uses of videoconferencing in the curriculum.

Next I came around the other side of the table to see videoconferencing from Alberta, presented by Karen Andrews, VC Program Coordinator for the Alberta Education department. Clearly Alberta is doing some very creative things with videoconferencing! Check out their province VC website at VCAlberta.ca. Some stories included:

  • Connecting students with the Ontario Science Center, where students sent their DNA (with permission) to a scientist who discussed the various aspects of DNA related science.
  • Two social studies teachers in Alberta and Ontario connected to Gwen Dyer (sp?) a famous British journalist to discuss the origins of the Mid East conflict so they could help their students understand current events.
  • Connecting 5th grade students, along with their high school mentors, to a famous Canadian artist, Robert Bateman, to learn drawing tips & tricks.
  • Connecting students to a Mars scientist from the Canadian Space Agency.
  • Connecting Calgary students to an expert on Ancient Greece in Toronto with the 12th grade students at her site and discussing the content.
  • Doing “Math Improv” with two high schools and two college math professors. The high school students give each other real-world problems and try to solve them with tips from the professors.

In addition, in the fall they will publish a series of videos on their website to teach VC etiquette etc. This will be a great addition to the VC community.

Plus, best of all, they are doing a huge research project on VC using the Community of Practice Research Model and the results will also be published in the fall.

What a lot I learned from this little poster session!!!!

Now off to fly home. A great conference and I learned lots!

Tag:

Year Long VC Project Format

Sometimes at a conference, you run across the best examples in tucked away in an unlikely place! This morning I went to the Poster Sessions in Grand Hall looking for a specific one on videoconferencing that wasn’t there! But in looking for that poster session, I found another, even better example of creative use of videoconferencing and cross school collaborations.

The project is called Bridges Across the Atlantic, and has been going on for 6 years. Two fourth grade classes, one in Rhode Island, and one in Sweden, connect regularly for projects and curriculum activities throughout the year. This was the first year that they incorporated videoconferencing using a new Polycom.

I need to study their links and projects more to see how this format could be used with many other schools and duplicated….

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MusicPath VC Project over I2

Another session: Now I’m watching an amazing demo of a pianist in Calgary Alberta playing the beautiful grand piano in front of me. No one is at the piano in front of me – he is playig it remotely via videoconference and special software created by Acadia University, Nova Scotia! Karen Wilder from Acadia facilitated the demonstration, and MAGPI, Sunesys, and Yamaha sponsored the high speed connection.

Quoting from MusicPath‘s website:

MusicPath interconnects digital acoustic pianos, in this case a sophisticated Yamaha Disklavier, through advanced high-speed networks allowing one pianist to play several pianos in real-time, assisted by videoconferencing. This creates a new learning dimension for teachers, institutions and musicians.

Now a pianist here is playing the piano in front of us and also playing the piano in Alberta and Nova Scotia all at the same time!

Did you know there is a built in speed of light delay?! And a 400milisecond delay due to the network and the music software…. as well as a half second delay due to the actual piano mechanisms. But improvisation doesn’t mind a bit of delay like that! An exiquisite virtual duet!! It’s like two people playing the same piano – except one is here and one is there! It’s so weird to see the keys going up and down on the left beside our pianist on this end of the VC.

The piano only takes 56K while the videoconnection is using 768K and of course is actually smoother over I2.

This started with a 12 year old who had finished Grade 10 Royal Conservatory and took lessons via distance using this technology.

Now an audience encore! Of course, it would be Mark George from the Cleveland Institute of Music to volunteer!

This is even more intriguing to me because a few weeks ago I received an email regarding a research article on MusicGrid, another distance/videoconferencing music project from Canada. Check out the article for more details!

Another cool thing about this event is the presenter connected from Calgary is also at a convention, so in addition to this incredible demonstration, the videoconference technology allows us to connect both conferences together!

This event alone was worth the whole trip! These Canadians are amazingly creative with their distances, sparse population, and commitment to quality education!