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Technology is Pleased to Provide the District This new Service.

Special Thanks to Beaver Valley for Using Budget Money to Make This First Unit Possible

Brush Now has Interactive Video Conferencing - Contact Randy C. Dalton -  to set up a conference for you.

 

http://www.cilc.org/

IVC - Interactive Video Conferencing

Videoconferencing provides Educators and school districts  with the ability to meet and to work with others over a distance. The following list includes several examples of the benefits for Educators  using videoconferencing:

  • Reduce travel costs.
  • Improve use of executive time.
  • Speed up decision-making.
  • Keep meetings brief and more focused than face-to-face meetings.
  • Enable top management to quickly and effectively communicate with employees sitting in multiple locations.
  • Allows virtual project management via video and data conferencing with geographically dispersed peer groups at short notice.
  • Provides an effective way of delivering cost-efficient training to individuals without the requirement to consistently travel to central locations.
  • Creates a medium for conducting interviews.

 

Distance Learning

Videoconferencing is an exciting technology for education. Teachers and students are able to see each other, share documents and discuss topics together in a situation similar to a traditional classroom setting. The main difference being that the teachers and the students may be in different states or even countries.

 

Distance Learning Videoconferencing increases efficiency by:

  • Saving travel time and expenses.
  • Increasing an instructor's audience.
  • Maintaining the ability for interaction between teachers and students.
  • Collaboration projects between students and different countries

Schools throughout the U.S provide  cost-effectively  centralized administrative functions, IT services, instructional support and many other services via IVC (Interactive Video Conferencing)

For schools everywhere, budget cuts have resulted in fewer class offerings which makes it harder to offer courses that will enable students to succeed in a global economy that grows more competitive every day.

That’s where distance learning comes in. Many school districts encompasses inner-city, suburban, and rural school districts stretching across many miles, distance learning has been crucial to leveling the playing field for students in their state.

 

This allows district to offer video conferencing and solutions and hundreds of classes each  day to hundreds of students throughout their district. Classes can include college-level psychology and sociology, American Sign Language, advanced placement courses, and foreign languages. Several district In recent years, applied their pioneering distance learning effort to teaching Chinese Mandarin. Grants allow the Department of Education Foreign Language Assistance Program to bring Mandarin to schools whose class enrollment in Mandarin classes would be too low to support a full-time teacher.

Many schools are currently using videoconferencing systems for a variety of purposes, including:

  • Traditional courses.
  • Connecting with guest speakers and experts.
  • Multi-school project collaboration.
  • Enabling teachers to share information and team-up with teachers in remote sites.
  • Virtual field trips to museums, zoos, aquariums, institutions and other interesting locations that are geographically distant from the school.
  • Professional Development through other organizations and providers.

Ideas for Using Video Conferencing in the Classroom* ( Credit to *Plano ISD)

Video conferencing provides students the opportunity to learn by participating in 2-way communication. They receive instruction and information on any topic, and they present information and ask questions of the other participating site. Video conferencing provides a channel for communication all over the globe. The benefits of video conferencing include stronger speaking, listening, and presentation skills for our students. Following is a list of uses for video conferencing in the classroom.

Bring a NASA astronaut to your classroom.

Visit a museum.

Visit a zoo.

Visit the Dallas Aquarium.

Visit Connecticut’s Mystic Aquarium.

Virtual field trips
· To the NY Stock Exhange to observe stocks being traded
· To see the president of a bank in his work environment
· Conference with a doctor performing a medical procedure

Connect your 3rd graders to 3rd graders in Finland. Your students learn about their community and compare it to others around the world. They compare their everyday lives by showing each other their toys, telling what food they like or what pets they have. They discuss their homes, schools, family customs, etc.

Students develop marketing skills while studying 17th and 18th Century British literature. Each team of students is assigned to promote a city or region in England, designing a letterhead, business card, employment manual and advertising brochure. Students design a full marketing campaign, including a website and power point presentation.

Following a unit on classic novels and plays, fourth and fifth-grade students produce an original play and perform it for other students through video conferencing.

Students learn about Japan’s history, culture and people. They correspond with students of schools in Japan, grow a bonsai forest, develop a website on famous Japanese people, sponsor a cultural-awareness week and keep a two-year journal on what they learned.

Physics students do “Daily Demo’s” for students in other schools in the district.

MSIP – NASA and Arizona State University’s Mars Education Program – teams of students in 5th through 12th grade work with scientists, mission planners, and educators on the THEMIS visible wavelength camera onboard the Mars Odyssey space craft which is currently orbiting Mars every 2 hours. - - Must submit application to participate in the project. (Mapping the surface of a planet – activities provided)

Students video conference with people who lived in California during earthquakes to learn the reality of earthquakes. “I cannot have pretty crystal glasses like your mom, because they all get broken in an earthquake. My books are on the floor, instead of on a shelf because everything falls when there is a quake.”

Students in a Boston high school study the American Revolution and link to a school in London. Both groups of students research various topics so that both groups could gain a better understanding of the political and economic issues that caused the war.

Music students video conference for live one-on-one guitar lessons.

Students visit Alaska and Hawaii where they learn about government, culture or volcanoes.

TRECA (support agency for nearly 200 schools in Ohio) – shipped a team station to Alaska and held video conferences for students to discuss experiences and cultures with students in Alaska.

Entrepreneurs – students run an international import and export business -- facilitated by a group called Achievers International.

JASON Foundation – each year JASON delivers a 3-week satellite broadcast from the site of one of its scientific projects. Students interact with the scientists via video conferencing. This year a student Argonaut was chosen to fly to Hawaii and participate in scientific research on volcanic activity. He participated in the video broadcasts.

“Five Themes of Geography” project where geographically dispersed classrooms teleconference. Students compare and contrast their geographies, school programs, cultures and experiences to broaden their view of the world they live in.

Use video conferencing for a Global “Show and Tell.”

Dialog between foreign language students - - aids students in developing correct pronunciation and increases conversational skills.

Research a variety of topics by conducting interviews with people who are experts in their field.

Use video conferencing to learn about any remote environment.

An elementary school linked with the California Science Center to research a particular topic. They create a web site about the topic.

Special Student Groups:

Use video conferencing to offer an AP course not offered by your school.

College courses: many colleges are allowing high school students to take Distance Learning classes for college credit.

Use video conferencing for GED students.

Use video conferencing to mentor individual students.

Use video conferencing to provide direct teacher interaction for isolated students.

Use distance learning to teach students in hospitals so they do not fall behind.

Staff Only:

Use video conferencing for Staff Development workshops.

Using video conferencing, teachers deliver “best lesson” examples for other teachers to learn from – good way to mentor new teachers.

Use video conferencing for the entire 6th grade math team for the district to meet to plan activities which prepare students for the a State Assessment. (TAKS.)


Need more ideas--What About:(Courtesy of TWICE - Two Way Interactive Connections in Education)

  Videoconferencing Collaborative Projects

A collaborative videoconference project gives you and your students an opportunity to learn with another school or classroom. There are many possibilities. Some projects are planned by educational service agencies, and others are planned by teachers and tech coordinators.

TWICE Projects

ASK: Author Videoconferences: TWICE partners with various ISDs around Michigan to bring ASK Author videoconferences. ASK (“Authors Specialist and Knowledge”) is an organized process that provides students with the opportunity to interview an author or a subject specialist in the topic they are reading about in a novel. The program uses excellent literature, journal writing and interviewing to promote reading for understanding.

Collaborations Around the Planet: A global directory based on the Read Around the Planet registration database. Share the flyerwith your teachers. Alternatively, you can use this CAPspace Scavenger Huntflyer. Watch a 11 minute CAPspace video overviewdone by ESU 10 in Nebraska.

Read Around the Planet: Connecting classrooms for literacy. TWICE provides a matching service for point-to-point videoconferences between schools. Includes World Languages and regular English reading exchanges.

Michigan Week Connections: TWICE invites you to participate in a celebration of Michigan Week in May. Choose Michigan Exchangeor Where in Michigan?

We the Kids: A new project for the new 4th grade curriculum. 5th grade classes are welcome too.

Project Tips

Involve all your students

Sources of Project Ideas

K20 Internet2 Projects

Finding Partners via Listservs

Videoconference Collaboration Collage (edvidconf1)(best choice for U.S. and international partners)

Finding Partners via Collaboration Portals

CILC Collaboration Center

Collaborations Around the Planet- Polycom & TWICE

MUSE- Internet 2 Commons portal for collaboration and projects

VC Alberta- Social Networking site for Canadian Schools and beyond

Ja.net Collaborate Prototype- Collaboration Portal for the United Kingdom

State Based Collaboration Portals - www.OhioDL.org, Texas DLA, (bet there are others)

Finding Partners via Directories

The Global Development Learning Network for international sites

Where to find Video Conference Ideas and Information

http://www.noodletrip.com/- a database of video conferencing opportunities

http://www.netc.org/digitalbridges/resources/- research and resources related to video conferencing in K-12 education

http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/vidconf/directory.cfm- FAQs, project ideas, etc

http://www.d261.k12.id.us/VCing/- a digital handbook for video conferencing

http://www.twice.cc/- a great website for finding video conferences offered by companies and projects you can participate in for free.  We are members of TWICE and receive a discount on many of the conferences.

http://www.kn.att.com/wired/vidconf/links.html- AT&T Videoconferencing resource links

http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listk12vidvi.html- The links provided are a collection of web resources you can use when looking for ideas on integrating video conferencing into your classroom curriculum. Information is available on tips for getting started, selecting equipment, finding field trips and experts that match your content objectives, and even checklists and worksheets for designing an event.

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