Thanks to all 388 of you from 29 U.S. states & Canada who voted in this year’s Best Content Providers Survey. You can find all the results, best providers, honorable mentions, and the prize winners online.
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This evening Upton Middle School students are connecting to the ReefHQ in Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
We started by the students taking a deep breath to go diving. The diver explained how his mic & breathing system works. Then he gave the students a tour of the reef, showing and explaining the coral reef. He showed different corals and asked the students to guess the name of the coral (brain coral, honeycomb coral, etc.)
The excitement in the room was palpable. All of us were exclaiming to each other how cool this is! A custodian walking by came in to watch for a while.
We laughed at a sea cucumber that breathes through it’s bottom. We learned about creatures living on the sand, and more in the lagoon. During the tour, we asked a few questions too. We were able to watch a starfish retract it’s stomach too.
Next the diver switched over to the shark tank. During the switch, Julie, the reef guide, asked the students questions to review what they had learned so far. We found out that the coral reef exhibit is 37 m long and 4.5 m deep and holds 2.5 million liters. The shark holds about 750,000 liters. We chatted about the movie Finding Nemo and how it corresponds to real life.
It was great to watch the diver swim with the sharks and get close up views of the different types of sharks in their predator tank. We met so many different sharks and fish, including one that likes to nibble the camera.
The students thought the video was incredibly good (we connected at 384 K at H.264). A green sea turtle enjoyed a scratching on its back and came to say hello.
This was a great experience, and I’m sure we’ll be doing it for an after school evening activity again!
USDLA: KC3 by Jan Zanetis
Showing the Stamford High School programs…
History of KC3 – Jan’s conversation with Alan November inspired it the start of the program.
15 schools signed up to create content; 100 schools indicated interested in being the test audiences for the contest.
The classes signed up and the KC3 team worked with them to prepare their presentations for the contest.
Then they did the program with a test audience and it was recorded on a TANDBERG Content Server in TN. The judges then accessed the programs afterwards and completed an online rubric to judge the program.
The project has snowballed where the classes are presenting their programs to other classes, and even generating additional projects and videoconferences with each other.
There were some great little clips of the students. It’s always fun to see kids present. We all laughed and enjoyed the students’ creativity!
Another clip showed the Q&A after the field trip was over. The classes brainstormed other VCs they could do with each other and what else they could teach each other about their communities. These are the same kind of amazing conversations that happen after Read Around the Planet and similar events.
In preparing their presentations, the students addressed a lot of NETS standards.
Jan has a pyramid of VC with distance classes at the bottom, then accessing content providers, then collaborative student projects, and at the top content creation in the classroom.
Comment from a student – “I didn’t realize that teaching was so hard.” That’s a great quote!!
The teachers said that it was hard work, but that the level of student engagement was incredible. Students had to dig deeper to really understand the in depth content to share it with the other class.
The teachers also said it was really eye-opening to see their students present the content – they saw their students engaging with the content at a different level than they usually see.
Since the collaborate session ended early, I popped over and caught the tail end of the NASA session by Greg Pitzer and Scott Anderson from the NASA Digital Learning Network.
From what I could gather, the session focused on the technology necessary to videoconference from remote sites. It was really cool to see the “behind the scenes” of what it takes to make programs like NEEMO and Desert RATS actually happen. I’m sure some of you reading this blog had classes participate in those events.
Some of the satellite VC systems they’ve used are: Immarsat and KU Band satellite and vsat.
They also showed the Tandberg Tactical system which was made for the military but is great for remote vc because it’s designed to be outdoors in sand and weather and anything else that could affect the equipment. Quite expensive though.
Another interesting piece of technology they showed was the NewTek TriCaster – which they said would be good for schools looking to start a local broadcasting / morning news show type program.
Here are the some recent updates to our VC Program Database linked on TWICE and Polycom.
Just sent the announcement below to the listservs. Hope you can vote. We have new categories this year, including best UK providers and best Canadian providers. It’s a little early this year because I have another research survey to send to you all in May. Thanks for taking the survey!
The Berrien County ISD is hosting Teacher’s Choice Awards to select the Best Content Providers for the 2007-2008 school year. Results will be shared via the BCISD Videoconference Program
Database and the videoconferencing listservs.Many of you use the BCISD Videoconference Program Database from one of these websites:
TWICE: http://www.twice.cc/fieldtrips.html
Polycom: http://www.polycom.com/education/content/
BCISD Distance Learning: http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl/
or from search boxes on your local distance learning website.Polycom has chosen to do a drawing for prizes to random participants of the survey to encourage participation. If you wish to be included in the drawing, add your contact information at the end of the survey. Polycom will select the winners randomly.
Click this link to take the short survey
You must complete the survey by April 25, 2008 to be included in the drawing.
Please share this announcement with your local videoconferencing colleagues. We welcome entries from teachers, even if they vote in only one category/subject area.
Thank you for your time!
It’s tough to find a good program for young children, but one of the great choices is A is for Animal from the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The program builds on the sculptures and paintings at the Cleveland Museum of Art. At first the presenter asks the students if they’ve done a VC and lets them wave to break the ice.
The program consists of lots of questions and asking questions about what they are looking at. The students comment on what they see and also identify different objects in the paintings or on the sculptures. For example:
The students see a sculpture of a cat, a bear, along with pictures of the live animals as part of the lesson. Some of the pictures and sculptures are of imaginary animals. Students identify which animals they see in the imaginary animals.
The students were highly involved, talking, sharing ideas, and learning. This is a great program for young students.
Note: This post was written for the MACUL conference blog 2008 with attendees in mind. However I’m reposting it here because it seems it would be useful for readers here too.
In Sue Porter’s session, we connected to four new content providers.
The Oilers Ice School We talked to the main character in the book A Loonie for Luck. Students learn about simple machines in making a vehicle related to zamboni machines. Students learn about the world of work and different careers too. They are just getting started.
Next we connected to author Janie Panagopoulos. She can come directly to your school and talk to your students about writing. She connects from her home office. She can tailor the programs to your learning needs - podcasts, writing feedback, asking and answering questions, walking students through the writing process, etc. Janie is really enthusiastic and interactive with the students and “jumps out the screen” to interact and motivate your students.
Then we headed over to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The presenter dug out some Lions paraphernalia for our viewing pleasure. They are new to videoconferencing and taking their existing educational activities and adapting them to videoconferencing. All of their programs include pre and post visit activities. One interesting program is the Careers in the NFL to learn about other careers in the NFL besides just professional athletics. They have 5 new programs in preparation for next school year: Brian’s Song, African American Pioneers, Team Nicknames, and NFL Media / economics. By the way, they have a grant that subsidizes actual transportation. They are really cheap programs - $50 a program!! That’s a seriously good deal.
Finally we headed over to the Calvert Marine Museum. They are starting their programs in the fall of 2008. They have wonderful pictures and graphics to show in their presentations. Their educational content includes sharks, estuary, maritime heritage, climate change, etc. For being a newbie content provider, they have a great handle on the use of the camera, visuals, backgrounds, and bringing in other resources. I look forward to connecting to this provider when they get up and running.
My favorite thing about the TWICE sessions, is when the teachers say, “how do I do this?” and after asking them where they are, we can tell them how they already have access to videoconferencing. And then they say, “You’re kidding. Really?!” It’s so unfortunate tho’ that they don’t realize the power of the technology they already have!
Note: This post was written for the MACUL conference blog 2008 with attendees in mind. However I’m reposting it here because it seems it would be useful for readers here too.
In this session by Max Graves and Anne Thorpe, we learned about the different videoconference providers in Michigan.
We connected to Northern Michigan University to talk to Diane who does the Meet the Musher program. Her sessions include a video clip of life at her kennel, and interactive questions with her, and with a live dog with her. Usually 3-5th grade classes participate in these programs. The audience asked questions about how videoconferencing works, how to prepare the class, whether permission slips are necessary, and about the dogs as well. The presenters told a funny story of bringing dogs into a videoconference room and a male dog decided to mark the room as his territory.
We also connected to the Cranbrook Science Institute to talk to Cameron Wood who organizes their videoconference programs. Cranbrook has the green screen technology and showed how it worked. They have the People On Content from Polycom. Cameron gave an overview of the programs they offer, and then walked us through the Three Fires program, including illustrations, language, and history. Miigwetch Cameron!
Here’s a picture of the TWICE room, but my little MacBook Pro built in camera doesn’t really do it justice!
Other content providers mentioned in this session were:
If you haven’t seen videoconferencing, make sure you swing by Gallery Overlook H in one of the sessions coming up so you can see the possibilities!
Today we have a kindergarten class participating in Hungry Hungry Caterpillar from the Camden Children’s Garden.
The program started off with the presenter asking the students several questions to help them realize that the videoconference is live and the presenter can see and hear them.
Next the presenter read the book Hungry Hungry Caterpillar. During the reading, the presenter asks the students lots of questions to get them involved and interacting.
Then the students learn about the life cycle, with many pictures and examples of different kinds of butterflies, different colors of eggs, different types of caterpillars. The session is short & sweet & very interactive for young attention spans. It’s also jam packed with great visuals to teach the concepts.
The Camden Children’s Garden is one of our favorite content providers this year!
