Relating Online

This article focuses on a 5-year long collaberation between Scott Merrick’s elementary class in Nashville, TN and Darrick Mosser’s elementary class(part of the Canadian Academy) in Kobe, Japan. It began as a cultural exchange and ended up with students sharing videoconferencing projects in math, social studies, and science.

The biggest project was the Elder Project where students went out into their communities and asked the elders a similar set of questions that the students had created together Then they compared the responses to find similarities and differences between the cultures and between the generations.

The article also talked about how the quality and quantity of the student’s writing has improved because of the frequent email exchanges between the two schools. All the exchanges and collabeative projects have also helped the teachers cover many of the ISTE standards for their students. Their latest project is to use First Class software to set their calenders together so they can more easily exchange information.

Despite never meeting in person, the article stresses the close teaching relationship that has developed between two teachers half a planet apart.

JW

Videoconferencing in Education

My goal as an educator is to create meaningful real world experiences for my students, which will allow them to grow and develop into productive citizens.  I believe that vc is great way to accomplish this goal.  I also agree with the article that vc allows teachers to, “foster and develop leadership skills, promote the concept of global citizenship, and provides students with experience to help develop their emotional intelligence.”  Whether the students are meeting with a class half way around the world, a provider in another state, or simply presenting to another group of students in their districts students are learning vital communication skills and can only grow from this exposure to the world.

 

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Interested in meeting authors using distance learning? Well, just “ASK”

I gravitated toward this article today after experiencing the program yesterday.  The article explained the history behind the program and brought home the importance of grants as funding for the technology that we use in the classroom.  I like the way that it was explained how the programs worked and it was easier to visualize now that I have experienced doing the program myself.  I like the way that it can connect the different subjects so that the students can see that each subject is not just the way to be in isolation.

Nancy

Where do I start?

This was a really enriching exprence.  My uncle died in the vietnam war.  This was a very touching experience.  Thank you Don and all of the veterans who have served in our country.  I dnn’t know about you guys but I feel overwhelm.

 

Tunisia

Mr. Miller Goes to War

Our school recently said goodbye to a custodian who serves in the national guard and was deployed to Afghanistan. The custodian is an important part of our small school community and his deployment has effected the students and the staff. The use of video conferencing would provide among other things a sense of emotional stabilty for the soldier and the students. Our staff member has brought  a school (The Amercian Flag) flag to fly over the base there and plans to return it to our school to fly again. The students are not all aware of  the flag detail at this point. How powerful would it be to see that flag flying in real time over the base while talking to our community member through the use of video conferencing .

Shelley Lester GST BOCES

Learning from a Distance Brings it Home

This article discusses vc and other online opportunities available through today’s advanced technology.  Whether its taking a class online, taking a virtual field trip, or doing collaborative projects with students in another city technology has definitely created assess to places and people around the world.  I would be curious to know how many schools around the country have been able to afford the initial cost of setting up a vc room and what type of grants have been put in place to help these schools.  I love that my school has this technology available and to show my appreciation, I try to use it on a regular basis.  My only hope would be to get all schools using this technology.

 

lp

Going Global: Rural Washington Students Connect with the World

The Global Art Project is commonly known as iEARN.  iEARN is a network of 95 countries and approximately 400,000 students globally.  International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) sponsors a long list of collaborative projects designed to build global bridges, improve education and make a difference in the world.

Building Bridges assignments include students drawing, writing on a theme such as “A Sense of Family”. Once when the drawings arrived from Russia, one student was stunned to see a picture the same as his, a family with two adults and two children flanked by trees and clouds in the sky.  The clouds were painted blue on white paper!

Children see commonality with children far away and get excited.  Children look at differences as an opportunity to learn instead of seeing something strange or something to fear.  Affirmation is part of the exchange process students ask each other thoughtful questions and cite elements of the pictures they liked.

Once children have taken the time to learn something, it’s valued by someone else. It gives them a sense of wanting to continue being a part of a community.  They treasure communication!

The Internet reinforces that sense of community.  Students/people define community by direct interaction with others anywhere in the world.

Cheryl Carr

Middle School Videocongerencing Fosters Global Citizenship

This article talked about how through the use of video conferencing students are able to interact with experts around the world. This adds excitement to the objectives and curriculum that is mandated by the state.  Another benefit to this is the fact that it also adds to the goals of promoting global citizenship and the fostering and development of leadership skills.

The amount of information that is absolutely amazing and the possibilities for learning are endless.  The article also discussed what made a good program.  Most important in a good program is that the program is matched to the curriculum including pre and post materials.

Through this interaction with others in the world, our students will benefit with a better global understanding and empathy for others in circumstances that once we would have only read of in a book.

Nancy

Gas Prices Fuel rise in Virtual Field Trips

Do to rising gas prices and school budget cuts teachers are having to eliminate field trips.  Thank God for todays technology which gives teachers some terriffic alternatives.  Educators are choosing virtual field trips on the internet.  Do to budget cuts virtual field trips have increased 55% over the last school year.

Students can visit national museums, go to places such as the Grand Canyon, or England.  With sites such as “Global Earth” the students feel as if they were really there due to the three-dimensional aspects.  Students can visit places that aren’t practical to explore in person. 

Vitrual field trips are linked directly to academic standards and learning objectives.  With videoconferencing you don’t neeed to organize chaperones and worry about behavorial problems.

Rising energy costs, budget cuts, and great technology are leading educators to open doors into a new and exciting ways to educate our students.

Middle School Videoconferencing Fosters Global Citizenship

The article is a strong testament to what can be done when a creative, innovative teacher has access to technology.  Jody Howard-Kennedy teaches at Eastview Middle School in White Plains New York.  For three years, she has given her students extraordinary opportunities through videoconferencing.  They spoke with Cabinet members in the War room in London, spoke with a diver underwater at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia,  spoke with Health and Social Services officials in South Africa and students with HIV in the same country.  Not only was it interesting and exciting for the students, it also fulfilled the goals of the curriculum and the school goals of fostering leadership skills and promoting global citizenship.  In just 3 years, she has created partnerships with 17 New York area schools and 23 international contacts. 

She talked about the qualities of a good program and said it should have  curriculum based content and have pre and post materials for teachers and students.  She thought two programs-Global Leap and the Youth Summits for Global Harmony project were particularly good. 

She spoke briefly about the technology needed for this program and said there were two ways to have video connections-IP using the internet and ISDN with the telephone line.  Her recommendation was to buy a machine that can videoconference in both ways.  She also mentioned the importance of the vendor and emphasized the benefits of choosing one that would support you. 

Besides some examples of interesting projects, I also found it helpful to briefly talk about the technology necessary to have videoconferencing.

JW