Videoconferencing for Boundless Learning

Ruth Litman-BlockMartha Bogart

1460 Craig Rd. St. Louis, MO 63146

314-872-8282 http://csd.org

What Is Videoconferencing? Two-way voice and video

connection Like a phone call except you

can see the other person Can be desktop or full screen

TV monitor using a codec (Coder-Decoder)

How Videoconferencing Is Done Over ISDN (phone) lines or IP

(Internet) lines ISDN = H.320 protocol IP = H.323 protocol Desktop = regular Internet

protocol

IP H.323 Videoconferencing IP lines = no cost, other than

Internet access Bandwidth dedicated to more than one

videoconference Need large bandwidth or router to

prioritize videoconferencing All of our videoconference sites have IP

connectivity

How Does H.323 Work?

Types of systems Polycom Tandberg

Simple to operate Remote control Touch screen

Similar to dialing phone number

Why Videoconference? Increases student engagement and motivation Uses researched based instructional strategies

Cooperative Learning (Kagan) Classroom Instruction that Works (Marzano)

Uses constructivist pedagogy and inquiry-based learning

Increases student achievement Wainhouse study

http://www.wrplatinum.com/BekijkSamenvatting.asp?Inhoudsnummer=906

BECTA study (#8) http://www.becta.org.uk/research/research.cfm?s

ection=1&id=546

Uses of Videoconferencing

Enrich curriculum Deliver staff development and

classes Conduct administrative meetings Perform parent and community

outreach Develop business partnerships Make global connections

Students can take classes not offered at their school, such as advanced honors or foreign language courses

Classes can communicate first-hand with experts in many fields to enhance understanding of a subject they are studying

Students can meet with tutors for enrichment or personal attention

Examples of Uses

Types of Videoconferences for K12 Virtual Field Trips

Take students to cultural institutions around the world

Collaborative Projects Collaborate with other students in

different classrooms Student Created Projects

Students teach each other

©J. Zanetis

Actual Videoconferences This site has lots of info about

virtual field trip videoconferences and video clips of them http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl/fave/in

dex.html

Ocean Institute Philadephia Art MuseumU.S. House of

Representatives

Actual Videoconferences

The California Young Readers Medal videoconference webcasts Site with archived

webcasts of author visit videoconferences

http://vc.ocde.us/cyrm/

Where to Find Content Providers for Virtual Field Trips SBC Knowledge Network Explorer

http://www.kn.att.com Two Way Interactive Connections in

Education (TWICE) http://www.twice.cc/fieldtrips.html

Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) http://www.cilc.org

Vanderbilt Virtual School http://www.vanderbilt.edu/virtualschool/

Search CILC for Content

Search by Content Provider or Keyword

This site has many field trips and is searchable.

Internet Sites About Videoconferencing CSD maintains a list of interesting

sites about videoconferencing http://www.ikeepbookmarks.com/CSD

Click on “Videoconferencing Links” Available all the time Anyone can access Only one URL to remember

CSD’s New Links to New Learning site http://csd.org/newlinks/newlinks.htm

Content Providers for Virtual Field Trips Most have websites Most provide lesson plans,supplemental

materials, and handouts Some good ones:

Liberty Science Center www.lsc.org Mote Marine Laboratory Seatrek

www.seatrek.org Museum of TV & Radio

www.mtr.org/welcome.htm Johnson Space Center

learningoutpost.jsc.nasa.gov Cincinnati Zoo

www.cincyzoo.org/Education/index.htm

How to Design a Virtual Field Trip Pick a lesson you have taught many times Look at your objectives

Figure out where to take your students that would enhance the lesson

Pick several dates and times Contact content provider and reserve time

Or contact CSD to do this for you Contact your tech support person and

reserve time in the videoconferencing room

How to Design a Virtual Field Trip Go to website of provider and

download lessons and/or handouts CSD can do this for you

Prepare students Go over protocol Have students sign behavior contract Create tent name tags

Get parental permission to videotape Debrief and evaluate the video

conference

Designing Collaborative Project Videoconferences Begin with a curricular goal Evaluate available resources Review existing projects Contact the remote site project

coordinator/teacher Plan the project or your participation in

it Implement the plan Evaluate and plan for the future

Curricular Goals—Questions to Ask Yourself

Exactly what do you want your students and those they are linking with to learn?

How does videoconferencing particularly enhance their learning and understanding?

What classroom preparation will you need to do with students in advance so that they get maximum learning benefits from the videoconference?

During the actual videoconference, what specific learning activities will students involved be doing?

After the conference, what follow up activities will you do with students to reinforce their understanding?

Resources for Collaborative Project Videoconferences TWICE maintains a page with many links to

projects http://www.twice.cc/projects.html

CILC Collaboration Center (request a collaboration site for a project) http://www.cilc.org/collaboration_center.aspx

Global Leap (in UK) http://www.global-leap.com/

Face to Face (free public directory of videoconference sites around the world) http://www.ftf-tokyo.com/

Video Clips of VC Collaborative Project Janine Lim’s blog

http://bcisdvcs.wordpress.com/ Scroll down to 1/17/07 entry, “I

Cloned Myself!” 39 minute video about collaborative

project with lots of clips of students participating in videoconferences

Types of Collaborative Projects Poetry slam Debate/Argument Dialogs on social

issues/concerns Read to each other Performances Collaborative writing Sharing

cultures/traditions Joint problem solving Joint data collection

and analysis Interviewing

Examination/analysis of public policy

Sharing of research/science projects

Joint service projects Older students

teaching younger Geography guessing

game Sharing of local history Quiz shows Foreign language

practice

Plan the Project Figure out the timeline Determine the number of sites (who,

where, etc.) Think through all the details Determine what technology

resources you will need and how to get them

Assign project tasks to students Design a scoring guide

Evaluate the Project

Is it worthwhile to do this project again?

What should be changed? Did the project meet the curricular

goals for the students? Did the participants in the project do

their parts? What other project ideas might come

from this experience?

Student Created Projects KC3 (Kids

Creating Content) http://kc3.cilc.org Standards based

project students look at

their communities & share their findings over videoconference

Sample movie clips

Happy Traveling!

CSD is ready to help in any way

A wealth of opportunities await you and your students

Take a risk and jump into videoconferencing—the water’s fine!

Contact InfoRuth Litman-Block

rlblock@csd.org

314-692-1272

Martha Bogart

mbogart@csd.org

314-692-1258