123VC: Jazzing up your curriculum through videoconferencing

So for me, this has been the summer of “Jazz”. I hosted two summer sessions, one in June and one in July. And while tremendous amount of work, it is truly worth it. While I enjoy most training that I do, this is my favorite by far.

What makes “Jazz” so special? While there are many answers to this, I think I would have to say my top answer is relationships. “Jazz” has been described as “a summer camp for adults”. You get to spend a little over 30 hours getting to know your participants. This is a far cry from our normal 3 hour trainings. And from this, lasting relationships are created.

In addition to the participants that you have locally, you are also connected with 2-3 other sites. While you may not get to know all the people individually at the other sites, you do get to know them as a group, and you get to know the facilitator. Again, forming relationships for future projects and support.

The second reason why I love “Jazz” is its uniqueness. During the week you experience not only the operation of videoconferencing equipment, but classroom based projects, content providers, and numerous Web 2.0 tools, such as Google Docs, blogs, wikis, Skype, Flickr, and, this year, Twitter. That’s a lot of tools.

Now imagine all that without any direct instruction! That’s “Jazz”. Learn by immersion. With all of the tools that we use, you are developing, while you are learning. And having fun doing it!

So, thank you, participants and facilitators of Jazz, for giving me a great summer!

If you would like to know more about what we do and to see some great pictures from the week, check out the following links:

• http://www.123vc.net - Course materials
• http://123vc.wordpress.com - Participants comments
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/123vc - Pictures of Jazz sessions

 

ESC 11 DL conference cont’d

Jump Start Videoconferencing by Sue Porter

This session discussed “How do you get people involved in videoconferencing?” She gave several very practical suggestions. I’ll sumarize it as best as I can.

• You need to find applications for VC that fit. Fit the curriculum and fit the teacher.
• Promote internally and externally. Invite the parents. Getting parents involved can help with awareness and possibly funding.
• Every school needs a videoconferencing champion. Find the one or two teachers that are open to the technology and start with them.

What she tells teachers:

• Pick your favorite two units that you teach to get started. Pick one from the fall and one from the spring.
• Take a look at your content and see how can you add VC to it.

This got me to thinking about the way we do training. Currently, I offer two types of classes. 12 hours for campuses about to receive equipment and 6 hours for teachers from campuses that already have the equipment. Both of these classes are pretty much an overview. They offer lots of hands-on opportunities and places to find information, but they are not really content specific. So I’m thinking about revamping the 6 hour class to a three hour “Videoconferencing in the Language Arts (Math, Science, etc) classroom,” and having very specific activities that they can take back to their classroom that fit their curriculum.

What do you think?

 

Campus Training

So yesterday I had a short training session at one of my campuses. This campus is one that has been slow to get on board with using videoconferencing. Normally I really enjoy doing campus training, but considering the climate of our district right now, with an $84 million budget shortfall and people being faced with losing their jobs, I was a little apprehensive about the welcome I would get.

The teachers were a little slow to show up, but we eventually had a full room. Once we got started they were very attentive. I connected with two teachers at other campuses and had them share what they do at their campus and what they see as the benefits of using IVC. I then talked to the teachers about how using IVC fits with what they already do. We then finished up with passing around the remote and having them place calls and work the camera. 

I have to say, I was very pleased with the results. They loosened uponc they saw how easy it was. They started asking questions and seemed very receptive to the whole idea. If even one or two teachers from that campus start using IVC, then I consider the afternoon time well spent. After some of the comments and questions, I look forward to seeing some requests come from them.

It just goes to show, that no matter what nonsense is going on at the upper levels of administration, our teachers want what is best for our students and go about the business of educating our kids. Kudos to you all!