Lessons Learned Part 1

Over the last month, we have had several different types of connections. And have connected with many different places. As a result, I have learned a lot about videoconferencing. Here are some of the things I have learned.

Visuals
For the African-American Fact or Fiction conferences, it was a requirement that they have a visual of their clue so that they other class could easily write it down, or at least that was the thought behind it.

One of the things I learned is that this requirement leaves a lot to the imagination. 🙂 We had visuals that ran the gamet in quality. Some were typed, some handwritten, some on flip charts and others in powerpoint. Also, the mode of displaying these were diverse. Some were hand held, others set on a stationery object, some used the document camera, while others were on the computer.

What I found that works the best are the following:

• Typed in a LARGE font size, 72 pt or larger.
• Using a stationery object is prefered. Either some kind of stand that the visual can be placed on or using a document camera.
• List only one clue per visual. A list of the clue is too hard to read.
• In all of the above cases, it is important to ZOOM in so that the clue can be seen clearly. This should be done with a preset so as not to make the remote site sea sick. 🙂
• While PowerPoint works, there is a tendency to put too much on it so the font size is not big enough. Also, people tend to leave it on the presentation and we never get to see the students.
• And more of a “techie” thing than a instructional thing, but I’m not a big fan of Duo Video or H.239. I’ve only seen it work really well in one situation. Most of the time, it just seems to mess things up, and the other side can’t always see it. I would much rather just change the input for the main video.

Here are some examples. You can decided for yourself what you think works well. Click on a thumbnail for a larger version.

Audio
The placement of the mic is essential. Most people place the mic in the center of the room thinking that this is the best location. However, the mic that we have, actually has a “front” and “back”. If the student is in front of the mic, they are heard fine. If the student is behind the mic, their audio is muffled and sometimes barely audible.

The best place for the mic is on a chair or table towards the front of the room, facing all of the students. In most cases, this is sufficient for most students to be heard when talking in a normal voice. However, if a student is soft spoken, they may need to be moved closer to the front of the room.

Changes for next year for the Fact or Fiction program
This was the first year for this program and as such I think it went really well. But there are a few things that I think could be improved upon.

• Make sure the person being featured is communicated beforehand so that the classroom teachers is able to gather appropriate resources and credible research links.
• Give examples of good clues. The best clues seemed to be date related or truly based on fact. Just the way some of the clues were written, left the answer up for debate.
• Ban the use of wikipedia. While you can get a lot of good information there, you can’t count that it is always accurate.

If you participated in this project, I would love to hear your feedback.

 

African-American History Month Activities

February was quite a full month for us in the area of videoconferencing. We did three different types of connections in celebration of African-American History Month.

African-American Fact or Fiction
I got the Fact or Fiction idea from a classroom teacher and then adapted it to the Mystery Quest model. Each class researched a famous African-American. They then came up with 7 statements about that person. The statements could be true or false. Those statements were then presented to the remote class, who was then given time to research the statements to determine if they were Fact or Fiction. Answers were then revealed. The agenda we used is below.

Videoconferencing agenda (60 minutes):

• 5 minutes: Class introductions – This can be a class cheer, a school song, or a simple “hello”.
• 10 minutes: Class A presents their famous person and their 7 statements.
• 10 minutes: Class B presents their person and their 7 statements.
• 20 minutes: Classes research the statements given to them to determine if the statements are Fact or Fiction.
• 10 minutes: Reveal – Class A asks Class B “Fact or Fiction?” for each statement. Repeat with Class B.
• 5 minutes: Goodbyes

This was the first year for this project. We had 8 district schools and 2 out of state schools participate in 5 conferences over two days. We all had a great time and I hope to continue this project next year.

African-American History Exchange
This project is a simple exchange project where classes can share anything they are doing to celebrate African-American History Month. Projects ranged from presenting famous African-Americans and having the other class guess to sharing of poetry and African-American Jazz artists.

This was the second year for this project. We had 7 district classes and 3 out of state classes participate in 5 conferences throughout the day. A little smaller than last year, but I think it is due to the number of choices they had this year.

I’m not sure I will continue this one next year. It is easier for the teachers to prepare, but I think the African-American Fact or Fiction has more curriculum rigor. But I guess if people are willing to participate, I shouldn’t knock it, right?

A New View of Black History
This videoconferencing  was presented by the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. It focused on the art of William H. Johnson and “explored the lifestyles, struggles, and spirituality of African-Americans in the United States during the early twentieth century.” (taken from the Amon Carter program description.)

We connected three schools at a time for the conference for a total of 12 schools participating throughout the day. The conferences were apapted for K-2 and 3-6 audiences. Nancy Strickland, the presenter, did an awesome job of facilitation a multi-site conference and kept all the schools engaged. They also sent out awesome support materials. The teachers loved this conference.

 

3 things I believe about all students

Roxanne Glaser tagged me on a meme that is circulating regarding beliefs about all students. You can see her post on the topic here.

At first I thought, “Gee, thanks, Roxanne. A writing assignment. And one that makes me really think at that.” And I guess that is really the point, to get you to think. So now I say, “Thanks, Roxanne, for including me.”

The original post was by Martha  Thornburgh. She asks the question, paraphrasing of course, what do we, as educators, really believe about ALL students?

Here are my thoughts:

1. I believe all students can learn. However, this does not mean that they all learn at the same rate or in the same way. But I do believe that ALL students can increase their knowledge.

2. I believe all students have the desire to learn. The trick here is finding what interests them and engages them.

3. Lastly, I believe ALL students, child learners and adult learners alike, want learning to be enjoyable. Do any of us really want to sit and listen to someone talk on and on and on? I mean, really?

The directions from the original meme are as follows:

1. Share three things that you believe about all students.
2. Reflect on your thoughts in your blog. (If you do not have a blog, you can share your ideas in a comment from this post.)
3. Be sure to link to this post and to where you were first tagged.
4. Tag your response with AllStudentsMeme
4. Invite others to join the conversation by tagging them to be a part of the meme.

Because most of the people that I know who blog have already answered this question, I’m going to tag a couple of people who don’t have blogs. Feel free to comment here or on the original posting.

So “Tag, you’re it!”

1. Angela Conrad

2. Ken Conn

3. Dr. Bruce Ellis

 

Our Planet Earth

So my second conference for the day was “Our planet Earth” presented by NASA. This involved a 1st grade class at one of my schools. It was pretty good, and the kids were really engaged.

The presenter asked, “If you were an alien and you
landed on earth, how would you describe it?”

 

 

 

 

 “What if you landed here?”

 

 

 

 

 

He then went through several different pictures of different places on Earth and had the kids describe them. It was interesting to see that some of the kids really seemed to have no reference for some of the environments that he showed.

This is why I think using video conferencing in the classroom is so important. It broadens the minds of our students and helps them to realize that there is a world outside of their classroom, their house, and their city. Maybe by exposing them to other places, they will begin to dream of one day visiting those places. And isn’t that part of our jobs as educators? To help our students dream about things they might one day accomplish? To open their eyes to new opportunities? I certainly hope so.

 

Tobacco: A True Story

Today 5 schools participated in the conference “Tobacco: A True Story.” This conference was hosted by TETN in support of the Great American Smoke Out. The presenter was Keisha Leatherman, from the Tarrant County Department of Health. The conference discussed the toxins of cigarettes,  what smoking and smokeless tobacco can do to the body, and ways to refuse tobacco. This was geared towards 4th- 6th grades.

This conference was very informative, even for me. After watching this I don’t know why anyone would start smoking. Did you know that cigarettes contain some of the same ingredients as rat poison, toilet cleaner and gasoline? If they put THAT on the label it might actually be a deterrent.

Students from some schools were able to ask questions. I had one school that was interactive. They asked some great questions. “Why does your breathe stink when you smoke?” The response…”Because it’s just nasty.” The presenter did expound, but I think that sums it up.

Second question, “Why is it legal?” Isn’t that a great question? Bottom line, because money is more important than health. Of course, the presenter put it much better than that.

This was a great conference. I’m really glad that we had some schools participating. If it keeps one or two students from starting to smoke, then it was well worth it. Kudos, TETN and Gerri Maglia, for offering such a beneficial program.

 

Curriculum based IVCs in the making

So today I met with some teachers at one of my campuses via video. For most of them this was the first time they had used videoconferencing and things went very smoothly. The topic of discussion was how IVC fit into their curriculum.

My goal for these meetings (and I’m planning more) is to talk with the teachers about what topics they have coming up in their curriculum. Then we will plan some activities and virtual field trips to fit what they are already doing in the classroom.

Our district is in the process of creating/revising Curriculum Planning Guides for every grade level and subject area. This will hopefully provide more consistency among the campuses with the hope that everyone will be on the “same page at the same time”. Some of these are finished, some of these are not. So while I was asking the teachers to tell me what they had coming up in January and February, many of them did not know simply because the CPGs are not ready. In addition, several of them were new to their grade level and were still learning about the curriculum themselves.

While today’s discussions were not as informative as I would have liked, we did come up with some good ideas that I will be pursuing. And I was impressed with the teacher’s willingness to help with a project when they have so much on their plate already. Overall it was a good day and I look forward to the next time.

 

What are your ideas?

So here we are, three weeks into school and people are starting to ask, “What can I do with videoconferencing?” There are many places to get ideas. There’s CILC where you can search content providers and collaborative ideas. There’s also http://collaborativevcs.pbwiki.com/ hosted by BCISD that allows you to explore collaborative ideas that others have used. And the list goes on.

But I have found that the best ideas come from classroom teachers. So how do you want to use videoconferencing this year in your classroom? Leave a comment and share your idea.