To bridge or not to bridge?

So this week my schools have been participating in the Holiday Story Exchange, and while I would love to be able to write how those conferences have been going, I can’t. All of the connections have been made point-to-point. And when that is the case, the only monitoring capability I have is a snapshot on the web interface with no audio. This got me thinking, “Is this the best way to do it? Or should I bridge all the calls like this so that I can monitor the conference, instead of just the connection?”

The pros that I see to being able to monitor the conference are these: 1) I can see the quality of the presentations and have a better understanding of what we might need to focus on in future training. 2) Knowing that I’m watching in the background and available for support might make teachers more comfortable in the conference. 3) Plus, it’s just plain fun to watch what the classes have come up with. 🙂

Pros for leaving them point-to-point include: 1) It frees up my time to do other things. 2) It encourages/forces the teachers to become more independent with the equipment.

I would love to hear your opinion. Whether you are a teacher, a bridge operator, or instructional support, do you think all calls should be bridged? Or are point-to-point calls OK?

 

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.