LightSpeed Mic Enhances Conference Audio
In one of our recent conferences, it occurred to us to utilize the existing RedCat classroom sound system for our audio, instead of relying solely on the desktop speakers. We simply used the teacher’s LightSpeed mic that she usually wears around her neck and the cable for connecting the mic to the speaker jack on the laptop, and we had great conference sound.
Penguins in their Biome at the Indianapolis Zoo
Can you imagine the excitement of 30 first graders watching real, live penguins? There was a lot of positive energy in this classroom as students learned about characteristics of different penguins, imitated their movements, watched the penguins that live at the zoo and asked questions about what they wanted to know. Not a lesson we could exactly recreate ourselves in Burlington, Vermont. This I think is an important piece to evaluating the effectiveness and financial worth of using paid for video-conferencing in the classroom. Is the provider offering expertise or something else that we cannot impart or facilitate with our students? Did this video conference provide an educational experience and background knowledge for students who might not make it to the Boston Aquarium or the Biodome of Montreal to see the live penguins?
First Graders Participate in Tuxedo Junction, by the Indianapolis Zoo
You, too, can peak in on the penguins, with the Penguin Cam: http://www.indianapoliszoo.com/SitePages/AboutTheZoo/WebcamPenguinControlled.aspx
Tuxedo Junction is a program that is offered year round by the Indianapolis Zoo. Check out their other distance learning programs directly on their site or on CILC.
Happy 2011! On November 15th I referenced Video Conferencing Out on a Lim a great educational videoconferencing blog by Janine Lim. Janine is starting the new year with her 3rd annual, “20 Day VC Challenge.” So far it’s the perfect daily dose of the technical aspects of video conferencing. It’s only day 3- not too late to subscribe to the challenge and explore the many resources linked to these posts and from previous year’s challenges.
Wordle of Student Responses to Magnet Mania
Following the video conference with the Discovery Center, students were asked to provide responses and feedback to the conference content, process, experience etc. Keywords from student index cards were transcribed into a Wordle for a visual representation of their feedback.
Sara, from the Discovery Center of Springfield, Facilitating Magnet Mania
20 5th graders + an hour of Magnet Mania from the Discovery Center of Springfield, MO= excitement and engaging hands-on learning! Student words to describe the session were: “totally wicked”, “super cool”, “fun”, “hands-on” and “exciting learning” to name only a few responses immediately following the session. Magnet Mania focused on observing and working with magnets, defining electricity through hands on experimentation with balloons, creating an electromagnet and learning about atoms. Students had been studying magnets and electricity, but there was new learning to be had. Many students provided feedback that learning about atoms was one of the highlights of the conference. The classroom teacher, students and I would highly recommend this session if it related to your curriculum. Items that contributed to its success include: a dynamic presenter from the Discovery Center (Sara, pictured above), students who were prepared to participate in the conference, a direct connection to current classroom content and prep time spent making sure all of the technical components were in order. You can read more about Magnet Mania Program on the CILC site: http://www.cilc.org/search/content-provider-program.aspx?id=743 .
Yesterday, all of the LNV Best Practices grant coordinators from around Vermont met via Polycom or Scopia to share project work, ask questions and attempt some initial trouble shooting related to pushing content with Scopia- specifically video.
LNV Best Practices Conference Attendees
There are some fabulous projects happening around the state of Vermont, and training on use of the LNV and Scopia could be coming to a town (or LNV site 
) near you! Stay tuned.
A resource I am finding to be very helpful is Video Conferencing Out on a Lim a blog by Janine Lim. Great links to video conferencing resources such as in Janine’s recent post from 11-12, New Skype-Sponsored Skype in the Classroom Directory.
