Category Archives: Video Skype

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Shuttle Launch Experience – What Are The Possibilities For Student Learning?

In my last post I shared that I have this fantastic opportunity to watch the Space Shuttle Endeavour launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida next month. One of the ways this new pedagogy changes things is in how my students can be included in my trip.

If I really manage to go (at best a 50-50 possibility because of budget freezes here) my students would learn about the Space Shuttle program, Cape Canaveral and other topics associated with the trip before I ever left. We would travel there through photos, but also via Google Earth – Where is this place? – why did they choose the eastern Florida coast to launch spacecraft from? We drop right down on the roof of our classroom and travel to locations and back when we Skype to build those geography skills and schema, so we would do that for this trip too. My students all have their own blogs, so I can post photos, videos, blog posts about what I am learning, topics for them to do research on. I will be able to post all my photos and even video on our class Flickr page (often within minutes of taking them) – the students could be asked to make a slideshow – write captions for the photos or any number or possible writing projects or research projects.

NASA is asking me to be there to use Twitter to report out what I am doing, seeing and learning. But I would blog about it and would hope to Skype back to my class to share with them, answer questions and maybe do on-the-spot interviews with some of the people I am supposed to meet there. My students are used to taking notes during Skype-conferences and when we have guests in our class, and this would be no different. I could have it set-up with my substitute that I would call the school and let them know to get on Skype and expect a call.

Students could even have pre-written questions to ask – what would they like to know if they get to interview an astronaut or scientist or anyone else that works there? If NASA would allow it I could use a video streaming application like USTREAM to broadcast out so other classrooms could take part … later they could even share blog posts and comments about what they learned with the classes we connect with all the time. All those students have access to our Flickr pages as well – so they could utilize our photos for their learning.

The point is, my students would not be waiting for me to return to find out what happened during the trip – to learn during the trip … they would participate before, during and after. I can comment on their blogs (even grade them), think of new assignments to give them while I am still in Florida, and my students are learning about a place they can only imagine about now. There are so many other possible ways to include them (and feel free to think out loud in the comments). And we do these things often, so this is not pie-in-the-sky – this is what we do as a big part of our learning. Things really have changed since we went to school haven’t they?

Learning is messy!

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The Tightwad Tech – The Interview

A few weeks ago, after many attempts trying to find a time we could all make, Mark and Shawn at The Tightwad Tech managed to coral Lisa Parisi and myself across timezones long enough to interview us about how we utilize a changed pedagogy utilizing tech (usually for free – hence the “tightwad” connection). Here is a link to the podcast. We had a great time. Give it a listen … and Thanks to Mark and Shawn for inviting us!

Learning is messy!

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Reno Bike Project Winding Up!

We still have a few minor loose ends to finish up, but today we finally can say we have completed our Reno Bike Project, project. Amazing what we got done when we got some consistent time to work the last two weeks (although we took three required assessment tests this week). As I’ve mentioned in my last 2 posts, I turned the responsibility for the last 6 web pages over to each of the six groups in my room with minimum direction (each group was given one of the pages to do randomly – they had to do the page they got). At the end of the day Tuesday the pages were pretty sad and I was afraid maybe they weren’t ready to take this on. But Wednesday we looked at each page as a class and brainstormed ideas and I saw major improvement. Thursday we looked at some professionally made pages and things really improved, and today they just went nuts. The wikis really came out well, with only “consulting” duties on my part, mainly at the request of the students … “does this look better or should we do it like this?”

We also put the final touches on our PSA (video) which had to be re-edited to change the URL it references. So today we burned multiple DVD copies to send to local TV stations.

So what went into doing this project?

*We had a class meeting when this opportunity first came up to decide whether or not to take on the project in the first place.
*We took a field trip to the Reno Bike Project where we shot video and took many of the digital photos we archived on our Flickr accounts.
*We had guests visit our classroom and talk to us about the Reno Bike Project, bicycle racing and the health benefits of bicycling.

*We researched on the web for information for all the wiki pages we designed and to learn more about the science curriculum that was much of the basis for this project.

*We used our Diigo account to archive and annotate much of our research.
*Maggie Tsai from Diigo visited our classroom and taught students about Diigo and encouraged them about the work they were doing.

*We storyboarded, wrote (as a whole class shared writing) the script for our PSA.
*We had numerous discussions about the order of scenes and wording and which clips made the most impact.
*We practiced and then recorded the voiceovers for the video.
*We designed posters, one of the loose ends we need to finish … we have to change the URL on those before we publish them … will probably put some on our Flickr account later.
*We peer edited each others’ work over and over checking writing style and content and whether or not links worked correctly or whether someone could be understood on the video.
Students set up various photos to use in class and outside and took them themselves.
*We Skyped in Will Richardson to talk about healthy eating habits, specifically being a vegetarian.
*We blogged about various aspects of the project.
*Students designed graphics for the PSA and for images on their wikis and posters.
*Students designed the layouts for their wiki pages.
*Students noted “experts” (classmates) at certain aspects of getting the formatting of their wikis to look “right” or import a photo and would enlist their help … which was fun to watch. “Why is she over in your group?” … “Because she knows how to get this photo to show up on the right part of the page with the caption under it and she’s showing us how.”
*Lots of collaboration, planned and not (see above).
*Lots of “messy” learning … mostly NOT planned. : )

*I’m sure I left out lots, but it’s getting late.

Learning is messy!

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Around the World With 80 Schools TV Coverage

NOTE: If you were sent here by the KOLO TV web site – Here is a link to my students’ blogs.

We traveled up north to  Saskatchewan, Canada, today – via Skype, and besides the experience being documented in our blogs and some photos, a local TV station came by and reported about it. We had a great time sharing information with Kimberly Brown’s  class. We began the usual way by traveling there via Google Earth and plunking down right on their roof.

I continue to be impressed lately with how much more articulate my students have become. You’ll note in the video that the students they interviewed are all second language learners, and even though they make a few grammatical errors, their self assuredness with using language comes through. I’ve really strived to make our class language intense and it seems to be paying off. Today is a great example. They had to watch, listen, take notes about what they learned and observed, present  to the other class about our area and state, and then write a blog post about it and do a short research piece about Saskatchewan.  Here’s a link to the news report – not sure how long the link will be good btw.

Learning is messy!

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Around The World with 80 Schools

Wow! You can’t set this up like this on purpose! I was just contacted about being part of a project that just might be the perfect way to engage with using Skype video-conferencing in your classroom. This project has been set-up by Silvia Tolisano via her blog “Langwitches” – “The Magic of Learning Through Technology.”

The project is called “Around the World with 80 Schools”. Silvia explains it this way in her blog post:

I am really thrilled about the use of Skype in the classroom. You can tell by reading the last posts about Skype:
Reasons for Skyping in the Classrroom
Video Conferencing with Elementary School students
I would like to connect my students (PreK- through 6th grade) in the next 6 months to at least 80 different schools in order to circle the globe once.
Here is the idea:
Keep it short. Skype calls can be from one minute to no longer than 5 minutes.
The goal is to connect with at least 80 schools in different parts of the world. Some of the schools will be in the same country or even city.
Don’t stop until you have circled the globe with at least 80 different schools?
Let’s connect via Skype, just to say Hello , Hola, Ni Hao, Hallo, Shalom, etc.
Prepare with your students ahead of time, what you would share with the other school about your own and what questions would you ask? Remember you will only have up to 5 minutes for Q &A
Examples:
What languages do you speak in the country you live in?
What continent are you on?
How do you say “?” ?
What is the nearest big city?
What is the name of your president?
What did you always wanted to know about our country?
We will keep track of the schools we connected with on Google Maps.
The goal is to do this in the next 6 months (January- June of 2009)
Will you help us out? Please fill out the following Google form, so I can contact you for
Around the World With 80 Schools.

We are an elementary school in Jacksonville, Florida/ USA that wants to take on the challenge to connect with at least 80 schools in different countries and continents.
We want to circle the globe in the next 6 months.
Will you connect with us via Skype to complete the challenge? All it takes is a 1-5 minute Skype call.
Please fill out the form below, so we can contact you and set up a time to say “Hello”.

I strongly suggest you check out the project here. To enroll your class in the project fill out the simple form on her blog.

Obvious tie-ins to your curriculum would be world geography and mapping skills, writing, by keeping a journal and running map of locations you talk to, oral language skills and technology skills and more.

 

Learning is messy!

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Making Video-Conferencing More Than Just Cool

If you are going to use video-conferencing in your classroom, it can’t just be to chat with someone. Back when Christian Long was an active Twitterer he said it like this:

“It is NOT good enough to simply say, “My 2nd graders in Anytown, USA Skyped a classroom in 4CornersOfGlobe.” That’s cliche, NOT innovative.”

I agreed then, but have recently modified my thinking somewhat.

First,  Skyping for a few minutes or so to get your “feet wet” and making sure the connection works and everyone knows how things work has always been a good idea. I still do that especially if the other person / classroom has never Skyped before. Sometimes just the other teacher and I, but sometimes the class will touch base for a few minutes. It builds confidence in the technology and gets that initial experience out of the way. Think of it as passing out the math manipulatives and allowing students to play with them a few minutes before actually using them in the lesson.

Typically when we video-conference I know about it days or more ahead of time. We are usually Skyping to share info about a topic  we’ve been studying or to work on a project so students are engaged in learning activities before the conference that include speaking up, practicing their parts, and editing material beyond just the content we’ve been learning. This is akin to having students give oral reports and I’ve learned the hard way that students don’t come knowing how to do that well. So we practice small excerpts of their presentations and critique them.

This is the kind of work that adds to the time it takes to do project based work and puts many off doing project based work. If you skip these important parts it is like doing a class play by going over things once and then putting on the play in front of a large audience … how comfortable would you feel doing that? I find incredible value for my students though in practicing  language skills that are actually  based on the skills they will use the most later in school and in life.

During these preparation periods students often find that they have left gaps in their explanations that would make it impossible for others to understand … by hearing each other you are able to note those gaps and students get better and better at making their writing more informative. It also teaches them to read that way –  When students are language deficient they often don’t understand that they are suppose to piece all the information they read together to make sense.

Video-conferencing sessions are fantastic experiences for them because those issues come up often and they get tons of practice clarifying and writing for understanding which means as a teacher you can use that experience to teach them about READING for understanding the same way.

Depending on the exact reason for and nature of the video-conference we are doing then, we use some or all of these techniques to get ready. This sets the students up to learn not just content, but the language skills they tend to be so lacking in, as well as 21st century learning skills we are all getting used to.

Last, but not least, I have students take notes, and formulate questions to ask to clarify what they are hearing. Finally when the video-conference is over I often have students write about what they learned or what happened.

So what does this have to do with the original topic of this post … the Skyping a classroom just to share a bit of information? If when it is done students are debriefed and information is archived somehow – notes, class brainstorm, class discussion – and especially if students share about places or events common to their area during the conference I think it is a valuable use of time. Students are learning to communicate effectively while learning about a different geographic area and culture.

From a teacher’s point of view your are not having to arrange transportation, or take time to travel even to another class in your own building (5 minutes or so), there is little set-up, Skype is an easy download and install, and making the connection is as easy as making a regular phone call. So as with the use of any classroom manipulative, video-conferencing is valuable when students are briefed and debriefed and then something constructive is done with the learning so students process it at some level.

Learning is messy!

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Skypeing For Online Safety

A funny thing happened over the summer. My students became sixth graders! (and that can’t be good!) ; ) As we began the year and broke out the laptops I saw things happening that I didn’t like. Nothing horrendous mind you, but students checking their blogs before going straight to whatever they were really supposed to be doing. Or the student I “caught” on Club Penguin as I wandered the room. The student doesn’t even have a Club Penguin account, was just checking it out. So not exactly dangerous stuff, but the fact that they were wandering and off task hit my teacher radar … what else might be happening I’m not aware of? Especially at home or friends’ houses where many parents work odd hours and aren’t necessarily aware of safety issues on the net.

But what really grabbed my attention as we began an online safety program called  “7 Random Facts“, which is powerful in its simplicity. I’m not sure how each teacher involved prepared their students, but we talked about not disclosing information about yourself through your blog, even in little snippets that alone are not dangerous, but if someone “mined” your blog they might put a lot of nuggets together and find more than you realize. My students have had a great time deciding what 7 facts they would reveal about themselves and then searching the blogs of other participants to find out who might have similar interests and leave comments for them.

One day during a discussion about online safety – Myspace, Bebo and Facebook came up. It came out how many of my students have those kinds of pages (they are 11 and 12 years old) a bit over half my students have pages that they are too young to have according to the sites own rules. This revelation caused me to expand our online safety unit. In my research on the topic I used Twitter to ask the “Ed Tech Network” for resources. Through that act I made connections with several other teachers having similar issues with their students.

About a year ago we were involved in a Skype video-conference with George Mayo’s class, and he contacted me about having our students write more about online safety and continue the conversation through their blogs. I jumped at the chance and the next thing we knew we had set up a video-conference to share what we were learning. George imbed a YouTube video on online safety on his student blog. Both classes watched it and wrote about their reactions to it. 

George and I then had a Skype planning session and we designed a project on Google Docs where each group of students in our classes wrote vignettes describing someone being unsafe on the internet. Then they stated the rule that should have been followed. I had my students  figure out how to take a photo that illustrated their rule which we put on on Flickr account and then pulled into the Google Docs. 

During the video-conference our students took turns sharing their vignettes and George’s students asked my students questions about our climate, favorite teams, and other topics. The video-conference was great when it was working, but because of a major network issue my school district was experiencing (which I only found out about afterwards) we were on and off a lot. I’ve done probably 100 video-conferences in my classroom and have only had similar issues a few times.

The upshot is that I had a conference with a student and parent the next day and the student mentioned that since our safety unit she had purged her Myspace page of several pieces of info that could lead to her. By-the-way her mother knows all about her page, she monitors it and uses it herself to talk to relatives in Guatemala and elsewhere. I realize that although that is great news, we will need to continue this conversation all year.

One consideration … half of my class has been blogging, making wikis, video-conferencing and more for 3 years now. Next year in middle school they will have only scattered access to technology and probably little to no teaching about being safe online. Of course why worry about students that will begin their teenage years. By that age they know how to take care of themselves. 

Learning is messy!


 

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It Just Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This

After my presentation in the Blogger’s Cafe on video-conferencing, a woman in a hurry ran up to me and told me that she was from Singapore. She explained that she showed our “Inclusion” video to her administrators in Singapore, and as a result they included a student last year who is a quadriplegic in class the same way. She was in a huge hurry to get somewhere so I didn’t get a chance to get any details, but I did get her to promise to email me.

Learning is messy!

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Another Example Of Videoconferencing

This is a bit pricier than $60 for a web cam (and remember computers often come with them built in nowadays), but the Washington Post did this story:

Video Setup Tears Down Class Walls
Interactive Lessons Available From Afar
By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 28, 2008

What I like about this is that students expand the walls of their classrooms and participate in classes and learning experiences that they wouldn’t have available otherwise.

“But then something curious happened. The two-dimensional figures on the screen began asking questions, and the students raised their hands and answered. When the musicians played, they smiled as the students nodded their heads and snapped their fingers in time. When the performers were finished, they acknowledged the applause, then took a few questions from the young audience.

Through videoconferencing, the Loudoun County students took a lesson from the Manhattan School of Music without leaving the comfort of their plastic chairs in Sterling.”

I’ve never really tried to tweak the sound on a Skype connection much, or used it to listen to music, but I’m curious now to see (or hear I guess) what that would be like. I’m guessing here, but for the price the picture and sound must be better:

“Two years ago, Potowmack Elementary was among the first in the county to use the video camera, microphone and speaker set, at a cost of about $1,500. The county owns about six of the units for schools to use.

At Potowmack, first-graders have gone “mushing” on a dog sled in Alaska, second-graders have traveled to an Arizona desert to see NASA scientists testing moon buggies and spacesuits, and fourth-graders have visited with marine biologists in Florida as they fed a tank full of sharks.”

I love this concept, I wonder if something similar could be set up informally through a wiki page? I’m still planning on sharing some activities this year via my Verizon Wireless card. Lisa Parisi and I are currently kicking around an idea to share a reading and writing activity using a wiki page and Skype. We’ll keep you posted.

Learning is Messy!

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