What's New This Month
 
What's New Archives
(prior months)
 
Related Websites

What's New - December 2005

Videoconferencing In The Classroom

December's theme is Video Conferencing in the Classroom. Below you will find links to current research, case studies, technical information, and ideas for classroom learning experiences using video conferencing.

Alberta invests $6 million in province-wide video-conferencing initiative
Alberta Education: News Release (February 14, 2005)
© 2005 Government of Alberta
http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/news/2005/February/nr-VideoConferencing.asp

This news release describes the recent investment by Alberta Education to establish and implement video-conferencing across Alberta's Kindergarten to Grade 12 education system. Nearly $4 million of the $6 million was allocated for the development of video-conferencing capacity, with each school jurisdiction receiving $60,000 in funding this past school year to establish a minimum of two video-conferencing locations or to expand their current video-conferencing activities. The remaining $2 million was to be directed toward applied research projects to support effective integration of video-conferencing within the education system. It is expected that the results of this research will be made public in early 2006 and will be posted on the VCAlberta.ca web site (see below).

Alberta SuperNet Training Courses
http://www.nait.ca/supernet/

With funding from Alberta Learning and the assistance of major SuperNet stakeholder groups, NAIT has developed and is now delivering SuperNet Technical Training courses to IT personnel who have responsibilities to design, manage, install, and service network connections to Alberta SuperNet. The SuperNet Video Conference Technical/Environmental Training course is one of the courses offered. This course covers basic and intermediate skills required to be proficient in designing, developing and operating a video-conferencing solution. Visit this page to learn more about this and other courses, and get information about the current schedule, registration forms and available funding.

Assessing Early Applications of Videoconferencing in Alberta K12 Context
Copyright © 2004-2005 Canadian Institute for Distance Education Research
http://cider.athabascau.ca/research/researchCurrent/videotest

Commissioned by Alberta Education, the research plan described on this page will address two issues. First, to describe and evaluate existing innovative practices in Alberta in order to identify those that can be recommended as "best practices." Second, to engender enduring reflective inquiry, continuous improvement, and mutual support by actively stimulating a community of inquiry. The final phase deliverables were scheduled to be completed by the end of August 2005. It is expected that the results of this research will be made public in early 2006 and will be posted on the VCAlberta.ca web site (see below).

British Educational Communications and Technology Agency
© Becta 2005
http://www.becta.org.uk/research/research.cfm?section=1&id=3503

The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) provides those who work in the schools sector with advice and support services for learning and teaching, and managing with ICT. As part of this work, Becta initiated the Videoconferencing in the Classroom Project (see the Global Leap link below for more information about this project). The reports provided on Becta's web site present findings from an evaluation of this project over approximately one school year. The reports explore the relationship between the use of videoconferencing technologies and their impact (both actual and potential) on pupils' attainment and attitudes to school, and on teachers' practices. Six case studies that investigated the factors contributing to the embedding of videoconferencing into the primary and secondary school curriculum are also available as downloads from this site.

Global Leap - Videoconferencing in the Classroom: Developing interactive videoconferencing across the classroom in the UK and around the world
Copyright © 2005 Global Leap
http://www.global-leap.com/index.htm

The Global Leap website is a resource for teachers around the world. The site offers help, advice and support to develop videoconferencing in the curriculum. It helps you find videoconferencing partners and book interactive videoconference lessons. Registration is free.

Once you've registered, this site can be used to

  • learn about using videoconferencing in the classroom,
  • search the classroom network to find other schools to work with,
  • use the project notice board to find out about projects other schools are working on, and
  • book your place on a videoconference lesson.

Global Nomads Group
http://www.gng.org/

Founded in 1998, the Global Nomads Group (GNG) is a non-profit organization dedicated to heightening children's understanding and appreciation for the world and its people. Using interactive technologies such as videoconferencing, GNG brings young people together, across cultural and national boundaries, to discuss their differences and similarities, and the world issues that affect them.

"The Global Nomads Group's [mission] is to foster dialogue and understanding among the world's youth. To serve as a vehicle for awareness, bridging the boundaries of cultural misconception and instilling in our audience a heightened appreciation and comprehension of the world in which we live. It is our strong desire that this endeavor contribute in a meaningful way to the realization of world peace through cross-cultural understanding."

This site offers free email updates to subscribers, information about current and past programs, and opportunities to sign up for featured videoconferences. For example, a videoconference about Sierra Leone with Michael Douglas was offered in November 2005. Important Note: costs for view only or interactive participation apply.

MusicGrid
Copyright 2002/03 MusicGrid
http://www.musicgrid.ca/

MusicGrid brings partners including STEM~Net, Communications Research Centre, National Research Council, University of Ottawa, Memorial University, Ottawa Carleton District School Board, La Commission Scolaire au Coeur-Des-Vallees, Avaloon East School District, Ecole Ulluriaq, Lewisporte - Gander District School Board and Iqualuit (Ministry of Education, Nunavut) together to share knowledge, best practice, culture, and passion for music using broadband visual communication tools, including videoconference and videoservers. MusicGrid's educational goal is to enable, expand and enrich Canadian music education programs in urban, rural and remote communities. MusicGrid's research goal is to create a future where modest investment gives ever-present access to global learning communities. Visit www.musicgrid.ca to learn more about this project.

VCAlberta.ca
http://www.vcalberta.ca/

VCAlberta.ca was developed to provide Alberta's learning system with resources related to videoconferencing. In its aim to be a community driven site, VCAlberta.ca offers information about videoconferencing standards in Alberta, answers questions on how to effectively conduct different kinds of videoconferences, provides opportunities to engage in several discussion forums, answers frequently asked questions, and links to several useful articles by local authors. The site's directory system also helps you find and connect to other videoconferencing sites in the Alberta learning system.

For those interested in research, see

  • the literature review (see http://www.vcalberta.ca/community/litreview.pdf) by the Canadian Association of Distance Education Research, Centre for Distance Education, Athabasca University. This review was commissioned by Alberta Education and summarizes recent videoconferencing research and literature related to six key areas including achieving outcomes, learning activities, interactive learning processes, use of videoconferencing with special populations, keys to success, and hardware and software.
  • a paper by British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) entitled What the Research Says About Videoconferencing in Teaching and Learning (see http://www.vcalberta.ca/community/wtrs_vidconf.pdf).

    Note: Visit the research page in early 2006 for the results of the applied research projects currently underway.

Videoconferencing Deserves a Second Look!
Copyright 1996-2005 by Education World, Inc.
http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech207.shtml

This page captures a conversation between teachers new to videoconferencing and Jan Zanetis, director of the Virtual School @ Vanderbilt University and coauthor of the recent book Videoconferencing for K-12 Classrooms: A Program Development Guide. She answers questions about what videoconferencing is, how it works, what you need, and the future of videoconferencing. This conversation is posted on Education World, a free resource site for educators.

Videoconferencing Tools @2learn.ca
©1997-2005 2Learn.ca Education Society
http://www.2learn.ca/teachertools/videoconferencing/videoconferencingtools.html

The videoconferencing tools portion of the "Teacher Tools" section of the 2learn.ca web site offer additional resources of use to teachers. The "reflections" page offers links to research articles and case studies. The "how to" page offers links to videoconferencing teacher's guides, cookbooks, tips, and effective uses. The "exemplars" page provides links to articles about past videoconferencing projects in Alberta, best practices in videoconferencing, student reflections on participating in a videoconference.

Video Development Initiative - Video Conferencing Cookbook Version 4.1
© 2004-5, Video Development Initiative.
http://www.videnet.gatech.edu/cookbook.en/

This cookbook offers readers (those new to videoconferencing and those veterans of videoconferencing) information about uses of videoconferencing (uses, applications and case studies), basic requirements for videoconferencing, popular and emerging collaborative technologies used in videoconferencing, previews of videoconferencing interfaces, information about networks and advanced components and management, information about designing rooms for videoconferencing, a glossary, and appendices with information about standards, references, listservs and web links. New to this version, is a special K-12 section offering tips on engaging students, guidelines and checklists for successful use of videoconferencing in the classroom, and examples of interesting classroom projects.

Version 4.1 of the ViDe Video Conferencing Cookbook was posted as an update to previous versions in response to the interest and demand for balanced reference material on the implementation of videoconferencing.