Megaconference Dec 10, 2002 Videoconferencing in K-12 Education: Moving it from a Promise to Successful Future Practice Amela Sadagic, PhD

Agenda 1.Why and when should I use technology in learning? 2.ITF project basics and rationale 3.Mini Videoconference cook-book 4.Projects you can do 5.Q & A

1 Why and when should I use technology in learning? 1.It enables more effective learning than traditional methods 2.It helps energize and excite students about learning 3.It is the only way – there may not be any traditional method that teaches new skill or provides new learning experience

1 Why and when should I use technology in learning? Corollaries: The use of technology does NOT exclude traditional methods, NOR it replaces teachers Recognize the situation when using technology may be better over traditional method, AND opposite Technology is only a tool, NOT the goal

2 ITF project basics and rationale students in the center or the process – they are the owners of all phases of that process role of teachers: teachers as facilitators not instructors provide them time and space to learn along with students where they are not expected to be technology experts

2 ITF project basics and rationale Students’ task: imagine and partly prototype learning system or application that employs advanced digital technologies including rich media, large public data resources, broadband or wireless networking work in small teams (2-6 students)

2 ITF project basics and rationale Participants: student groups from 6 high schools (HI, MI, MI, NJ, TX, VA) Project year: 1st part: build knowledge base, inspire, energize 2nd part: facilitate work of student teams We built project material and suggested school activities

2 ITF project basics and rationale Activities: multipoint videoconferencing sessions: expert presentations given by Dr. Andrew Glassner, Jaron Lanier, Dr. Carrie Heeter local working sessions and workshops off-line student forums field trips point-to-point videoconferencing sessions school discussions: ethic dilemmas in computer science, enduring knowledge dialog with ITF staff dialog with researchers creation of web presentations

2 ITF project basics and rationale Materials: List of selected web resources Glossary Fascinating Stories Showcase Pages Video Postcards General reference desk: content organization, writing, citing Ethic issues in computer science, internet / web ethics, copyrights, plagiarism

3 Mini Videoconference cook-book 3.1 Is it a good medium? 3.2 Our goal 3.3 Multipoint session 3.4 Point-to-point sessions 3.5 Our lessons

3.1 Is it a good medium? Drawbacks: lack of social cues we are used to in the real world, no transparency of social interactions, network parameters (low frame rate, high latency and packed loss) may make it impossible to be used for normal human communication Advantages: it has a power of (near) real-time images, it connects remote collaborators in the same audio and visual context, and it enables events that otherwise would never be possible

3.2 Our goal Multipoint videoconference session: importance of get-together events creates sense of larger community enables dialog with leading scientists use it to inspire, motivate and energize Point-to-point videoconference session: enable more intimate setting for project discussions and consultations

3.3 Multipoint session Note: videoconferencing session is not a replica of face-to-face meeting! medium is different – different communication cues and rules. Your expectations should be different too. everyone has to learn basic “grammar”: learn to mute / un-mute the mike, look at the camera not the screen / display you will need session moderator you will need MCU - multipoint connection unit firewall – big issue in schools! …and have lots of patience for connection problems!

3.3 Multipoint session: A recipe 1.Make sure you are ready to record the session (analog / digital) 2.If possible use projector to get life-size imagery 3.Connect min before have time for informal chat among the people before the “formal” session begins 4.Run text chat to troubleshoot and have a background channel during entire session 5.Introduce the audience and show all participants to the people who will be speaking 6.Manage Q&A queue in chat

3.4 Point-to-point session More intimate sessions: school-to-school us-to-schools us-to-student teams us-to-teachers But students may be more open and confident if they ask questions in text chat !

3.5 Our lessons students were running a “shop” – they were in charge of cameras and chat sessions! Let them do it making sure more than one person does it. students loved possibility to talk to the scientist – for some this was the greatest thing in the project, use videoconferencing to your advantage – recognize what it can do but also what it cannot do, do not use videoconferencing when it gets in the way of the task and the goal you want to achieve.

4 Projects you can do Video-quiz (a.k.a. quiz-you-quiz-me): 1.select N web sites as basic resource, 2.ask each student team to define questions they will ask other teams (answers should be easy to find in those N web sites !), 3.make point-to-point connection between the two teams: they have to see and hear each other, 4.teams ask each other questions and judge each other’s responses interchangeably, 5.quarterfinals -> semifinals -> big finale + celebration with everyone in multipoint feast

4 Projects you can do Share-a-class: 1.Connect two classrooms via video link. connecting high tech schools with low tech schools, schools in cities with schools in remote places 2.Each classroom prepares ½ of the lesson they all agreed in advance, and presents it to everyone. possibility to hear different views 3.Share responsibilities - no superior/inferior or active/passive party. active student involvement should be included

Q & A