NDLW Award Nominees: Content Providers

Name of Nominee: Jason Dennison
Nominee’s Organization: Cincinnati Museum Center

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
Jason Dennison has been active in the distance learning community for just 5 short years, but his dedication to providing vibrant, educational videoconferencing programs for both teachers and students is well respected by practitioers in the 40 states and six countries with which he has connected. First at Milwaukee Public Museum and now at Cincinnati Museum Center, Jason has been active not only in providing content through videoconferencing, but has been active with the Keystone Conference, the CILC Symposium, and numerous museum and technology conferences where he has presented research-based papers and presentations related to best-practice of synchronous technologies.

Name of Nominee: Jaz Dhillon
Nominee�s Organization: ATHENA Action in Education

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
Jaz is an outstanding teacher and a passionate advocate for the power of videoconferencing to open up new learning experiences for children and transform the practice of teachers. Anyone who has seen Jaz at work will immediately appreciate her capacity to re-engage children, excite their interest in learning and stimulate their love of learning. She has a track record of working with some of the most challenging children in some of the most deprived schools anywhere in the world while at the same time confining distance, cultural differences and stigmas to the virtual wastepaper basket.

Jaz delivers videoconference content for ATHENA Action in Education. She provides regular embedded Literacy and Numeracy programs for children each week, she plans with teachers over videoconference and she invites teachers in training into her live lessons. Jaz enriches all of these learning experiences with a wealth of direct teaching, internet content and interactive whiteboard materials. Her planning is exceptional and her ability to explain, illustrate and guide make her a very worthy candidate for a national distance learning award.

At the heart of Jaz's work is a belief in each child's potential to succeed, and each teacher's ability to surpass their expectations of themselves. Her approach is to engage the learner in structured content that is exciting, commanding and fun. She uses distance learning technologies to enhance her ability to reach out to children everywhere in an effort to communicate and share her passion for the individual, for learning and for life.

Name of Nominee: SeaTrek
Nominee’s Organization: Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
SeaTrek is recognized as an innovator and leader in the distance learning field, primarily for its high-energy approach to interactivity and audience engagement through the videoconference medium. SeaTrek puts creativity, communication and content first. The development process for SeaTrek's videoconference programs is driven by finding exciting ways to express the science content. Available technologies are used as tools to implement effective presentation and communication of the content. SeaTrek focuses on student engagement and builds in models for high interactivity, such as humor, games and a variety of tailored media. Through grant funding over the years, SeaTrek staff as equipped distance learning studios with multiple cameras, chromakey, a variety of network cams, digital video cameras and editing equipment, lab tables and a variety of models and artifacts, to deliver highly visual, informative videoconferences. SeaTrek currently offers an established series of videoconferences for K-12 audiences, each supported by written materials, covering topics such as dolphin research, sharks, coastal habitats, remotely operated vehicles, manatees, sea turtles, and marine science careers. Two professional development programs are also available for teachers and administrators. (Please visit the SeaTrek website: www.seatrek.org to see overviews of programs and supporting content.) In addition to school audiences, SeaTrek has expanded to meet needs of public audiences through partnerships with libraries, science centers, zoos and small museums. Through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, SeaTrek is creating three model traveling exhibits, each featuring live IVC, to meet a need for truly interactive visitor experiences. The project, called "Digital Docents" is an innovation in the use of IVC technology to test a model for IVC between partner organizations, in order to share resources, combine content themes between institutions, and to determine the potential of this medium for enhancing visitor learning in informal environments.

Name of Nominee: Office of Distance Education at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts
Nominee’s Organization: Office of Distance Education at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
Founded in 1998 to expand educational opportunities in Arkansas' rural schools, the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts (ASMSA) Office of Distance Education (ODE) was Arkansas' first statewide K-12 distance education provider. During the 1998-99 school year, ODE provided 228 students in 23 school districts coursework in math, science and foreign languages. Today ODE serves more than 2500 students in more than 70 school districts and offers a diverse array of courses in every conceivable discipline to both rural and urban schools. The program has become a national model and, with the addition of out-of-state students during the 2007-08 school year, a national content provider as well.

Because distance education creates economies of scale, ODE can typically offer instruction at a fraction of the cost of on-site faculty when enrollment in a class is low. Indeed, the ability of ODE to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of a district's local faculty by freeing them to focus on the areas of greatest need is one of the program's greatest strengths. The size of our program also allows ODE to offer courses with much greater frequency than most schools and allows us to offer the greatest possible variety of scheduling options.

The cornerstone of our program is academic excellence, and ODE is committed to providing districts and students with:

• Affordable instruction in virtually all disciplines,
• Courses correlated to local curriculum guidelines,
• Flexible scheduling that meets local needs,
• Fully certified and Highly Qualified teachers,
• A wide variety of College Board-approved AP© courses,
• Rigorous concurrent enrollment opportunities.

From elementary school classes to Advanced Placement© coursework, ODE offers a wide variety of courses to meet the needs of students wherever they might be, both academically and geographically.

Name of Nominee: Linda Townsend
Nominee’s Organization: Institute for Teaching through Technology & Innovative Practices

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
Ms. Linda Townsend serves as the Instructional Design Specialist of the Institute for Teaching through Technology and Innovative Practices (ITTIP) of Longwood University. Under my direction, the ITTIP works in partnership with 25 school districts of the Southside Virginia Regional Technology Consortium (SVRTC). Rural schools lacking resources due to geographical proximity have been able to benefit from educational opportunities for teachers and students through distance education technologies provided by the ITTIP and SVRTC collaboration. Ms. Townsend is the driving force behind e-learning courses and management of distance learning projects for teachers. In addition, she trains and nurtures Longwood faculty in developing and implementing distance learning courses through Longwood Online Training Institute (LoTi)

Ms. Townsend is always willing to walk an extra mile with professional development of teachers; she motivates and challenges teachers in integrating 21st century skills and assessment practices; above all, she customizes media and technology literacy training to meet the needs of the rural school divisions.

For every vision and goal set by me as the director of the institute, Linda stands by my side in supporting all initiatives with regard to distance learning. With her assistance, I have submitted a proposal to MacArhtur Foundation on October 15th to provide opportunities for children in Ghana, India, and the US to discuss freedom. She understands my heart for global mission and she exemplifies excellence to all teachers in Virginia.

Townsend is a visionary instructional leader who believes that all children can learn if we support and nurture them with effective instructional environment. She also believes that technology tools and applications can facilitate constructive learning environment and constantly searches for innovative instructional strategies, research-based best practices, and technology infused cross-curricular projects for teachers. She, not only brings the best of technology integration practices to the classrooms, but she observes and provides feedback to teachers to improve instructional practices.

Name of Nominee: Gail Wheatley
Nominee’s Organization: COSI Columbus

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
COSI Columbus is one of the premier videoconference content providers in the nation. They have a truly awesome automated registration system, allowing educators to register for programs quickly and easily. The calendar feature associated with the registration system allows anyone to find spaces in their schedule to book on demand events. This makes registration less time consuming and more efficient.

The programming that COSI Columbus offers is all highly interactive and usually involves the entire class. The COSI presenters ask many questions during the shows they present, keeping the interest and interactivity high. For programs such as Surgical Suite or In Depth: Autopsy, their facilitators keep students at multiple schools asking questions and involved in the program in a way that adds to the learning experience.

One of the best things about the programs from COSI Columbus is the great teacher packets and the kits of materials for hands-on activities. Almost every program comes with a kit of materials for hands-on discovery. The kits include everything needed, so teachers don't have to spend the time shopping for extra materials or budget extra money to complete the lessons. The hands-on activities are well thought out, appealing to students and lead to greater understanding of the topic being explored. The teacher packets are thorough and cover the information teachers need to facilitate the program effectively. Teachers typically participate in the development of COSI's programs and this is very evident in the information and resources provided to teachers that participate in their videoconferences.

COSI Columbus is a great content provider that is easy to work with and very responsive to the needs of teachers and educators across the country. They also provide programming that is fun, engaging and educational for students.

Name of Nominee: Janine Lim
Nominee’s Organization: Polycom, Inc./Macomb ISD/AARP

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
CILC NDLW Award Nomination - Janine Lim

As an Instructional Technology Consultant at Berrien County ISD, Janine Lim drives the advancement of video conferencing in the 16 school districts her educational service agency serves, in Michigan's K-12 video conferencing organization - TWICE (Two Way Interactive Connections in Education) and across the country with her collaborative projects. Janine has always believed that Curriculum based videoconferencing projects are a perfect way to integrate technology and expand the walls of the classroom. Underlying the many videoconferencing opportunities Janine offers her locals, she is committed to connecting students to students in collaborative projects around the country and the world.

The seeds for Janine's enthusiasm for collaborative projects began in 1998 as part of a committee that organized "Michigan Week." During May 4th grade classrooms across Michigan connect via videoconferencing to share information about their communities. From there Janine expanded the Where in the USA? Project developed by Learningspace into a fun collaborative project for middle school students studying geography in her MysteryQuest. She expanded this concept further with her Where in Europe? and Where in Asia? programs that connect students around the world.

Janine took the idea of one of her local educators and moved TWICE to provide a registration web site to celebrate Read Across America using video conferencing. Five years ago Read Across America began with 200 classes participating. Last year TWICE changed the name of the event to Read Around the Planet to include students around the world, and had over 1200 classes take part.

Janine is now spearheading the creation and development of her dream for collaborative projects - CAPspace (Collaborations Around the Planet). Through her vision and support from TWICE and Polycom, this web site will allow teachers to find teachers for individual projects, register for Read Around the Planet, or allow others around the world to post collaborative projects for registration.

We nominate Janine Lim, Queen of Collaborative Projects!

Name of Nominee: Roundtrips Virtual Field Trips/Tim Gore & Jim Sturm
Nominee’s Organization: Higher Education Channel Television (HECTV)

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
Using their portable satellite transmitter to videoconference from anywhere, Tim Gore and Jim Sturm help students go places, meet people, and share knowledge they could not experience before. They have a long history of providing free distance learning opportunities to schools throughout the country and, indeed, the world.

These teachers embarked on their videoconferencing adventure in 2003, along with re-enactors of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. They accompanied the re-enactors from Washington D.C. to Ft. Clatsop, Oregon and back again, all the while connecting students and experts on a wide variety of topics spanning the curricular areas of social studies, history, mathematics, science, fine arts, language arts, practical arts, health and foreign language. One program took students inside the working hydroelectric Garrison Dam to see how energy is harnessed and also let them hear firsthand the impact of the dam's construction on the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes.

That interdisciplinary focus is the hallmark of their programming. To Kill A Mockingbird comes alive by conferencing from Monroeville Alabama, Harper Lee's hometown. The Deer Cam Project takes students systematically through the principles of scientific inquiry by connecting students live to researchers in the field as they conduct their research. In conjunction with Truman Library and Presidential Museum, they present programs using de-classified primary source documents that take students back in time to participate in decision-making moments during the Truman Administration. Their three-year collaboration with Missouri Arts Council connects artists from various disciplines (visual arts, theatre, dance, music) to students in their classrooms. These conferences enable children to interact with artists in their own workspaces.

Since August 2003, Tim and Jim have created over 200 free videoconference opportunities for students and teachers throughout the country. Their work is archived, freely accessible at www.roundtrips.org, and includes teaching materials linked to national standards.

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