NDLW Award Nominees: Support Program(s) for Education (by Not-for-Profit organizations)

Name of Nominee: Cincinnati Museum Center Distance Learning Program
Nominee’s Organization: Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
Cincinnati Museum Center has been presenting standards-based educational videoconferencing and professional development since early 2005, reaching in excess of 5000 students and teachers in more than 30 states and 4 countries. Whether exploring the life of a paleontologist, the Ice Age, or the immigrant experience in the US, Cincinnati Museum Center has responded to the needs of students and the requests of teachers.

Name of Nominee: Shane Howard
Nominee’s Organization: Education Service Center Region 12, Waco, Tx

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
Shane Howard has worked as a video network engineer for over 10 years supporting a variety of systems in the K-16 educational environment. During the past five years, he has supported 57 independent school districts in Central Texas with videoconference equipment and network assistance.

Noticing that the majority of clients were moderately to extremely hesitant when approaching videoconferencing systems, Shane uses a Logitech webcam with avatars via Polycom PVX software to first connect with educators. Through laughter and humor, Shane creates a relaxed setting to teach the basic elements of videoconference etiquette.

He shares his talents during the summer as the bridging service for weeklong staff development sessions with locations throughout the United States. He wears many "hats" during his presentations that generate a great deal of laughter so that teachers can relax and embrace the new technologies.

Last spring, Shane continued to develop the use of the avatars to create the popular "Singing With Shane" videoconferences for Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students so that they would have access to quality programming. He sang to over 1,000 students throughout the state of Texas in April and May 2007.

As a guest speaker at 123VC: Jazzing Up Your Curriculum with Videoconferencing, Shane scored the highest on participant evaluations of best guest speaker from the week. Other guest speakers during that week included Global Nomads Group, Cooperating School Districts from St. Louis, and Greenbush IDL from Greenbush, Kansas.

Shane ensures that connections are made for all member districts. Utilization on the EDLINK12 Telecommunications Network has increased from serving 400 students in projects and collaborations in 2003-04 to serving over 15,000 students during the 2006-07 school year. After teachers are comfortable with the technology and building coordinators understand how to schedule events, then student achievement goals can be met through alignment to curricular standards.

Name of Nominee: Becky Parton and Robert Hancock
Nominee’s Organization: Southeastern Louisiana University

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
Too often people forget that the internet experience is not the same for everyone and as a result learning online is not an option for everyone.

Dr. Hancock and Dr Parton have developed a free program of instruction and a set of assistive tools for training educators on how to create W3c handicap compliant web sites. They are in an ongoing process of working with agencies for the disabled and K-12 entities to train educators to make web content that is disabled friendly. This is very important to those of us who do not see the web as you do.

Name of Nominee: Arnie Comer
Nominee’s Organization: Macomb ISD

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
Arnie Comer, Macomb Intermediate School District, Macomb, Michigan. Arnie is recognized for his work using videoconference programming to promote writing skills and interdisciplinary teaching methods in his district.

He is a strong advocate of quality programming and very willing to share successes and failures with educators in his region, while greatly expanding educational offerings to Michigan students.

Arnie has championed the ASK program, grown by Jim Wenzloff in his area, and mentored others in the process, including TWICE, Berrien County ISD, Polycom, and Region 12, TX to mention a few.

He tirelessly supports content for thousands of students in his service area; yet makes time to mentor others in using videoconferencing effectively. As distance learning manager, he runs two bridges, offers over 150 full days of content to his schools annually, and still takes time to blog and share his extensive knowledge outside of his county.

Name of Nominee: ARDL K12 Curriculum Portal
Nominee�s Organization: Southwest Arkansas Education Cooperative

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
The Arkansas K-12 Distance Learning ("DL") Portal was developed as THE critical site to meet K-12 DL needs statewide in Arkansas. It is the central repository of statewide K-12 DL class and program information available to all school districts in the state. Additionally, the site includes collaboration and discussion areas for school facilitators, distance learning teachers, students, district administrators, and education cooperative distance learning coordinators.

The K-12 DL Portal is the first-ever one-stop shop for Arkansas K-12 distance learning information. It also offers online/web classroom space for DL teachers statewide, user search tools, document centers, and discussion areas for questions and problems. Soon, the site will host various blogs and wikis specifically targeted to Arkansas’ K12 distance learning programs.

The Portal is housed at the Southwest Arkansas Education Cooperative (SWAEC) in Hope, Arkansas, and is administered by David Henderson (SWAEC Distance Learning Coordinator). The site was developed through a joint effort between state distance learning content providers and David Henderson, John King (SWAEC Technology Coordinator), and Cathi Swan (State Distance Learning Coordinator).

Name of Nominee: Paul Hieronymus
Nominee’s Organization: Avon Schools and the Lorain County Distance Learning Consortium

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
Paul Hieronymus has been supporting distance education for the Avon Schools and the Lorain County Distance Learning Consortium (LCDLC) since our districts first grant several years ago.

Paul has made distance learning an easy tool for our teachers to use with our curriculum. Since our initial grant we have added videoconferencing systems to all of our school buildings.

Paul provides professional development to our schools and to members of the LCDLC on many different technologies as well as videoconferencing.

We hope you consider Paul Hieronymus for the NDL Week Awards for his efforts.

Name of Nominee: Kim Breuninger
Nominee’s Organization: Chester County Intermediate Unit

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:

To Whom It May Concern:

We wholeheartedly support the nomination of Kim Breuninger, Instructional Technology Specialist at the Chester County Intermediate Unit, for the NDLW Educational Leader Award.

Kim is incredibly dedicated and passionate about using technology in service of empowering students with meaningful educational experiences. Kim has been an advocate for advancements in interactive distance learning in the region for many years now.

Perhaps one of her most important contributions in this area was her original vision to create a live global videoconference event for and by students of the world. Kim was the inspiration and brainchild behind the now annual Megaconference Jr. event, which brings together thousands of students from around the world for 12 hours using Internet2 videoconferencing technologies. Without Kim, this incredibly powerful international event would never have been possible. It is her leadership and vision which help to inspire a national team of volunteer technologists and educators who make this annual event possible. Kim spends countless additional hours each year working on the Megaconference Jr. during her evenings and weekends and is always dedicated to the event’s total success. Kim’s original vision was the driving force and she continues to push the envelop of how we can use technology to serve education. Each year, Kim is never 100% satisfied with the success of the annual Megaconference Jr. event because she is always planning improvements and new ways to involve and engage the students and teachers better for the next year.

Kim has also been instrumental in organizing numerous other global awareness events for students in Chester County including a China Mini Forum Series, an international videoconference event with Pakistan and North Dakota students, and much more. Kim has also been an advocate for professional development using Internet2 and has provided invaluable input and feedback which have helped make new opportunities available for teachers in the state.

On a personal note, Kim’s energy and commitment to anything she gets behind, but especially the use of technology for serving the world’s children and making them more open-minded, compassionate, and educated individuals, could not be more devoted. It is a joy to work with Kim and her dedicated and passionate spirit infuses everything that she does.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Oxenford
Associate Director, MAGPI, PA

Susan Rutkofske
Education Technology Project Manger, SCCRESA, MI

Megan Troyer
Technology Coordinator, The Ohio State University, OH

Kathy Kraemer
TIES Education Technology Consultant, MN

Name of Nominee: Greenbush Interactive Distance Learning Network
Nominee’s Organization: Southeast Kansas Education Service Center

Description of why this nominee should receive the NDLW Award:
The Greenbush Interactive Distance Learning (IDL) Network provides innovative distance learning enrichment programs for K-12 schools from unique teaching facilities including a simulated Rainforest, an Astrophysical Observatory, an Archaeology Dig, two bioscience laboratories, and three teaching studios. The teaching facilities provide creative backdrops for the delivery of interactive video programs. Students learn from participation in a variety of scientific learning experiences including extracting their own DNA and learning about animal and plant genetics in the biotechnology labs. The enrichment programs are designed to support classroom teachers striving to meet the challenges of delivering high quality education and the requirements of No Child Left Behind. The programs are academic, content-based, and taught by experienced distance learning teachers. Monthly topics cover all curriculum areas but most focus on science education. Teachers develop the curriculum, experiments, and hands-on activities for each lesson. Prior to the program, the participating teacher and students receive a packet of supplies and materials for the hands-on experiments and inquiry-based lessons. Some programs require that students work with live insects or worms. In this case, live insects or worms are delivered to the participating teacher’s classroom for the students’ learning activities. Between 15 and 20 program topics are offered each month and taught at different times during the day to accommodate school schedules. Teachers receive a monthly calendar of events that allow them to read a description of the program, to understand standards that are addressed during the lesson, and to register for programs. To learn more about Greenbush Enrichment program, please visit our website, www.greenbush.org/idl, and click on "calendars" under Enrichment Programs on the left side of the page.

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