CILC NDLW Award Winners

COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS

Roxanne Glaser Education Service Center Region 12, Waco, TX

PROJECT NAME: Monster Match: Reading and Writing and Math, Oh My!

Exchange projects are one of the simplest, most effective classroom projects that teachers can implement into their curriculum. Monster Match takes reading, writing, and math to a new level. Classes create 3-dimensional monsters from common classroom materials. They then write a description of their monster which includes math formulas, angles, colors, shapes, and other grade level appropriate math skills.

This project has expanded from a K-3 event to include upper elementary and middle school classes. Teachers comment that participating in Monster Match helps students see that math is a language for communicating.

ESC Region 12 participation began with 22 classes in 2005, 76 in 2006 and grew to almost 100 classes in 2007. Spin-offs of this project are occurring in Humble ISD and El Paso ISD in Texas.

To view a sample video, pictures, and the project wiki at this website.

Monster Match 2007 enhancements include:

• Classes in Texas are matched with classes in Michigan.
• Teachers post descriptions to a wiki enabling them to learn a new supportive, collaborative technology which is more effective than email.
• Moderating all sessions to ensure success for all teachers.

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CONTENT PROVIDER

Gail Wheatley COSI Columbus

COSI Columbus: One of the premier videoconference content providers in the nation.

This content provider has a truly awesome automated registration system which allows educators to register for programs quickly and easily. The calendar feature associated with this system enables anyone to find spaces in their schedule to book on demand events making 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 session to keep 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 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 materials kits. The teacher packets are thorough and cover the information teachers need to facilitate the program effectively. The fact that teachers typically participate in the development of COSI’s programs is very evident in the information and resources provided to participating teachers. Almost every program comes with a kit of materials for hands-on discovery which include everything needed, so teachers don’t have to spend the time shopping for extra materials or budget extra money to complete the lessons. These hands-on activities are well thought out, appealing to students and lead to greater understanding of the topic being explored.

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

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CONTENT PROVIDER

Linda Townsend Institute for Teaching through Technology and Innovative Practices (ITTIP) of Longwood University

Linda Townsend: The driving force behind e-learning courses and management of distance learning projects for teachers.

Ms. Linda Townsend serves as the Instructional Design Specialist of the Institute for Teaching through Technology and Innovative Practices (ITTIP) of Longwood University. 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 trains and nurtures Longwood faculty in developing and implementing distance learning courses through Longwood Online Training Institute (LoTi). She is always willing to walk an extra mile with professional development of teachers, motivates and challenges teachers in integrating 21st century skills and assessment practices and, above all, customizes media and technology literacy training to meet the needs of the rural school divisions.

For every vision and goal set to the director of the institute, Ms. Townsend supports all initiatives with regard to distance learning. With her assistance, ITTIP has submitted a proposal to MacArthur Foundation to provide opportunities for children in Ghana, India, and the US to discuss freedom.

Ms.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 a constructive learning environment and constantly searches for innovative instructional strategies, research-based best practices, and technology infused cross-curricular projects for teachers. She brings the best of technology integration practices to the classrooms and observes and provides feedback to teachers to improve instructional practices. Ms. Townsend exemplifies excellence to all teachers in Virginia.

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR EDUCATORS

Roxanne Glaser Education Service Center Region 12, Waco, TX

Project: MysteryGuest IVC Showcase

The MysteryGuest IVC Showcase changes the paradigm for bringing new possibilities in curriculum videoconferencing to educators. Instead of the standard "talking head on the big screen" model, MysteryGuest IVC engages the participants in seeking the identities of the guests.

The goal for each session is to introduce leaders in K-12 videoconferencing to the teachers and administrators attending the session. The session uses the MysteryQuest model created by Janine Lim from BCISD, Michigan which is utilized in many student connections.

Format:

• 30 minutes ~ Mystery Guests connect for technical check and roll call (Participants are not allowed in the room at this time.)
• 15 min ~ Facilitator introductions, survey audience for membership and level of IVC use, and set the stage for the VC MysteryGuest Showcase
• 30 min ~ Mystery Guests each give 6 clues to their identity (location, organization, and personal)
• 15 min ~ Local participants are divided into the same number of groups as there are mystery guests. They use the laptops to search the web. Facilitator roams the room to assist with search strategies and probing questions. Microphone is left open in the room so that all mystery guests can hear conversations.
• 15 min ~ Round of clarifying questions (One yes or no question allowed for each group to ask their Mystery Guest)
• 15 min ~ Mystery Guests reveal their identity and showcase their blog/programs/organization
• 15 min ~ Questions from the local participants

Note taking guides provided to participants upon arrival. After all participants have revealed their identities, they each receive a one-page sheet with contact information, photos and web links for each guest. Participants commented that this was the most engaging staff development. They learned more in the 1 hour 45 minute session than in all day trainings.

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STUDENT DRIVEN PROJECTS

Tommy Bearden Region 14 Texas Education Service Center

Tommy Bearden: Inspiring students to become "the teacher."

Tommy helped a local high school implement the virtual field trip "Cotton: Plant of Many Uses" in which students from across the United States and Europe were able to learn about cotton from their peers at Stamford High School via interactive video conferencing. Not only did the students prepare the content, conduct the presentation and support the equipment, they also mailed cotton bolls and other manipulative in advance for students to have a hands-on experience.

By creating and presenting information to others around the world Tommy believes students can deliver content simply by looking in their backyards. He has sponsored several student-driven events such as "A Walk Along the Brazos River," "Our State - A Brief History and Fun Facts," and a collaborative event about the Civil War in which students shared their state’s impact on the war. With each event, students were encouraged to use multi-media resources to present their content. In "A Walk Along the Brazos River," students took video cameras to the river and embedded recorded video throughout their PowerPoint presentations.

Last year Tommy coordinated 230 field trips for over 11,000 students in his region. While most of those field trips were not student-created, Tommy understands the value video conferencing brings into the classroom in terms of fostering new skills and making learning real. For every student who participates in IVC presentations and becomes accustomed to learning over IVC lies a potential "teacher."

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SUPPORT PROGRAMS FOR EDUCATION BY A NOT-FOR-PROFIT

Shane Howard Education Service Center Region 12, Waco, TX

Shane Howard: Using Laughter and Humor to Encourage IVC Use

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. 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.

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 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, Mr. Howard 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.

During the summer Mr. Howard shares his talents as the bridging service for weeklong staff development sessions with locations throughout the United States. As a guest speaker at 123VC: Jazzing Up Your Curriculum with Videoconferencing, he scored the highest on participant evaluations for best guest speaker from the week.

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SUPPORT PROGRAMS FOR EDUCATION BY FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Cheryl Henshaw Tandberg

Cheryl Henshaw: Her vision and passion became the foundation of Tandberg’s National Grant Services Department.

Cheryl Henshaw started with a vision; how schools with no access to funds could address a need. This need was to share information over vast expanses. Her vision evolved into a passion to interconnect students on a global scale for the purpose of revolutionizing traditional educational delivery models.

Initially, Ms. Henshaw channeled that passion by working with individual school sites and districts. Her commitment to acquiring funds to assist rural, isolated, impoverished schools led to the development of nationally recognized award winning projects. The birth of these projects transitioned to working on state and regional level to ignite a fire among multiple schools to pursue the avenues of education afforded through the effective implementation of videoconferencing tools in the classroom. She purposed her vision to help these schools find a way get the funding so desperately needed to acquire videoconferencing and the passion spread.

Ms. Henshaw knew that if the sites in her region were helped by the implementation of videoconferencing, there had to be countless schools across the nation with the same need. Her vision and passion became the foundation of Tandberg’s National Grant Services Department. At the helm of this team, she oversees grants managers in every state.

Ms. Henshaw realized that other organizations could benefit from the integration of videoconferencing into their fields. As a result, the National Grant Services Department Team from Tandberg has now expanded to encompass writing grants for first responders, fire-fighters, colleges, universities, Native American populations and health care.

She takes the time to volunteer her abilities by assisting others in developing their grant writing teams and provides knowledge and expertise, without remuneration to organizations desiring to pursue their initiatives. Her countless hours of searching, reviewing, planning and writing proposals continue to drive her forward.

Cheryl Henshaw’s fervent determination is leading to changing communities one organization at a time.

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SUPPORT PROGRAMS FOR EDUCATION BY FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
RUNNER-UP

Lora Smith The AT&T Knowledge Network Explorer "Collaboration Collage"

The AT&T Knowledge Network Explorer "Collaboration Collage"
Also known as ed1vidconf, the AT&T Knowledge Network Explorer "Collaboration Collage" has been an important and lasting resource for educators seeking to establish video conferencing-based classroom collaboration and curriculum enrichment programs in their schools. It is comprised of over 2,200 individuals who subscribe to an e-mail listserve which facilitates the seeking of subject-area experts, classroom collaborations, posting questions and the sharing successes or lessons learned. "Collaboration Collage" was one of the original resources that educators could rely on to establish video-conferencing programs in their schools and its concept was very innovative when it was first introduced in 1996 as it sought to harness "the power of us" - a key principle of Web 2.0 tools that are all the rage today.

The number of "Collaboration Collage" users continues to grow (the listserve subscriber base grew over 20% over the last 12 months) as the number of internet-based resources dedicated to collaboration among educators has seen unprecedented growth in recent years.

The "Collaboration Collage" is just one resource of AT&T’s Knowledge Network Explorer website. The KNE website has been a well-known and respected within the education community for over 10 years and has been referenced in numerous articles and books, including these:

• National School Board Assn List of Curriculum and Assessment Resources and also Professional Development Resources
• University of NC includes KNE in their 3000 "Best of the Web" educational sites as do many, many others.
• Recognized in the 2005 book, "101 Best Websites for Secondary Teachers" published by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

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