CILC eNote - January 2009

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Tips for Site Coordinators
January 2009

FEATURING

Shane Howard & Roxanne Glaser
Education Service Center (ESC) Region 12

Their Roles
Both Roxanne and Shane support 57 member districts of ESC Region 12 in their pursuit of educational opportunities through distance technologies.

Roxanne, the Distance Learning Coordinator, has expertise in creating collaborative opportunities and quality interactive video conferencing connections.

Shane, Video Network Engineer, has expertise with technical issues and H.323 video which enables schools to enjoy quality videoconferences throughout the school year.

Best Experience
Our best experience is when we see registrations coming in for one of our projects. It is so rewarding to see that we have created a valuable experience for teachers and their students AND one in which teachers want to participate. In the beginning, we had to call districts and campuses to explain our projects and even describe the equipment that they would use to participate in the connection. Now, we post the projects online and with a week most of the available spots are filled. We have developed a reputation with our teachers. They know the timelines for our biggest projects and plan for them in the curriculum. If we are a bit behind in posting the information, they begin calling and emailing asking when registration will open!

A Lesson Learned
We learned that to increase usage, you have to provide an easy way for teachers to get involved. We do that by providing content to our schools. In 2003-2004 we had one project with twenty participating classrooms. In 2007-2008, we had over 700 connections in numerous projects servicing 25,000 students. Monster Match, Weather with Rusty, and Singing with Rudolph, our three largest projects, had almost 400 classes participate last year! It is easier for us to manage a large project with set dates, times and teacher materials than 400 separate classroom to classroom collaborations. Our experienced teachers move to that level of collaboration on their own, but in the beginning, the scaffolding and safety net of participating in our home-grown projects really jumpstarts the usage and enthusiasm.

Lingering Question
The most asked question that still vexes us is what to do with middle school and high school and how can we bring these amazing experiences into a learning environment that is so controlled by the bell and the scripted, fragmented, bloated curriculum. We have pockets of usage in the middle and high schools, but is is mainly the interactive knee surgeries and autopsies from COSI Columbus.

Our idea at this point is to create some type of challenge that would be available anytime via the Internet, but then have times where the classes would interact via videoconferencing. We know that the interactive videoconference is a powerful motivator and that it is imperative that students learn to explain, articulate, and defend their work; but we aren't exactly sure how to structure or manage this.

You can address Roxanne and Shane's question on our NING Site Coordinator Community. It is open to all!

Final Comments: A True Collaboration
We learned early on that the foundation of an effective and successful videoconferencing program is the partnership between the technical staff and the instructional staff. Both of us are officed in the same room and have learned so much from each other during the five years we have worked together.

Roxanne is better at developing and managing projects because of her knowledge of the technical possibilities and limitations. Shane has moved into content development as he has watched Roxanne conduct programs and facilitate student interactions. Our partnership enables us to speak knowledgeably to either the technical or the instructional staff. Videoconferencing is a partnership and collaboration on so many levels.

About Roxanne & Shane
Roxanne Glaser holds a master's degree in educational technology from Pepperdine University. During her 5 years as distance learning coordinator, Roxanne has developed and coordinated innovative and collaborative student projects such as Bluebonnet Conference in partnership with Baylor University, Monster Match, Holiday Extravaganza, The Landmark Challenge, and Texas History Mystery. She meets regularly with building coordinators during monthly VC User group meetings.

Shane Howard earned a technical degree in network administration from Texas State Technical College. During his 10 years a network video engineer, he has overseen growth on the network from a legacy VTEL H.320 network to a H.323 network with over 90% utilization of endpoints. Currently, he is the technical lead for implementation of a $340,000 Rural Utilities Services grant to upgrade over 30 endpoints and the core equipment.

Shane shares his musical talents with students across his service area, throughout the state, and nationally in the popular "Singing with Shane" program. In addition, Shane's presentation on etiquette has become the highest rated guest speaker for 123 VC: Jazzing Up Your Curriculum with Videoconferencing; a workshop collaboratively presented form Texas, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio in 2007.

Do you have a Best Experience, a Lesson Learned, and a Lingering Question?

Contact
Dawn Colavita
866-474-5226

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