ISTE SIGIVC 2007: Content Provider: New York Hall of Science

Organizational Overview
The New York Hall of Science’s mission is “to bring the excitement and understanding of science and technology to children, families, teachers, and others by galvanizing their curiosity and offering them creative, participatory ways to learn.” The Hall of Science is the City’s only hands-on science and technology center. In the seventeen years since the Hall’s former World's Fair building was re-opened to the public, we have become a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the community of science and technology centers. Located in Queens, the most ethnically diverse county in the country, the Hall offers an unparalleled expanse of interactive exhibits, which explore chemistry, biology, physics, genetics, and much more, all geared for children and adults.

Challenge
Our needs were plentiful this year as we re-launched our videoconferencing programs (or as we call them “Virtual Visits”) in the fall of 2006 after a five-year hiatus. This time gap with both the technology and the pedagogy involved meant that we were essentially starting over. I came aboard as Supervisor in July 2006 after the first person had to leave the position, so I had to get in quick and be ready to begin delivering programs.

The Solution(s)
The solutions were plentiful as well! We dusted off some old programs that had been successful and updated them. We wrote new programs that reflected the new exhibits that had been added. We placed our equipment on a cart, added a battery for wireless use and got a hundred foot Ethernet cord that enabled us to transmit from anywhere in our institution. We feel like this mobility gave us a programming edge that other content providers didn’t have and we enjoy not being confined to a studio. Here at the NYHS we use college age “explainers” on our exhibit floor. We recruited a small but dedicated team to be our on-camera instructors and began training them on presenting techniques, teaching methods and the programs. Finally we knew we had to re-establish our brand name in the VC marketplace so we began gifting programs, piloting new programs for evaluation, connecting with teachers whenever asked, began a blog to document our re-launch journey (www.virtualvisits.edublogs.org) and became active in organizations such as CILC, EEZ as well as others.

The Results
The program is now established and out of the beta phase, we are adding new programs and delivery platforms, relationships with teachers and technology coordinators are forming, we have an experienced and dedicated team of explainer instructors and we have seen our bookings increase steadily with March through June being our busiest stretch. I also believe that we have quickly become once again a valuable member of the VC community. The most exciting result has been building a relationship with a school district in Angoon, Alaska. This is a small island community in a very remote locale that we have now delivered programs to classes ranging K-12 and have collaborated with extensively. These types of connections are what motivate us!

Innovations/Best Practices were used
We re-launched with new and cutting edge 3equipment that allowed us a high degree of mobility as well as allowing us to connect additional technology to enhance programming including laptops, high powered video microscopes and multimedia presentations. Our thinking about distance learning is beginning to stretch beyond appliance-based videoconferencing to include webinars, web based VC, and web 2.0 tools. Ultimately I believe that the best practice lesson I have learned and been our best policy is being highly communicative and responsive with teachers and their needs. Our goals for our department going forward are to embrace new technologies as both ways to deliver programming as well as support and assist communication.

Contact Information
Chris Lawrence, Supervisor of Distance Learning Programs, New York Hall of Science
(718) 699-0005 ext. 319 Cell: (718) 757-0843 clawrence@nyscience.org