Among the various blogs that I read, Janine Lim’s on Videoconferencing provides a wealth of knowledge on a topic that I embarrassingly, know little about. Videoconferencing, when done right, is the ultimate in student collaboration and interaction. With VC, students can connect and learn from other students and experts around their state, country, or even the world (I blogged about a terrific connection between a classroom here in Michigan and one in the U.K. last month).
So it was with great pleasure and excitement that I read Janine’s recent post about videoconferencing demos that she did recently for several school districts around her area. With the help of the very videoconferencing equipment she was getting local schools pumped up about, she conducted several videoconferencing demos showing off the power of the medium, and provided us with a wonderfully quick-to-read, 3 step process for getting schools that aren’t doing videoconferencing to get fired up about VC. Janine succinctly explains the purpose of these demos:
It’s a very quick overview, but it sets the teachers at ease with the idea of videoconferencing and helps them realize the potential for their curriculum. This year, buildings who did the demo earlier in the school year were more likely to have more teachers participate in videoconferencing throughout the year.
Whether you’re a videoconferencing noobie (like myself) or just looking for a great way to spread the word and get others enthusiastic about VC, you might want to give Janine’s post a read.
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Ben,
I enjoyed this post as well as checking outJanine’s post on VC. I am preparing my research project for my thesis and I will be collaborating, mostly through podcasting, with a school in Clombia, South America. What type of VC equipment do you have? Have you tried using Skype for any of this?
Videoconferencing is taking the education arena by storm, but not yet as full-blown as we hoped it would be. Teachers still need more information about the technology and how to use them because this is the main reason why this is not yet very popular in some locales. Videoconferencing companies would expect a surge of clients once more and more people get the hang of it.