DL Database: Content Provider Login

Below is a video with the functionality that we are requesting for content providers that will use our Interactive VideoConference Catalog:



If you have suggestions for improving this portion of the database, or if you have questions, please let us know by using the Comments link below.

Thank you for your assistance with this project!

DL Database: District Admin Login

Below is a simulation of the functionality we are requesting for administrative users of the Interactive VideoConference Catalog:



If you have questions about the database or if you have suggestions for improving this database, please use the Comments link below.

DL Database: Enhanced Search

The video below is a simulation of the functionality that is currently programmed in to our database that is currently in production:



If you have questions or comments, please let us know by using the comments link below!

DL Database: Teacher Login

This is a simulation of the tools teachers will have access to when they log in to the GST Interactive VideoConference Catalog:



If you have comments about it and would like to let us know how to improve it, please use the comments link below!

GST Distance Learning Database

Over the next couple weeks, we will be adding videos that simulate the functionality we are requesting as part of the GST Video Conference database. Our database is currently in the development stages.

If you have comments or suggestions, please let us know at DL@gstboces.org!

Video #1: Database Introduction

Blog Updates by Email

Would you like to receive emails automatically when our blog is updated? Subscribe to our GoogleGroup!

Scroll down on this blog until you see the GoogleGroup logo on the bottom right of the window. Click the 'Visit this Group' link.
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Then, once you belong to the group, anytime there is an update, you'll be among the first to know!

Regional DL/IVC meeting

For quite some time, our districts have been asking us for a GST based database that allows searching and booking of Virtual Learning Experiences. Cheryl has taken on the lioness' share of bringing the project along. This morning, at our regional DL/IVC meeting, Cheryl led a 90 minute demonstration and conversation about the progress to date. With sample screen shots and explanations, the participants in the in the meeting were able to get a very clear idea of the desired outcome. The group was interested, supportive and provided some excellent suggestions for inclusion in the project. We're certainly looking forward to having this in production!

IVC with an Elder Care Facility!

Here's a great expansion area for Interactive Video Conferencing! Here at GST, we host a first person character impersonator - Paul Stillman of Historically Speaking. Paul has about 10 historical impersonations that he provides - typically in person, but also from our site via IVC.
Earlier this week, I did a test call with Menorah Park Center for Senior Living in Cleveland, OH. Residents there will be visiting with "Ben Franklin" next week and I'm very excited to see IVC used for this purpose.

Hopefully more elder care facilities will find ways to implement IVC capabilities and the DL/IVC community can continue to explore all the great possibilities for collaborations with the elder population and the K12 population!

American Sign Language via DL/IVC

This morning I had the pleasure of visiting the Watkins Glen High School to add VCR recording capability to thier Distance Learning setup. Kelly Sterner is the faciliator at WG for the course. Watkins Glen is one of the districts that has students broadcasting morning announcements over their TV network. Kelly' ASL students are hoping to be able to begin signing for a portion of the announcements on a daily basis. What a great way to make purposeful and productive use of their learning. And - it will also help raise awareness of the deaf population with the rest of the student body.

Distance Learning in Arkport

On November 4th, students from Melissa Houck’s combined ELA classes at Arkport High School had the opportunity to connect with Linda Dentry an educator from the Rape Crisis of the Southern Tier via distance learning. The Distance Learning experience was facilitated by the GST BOCES DL Team. The connection served as a culminating event to the novel entitled Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

As an educator, Linda specifically created a powerful and informative lesson which focused on common misconceptions and statistical information associated with sexual violence. Students were also provided with educational and contact information about what to do if they or someone they know is raped. Content for this sensitive lesson was tailored and structured based upon Ms. Houck’s request.

“The Rape Crisis of the Southern Tier (RCST) provides services and information to individuals and the community to help prevent sexual violence and to keep individuals from becoming first time offenders of sexual violence. RCST offers educational programs on a wide variety of sexual violence topics to the community free of charge.”

Programs are adapted to meet the needs, interests, and developmental level of the group requesting the program and also align to the NYS Standards. Programs are interactive and informative and age appropriate handouts are provided to participants.

We at GST BOCES DL would like to thank Linda Dentry and staff members of the Rape Crisis of the Southern Tier for their assistance in making this experience possible.

If your district is part of the GST BOCES Distance Learning Service and you would like us to assist you with a similar classroom experience, please email us at DL@gstboces.org.

Middle School Music - Virtual Office Hours

Just a quick rave about virtual office hours :-)

Earlier this morning, Cheryl, Mary and I were able to quickly gather here at GST while Kelley, our ISC colleague, was in Watkins Glen working with the Middle School Music teacher. We were able to make excellent use of our time and thiers by using IVC for our meeting - I love this!

The music teacher is working on a project that would have his students creating a time line of significant musical and historical events - from around the 1950's on. He especially liked the timeline he found at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's website. And he's interested in using that as something of a model for what his students could create. The RRHF's IVC session titled "Great Moments in Rock and Roll: Popular Music Through Decades" was of particular interest to him. Kicking off the start of the project with that connection would certainly be a great way to get the students focused on a fun and engaging learning opportunity!

Since he is planning this project for spring 2009, he's giving excellent lead time to schedule a session and perhaps even work out an opportunity to have his students present back to staff at the RRHF.

For other info on programs at RRHF you can visit http://www.rockhall.com/distancelearning/

And of course, feel free to stay in touch with us anytime: dl@gstboces.org and www.gstboces.org/iss/dl
René

Distance Learning on the GST Campus

Mary Hutz and I met with a teacher from GST BOCES, Bush Campus Building 12 today about the possibilities for the use of video conferencing in his classroom. He was concerned about the cost, but once we started to discuss ideas that involved no extra cost, he became very interested in the possibilities video conferencing had to offer his students!

We are planning a connection in March with both of his classes about how video conferencing works and how to plan for a video conference. Students will learn how to connect the equipment and how to use the remote. We plan to show the students where to locate excellent content providers, as well as low- or no-cost ideas for using video conferencing in the classroom. They will also learn how to integrate this technology into the curriculum during the 2.5 hour session.

Remember! If you have questions about ways video conferencing can be used in your own classroom, contact us! We can connect with you most any time of day by video conference, so email us and make an appointment to meet with us when it is convenient for you!

Virtual Office Hours Example

I know I've discussed the topic of Virtual Office Hours before, but I thought it might be helpful to give an example based on a way some 5th grade teachers from Watkins Glen participated recently.

They met with us on October 22 by video conference and gave us a list of subject areas and specific topics they wanted us to research for them. They were interested in ideas for using distance learning primarily in Math and ELA.

We spent two weeks looking for video conferencing ideas that would complement their areas of focus and presented our ideas to them on November 5 by video conference.

The following is a list of some of the ideas we presented to them (I hope they are helpful to others!):

Geometry MysteryQuest – a collaborative project that could be done with 2 or more classes. Each class chooses a geometric shape and develops a list of clues to help the other class (on the other end of the connection) figure out which shape your class chose. Reveal the clues one at a time to the other class to see how many it takes before they guess correctly. To keep everyone interested and if you have time, you could break classes down into groups and each group presents their clues.

For example:

Clues:
Headquarters of the US Department of Defense in Washington, DC.
Cross-section of okra
Sum of its angles is 540 degrees
It has 5 lines of symmetry

Answer: Pentagon


MysteryQuests could be done with many topics (choose a state in the US, a country of the world, an author, a book, historical time period…)

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Math Content Provider: National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum (Problem Solving)

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Mary Hutz is working on a connection where students compare fractions, decimals, and percents.

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ELA & Math integration: Monster Match – descriptive writing activity done as a class-to-class connection – students work on directions for the other class that include very descriptive language to help the other class draw or build what they describe. Math skills can be incorporated by having students use fractions and mixed numbers along with precise measurements to help the other class as they collaborate to draw or build the monster. [It may be fun to have your class build or draw the monster first so you can compare with the other class and see how they did]

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Poetry SLAM
There is a poetry slam scheduled to start in February 2009. It is being coordinated by ONC BOCES. Fees for participation can be paid through at least Arts-In-Ed and Distance Learning CoSer monies (if approved by the district). If there is enough interest, we might also be able to create our own version of this event. If you are interested, please email us and we will send you the brochure about this opportunity! (DL@gstboces.org)

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Remember!

We have the Empire State Video Conference Collaborative coming up on December 3 & 4. E-mail us (DL@gstboces.org) if you would like the brochure about this training. Space is limited! The registration deadline is November 17th.

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Don't Forget!

CAPSpace is another resource we shared and I thought we should probably mention it here again! It's a great place to sign up to find classes that would like to collaborate with you and your students. Here's our previous post about CAPSpace.

NYS Office of Fire Prevention and Control IVC trainings!!

We’re at it again! Thanks to funding through the EON Project we’re again helping out with Fire Safety training in our communities.

Before his retirement, Dale Gardner was a Distance Learning expert from New York’s North Country. He is also a Fire Safety Instructor for the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control. Last spring, from his Florida home, Dale instructed several classes of fire fighters in the St Lawrence - Lewis BOCES area. This was possible thanks to the Campbell-Savona School District allowing GST to utilize their IVC equipment to act as a bridge between Mr Gardner and the SLL BOCES area.

As a follow up to the success of those classes, the Canisteo-Greenwood School District will be the host site for about a dozen students in another NYS OFPC course taught by Mr Gardner. The “Incident Safety Officer” class will take place over a series of five 3-hour class meetings. Trainees will be at Canisteo-Greenwood Schools, SUNY Canton, Norwood Seaway Tech BOCES, and Edwards-Knox Schools. Since there are not enough certified Fire Safety Instructors, this excellent delivery method could well prove to be the method that allows firefighters throughout NYS to be able to access critical courses for their Fire Fighting careers.

We are especially grateful to staff at NYS OFPC, Canisteo-Greenwood Schools and St Lawrence-Lewis BOCES for their efforts in enabling this to happen – and to Mr Gardner for his persistence in promoting the use of IVC technology for the benefit of our communities!

Virtual Office Hours

Two weeks ago, we started something called Virtual Office Hours, and I think it's catching on! We normally have our virtual office hours on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30-8:30AM; or we can schedule another time to meet by video conference that is more convenient for you.

We've set up appointments with several districts recently and it was so easy! It eliminates unnecessary travel and because we use the video conference equipment, we can see each other while we discuss the needs of the teachers with whom we meet.

We can meet with districts near and far first thing in the morning, during the day, or late in the afternoon. During our meetings, teachers have asked for suggestions for ways to integrate interactive video conferencing into the curriculum, suggestions for class-to-class connections, and other topics associated with distance learning.

Hopefully, more districts will take a chance and try out our Virtual Office Hours. If you'd like to try, you can email us: DL@gstboces.org.

NYS Grade 5 Social Studies Test

Today Mary Hutz and I spent the day with a 5th grade Social Studies teacher via distance. She is in Spencer-Van Etten and we remained at the Instructional Support Center in Elmira and visited with each of her Social Studies classes.

They are preparing for the NYS Social Studies Test coming up in November. We spent much of the day showing them a podcast on test-taking strategies and playing a Jeopardy game to help the students practice skills they learned from the video. If your district is part of the GST BOCES Distance Learning Service and you would like to set up an appointment for us to do this session with your class, please email us at DL@gstboces.org.

For parents who are preparing their children for the test, you might consider visiting the NYS Education Website where they have past exams to use for practice.

Google Docs

Are you planning to do a class-to-class video conference and want an easy way to plan the video conference activities collaboratively with the other teacher or teachers? Use Google Docs! So quick and easy to use! It is a great way to develop plans with one or more people.

You can create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations and share them with others so they can edit them as well.

Here is a great video that explains how to use this technology:

Trip to DC

Hi again! This week I have been on vacation and I traveled to Washington, DC and Alexandria, VA. My husband and I visited many of the landmarks around DC and we also visited George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. Neither of us had ever been to Mount Vernon before. We spent about 6 hours touring the estate and learning about George Washington. I learned quite a bit about the United States' first President.

As we toured around, I was especially intrigued by the fact that so many school kids from around the vicinity were visiting the different Smithsonian museums, as well as Mount Vernon. It made me think about how lucky those students are; and I wondered if they know just how fortunate they are to live so near to those historic places.

Learning the little things that make historic figures human, so we can relate to them, making them more meaningful to us, makes learning history more fun and interesting.

Now to my point - all of my thoughts as I went through my week made me appreciate distance learning and virtual learning experiences even more than I already did! The Smithsonian offers many distance learning programs for students. Check them out! There are so many ways to integrate the concepts taught in those experiences into a variety of curricular areas.

If you would like suggestions about ways to integrate distance learning into your curriculum, please let us know! DL@gstboces.org

Stop back soon!

Great motivator for students to develop projects!

Here's a note from the good folks at CILC. There's not much time left so check it out quickly and let us know if you'd like some help!

There are only two weeks left to submit your entry into the KC3 contest! The submission deadline is Friday, October 17th.
From Seattle to Singapore, Beijing to Berlin, if you’re looking for ways to engage middle and high school students in authentic research, presentation skills and use of technology then you’ll want to be involved in the 2008-2009 Kids Creating Community Content (KC3) Contest. This standards based project taps into the creative nature of your students as they look at their community and explore ways to share your unique area with students around the world. For complete details and project requirements visit: http://kc3.cilc.org

Promoting DL/IVC to our districts

Because of our Educational Opportunities Network Project, we've got temporary access to additional staff resources - through June 2009. The EON Project was supported by the Southern Tier Regional Planning Board and funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

The EON Project is allowing us time to present the awesome potential of DL/IVC to all 21 of our districts at staff meetings and professional development days. The response so far has been very enthusiastic and activity in IVC and other forms of Distance Learning continues to blossom throughout our region. More districts are taking advantage of WebBased instructor facilitated courses and a collaborative 3D virtual worlds program has had such a positive impact we're working hard to expand and continue its availability.

If you're from one of the districts in the GST region - feel free to drop us a note at dl@gstboces.org if you'd like any sort of assistance with making great use of Distance Learning resources for your community or school. If you're from outside the region - we'd still love to hear from you - especially if your looking for some form of DL collaboration!

René

From the Content Provider's Perspective

This week I am in Cooperstown, NY meeting with Distance Learning Colleagues from all over New York State. We were fortunate to have the National Baseball Hall of Fame allow us to use their facilities for our meeting. And - James was kind enough to give us all a guided tour of the facility.

BUT, the best piece of the experience was the opportunity to be at the Hall while they presented "Mathematics - Batter Up" to 6th graders from Turner Valley School in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada. The kids were - no surprise - great! They did a fantastic job with their math facts and it was obvious that they were completely comfortable with Interactive Video Conferencing.

The Hall of Fame actually takes their roll around IVC system out in to the display area a while before the conference. This unit consists of a podium and laptop used by the main presenter, plus a laptop and video editing equiment on the cart with the codec and monitor. Using the editing software, they are able to splice together images of the presenter with graphics from the computers. A very nice setup that certainly helps them stay connected and deliver excellent learning opportunities for our students.

I also learned that the Hall of Fame was honored with the Pinnacle Award from CILC for the 2007-2008 school year for being an excellent content provider! I encourage you to check out their programming at http://education.baseballhalloffame.org/experience/videoconferences.html

Having seen this gives me an added appreciation for all the effort required by the content providers! Be sure to thank them!

DL Excitement

Hi there! We have been meeting via video conference with districts who participate in our service. It has been a great experience and I'm quite happy that we have been able to use our DL equipment which means we haven't had to use tons of gas to travel all over the place. We're doing our small part to help the environment!

I think meeting with everyone using video conferencing equipment is a great way to show how the technology works, while at the same time sharing the information we would like everyone to know about our service.

Today we met with the Arkport district superintendent and some of the teachers in that district. What a fun group to meet first thing in the morning! They were energetic and enthusiastic about the possibilities our service can provide to their district. Their enthusiasm resulted in an additional page on our website listing the content that we provide free of charge to the districts that participate in our service.

Please remember that we are here to help you integrate interactive video conferencing into your curriculum. If you want to locate a content provider, to collaborate with another class via distance, or if you would like to work with us to develop a connection where we provide content for you and your students, contact us at dl@gstboces.org.

DL and Curriclum Integration

Have you ever used distance learning with your students? Did you enjoy the experience? Did your students enjoy it?

If you answered yes to all of those questions, then you probably know the secret to good distance learning experiences. If you answered no to any of the above, read on to learn ways to directly relate distance learning to your curriculum, making the experience more meaningful for you and your students!

Look at your curriculum and determine how distance learning can be beneficial to your students. Do you want to use distance learning as a way to introduce a concept you are teaching? Would you like to review content with your students using a virtual learning experience? Perhaps your students have been researching a particular topic and would like to ask an expert on the subject some questions... Distance learning can be done in a variety of ways, but to make it most meaningful to your students, there must be a specific, standards-driven purpose for the event.

If money is a concern, there are plenty of ways to use interactive video conferencing that are very cost effective, if not free. Class-to-class collaborations are an excellent way to introduce students to others who are studying the same content so they can share thoughts, ideas, and projects from one place to another. Some content providers offer their services for free. At GST BOCES, Rene Carver, Mary Hutz, and I develop and deliver content to teachers in our participating districts by teacher request. Look to members of your community for possible content providers: veterans, doctors and nurses, business leaders... You could also connect with other classrooms right in your own district!

There are also some excellent content providers who do charge for their time, but at a fraction of the cost compared to having them visit your school, or going by bus to visit them. The Paley Center for Media and Royal Botanical Gardens are two examples of content providers that offer meaningful, standards-driven virtual learning experiences. They also work with teachers to gear the materials toward what students are learning in the classroom.

Check out CILC.org and do a keyword search on your topic to locate content providers and possible collaborations with other classes. If you would like assistance locating quality content to offer your students, along with help integrating it into your curriculum, please contact us!

Talk to you soon!

Discover CAPSpace!

CAPSpace (http://projects.twice.cc/) is a social networking site for people interested in collaborating on distance learning projects with other classes around the country and potentially around the world! If you are interested in signing up to be on the CAPSpace listserv, please watch the video below to learn more about this excellent resource:

K12 DL - Doable and Practical!

I just read a TechLearning article called "Videoconferencing in K12 Classrooms: Doable and Practical, FINALLY!" It's a great article for anyone who is interested in exploring ways that interactive video conferencing can benefit students at a fraction of the cost and time of ordinary field trips.

If you are hesitant about trying distance learning, lay your fears aside because to me, distance learning is one of the friendlier technologies to use because someone else has done most of the work for you! Your district's distance learning contact person hooks up the equipment for you. If you participate in the GST BOCES Distance Learning Service, you can have support throughout the process. After that, it's all about planning and being prepared, just like you would for any other lesson. When using distance learning, as with any other technology, you always want to prepare a plan B in the event that the connection doesn't work.

Stop back and visit this blog often to learn more information about distance learning and interactive video conferencing!

About Our Service

At GST BOCES, we have recently expanded our Distance Learning Service to include instructional support. If you are part of the GST BOCES region and would like to learn more about distance learning opportunities, please contact us! Our email address is dl@gstboces.org.

This video explains some of the interactive video conferencing opportunities we offer throughout the school year:



Visit our blog frequently to learn ways to integrate interactive videoconferencing into your curriculum, discover helpful online resources and articles to learn more about distance learning, and other information that might come in handy as you venture into the world of DL!

Let us know how we can help!

Cheryl