Monday through Wednesday of this week we have a group of educators from St. Louis Missouri, including VLC staff, participating in Promethean Train the Trainer sessions. It’s a full house in CSD’s tele- all the iMacs are taken, and we have folks in the back using their laptops…  check it out: 

A request from our friend Janine Lim:

Dear blog readers! I know you have probably been able to learn and use resources from my posts and projects. I hope now that you can do me a return favor and promote my research survey in your service area.

Note for regional coordinators: There is one question that asks if they are supported by an educational service agency and if so, what is the name of it. I can use this to pull just your region’s data if you are interested in it. If so, when you send it out, please encourage your coordinators to name your educational service agency in the survey (question 13). Send me an email to let you know you’re interested and then give me over the summer months to pull it together for you. Also, if you want to look through the survey, write “delete” in all the open ended fields so I’ll know to delete your entry since it won’t be valid. Thanks!!

Here’s the official announcement:

Dear Videoconferencing Colleague,

Please take a moment to complete this anonymous web based survey for videoconference coordinators at the district or school level and are responsible for one videoconference unit. If you coordinate videoconferencing at a regional level, please forward this notice to your local videoconference coordinators.

The focus of this study is the videoconference coordinator and their influence on the utilization of videoconferencing in the school. The purpose of this research is to investigate the coordinator’s support of videoconferencing, and the technical and administrative issues that may affect the school’s use of videoconferencing. This study will analyze how these factors may predict the utilization videoconferencing in the school and will assist in providing knowledge on the most effective ways to support the implementation of videoconferencing in schools.

The survey is anonymous and your answers are confidential. Completion of the survey serves as a form of implied consent. Participation is voluntary, and refusal to participate involves no penalty. You may discontinue participation at any time without penalty.

Please click here to take the survey:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB227RTY7Y6M7

I appreciate your time and support of this research. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Janine Lim
Instructional Technology Consultant
Read Around the Planet Coordinator 2006-2008
Berrien County ISD
(269) 471-7725×101
jlim@remc11.k12.mi.us
Graduate Student in the Leadership Program in the School of Education at Andrews University

If you have questions you wish to address to an impartial third party, you may contact the advisor for this research, Erich Baumgartner, baumgart@andrews.edu or (269) 471-2523.

Last week, Carolyn Lesser was at CSD Monday through Friday conducting videoconferences with schools in Pennsylvania, Missouri, and New York. The students ranged in age from kindergarten to middle school, and topics included playwriting and poetry (inspiration).

Monday: Playwriting & Pennsylvania | Tuesday: Poetry & Missouri
                                   

Wednesday: Poetry & New York | Thursday & Friday: Poetry & Missouri 
                    

About Carolyn, in her own words: ‘I love to explore, observe, write, and photograph the wonders of planet Earth, then return to speak to inspire adults and children to explore this amazing world. I love to invent inspiring educational presentations and seminars for corporations, universities, and educators and students in creativity, writing, speaking, exploring, living fully enthusiastically, alive on the planet… I have been working with an organization called Cooperating School Districts of St. Louis. 
They offer and arrange videoconferences for my custom designed, interactive hands-on writing seminars and author visits with classrooms of students. CSD also arranges all my videoconferences of nonfiction writing and public speaking seminars for educational or corporate institutions, in a professional development format, “on-screen.” ‘

Teachers, how did your sessions go? 

Jenny Sue… reads, illustrates, duplicates, and demonstrates.

Today we had a wonderful videoconference with author Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw. Jenny Sue connected with classrooms to talk about her work, her life, and her new book, My Travelin’ Eye. She explained how she had been diagnosed with lazy eye as a five year old by Dr. Dave, and it became her travelin’ eye- literally and figuratively. 

She told the kids about her experiences with her eye, her “fashion patch,” her big glasses with Bugs Bunny on them, and how she came about writing her book. We saw her designs and inspirations. She showed the participants her artwork on the document camera and with PowerPoint slides. Jenny Sue read her story, then took great questions from the students. At one point, she drew a picture to show the kids how she can see things with her travelin’ eye. She also shared that Dr. Dave (yep, he’s real!) plans to use her book in his office for other children with travelin’ eyes! Jenny Sue even met one young man by the name of Gavin who had a travelin’ eye, too.

We learned that Jenny Sue’s website is going to be updated soon and there will be an interactive gallery where kids can create their own virtual fashion patches!!

Check back there to see what you can design: http://www.dancingelephantstudio.com/.

Here’s an updated map of New Links to New Learning videoconference destinations. As you can see, students in St. Louis have “visited” locations worldwide! Thanks so very much to all who help make it happen. For a closer look, click on the map.

(Our last map was posted in December 2007).

This summer the Virtual Learning Center is launching six new tele classes created especially for Apple users! Each half-day class (held at Cooperating School Districts) will introduce one application- beginners are welcome. Educators, come learn about all the innovative things you can do on your Mac!

For full course descriptions & details, visit: www.csd.org/tele.

Using iPhoto in the Classroom   
July 22  |  9am-12pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member 
Learn to share digital photos by email or create amazing web pages, cards & calendars. You’ll learn how iPhoto automatically organizes your library by events, based on dates. You’ll also learn new tools so you edit like a pro. Build a stunning online gallery using .Mac, where visitors can view and download your photos, and add their own photos from a Mac or PC. Search your photo library in one place — filtered by name, date, rating, or keyword. You’ll learn how to print high-quality, frame-worthy photos with colored textures, borders and mattes on your printer.

Using iMovie ’08  in the Classroom   
July 22  |  1-4pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member  
Movie ’08 makes viewing and working with video as intuitive as enjoying your photos! A built-in library automatically organizes your video, so clips you’ve captured and movies you’ve created are just a click away. With its revolutionary interface, iMovie makes it quick and easy to browse your library and create movies. You can add movies to your website, publish them on YouTube, and create versions for iPod, iPhone, & Apple TV.  

Using GarageBand 3 in the Classroom  
July 23  |  9am-12pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member  
With GarageBand, you can create your own virtual onstage band and play along on your favorite instrument. You can record, edit, and mix a song exactly as you want it, in pristine CD quality. Mark a region to repeat, record your part multiple times, and pick your best performance. You’ll learn how to create audio, video & enhanced podcasts.

Using iWeb in the Classroom  
July 23  |  1-4pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member 
iWeb makes it easy to create a website that’s stunningly beautiful, and yet easy enough to do that even third graders can do it.  Start with an Apple-designed theme, then customize it with your own text, photos, blogs, movies & podcasts until it’s exactly what you want.

Using iDVD 6 in the Classroom   
July 24  |  9am-12pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member  
Learn how to  quickly create a Hollywood-style disc with iDVD, using Apple-designed animated themes to give your DVD a gorgeous style from main screen to chapter selection. New button library, drop zone editor, and dynamic alignment guides provide total control. See how to combine video & photos in your slideshows and use higher-quality photos.

Using Leopard in the Classroom   
July 24  |  1-4pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member 
Since Mac OS X was first introduced, Apple has provided educators and students a stable and secure computing environment for 21st-century learning. With over 300 new features, the latest incarnation of Mac OS X provides even more power and flexibility, with many built-in tools for accessibility, digital authoring, collaboration, and content management.

As promised, Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis and The Princeton Review have set up classes for the October ACT course.  This class meets ten times over videoconference. Participating students are at far sites connecting to the instructor over interactive videoconference. There are three practice tests (not over v/c) given by participating schools on Saturday mornings, as the real ACT is given. (The October ACT this year will be October 25, 2008).

What takes place during the class? Twenty hours of instruction; The Princeton Review instructor connects live from CSD to participating sites. The Princeton Review instructor uses a SMART Board to illustrate how to solve equations. Each student gets a manual with practice problems in it. Homework is assigned. Tips & tricks for mastering the ACT are given. Questions are answered.

The course now costs $140 per student. The registration deadline is September 8, 2008. For those who register late (the late registration deadline is September 15), the fee increases to $190 per student. For the class to run, we need at least 50 students (this is a total from all participating sites, not individual ones). To register, or if you have questions about the videoconference course, e-mail rmorrison@csd.org.

Practice Tests, Saturday mornings on Sept. 20, Oct. 4, Oct. 18 2008  
Class sessions, Monday & Wednesday afternoons:
Sept. 22 2008  3:30 - 5:30PM
Sept. 24 2008  3:30 - 5:30PM
Sept. 29 2008  3:30 - 5:30PM
Oct. 1    2008  3:30 - 5:30PM
Oct. 6    2008  3:30 - 5:30PM
Oct. 8    2008  3:30 - 5:30PM
Oct. 13  2008  3:30 - 5:30PM
Oct. 15  2008  3:30 - 5:30PM
Oct. 20  2008  3:30 - 5:30PM
Oct. 22  2008  3:30 - 5:30PM

 
According to The Princeton Review, when students attend all of the sessions, take all of the practice tests, and complete all assigned homework, average ACT score improvement is three points.  Again, the registration deadline is Monday, September 8. 

Dates for next year’s ACT Prep Class over v/c will be up & out shortly! Don’t forget to check back at The Wired Classroom for news on the course! 

Every school year, Cooperating School Districts and The Princeton Review team up to bring inexpensive yet thorough test prep to students over interactive videoconference. Parents, teachers, students, this is an excellent opportunity to learn tips and tricks to taking the ACT. 

 The end of the school year is wrapping up in the next  few weeks, and so are the videoconference requests.  Remember, New Links teachers, content providers are  available during the summer, too!! Camps, summer  school  courses, PD, I can help you get connected. 

The next two weeks, however, are very busy with programs.  I see Carolyn Lesser every day this week! Center for Puppetry Arts, NASA, Lest We Forget, Bill Dallas Lewis, Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw are all on the schedule. Little Green Monsters in Texas! Jiminy Crickets in Michigan! Next week has those videoconferences as well as more Butterflies from Atlanta, storytelling from Indiana, and Waiting in the Wings from New Jersey.

Want to add to my list? Contact me at rmorrison@csd.org.

 Congratulations to the Center  for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA,  for being voted the 2007-2008  Favorite Content Provider by  New Links to New Learning  schools!  St. Louis educators appreciate all the hard work  the staff in the distance learning department puts into their videoconferences (and the friendly, thorough service that comes along with it). As their website says, ‘the Center for Puppetry Arts uses the latest technology to offer nationwide Distance Learning programs for Pre K-12. Hands-on puppet building workshops are conducted via videoconferencing and are tailored to specific classroom topics and curriculum. The arts are infused with science, social studies, language arts and other disciplines to create a dynamic, interactive virtual classroom for a virtual field trip experience. Programs complement national curriculum standards in language arts, social studies, science, math and other areas. The Center provides a comprehensive study guide and materials list for most programs.’

Again, congratulations from New Links to New Learning members to:
Patty Petrey Dees, Distance Learning Program Director
Deborah Bowman, Distance Learning Coordinator 
Iyabo Shabazz, Distance Learning Assistant 
Sara Burmenko, Distance Learning Assistant 
distancelearning@puppet.org
Phone: 404.881.5117 | Fax: 404.873.9907