Marshall Space Flight Center Comes to Nevada

Amanda Sanchez of 13 Action News in Las Vegas reported on an interactive videoconference between a middle school and NASA late last month. It was a dream come true for many of the students who got to attend.

Thirty-seven sixth-graders in a computer literacy class were able to take part. The lesson was led by a staff member at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama and took students through a general overview of what happens at NASA. It ranged from space science to astronauts and rockets. Video, graphics and other tools were used in the lesson.

Students loved the experience:

• "It was a great experience especially for sixth graders, I know that probably not even students in high school could do this back then."
• "I liked that we got to learn about what people do at NASA, it is pretty cool."
• "I am really into space stuff, because I like to float."

The Wells Fargo "Grant A Wish For Your School" Program and the Nevada Public Education Foundation paid for the videoconference and this amazing chance to get close to the goings-on at NASA. There's hope that this program and others in the future will help students make future choices that will benefit them and the world around them. It's also another great example of what NASA offers to students wherever and however it can reach them.

SOURCE: "Valley Middle School Students Video Conference With NASA" 05/27/08
photo courtesy of jurvetson, used under this Creative Commons license

Kansas on the Cutting Edge

Thanks to an "aggressive technology program" in the state of Kansas, students can almost regularly communicate with peers around the world. Marjorie Landwehr-Brown of Douglass Public Schools writes in T.H.E. Journal about the Global Learning Program she created with Jim Keller, the superintendent of Douglass Schools. The program started in the elementary school, expanded to the middle school, and will be used in Douglass High School this fall.

The Global Learning Program brings Kansas students together with international peers to work together on projects. At each level, the projects differ according to grade level; in middle school, the projects focus on music, science and art. Landwehr-Brown writes that teachers in the schools "introduce students to the technology fairly slowly, and...give students across the world a chance to get to know each other before starting the heavier conversations or more elaborate projects."

In a December 2007 exchange between middle school students in Kansas and Cairo, for example, students discussed their divergent definitions of the word "jihad." No matter the project, students on both sides of the ocean were changed by the dialogue between them. Another great example comes from a project with fourth and fifth graders in Hong Kong and Kansas on rain forests:

The kids were responsible not only for producing a report, but for explaining the guest mural, from the cultural context of whoever created it. My kids had to explain why Hong Kong kids draw faces on trees and that trees in Hong Kong have a whole different historical reference than they do in the United Sates. [sic] Because there are good and bad spirits in trees, according to Chinese culture, and our kids have to know that.

Part of the inspiration for the Global Learning Program came through Landwehr-Brown's and Keller’s conversations with businesses in the area. Representatives of companies like Coca-Cola, Cessna, Learjet, and Boeing said over and over that they wanted workers who could "not only...communicate with different cultures but...go a step further and be able to create a product with them." With help from Kay Gibson and Glyn Remington from Wichita State University, a curriculum was created to bring students and technology together for collaborative projects in art, music, math, science and language arts.

Landwehr-Brown's article gives more great detail on the programs and partners used. There's great advice and more examples. And there are the details of the high-definition conferencing equipment partly underwritten by Conference Technologies Inc. (CTI), "a LifeSize high-definition conferencing codec, two cameras, two 60-inch plasma displays, touch-panel controls, and an installed sound system." There's a picture on the article; it looks really cool.

SOURCE: "Global Learning Initiative Helps Kansas Students Collaborate with Peers Around the World" 06/09/08
photo courtesy of hive, used under this Creative Commons license

From WV to Rome: Challenger Learning Center e-Missions

HuntingtonNews.com reports on an e-Mission that just finished up yesterday. It linked English-speaking students in Rome with the Challenger Learning Center at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia through interactive videoconferencing.

The Challenger Learning Center is just one of 51 centers created by the Challenger Center for Space Science to honor the crew of the Challenger space shuttle. At the Wheeling, WV, center, about 40,000 students a year take e-Missions either in person at the center or through the Internet, like the students in Rome. The missions are meant to get students to "apply their math, science, and teamwork skills." The WV Center serves the most students of all the centers and has been honored for just that the past 9 years.

Middle school students at the Ambrit-Rome International School did an e-Mission on June 3 and 4. The Ambrit-Rome students took part in Operation Montserrat in which they had to "decide how to save the residents of the small Caribbean island of Montserrat as a volcano erupts and a hurricane approaches." It's a scenario based on something that actually happened in Montserrat some years ago.

The Challenger Learning Center is increasing its international reach. Missions were conducted this past year with teachers in Korea and Northern Ireland and students in Canada. Some of the missions also come in Spanish with potential to reach Spanish-speaking nations or be incorporated in Spanish language classes. Any school or class with videoconferencing capabilities can sign up for an e-Mission. There's a contact link on the Challenger Learning Center Simulations webpage and links where you can find out more about specific e-Missions and sign up for free teacher training.

SOURCE: "Rome Students Connect to WJU Program" 06/03/08
photo courtesy of dbking, used under this Creative Commons license

How to Go Global on a School Budget

The goal: to connect your middle schoolers with experts, students, teachers and citizens around the country and world. The obstacle: your school's budget. But Alexander Russo reports in Edutopia that, using the Flat Classroom Project as an example, teachers can create global education projects with on-hand and free resources.

Russo tells teachers to start close to home, in their schools and communities. Teachers can tap other teachers and students, local businesses or cultural organizations, like churches, that have some connection to another country or region. One example comes from the small, rural town of Mathis, TX, where a new international studies school "discovered that a local company was selling cattle guards to India. The business owner helped explain to the class how the relationship with an overseas buyer works, along with the logistical and cultural issues." Starting close to home not only cuts costs but also helps teachers focus on content rather than webcams, microphones and projectors. Focus on "a meaningful, skill-developing experience, not just a virtual field trip that is pleasant but not particularly deep or rigorous," Russo writes.

And there are a lot of free tools available for all kinds of global or international projects. Wikis, podcasts, and Google Earth are familiar tools for sharing and working across borders and time zones. Nings, also free and with multimedia capabilities, allow students to connect and share in a controlled space, vital for middle schoolers. Scheduling can be coordinated with AirSet, a free online program. FlashMeeting provides free videoconferencing, even for schools with low bandwidth. ePals offers free learning communities that teachers can control and monitor. Many schools are already using ePals for all kinds of learning projects and needs.

For somewhat minimal fees, depending on your school's resources, teachers can also tap iEARN and Journeys in Film. iEARN, International Education and Resource Network, coordinates collaborative projects for $100 per teacher or $400 for an entire school. As many as 20,000 educators are part of iEARN's learning communities. If your school has no online connections, Journeys in Film offers lesson plans to use with international films to bring the world to your students. Journeys in Film charges $75 per teaching guide or $250 for a set of four.

Other sites that have resources for global projects include the Global Educational Collaborative, a social-networking site for teachers; the Apple Learning Exchange, an online community maintained by Apple; and Global SchoolNet, a site that offers project learning exchanges on the Internet.

SOURCE: "Global Education On a Dime: A Low-Cost Way to Connect" 11/12/07
photo courtesy of Gaetan Lee, used under this Creative Commons license

NASA's Digital Learning Network

News Blaze reports that Wednesday, April 30, middle schoolers across the country will connect with NASA astronauts. The Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, will coordinate and "host" the free event.

NASA's Digital Learning Network (DLN) offers fee webcasts and interactive videoconferences to connect students and teachers around the world with NASA experts. The DLN's primary goal is to bring high-quality and "unique" STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) content to K-12 educators and students. At the DLN website, you can search the catalogue for other free, interactive programs for students at any grade level.

Wednesday, students from Junior High School 145 Arturo Toscanini, Bronx, New York; Brenham Junior High School, Brenham, Texas; South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency, Shelton, Washington; Greencastle-Antrim Middle School, Greencastle, Pennsylvania; Middle School at Parkside, Jackson, Michigan; and other middle school students that have been invited to the Goddard Space Flight Center will participate in the webcast. (Greencastle-Antrim and Middle School at Parkside are NASA Explorer Schools.) The webcast will start at 1:15 PM EDT. All the students will be connected to the space shuttle crew that will service the Hubble Space Telescope. The crew will discuss the STS-125 mission to work on the telescope. They will also talk to students about the diversity of the crew and their educational and professional careers. This highlights one of the great side benefits of these kinds of NASA webcasts -- students get to experience remote mentoring to encourage and tempt them to investigate STEM studies and careers.

At the DLN website, you can search for other free programs, look at event guidelines and register for future events. The site also has links for the event catalogue, podcasts, and additional tools and plugins to make connecting middle schoolers and NASA experts easier. NASA has a lot of other great resources for K-12 education, almost all of them free.

SOURCE: "Astronauts to Make Virtual Connection With Students" 2008
Public domain photo courtesy of Library of Congress via pingnews.

Learning about Kenya through IVC

Thanks to ACELINK, Summit Middle School students in Fort Wayne, Indiana, are taking part in a Global Nomads Group international collaborative program titled "Kenya: The Power-Sharing Era." The Times Online reports that the five-part program started April 22 and will run through April 30.

ACELINK is a project run by the Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) Division of Continuing Studies and the Invent Tomorrow Education Consortium which provides and promotes the use of technology in education, especially through collaboration. ACELINK provides free programming to Allen County (IN) partner school districts and is sponsoring the Global Nomads Group (GNG) program for Summit Middle School.

The goal of the Global Nomads Group is to use interactive technology, such as interactive videoconferencing, to bring "young people together face-to-face to meet across cultural and national boundaries to discuss their differences & similarities, and the world issues that affect them." For the Kenya program, students will interact with Kenyan students and experts to examine the recent crisis in Kenya:

Through GNG’s live student-to-student interaction, Summit Middle School youth will explore the causes and consequences of the Kenyan post-election crisis and its attendant period of reconciliation. Hearing directly from experts and students on the ground, students will try to make sense of and understand how a democratically stable and comparatively prosperous place became a nightmare of violence and mayhem leading to many deaths and displaced peoples. Furthermore, young North Americans will listen first-hand to how Kenyans from both the Kikuyu and Luo tribes were affected by the crisis, and what it means for them to live in a new age of political power-sharing.

The GNG programs are widely available. You can sign up for upcoming programs at the website. May's program features Bolivia and study of its recent political tensions and changes. GNG also offers streaming of past videoconference programs such as "China: A Superpower Emerges?" and other great resources for bringing the world in to your middle schoolers.

SOURCE: "Summit Middle School to participate in ACELINK Kenya project" 4/21/08
photo courtesy of kevinzim, used under this Creative Commons license

Pennsylvania to Poland

Fifteen lucky middle school students in Canonsburg, PA, recently got to have an interactive videoconference with students in Poland. Crystal Ola reports in the Neighborhoods section of The Post-Gazette on this exciting online interaction that has made Canonsburg Middle School students feel like "pioneers."

CMS principal Greg Taranto spearheaded the meeting after seeing an article on Internet safety in schools by Bob Lyons, a technology teacher at the American School in Warsaw, Poland. Lyons' article included a survey on Internet safety that asked middle schoolers in the American School about topics like cyberbullying, chatting with strangers, and downloading. The videoconference between CMS and the American School included a discussion between students about Internet topics and their use of technology in and out of school.

Even though there were some glitches with the linkup, both sets of students were deeply engaged. They found that they had similar rates of illegal downloading of games and music. What surprised the CMS students was

that more than 60 percent of third-graders in Poland have e-mail accounts activated by their parents and more than 50 percent of Warsaw students have computers in their bedrooms connected to the Internet.

The second statement was met with gasps by the local middle school students, who couldn't believe parents would allow it. The Warsaw students asked why it was so surprising.

"Their parents want to know what they're doing online, that's the problem with that," Mr. Taranto explained.

The discussion also turned to more cultural exchange topics like the sports, foods, and activities both sets of middle schoolers liked. One CMS student, Dan Buker, asked the American students at the American School what it was like to live outside the U.S. The Warsaw students also answered questions about the Iraq war and European impressions of the U.S. and its citizens.

Through the videoconference, the middle schoolers got to directly experience their similarities and differences in real time. The videoconference also created a lot of buzz at CMS, with students hoping for more videoconferences with middle school students around the world, with Japan, China and Italy the most popular choices so far. Kudos to principal Greg Taranto and teacher Bob Lyons for bringing students together in such an exciting and inspiring way.

SOURCE: "Seventh-graders find peers in Poland share activities" 04/06/08
photo courtesy of Jarosław Pocztarski, used under this Creative Commons license

TWICE + ASK = IVC Author Visits

In Michigan, teachers who want to bring authors or other specialists into their classrooms through remote visits have the organization TWICE and the ASK process to help make the connection. TWICE, Two Way Interactive Connections in Education, is dedicated to providing interactive videoconferencing (IVC) opportunities for Michigan K-12 schools. TWICE offers virtual field trips, professional development, shared classes (especially at the high school level), technical support and ASK Author Visits.

TWICE teams up with school districts to provide Author, Specialist, Knowledge (ASK) Author Visits, interactive videoconference sessions. In the program, children's book authors are interviewed, especially those who have some expert knowledge of an issue or who can offer insight into the novel or text students have read. Students create the questions to be asked during the IVC session. Because of the remote access, up to three different classrooms, regardless of location, can participate in a single IVC session.

The ASK process itself was developed by Dr. Raymond Kettel at the University of Michigan-Dearborn to structure the interview and IVC process for students, teachers and the authors and specialists involved. A notable aspect of the step-by-step process is the emphasis on preparation before the session; of the thirteen steps provided, nine occur before the day of the IVC session. Students move from reading the book to creating and choosing questions to practicing the asking of questions, an important step to success and efficiency in the IVC session.

There is a fee and some important procedures to adhere to for participation in an ASK Author Visit. Test calls are held each month for participants to test their connections well in advance of any IVC. A 2007-2008 schedule is up at the ASK webpage and is regularly updated. The last program for the year will feature Gary Schmidt, author of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, recommended for middle school students.

The step-by-step ASK process and the additional advice provided are great tools for any remote specialist or author visit. The Cooperating School Districts (CSD) in the St. Louis, Missouri, metro area also use the ASK process for their IVC author visits. Most recently, CSD hosted an ASK author IVC with Lauren Myracle and three middle schools. It's great to see organizations like TWICE and the CSD helping teachers and schools bring authors and other specialists into classrooms.

SOURCE: "About TWICE" 2007
SOURCE: "ASK: Author, Specialist, Knowledge" 3/12/08
SOURCE: "Author Visit: Lauren Myracle" 4/1/08
photo courtesy of Noah Sussman, used under this Creative Commons license

Taking Down the Classroom Walls: The Flat Classroom and Horizons Projects

In a recent blog post, Brenda Dyck, a writer at Education World, examines how to make old pen-and-paper assignments "new" through Web 2.0 tools. One telecollaborative project she praises is the Flat Classroom Project which uses a mix of free Web 2.0 collaborative tools. The Flat Earth Project ran in 2006, 2007 and has a current program. A sister project, Horizons, in its second year, is running from now until June 2008.

The Flat Classroom Project is a collaborative project for middle and high school students started by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis in 2006. The goal is to use Web 2.0 tools to aid communication between participating classrooms. In 2006, the topics classes studied and discussed all came from The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman. The main idea of the project is to "lower the classroom walls" to eliminate the isolation that being in a classroom can encourage and to open students and teachers to more collaborative, project-based learning. Lindsay, teaching at the International School Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Davis, at Westwood High School in Camilla, GA, linked their classrooms with various free tools like Blogger and EduSpace blogs, wikis, videos at YouTube and TeacherTube, del.icio.us bookmarking, Facebook and MySpace accounts to connect students and have discussions, Flickr for pictures and Meebo for instant messaging when project managers held office hours for consultation, questions and other needs.

Alexander Russo reported on the 2007 Flat Classroom Project in Edutopia, noting that the four to six week program was usually part of a computer science or media literacy course at the participating schools. Instead of using email and MySpace for student contact and discussion, in 2007 Davis and Lindsay created a Ning page for networking and sharing audio and video files. Davis said the Ning made student interaction easier to monitor and schedule: "The connecting piece is the most difficult part...Last year, we were doing it over email. We couldn't supervise. Here, all the group dynamics are out in the open for the teachers to observe." Another free program on the Web, AirSet, was used to schedule interactions. The big challenge with linking the classes is the asynchronous nature of international communication, a lesson students and teachers in the Flat Classroom Project had to learn. Davis said, "I'm trying to get my students to understand that the world is becoming asynchronous...The workday flows around the world, and I want my students to understand that while they're sleeping, others are moving things forward." The Flat Classroom Project mainly used live videoconferencing (usually through Skype the first year) for initial planning and final student presentations.

The Flat Classroom Project won multiple awards in 2006 and 2007. A 2008 Flat Classroom Project is underway (details were not readily available). A sister project, Horizons, is also running a second year now until June. The Horizons Project is using Elluminate and other tools to link eleven classrooms in six countries. More information on the Flat Classroom Project can be found at the FCP wiki, the FCP Overview page, and the FCP Ning. Videos by Lindsay and Davis discussing the 2006 Flat Classroom project can be found at the wiki, YouTube or TeacherTube. The Horizons Project 2008 has a wiki with more information on its current program. Davis also has an award-winning blog with updates on her classes' involvement with Horizons 2008.

SOURCE: "Using Web 2.0 Tools to Breathe New Life into Old Projects" 03/21/08
SOURCE: "Global Education On a Dime: A Low-Cost Way to Connect" 11/12/07
photo courtesy of dullhunk, used under this Creative Commons license

NASA Explorer School: Key Peninsula MS

A recent column by Hugh McMillan in The Peninsula Gateway reports on Key Peninsula Middle School's continuing relationship with the NASA Explorer Schools program. Recently, Key Peninsula's library hosted a videoconference between students, teachers and NASA astronaut Dr. Janet Kavandi.

Students got to ask questions and get answers from Dr. Kavandi in real time through the interactive videoconference. Dr. Kavandi was in Seattle at the time for a conference and the interaction was relayed between her, the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, and KPMS in Lakebay, Washington. Students asked questions about zero gravity, about being in space, and being an astronaut. NASA Explorer School Team Leader Kareen Borders watched the videoconference from Seattle and said she was "so proud of our students. I talked with Dr. Kavandi, who was very impressed with our students and their level of critical thinking. She thought student questions were great.”

Students loved the chance to talk to a real astronaut in real time. One student, Hunter Smith, who hopes to one day work at NASA, said the interactive videoconference was "a once-in-a-lifetime chance — most people never get to do something like that." Gavyn Rutz, another student at the videoconference, called the event "a one-shot deal — if you make it, it’s like a victory. If you did not come to the video conference, you missed out on your diploma." Amy D’Andrea, KPMS Mission Specialist Class teacher, added that the IVC created a lot of excitement in the students and made them even hungrier "for more NASA, more space exploration, more engineering, and more learning about the world beyond Earth.”

KPMS is still partnering with NASA though schools usually have just a three-year relationship with NASA. NASA Explorer Schools get NASA content for science, technology and math courses; summer development workshops for teachers and administrators; collaboration throughout the school year with "NASA aerospace education specialists, Space Grant consortia, educator resource centers and NASA Education networks"; student programs; technology grants; and opportunities for family involvement. Fifty schools sign up every spring for a three-year partnership. More information and applications can be found at the NASA Explorer Schools website.

SOURCE: "Key Peninsula Middle School students pose questions for NASA specialists" 03/19/08
photo courtesy of brionv, used under this Creative Commons license

Eastview M.S.: Videoconferencing with the World

At one middle school in White Plains, NY, videoconferencing has changed the lives of teachers and students around the world. Jody Kennedy and Jan Zanetis report in Learning Connections (PDF) on the changes at Eastview Middle School after 9/11 and the huge role that videoconferencing played in the development of the Global Run project.

Initially, Eastview Middle School teachers used interactive videoconferencing (IVC) after 9/11 to increase their students' awareness of other cultures and perspectives. They engaged in projects, "language exchanges, music presentations" and other cultural experiences. Soon though, especially as teachers and students became more comfortable with the technology, teachers used IVC to link their curriculum with "experts in the field...people from all walks of life -- sharing their experience, cultures, and traditions." Students had powerful exchanges with young HIV/AIDS sufferers in Africa, Afghanistan war refugees, Sudanese child soldiers and volunteers in relief efforts around the world.

As their awareness grew, students became more empathetic and needed an outlet for their new passions and understandings of the world. The Global Run project was started in 2005 as a "global service-learning project" that raises money to address the growing shortage of fresh drinking water worldwide. Those who participate in Global Run walk to raise money for organizations like Rotary International and TANDBERG. Eastview teachers and students collaborate and communicate with teachers and students at 111 schools in Pakistan, Sweden, India, Senegal, England and the U.S. throughout the year through video conferences, video on demand, simulations, podcasts, blogs and wikis. Interdisciplinary content created by Global Run teachers include math lessons on miles walked and money raised, science lessons on health and body issues, and foreign language discussions.

Teachers have created working relationships and personal friendships across the world and regularly expand their technology skills to meet challenges and expand their contact with each other. More about this excellent program can be found at the White Plains Middle School-Eastview Campus website and in a video of the 2006 Global Run project.

SOURCE: "Developing Global Citizens: The Global Run Project" (PDF) 11/2007
photo courtesy of laszlo-photo, used under this Creative Commons license

Do You IVC (Interactive Videoconference)?

Videoconferencing is a great tool for bringing experts in almost any field into classrooms. Fiction authors can field questions about the writing or publishing process, researchers can demonstrate and discuss their work, and university faculty can bring the depth of their expertise to the elementary, middle or high school classroom. On Education World, Lorrie Jackson interviews an expert on the use of videoconferencing in education who points out the many benefits of videoconferencing in the classroom and offers tips for teachers using it for the first or twentieth time.

That expert, Jan Zanetis, is the former director of the Virtual School @ Vanderbilt University and co-wrote Videoconferencing for K-12 Classrooms: A Program Development Guide, published in 2004. For Zanetis, videoconferencing must be interactive and she uses the term Interactive Videoconferencing (IVC). Zanetis says that the "power of IVC is that students are able to question and dialogue with people and resources that would otherwise be unavailable due to distance and time." Students must also be prepared for the specific IVC session which may involve research and/or problem-solving proper videoconferencing etiquette. These preparatory activities not only motivate and involve students but teach many skills that are best learned in a project-based manner.

The Virtual School @ Vanderbilt creates videoconferencing programs for K-12 classrooms across the country using Vanderbilt faculty and staff, and sometimes community members, as presenters. Teachers can search a catalog of programs and specific videoconferencing sessions. (Schools are charged a per-videoconference fee.) These sessions can be powerful learning tools, and not just in regards to content or facts. Zanetis mentions a specific example from the "Witnesses and Voices of the Holocaust" videoconferencing series:

One of the most touching videoconferences we had was when we first ran our Holocaust Survivors series. Mira Kimmelman, a sweet and gentle woman in her late eighties, spoke with students in six schools about her experience in Auschwitz. Although Mira's story lasted almost an hour, those elementary and middle school students sat still and did not make a sound. Following her talk, the students took turns asking her questions about Nazis, the war, her family…

The Virtual School also offers Career Conversations, videoconferences with professionals who discuss their fields, career choices, paths and challenges. The Black History Month series includes a session with Rhythm and Roots, Vanderbilt's student dance and drama troupe. The full catalog can be accessed at the homepage.

Zanetis says teachers don't need computers to do IVC. A television, videoconferencing camera and a connection -- either through telephone line or an IP -- are all a teacher needs to get started. Planning is even more important; teachers need time to find content and IVC participants, email addresses, schedules, and alternative plans in case something goes wrong at the last minute or midway through an IVC session. She also adds that IVC should be "just another teaching tool in your repertoire. Do not build your lesson with IVC in mind, use it as the 'spice' in an existing lesson, a way to make something special happen that otherwise wouldn't."

It is helpful to look at how other teachers have been or are using IVC in their lesson plans. Education World is one site that has regular features about teaching with technology and specific lesson plans or summaries of IVC in the classroom.

SOURCE: "Videoconferencing Deserves a Second Look" 02/08/08
photo courtesy of Kai Hendry, used under this Creative Commons license