Making+Connections+using+web+conferencing

We're Not in Kansas Anymore [|April Chamberlain]

Article:
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr120.shtml

Student Use:
Students in three 4th grade classrooms read and article and become concerned with the large number or children dying from malaria in Africa. The research online and are able to talk live to Sarah Koch, a Peace Corp Volunteer living and working in Africa, to hear first account stories of the problem using Skype. Skype allows users to message and call each other using just audio or audio and video. The call to Africa was clear as a bell. Visit http://abpc.wikispaces.com/April Chamberlain to learn more and watch a video of the call. Working Towards Excellence article about this activitiy - http://www.abpc21.org/outofafrica.html.

Kindergarten students learning about their Big Backyard spent an hour one Friday morning with a missionary family in Cambodia to learn about backyards there. The family not only told what was in their backyard but had examples to share. The Kindergarten students saw large palm leaves as big as the mom, dragonfruit cut open, soil and much, much more! Both the family and the students used webcameras to see each other. Each student in the original connection class asked questions that were answered by the 4 children and mom in Cambodia. The time was such a success that they are in the process of planning a Global Big Backyard day in the latter part of the year where they will talk to people around the world every hour and hopefully half hour.

Professional Use:
Wednesday before students began coming to school, foreign language teachers at Hewitt Trussville High School and Middle School placed a Skype call to Bob Patrick, a high school teacher in Georgia. Beth Bishop, French, organized this free Internet phone call to have Bob share his wealth of knowledge in how he engages his students in the study of foreign languages. Bob shared his ideas, thoughts, and answered questions for about 30 minutes online giving valuable advice to the teachers. The call was also recorded using the free tool PowerGramo, [|http://www.powergramo.com], so they could listen later. Classrooms are also beginning to explore the opportunity of connecting to other classrooms round the world.

Skype can also be used to interview potential employees without the cost of travel.

How to find classrooms to connect with:
[|ePals] is the Internet's largest global community of connected classrooms. Join [|Classroom 2.0 Ning] to find educators who might be interested in collaborative work Just ask - e-mail national organizations, colleges, etc

Resources:
Project Cam: http://projectcam.ciconline.org/ProjectCam/default.htm Google Docs: [|http://www.google.com] Skype: [|http://www.skype.com] Global Schoolhouse: http://www.globalschoolnet.org/index.cfm COSI: http://www.cosi.org/educators/videoconferencing/ (costs $) AT&T: http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/vidconf/ TWICE: http://www.twice.cc/fieldtrips.html iEarn: http://www.iearn.org/ CILC: http://www.cilc.org/c/education/education_content.aspx Ask an Expert: http://www.cln.org/int_expert.html Virtual Field Trips: http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/ http://www.internet4classrooms.com/vft.htm