k12onlineconference “Elluminate” session October 29, 2006
Posted by Joseph Papaleo in General, Video Conference, k12online06.1 comment so far
I just participated in an international conversation with about 30 – 40 people using Elluminate. Messages were passed by voice, text, whiteboard and even video. I actually “met” some people who I had heard about or read their blog. Catching up with other people I haven’t corresponded with for some time as well. It started at 1:00am local time and finished a little over an hour later at 3:20am (Daylight saving kicked in).
An interesting conversation was held about many topics and it was great to see that the apathy I experience here in Melbourne about Web2.0 technology seems to be the same all over the world. There seem to be just a few interested teachers and we need to bring many others along for the journey. Much like Jules Verne in Paris in 1870.
More about that in my next blog entry …
Off to bed right now. Good night.
Videoconference PD October 28, 2006
Posted by Joseph Papaleo in General.2 comments
Last Monday, we had our first Videoconference Professional Development activity at work. Staff sat in our meeting room and were then “whisked” away on an adventure to the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns, Australia. There, we chatted with Duncan, one of the staff at Reef Ed, who discussed how the videoconference facilties and resources worked. He then flicked the switch and we were in a tank with Megan who was also able to communicate with us and swim around at the same time. What an amazing experience.
As a Biology teacher, I have taken my students on a trip to the coast (up to 2 hour journey) and then participated in various activities on a boat and then back on shore, looking at aspects of the marine life. I have taken my children to aquariums and walked under a dome to watch marine animals. But this was, by far, the best marine activity I have participated in. We were able to interact with the diver in a natural, not man-made ecosystem. Although we just chatted about how such activites would work, the potential of such technology was amazing. Staff were able to ask questions of either Duncan or Megan during hte activity and we would get an immediate answer – from an expert! Even better, Megan was able to swim to places to help answer the question and show what she was talking about. Something to explore (sorry about the pun)
Later, we went to the National Space Center in Leicester, UK and met up with Gareth. Unfortunately, he was unable to see or hear us, but we could see and hear him. We sent messages via e-mail and Gareth went into a monologue about the resources at the Space Center. Although we didn’t travel anywhere, he was able to show us computer generated images as he spoke and focus on aspects of our solar system, looking out at certain planets, even Earth. He showed us various activites that students could particpate in. Obviously, it had a Science flavour, but Gareth spoke about activites for Primary students through to Senior Physics students. An Out of This World experience!! (No more puns, I promise). In my opinion, a better activity than a planetarium.
The videoconference session did demonstarte how importatn it is to have a backup plan in case anything goes wrong. The fault mentioned earlier was entirely our own and I’m led to believe it has now been fixed up.
And the best thing about these activities is that I took our staff away to far away places all within an hour, no forms to fill out and at a small cost.
Thanks Duncan and Gareth. Superstars both of you!
k-12 Online Conference, Screencasts and kids October 19, 2006
Posted by Joseph Papaleo in General, Personal, Screencast, Video Conference, k12online06.1 comment so far
A very short note to say I’m still here reading others thoughts. I’ve created my first screencast and tried to put it up on my podomatic site, but after many tries, it doesn’t want to work. I’ll keep at it. I gave it to my students via our server and they just laughed at me!!
I’m also preparing for a presenation at work and for the k-12 Online Conference on Video Conferencing. So I’m very busy, developing ideas and I’ll be posting entries more frequently soon (oh, did I mention one of my children had her face whacked by a swing, requiring facial surgery and now my two eldest have contracted chicken pox?) Gee life can get hectic.
Video Conferencing – the potential October 3, 2006
Posted by Joseph Papaleo in General, Video Conference.comments closed
Just a short entry tonight. I started back at work today and it was nice to see the students again. We have about 4 weeks left of the year before exams and you can see the Year 9 students are quite nervous as it is their first set of exams.
Some time last year, a donation of video conference equipment was given to each campus. “Wow! How will we use these?” I thought. And to my horror, they have been used for meetings between staff members at each campus. Now, this equipment has saved me many dollars in petrol, helped the environment and given time back that would have been lost to travel between the campuses. But couldn’t they be used in the classroom?
I did some research and discovered some great places that offer classes “Excursions” without having to leave the classroom. The Great Barrier Reef in Cairns, Queensland, Australia was one of the first places I read about. They offer talks by experts on marine life and then take the class on a dive. And they even have teacher resources prepared for use back in the classroom. Wow!!
Taking classes to space centers, Art museums, History Museums, safaris, zoos or almost anything else is amazing. And there are heaps of resources available on the net (of course). See the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration or SBC VideoConference Adventures who both provide a humungous list of Video Conference sites.
My favourite blogger on this topic is Janine Lim. Check out her blog – VideoConferencnng out on a Lim. It is very informative and opens up another world for us as teachers with her tips and new programs. Read about the Kid2Kid VideoConference Connections. Like me, you may not be ready to participate now, but keeping an eye on it certainly gives you an insight into what can be achieved.
I’d be interested to know how others have utilised Video Conferncing in their classes
Maths in Google Earth October 1, 2006
Posted by Joseph Papaleo in Google Earth, Paul Harrington, Tom Barrett, blogs, mathematics.comments closed
I just came across Tom Barrett’s blog via Paul Harrington. He is a Primary teacher in the UK and his blog is all about using IT in his classroom. Looking through it, I discovered a great project he has developed for Maths.
It got me thinking about a project I’m planning for my Year 9 Maths classes. I have been nutting my brain out for the last few weeks, trying to put together a real life project for simultaneous equations. And the solution appeared as I looked at Tom’s site.
The project idea goes something like this – and any mathematicians out there, I know the earth is round and the soltuions won’t be exact, but they’ll be close enough for this task.
- In our neighbourhood, there is a planned train line extension.
- Assuming the extension will be a straight line, find its’ equation using latitude and longitude.
- At some point it will intersect with a road. Find the equation of the road
- Surveyors need to visit the site of the intersection. They need the latitude and longitude of the intersection to visit it.
- Find the intersecting point of the train line and road by using their knowledge of simultaneous equations
Bingo, a real life problem solving activity using Simultaneous Equations and Google Earth at the same time. And who said Maths is boring??
I’ll post the actual assignment to this blog and other places for other teachers to use in the near future.
