Video Conferencing

Dear colleagues,

I wonder if any of your classes may be interested in a US political debate via videoconference. A colleague in Texas is interested in the UK’s perspective on the results of the American election and would like to hold an international VC on 12 December to allow students to discuss some of the issues.

Please read the email below from Gerri Maglia for more details, and reply to Gerri (copying me if possible) if you would like to take part.

Gerri is a little worried about this debate being too popular for the limited time allowed. If any of you would like to take part in a political debate with other schools, but are not able to collaborate with Gerri Maglia in Texas, please contact me and I will attempt to group together any remaining responses.

If you need assistance in using the JANET Videoconferencing Service (JVCS) to connect to the US then please don’t hesitate to contact me or JVCS. (www.jvcs.ja/net/booking)

Thanks, and enjoy the debate.

Tim.

_____________________________________________

On December 12th, the Texas Education Telecommunications Network (TETN) and the 20 Education Service Centers are hoping to have a day of events that relate to "After Election Day - What Happens Next?".    We are hoping that we can convince some of you to join us on that day and allow your students to talk with our students (grades 6th - 12th, or ages 12 - 18) about your country's perspectives on our election processes and your thoughts on our President Elect, Barack Obama. 

We hope that discussions will revolve around

- why the President of the United States is important to people outside of the U.S.

- what issues your students think are most important for the U.S. President to focus on

- what concerns you might have about our choice

- what you think about our election process

- what stories have been in your media concerning our election

You must be able to connect H.323 (IP) at 384K.  If you are interested, email me back and let me know that you  are interested!  We will try to accommodate as many of you as we can.  In Texas, we are on UTC/GMT -6 hours, or CST, so let me know what time you might be able to connect.

Gerri Maglia

Education Specialist - TETN

(512) 919-5171

gerri.maglia@esc13.txed.net

Introduction to Videoconferencing
16^th December
Videoconferencing can provide fast and cost effective access to colleagues, peers and subject experts. However the technology involved can sometimes appear daunting. The aim of this course is to prepare you for using videoconferencing by familiarising you with the equipment and addressing the issues that you may encounter.  A full description of the course is available at http://www.ja.net/services/training/courses/introtovc.html

Technical Support for Videoconferencing
17^th December 2008
Within the context of national JANET services, this course will provide a useful introduction to the technical aspects of videoconferencing. It includes an overview of the components of a videoconferencing network, details of how to set up a videoconference facility within your organisation and how to manage these facilities. This is supported by details of how to make the most of existing facilities and tips on ongoing management and support of users. This course will focus on good practice and technical theory, it does not cover technical configuration of videoconferencing components.  A full description of the course is available at http://www.ja.net/services/training/courses/technicalsupportforvc.html

Cost  (per delegate per course,  including VAT):
Primary Connected Organisations :  £180
Interconnect Connected Sites:  £200
Full details of these categories  are available on our web site at www.ja.net/training/prices.html.

Regards

JANET Training

-------------------------------------------------------------
Telephone: +44 (0)1235 822323
Fax: +44 (0)1235 822399
Training@ja.net
www.ja.net/training

Dear Colleagues,

Please read below for a professional development opportunity to share information on the use of VC in teaching with colleagues in America.

If you are interested in taking part please contact Dawn Colavita on dcolavita@cilc.org. Dawn works for The Centre for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC), which is a more established but similar system to the JANET Collaborate prototype, for schools in the States.

I hope some of you will be able to take advantage of this interesting chance to share professional best practice.

Thanks,

Tim.

________________________

Tim Boundy

NEN Services Group, Content Coordinator, JANET(UK)

01235 822370

-----Original Message-----

From: Colavita, Dawn [mailto:dcolavita@cilc.org]

Sent: 29 October 2008 21:09

To: Tim Boundy

Cc: Cougan, Monica

Subject: RE: International Contest - Kids Creating Community Content (KC3)

I would like to setup a 30 minute professional development video

conference with another K-12 school in North America or Great Britain

(Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales or England).  On my end I will have our 3 Integration

Specialists (teachers with 10+ years teaching), as well as, our

Assistant Director and myself.  All of us on this end are teachers with

at least a Master's degree in Curriculum.  At the other end I would like

to connect with K-12 folks that have successfully integrated IP video

conferencing into their curriculum.  A tentative agenda might be:

9:00 - 9:05  Introductions

9:05 - 9:10  Purpose of the Conference (to test the use of Life Size

video conferencing equipment and to discuss the impact of video

conferencing on the curriculum at various grade levels/subject areas).

9:10 - 9:20  What are they doing and why is it successful

9:20 - 9:30  Questions and Answers