CHAPTER 5: Expanding the Classroom with Videoconferencing and Webcams
Dear Teachers,
Because we want to see more participation from everyone in our Teaching in the Digital Age book study we will try a new way of hosting the meeting next Wednesday, March11. When we discuss Chapter 5’s “Expanding the Classroom with Videoconferencing and Webcams” we will ask that each of you come ready to share an idea or experience.
After reading chapter 5, apply one of the ideas/strategies or reflect on something you’ve already done in your classroom with a webcam and answer the following questions:
- How did the experience help enhance learning and communication in your classroom?
- What were the challenges you faced during the process?
We will divide into two groups for our next study discussion and in each group we will follow this protocol:
- Each participant will have four minutes to comment on the above questions.
- While the person is talking, colleagues will write down feedback and observations.
- This feedback will be discussed after each person has had a chance to share.
Thanks for your hard work =)
laura
Team 1:
Gaby O: I used Face Time during the parent-teacher conferences to meet with a mom that had to stay home because her daughter was sick and only the father could attend the meeting. It was great and the mom was happy to be involved.
It is important to have the app already set up and ready to go, so you don’t lose time, since we only have 20 minutes. Another challenge could be the internet, when you are counting on it and it may not work or be too slow.
Stefanie: I did the same, but I used Skype because the parents were away. I mailed the parents the report card beforehand so they could have a look at it and then talk about it during the meeting. I thought it was great but I think I wouldn’t do this if it’s a difficult meeting or there are sensitive issues to discuss during the meeting. In this case I would prefer to talk to the parents face to face.
I think some of the challenges would be connection issues and if you use Skype then you have to make sure you are friends with the parents and that they accept your invitation so you can start the meeting on time.
Caro: When I was in my maternity leave, I tried to do story time with my students through Skype.
I couldn't do it because of the differences between PC’s and Mac computers. We were losing too much time and the internet was slow.
Then we tried using Face Time using my phone and it worked. The students were very excited, I was able to show them Victoria’s room and the baby.
The screen on the iPad that N4 students used in the classroom was too small and not everyone could see. I know they tried using the computer but the internet doesn’t work in that part of the classroom.
María: In N4 we are planning to get in touch with a friend of my mom’s that is also a teacher. She lives in Spain and I think it’s nice to connect to another classroom in a different country. We were thinking using Face Time.
We haven’t been able to set up the meeting because of the time zone that is different. We are thinking maybe at 8:00am so that it is still school time for them. The time difference is 7 hours so it is hard to find a good time to meet.
Sofi & Cynthia: In N1 we tried to use a webpage called “Skype An Author” that we found in the book where you can supposedly get in touch with authors from books.
We could not access the webpage.
Instead, we used Google Plus. It is like a chat but with video and lots of tools. We did not know anything about this app before but it is awesome!
You can share your screen so that the person you are chatting with can see what’s happening on yours, and you can also take screen shots and draw on the screen, add accessories to the person’s face and they move with their face. It’s very cool!
We talk to a mother that is also a teacher here at school, so after the meeting we took the children to her office to see how she would see us through her computer.
Also we talked to Miss Sofi’s boyfriend Ivan, and he sang “The weather song” with the children. They were in shock! They loved it!
You need to have a Google account.
Karla R.: We used Skype to talk to some grandparents that live in a different country.
We had lots of connection problems because the internet is just not good, it goes on and off all the time.
Andrea & Karla Solana:
In PK-K8 we used Skype to talk to Charlotte, a student that was part of our classroom before and had to leave the country. The children were so excited to see and talk to their friend again. They asked lots of questions and were just so happy.
We had trouble connecting with Reiri, another student but we could send her some videos and pictures from her friends. I think it is a great tool that allows us to keep in touch with people we love.
The children were too excited and yelling a lot and that made it hard to hear what Charlotte was saying. We had to remind them to take turns to talk.
The time zone was also a problem because it was not easy to find a good time for both her and us to meet.
Pili: We used Photo Booth during our Open House so that parents could record themselves sending a message to their children. The next day the children could see the videos and were very happy.
Some parents that did not come to Open House didn´t make a video but the next morning, when they came in we asked them to do it so that all children would have one to watch.
Alondra: There are some websites on the internet were you can find webcams that are placed all over the world and through them, you can see what is happening there live. I tried it once with a webcam placed in Africa and it was so cool.
The internet was going on and off and it was also hard for the children to really understand that what they saw was really happening at that same time in a place across the world.
Team 2:
Celis: In 13-14 school year with K7, we studied composting and I was able to arrange a Skype conference call with a composting expert who is my friend’s mother. This experience reinforced the importance of what the children were learning because they were excited to meet and practice asking an expert questions. It was somewhat challenging to hold the conference because the composting expert didn’t have much experience speaking to young children. Perhaps selecting a smaller group rather than the whole group would have made it a little easier to have more children understand her and feel comfortable asking her questions.
Giovanna & Pamela: In the parent/teacher conferences earlier this week a father came to the meeting explaining that his wife was not able to attend the conference because she was home with their sick child and he asked if he could record the meeting. Pamela had the idea to invite the mother to the meeting using Face Time and this way the student’s mother was able to participate. Both parents were very appreciative and were able to get more out of the two way conference than if it had been more of a one way recording. The father didn’t know how to use Face Time so the challenge the teachers had was to get his phone to Face Time his wife but one they had it started it worked fine throughout the 20 minute conference.
Adriana: When Caro had recently started her maternity leave, she Face Timed with N4 students and showed the children how she had set up her baby’s bedroom. This reinforced the students’ relationship with their teacher. The hardest part was finding the right time to schedule the call.
Beatrice: In K6’s Open House, parents were asked to record a message for their child that was then showed to the class the following day. The children were actually recorded watching the parent’s messages and that video was also shared with parents! The hardest part of this project was getting good audio with the parents’ recordings, as it was noisy in the classroom and hard to hear the parents’ messages.
Lucha: K10 students were recorded telling a story as they drew it on the Smart Board. These stories were later played back for the students in a whole group and teachers noticed how shy some children become when listening to their voices. This made the teachers think that it is something children can be exposed to more so that they become more comfortable with this technology and with hearing their own voices. The challenge has been to capture good audio as the mike is on the computer rather than the Smart Board where the children are standing as they draw.
Silvia: At Open House Silvia had asked the parents to make a puppet for their child and one father arrived by himself because his wife was out of the country. He Face Timed his wife to ask for her help in how to make the puppet, showing her the materials and asking for her advice on how to use them. The following day, the same father volunteered in the classroom with the students making a volcano experiment and again included his wife in the visit through Face Time helping her feel included and building her relationship with the children in the classroom. Challenges?
Gaby N: A PK5 student went to the US for a couple of months because his mother was having triplets in the US. Gaby had hoped to be able to set up a conference call with the student but they could not find the right time to schedule a call. Gaby mentioned that another student’s parents were out of the country for Open House and sent a video message to their son from Spain asking Gaby to show it to the group so that their son felt included when the other children received their Open House messages from parents. She said the boy was very happy to share his parents’ message with his classmates.
Jessica: Jessica reported that this year she helped make a video that was shown to the parents at Open House of PK5 students talking about what school is for. She explained that after one boy reviewed his recording he was motivated to improve it and asked to be recorded again. This showed her how the experience of seeing himself speaking helped him self-assess and want to improve. Jessica had the idea that she could repeat this question to the children at the end of the year and assemble beginning and end of the year videos next to each other to show how students’ language skills improved. The challenge she faced was in capturing good audio in the noisy classroom environment.
Pamela: N2 had a student return to his home in Japan mid-year and they had hoped to schedule a conference call with him and the N2 students but have found it hard to schedule with the different time zones.
Pamela also told us about how this week N2 had a live video conference call with a rock star. Sofi’s boyfriend, Ivan, connected with the group when they were having their morning routine and played the guitar to accompany the children singing “What’s the Weather?”. The challenge was in the behind the scenes set up to make sure it was all ready on time.
Adriana: told us about how her three-year-old granddaughter has been independently Face Timing her aunt and great aunt in California while they are at work! J In addition to these calls she has been making independently, Adi’s granddaughter also has scheduled Face Time calls with her one-year-old cousin in California about two times a week, helping the two girls become close even though many miles separate them.
The Webcam Earth website was mentioned as a neat way to show children what is happening in different parts of the world with live streaming.
Because we want to see more participation from everyone in our Teaching in the Digital Age book study we will try a new way of hosting the meeting next Wednesday, March11. When we discuss Chapter 5’s “Expanding the Classroom with Videoconferencing and Webcams” we will ask that each of you come ready to share an idea or experience.
After reading chapter 5, apply one of the ideas/strategies or reflect on something you’ve already done in your classroom with a webcam and answer the following questions:
- How did the experience help enhance learning and communication in your classroom?
- What were the challenges you faced during the process?
We will divide into two groups for our next study discussion and in each group we will follow this protocol:
- Each participant will have four minutes to comment on the above questions.
- While the person is talking, colleagues will write down feedback and observations.
- This feedback will be discussed after each person has had a chance to share.
Thanks for your hard work =)
laura
Team 1:
Gaby O: I used Face Time during the parent-teacher conferences to meet with a mom that had to stay home because her daughter was sick and only the father could attend the meeting. It was great and the mom was happy to be involved.
It is important to have the app already set up and ready to go, so you don’t lose time, since we only have 20 minutes. Another challenge could be the internet, when you are counting on it and it may not work or be too slow.
Stefanie: I did the same, but I used Skype because the parents were away. I mailed the parents the report card beforehand so they could have a look at it and then talk about it during the meeting. I thought it was great but I think I wouldn’t do this if it’s a difficult meeting or there are sensitive issues to discuss during the meeting. In this case I would prefer to talk to the parents face to face.
I think some of the challenges would be connection issues and if you use Skype then you have to make sure you are friends with the parents and that they accept your invitation so you can start the meeting on time.
Caro: When I was in my maternity leave, I tried to do story time with my students through Skype.
I couldn't do it because of the differences between PC’s and Mac computers. We were losing too much time and the internet was slow.
Then we tried using Face Time using my phone and it worked. The students were very excited, I was able to show them Victoria’s room and the baby.
The screen on the iPad that N4 students used in the classroom was too small and not everyone could see. I know they tried using the computer but the internet doesn’t work in that part of the classroom.
María: In N4 we are planning to get in touch with a friend of my mom’s that is also a teacher. She lives in Spain and I think it’s nice to connect to another classroom in a different country. We were thinking using Face Time.
We haven’t been able to set up the meeting because of the time zone that is different. We are thinking maybe at 8:00am so that it is still school time for them. The time difference is 7 hours so it is hard to find a good time to meet.
Sofi & Cynthia: In N1 we tried to use a webpage called “Skype An Author” that we found in the book where you can supposedly get in touch with authors from books.
We could not access the webpage.
Instead, we used Google Plus. It is like a chat but with video and lots of tools. We did not know anything about this app before but it is awesome!
You can share your screen so that the person you are chatting with can see what’s happening on yours, and you can also take screen shots and draw on the screen, add accessories to the person’s face and they move with their face. It’s very cool!
We talk to a mother that is also a teacher here at school, so after the meeting we took the children to her office to see how she would see us through her computer.
Also we talked to Miss Sofi’s boyfriend Ivan, and he sang “The weather song” with the children. They were in shock! They loved it!
You need to have a Google account.
Karla R.: We used Skype to talk to some grandparents that live in a different country.
We had lots of connection problems because the internet is just not good, it goes on and off all the time.
Andrea & Karla Solana:
In PK-K8 we used Skype to talk to Charlotte, a student that was part of our classroom before and had to leave the country. The children were so excited to see and talk to their friend again. They asked lots of questions and were just so happy.
We had trouble connecting with Reiri, another student but we could send her some videos and pictures from her friends. I think it is a great tool that allows us to keep in touch with people we love.
The children were too excited and yelling a lot and that made it hard to hear what Charlotte was saying. We had to remind them to take turns to talk.
The time zone was also a problem because it was not easy to find a good time for both her and us to meet.
Pili: We used Photo Booth during our Open House so that parents could record themselves sending a message to their children. The next day the children could see the videos and were very happy.
Some parents that did not come to Open House didn´t make a video but the next morning, when they came in we asked them to do it so that all children would have one to watch.
Alondra: There are some websites on the internet were you can find webcams that are placed all over the world and through them, you can see what is happening there live. I tried it once with a webcam placed in Africa and it was so cool.
The internet was going on and off and it was also hard for the children to really understand that what they saw was really happening at that same time in a place across the world.
Team 2:
Celis: In 13-14 school year with K7, we studied composting and I was able to arrange a Skype conference call with a composting expert who is my friend’s mother. This experience reinforced the importance of what the children were learning because they were excited to meet and practice asking an expert questions. It was somewhat challenging to hold the conference because the composting expert didn’t have much experience speaking to young children. Perhaps selecting a smaller group rather than the whole group would have made it a little easier to have more children understand her and feel comfortable asking her questions.
Giovanna & Pamela: In the parent/teacher conferences earlier this week a father came to the meeting explaining that his wife was not able to attend the conference because she was home with their sick child and he asked if he could record the meeting. Pamela had the idea to invite the mother to the meeting using Face Time and this way the student’s mother was able to participate. Both parents were very appreciative and were able to get more out of the two way conference than if it had been more of a one way recording. The father didn’t know how to use Face Time so the challenge the teachers had was to get his phone to Face Time his wife but one they had it started it worked fine throughout the 20 minute conference.
Adriana: When Caro had recently started her maternity leave, she Face Timed with N4 students and showed the children how she had set up her baby’s bedroom. This reinforced the students’ relationship with their teacher. The hardest part was finding the right time to schedule the call.
Beatrice: In K6’s Open House, parents were asked to record a message for their child that was then showed to the class the following day. The children were actually recorded watching the parent’s messages and that video was also shared with parents! The hardest part of this project was getting good audio with the parents’ recordings, as it was noisy in the classroom and hard to hear the parents’ messages.
Lucha: K10 students were recorded telling a story as they drew it on the Smart Board. These stories were later played back for the students in a whole group and teachers noticed how shy some children become when listening to their voices. This made the teachers think that it is something children can be exposed to more so that they become more comfortable with this technology and with hearing their own voices. The challenge has been to capture good audio as the mike is on the computer rather than the Smart Board where the children are standing as they draw.
Silvia: At Open House Silvia had asked the parents to make a puppet for their child and one father arrived by himself because his wife was out of the country. He Face Timed his wife to ask for her help in how to make the puppet, showing her the materials and asking for her advice on how to use them. The following day, the same father volunteered in the classroom with the students making a volcano experiment and again included his wife in the visit through Face Time helping her feel included and building her relationship with the children in the classroom. Challenges?
Gaby N: A PK5 student went to the US for a couple of months because his mother was having triplets in the US. Gaby had hoped to be able to set up a conference call with the student but they could not find the right time to schedule a call. Gaby mentioned that another student’s parents were out of the country for Open House and sent a video message to their son from Spain asking Gaby to show it to the group so that their son felt included when the other children received their Open House messages from parents. She said the boy was very happy to share his parents’ message with his classmates.
Jessica: Jessica reported that this year she helped make a video that was shown to the parents at Open House of PK5 students talking about what school is for. She explained that after one boy reviewed his recording he was motivated to improve it and asked to be recorded again. This showed her how the experience of seeing himself speaking helped him self-assess and want to improve. Jessica had the idea that she could repeat this question to the children at the end of the year and assemble beginning and end of the year videos next to each other to show how students’ language skills improved. The challenge she faced was in capturing good audio in the noisy classroom environment.
Pamela: N2 had a student return to his home in Japan mid-year and they had hoped to schedule a conference call with him and the N2 students but have found it hard to schedule with the different time zones.
Pamela also told us about how this week N2 had a live video conference call with a rock star. Sofi’s boyfriend, Ivan, connected with the group when they were having their morning routine and played the guitar to accompany the children singing “What’s the Weather?”. The challenge was in the behind the scenes set up to make sure it was all ready on time.
Adriana: told us about how her three-year-old granddaughter has been independently Face Timing her aunt and great aunt in California while they are at work! J In addition to these calls she has been making independently, Adi’s granddaughter also has scheduled Face Time calls with her one-year-old cousin in California about two times a week, helping the two girls become close even though many miles separate them.
The Webcam Earth website was mentioned as a neat way to show children what is happening in different parts of the world with live streaming.