Bring Your Passport and Become a Virtual Tourist

February 7, 2008

Cindy Miller from Frenship ISD (ESC Region 17) shares how they purchased a mobile Polycom for $8,500 and she used Carl Perkins money because there are so many career connections. Vicki Allen did their training. Yes, you see how we are all connected

Keypoints:

When you get the unit, work with your technology director.
Building coordinators called C-Techs (curriculum technologists)
Training staff on how to schedule (It has been a long time since I thought about how to schedule with a content provider since we have done so many student projects.)
Made a calendar to show when the unit was reserved and when it was free.

Connections:

Cool Connection: For teacher convocation, videoconferenced with one of the teacher’s husband who was stationed in Iraq and he led them in the pledge. Then the teacher went to the choir room and got to visit one-on-one.

What the C-Techs wished they had known:

Too many choices for virtual field trips.
Like the portability of the unit and ease of use.
Time consuming to find sessions to go with the topics that the teachers want to use.

Used a Polycom 7000 VSX for the mobile unit. High school students made a video to show teachers how to put the Polycom together. I would love to have a copy of this it was great! They unbox it, plug it in and connect it.

They were so excited to have finished their first year of videoconferencing and it is good for those of us who have been doing this for a while to listen to newbies to remember how it was when we began. Remember how your palms were sweating before you first live videoconference in front of teachers? Remember the first time you scheduled 30 classes and all the connections worked? Remember how excited you were during your first international connection?

Remember why we do what we do? For the amazing opportunities that we can bring to our students!

Category Posted in TCEA07, VC Community