I would love to talk to you about some collaborative projects I've facilitated and share some teacher contacts for using the cams to teleconference and do cooperative projects with other kids in other classrooms.
Hi,
I would be interested in learning more on collaborative projects you have to offer.
Are you affliated with the STEM collaboration? Are you locate in New York State?
I know I am a few years late on this post, but could you let me know how you connect with other classrooms across the country and world? I have been using e-pals so far and have received a couple of replies, but not as many as I was hoping for. I teach social studies classes and would love to collab with other classrooms. If you have any pointers I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
And, a great thing to do is set up conferences and do collaborative projects with other classrooms. Last year in a grant I have at a local elementary school, we hooked up with a weatherman during the weather unitt. First the 3rd graders, asked him questions on a blog, and he answered and then we used the webcam and he gave them a tour of his weather lab and he answered questions from the class. It was very cool! You could do this for anything subject. Be glad to talk more to about this. There is also a great little piece of FREE online software called Flashmeeting. http://flashmeeting.open.ac.uk/ Very easy to use and FREE!!!
We have had schools in our area use webcams in conjunction with weather stations. They have mounted the weather station and webcam at the school so visitors to the website can not only see the local weather but can get a real-time view as well. Has worked well! Also we are doing collaborative projects with schools in other countries that involve "video conferencing" using web cams. It has worked well too. Lots of uses. Students love using the webcams. It's a technology they are very familiar with.
Another idea is that you can use it to make video podcasts for students in alternative school or who are sick. You can even set up a skype account and have the student do the same so that they can sit and listen/watch your lectures in real time. They could even ask questions that way.
If you teach business courses, you are bound to have to explain programs. You could create tutorials where you film your computer screen while you speak instructions on using certain programs. Then you could put clips of these for frequently asked questions. That way, when your students ask the same question over and over, you can tell them to check your clips for the answer.
I am about to try recording the grading of essays so I can send them to students who need more one on one time. Their parents can watch them with them so that they can better understand what I am looking for.
Oh My! Download skype, get a microphone, and start having virtual visitors worldwide!! What way to authenticate any standard you could be teaching by having a real-world expert chime in!!
We are also using Skype, doing interviews and sometimes making them into podcasts. The teachers are making the contacts with known people and/or confirming identities before students connect.