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Taking part in this project was a challenge for each group involved. This is the type of work that requires a teacher to be very flexible, to be willing to do things differently with the students. Planning and organisation for a project like the Local Marvels was quite a task. It required sending and receiving countless emails and calling each teacher personnally a few times. The time zone difference between Newfoundland and Quebec added to the challenge. Technically, the software used were email programs, a word processing aplication (MS Word), a presentation software (MS PowerPoint) and a videoconference platform. In the Telesat Multimedia Trials for School project, we were using the Vigo system from VCON which uses H.323 videoconferencing. Each site used two-way 384 kbps bandwidth to connect to Telesat's videoconference bridge allowing the four schools to be connected simultaneously. Alain Rochefort
Here is some information that was distributed to participating classes in the project: Project Outline- looking for participants (February) Announcing the Participants! (March) Advanced Planning - End of the Project Approaches (Early May) Technical Reminders - Preparing for the videoconference (mid-May) Detailed agenda - Videoconference (May 29th)
Project Outline - looking for participants (February 2003) MARCH: Each group presents themselves by writing a collective text with attached group photo to be sent to other groups by email. We have to agree on document format so it will be readable by all. Optional, students write a few lines to present themselves individually. Optional again, we do introductory videoconferences for the students to get to see the others briefly and to familiarize themselves with the technology. APRIL: Each group presents their local marvel (could be a touristic attraction, special landform, or anything special that will capture students' attention) in the form of a game, charade, enigma, ... After they receive this, the other group(s) asks questions by email or fax to find out more about the other marvel(s). Sending virtual Easter cards to other group(s). If we find a good reason, we could also do a videoconference between the groups at the end of April or beginning of May. Each group researches their own marvel by the means available locally, interview with elders/experts, internet, books, videos MAY: Each group prepares a multimedia presentation of their marvel using Powerpoint or a video made by the students. This presentation is sent to other group(s) or made available on website by May 9th or May16th? Each group sees other marvel(s) multimedia presentation. Following week: a videoconference where each group presents their marvel verbally and visually. Other group(s) ask questions. It is an opportunity to interact based on the topic of the marvels. We could also expand this videoconference in any way that you would like. By that time, the students will know more about the other group(s), their interest will probably be at the highest level. Documentation about the FantasTIC project the way it was done last year is available in French at http://www.csduroy.qc.ca/Projetsrecit/fantastic/
Announcing the Participants! (March 2003) Good news! We now have a third group for our project. So, now we have: Grade 7 group from Ulluriaq
school in Kangiqsualujjuaq, Quebec Grade 6 group from Glovertown
Academy, Glovertown, Newfoundland and Labrador Grade 6 group from Ste-Agathe
Academy, Ste-Agathe, Quebec Grade 5 group from Fatima
Academy, St. Bride's, Newfoundland
and Labrador It's time to ask questions if you are unsure about some of the planned events. It's also time to get started because we have a few events planned before Easter. I suggest each of the teachers involved write a very brief email to the group to introduce their class. Can't wait to read you! Alain
Advanced Planning - End of the Project Approaches I would like to congratulate each school for their involvement so far in the project! Now comes the end of the project with the end of this month. Next week, we will give the students a chance to see each others and talk to each others by videoconference. This will be an activity in the LOCAL MARVEL project. We will need to arrange a day & time for the videoconference as well as to plan the content of this videoconference. Here is a proposal: 1. Thursday May 29th A) Time proposed. Let's keep in mind the time difference between Newfoundland and Quebec. So it would be best to plan between 9h00 am and 10h30 pm Quebec time which means 10h30 to 12h00 Newfoundland time. Is that good? B) Videoconference format. Even if it will be a challenge to get four groups of students from four schools connected at once, however by using the Video Conference Bridge at Telesat, it is quite easy to do technically. So each school will call the video conference bridge instead of calling another school directly. Also, a meeting coordinator is necessary to let each school speak when it's their turn; I volunteer to play this role. C) Videoconference content - here is a start. Each school introduces their own marvel by videoconference orally and by maybe showing photos or bringing some real things (5 minutes). Then each of the other schools get to ask questions or comments about the marvel (2 to 4 minutes per school). So this is a total of about 15 minutes for one marvel. Then, the second school introduces their marvel and the other schools respond. Then, the third school. Then, the fourth school. The call should last 1 hour to 1 hour and a half. D) Planning. I propose that we get together on a telephone conference call Friday this week to plan the videoconference. I will be calling each school today to find a convenient time for the telephone conference call. E) Pretests of videoconference
call Pretest of videoconference connection in each school is a must! It is essential that each school tests the connection to the video conference bridge and also makes a call to Jon Birchmore at Telesat to test the audio setup for the videoconference call. Thanks a lot for your collaboration Alain I suggest you print this message so I can refer to it when we discuss on the phone.
Technical Reminders - Preparing for the videoconference A. The results of today's testing are that we will use the video conference in the mode called point of presence which means that you will see on your screen the school that is talking the loudest at any given moment. This is the way to get the best image quality which is important because we are going to show pictures to the students. B. You have to be really comfortable with muting your microphone because you will have to do this many times during the videoconference. Whenever your school is not presenting or asking questions, you have to keep your microphone on mute. It might be a good idea to get a student to do this task for the duration of the call. Please practice this before the call on Thursday. I do not trust clicking on the microphone icon in the software to mute the microphone because twice the sound would not come back even after I tried to unmute the mic. I prefer to do it a different way — either by changing the "Audio Origin" in the System Properties of the software or by switching the microphone off manually if you are using a second microphone. It’s up to you to find out what works for you. C. All the technical glitches mean that we should make sure to connect to the video conference bridge a full hour before the start of activities with students so let’s connect the four schools to the bridge at 8:30 am quebec time (10:00 NewF time). The videoconference with the students will start at 9:30 am quebec time (11:00 NewF time). I sure hope I got this time right! D. Please prepare a sign with your school’s name that will be seen each time we see your school. As the screen will keep changing to show the school who is talking, if his school is identified, it will make much easier to follow what is happening. E. Presenting photos. If you plan to present photos, today’s tests have shown that you can not hold the picture in your hands, it will move around too much. You really should use some kind of stand where you can put the photos. You could also use one camera to show your students and one camera to show your photos. This way, you would just need to switch between cameras when it’s time to show your photos. It’s up to you, just practice a bit first and decide which way you like best. F. Rehearsal with your students. It would be important to bring your students in the videoconference room before the start of the activity to do a rehearsal with them. Rehearse getting the students to do their presentation and their school introduction while they are watching themselves on the screen in the same setup as for the videoconference (cameras, microphones, projector, room lighting, chair arrangement, etc). This rehearsal will be beneficial to both you and your students. G. Sound is always an issue. Please make sure that when students talk, they are within a couple of feet of the microphone and that they speak loud enough. Make sure to s stress this in your rehearsal. H. If you can’t connect to the video conference bridge, call Jon Birchmore. During the call, if we have technical difficulties, I will call Jon Birchmore as it is not too efficient to be four schools trying to call him at once. If it is at all possible to bring a telephone in your video conference room for Thursday morning, that would be a good insurance in case of technical problems… maybe with a very long extension cord or bring in a cordless phone.
Detailed agenda - Videoconference May 29th 1. I will say a few words to guide each school in introducing themselves. We will start with Ulluriaq School so one student, or Anne their teacher, from Ulluriaq will just say who they are and what is their marvel. Then we will go to Glovertown Academy, third to Ste-Agathe Academy and then to Fatima Academy. If you would like to do something else to introduce yourself otherwise that would be great. Creative ideas are welcomed. The introduction will be just to show how the screen changes from one school to another depending on who is talking. (Introduction of the four schools = 5 minutes) 2. Ulluriaq presents. Each school presents their own marvel by videoconference orally by relating their experiences and/or by showing photos or bringing some real things (5 minutes for one school). To keep the same sequence, let’s say we will start with Ulluriaq School. Then I will invite each school one by one to ask questions or comment about Ulluriaq’s marvel, so keeping the same sequence Glovertown Academy, then Ste-Agathe Academy and then Fatima Academy will be called upon to react to Ulluriaq’s marvel. (15 minutes maximum) 3. Glovertown Academy presents their own marvel in the same manner or they will talk about their community (5 minutes for one school). Then I will invite each school one by one to ask questions or comment about Glovertown’s marvel, so keeping the same sequence Ste-Agathe Academy, then Fatima Academy and finally Ulluriaq School will be called upon to react to Glovertown’s marvel. (15 minutes maximum) 4. Ste-Agathe presents. Fatima, Ulluriaq and Glovertown react. (15 minutes maximum) 5. Fatima presents. Ulluriaq, Glovertown the Sta-Agathe react. (15 minutes maximum) 6. Closing comments. Any suggestions? If not maybe I will congratulate everyone and anyone who wants to add their own comments will be welcomed to do so. (2 to 5 minutes)
I just want to extend a big thank you and congratulations on a wonderful videoconference experience today. The grade five students of Fatima Academy thoroughly enjoyed the experience and looked forward to it for a long time! I want to extend a thank you to Alain, for his leadership in the project and Jon Birchmore and our technology teacher, David Welshman, who worked for a long time on Tuesday to get us online. It was a fantastic opportunity! Hopefully we can look at doing a similar project again in the future. Darlene and the Grade five students
Thanks to you all for a
very interesting exchange.I thought that the flow from school to school
was well organized and smooth. Here at Ste. Agathe, our remote camera
stopped working just as we were about to begin, so we were limited to
one camera. I wish you could have seen our faces when this happened
two minutes before going on air! It was really funny! We still need
to e-mail some of the kids we missed last week due to an infected floppy.
We have had our share of technical problems . Hope to Janet and the Grade Six at S"A"A".
The Local Marvel activity went well. Thanks Alain, for organizing and directing the entire process. Our students enjoyed seeing and hearing about your local marvels. Since we will no longer have access to video conferencing capabilities, I suggested we visit Mont Tremblant instead!!! The students thought it was a great idea! If only we had the money!!!! Hopefully, the results of this Telesat pilot project will show that this form of communication is essential to current educational practices, and that we will have some form of Broadband in place before too long. For us, the main technical glitch was audio. It may have been the result of quiet voices, poor mic quality, or poor mic location. Our connection speed was apparently low, unknown to us, until after the conference. That was the result of a major system crash prior to the conference, my quick configuration of a replacement system(With lots of help from Jon)didn't get everything tweeked and fine tuned. Thanks all for a great experience. Glen Winsor
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