The SAXophone
Project
Connecting
Classrooms
Around the World
By Donna Moss, Anthony Amodeo, Jane Bullowa, and Ted
Detjen
Real-time videoconferencing can be used
to connect
students around the world. High school students in the
SAXophone
Project use videoconferencing to discuss local culture,
science,
literature, and environmental issues—and even to hold
music
recitals.
Many
resources are available to educators who want to try
videoconferencing
projects in their classroom. The following paragraphs
discuss funding,
equipment needs, and staff
development and provide a list of Web
resources.
Funding Videoconferencing Projects
Probably the first thing that will come to mind when planning a compressed
video project is how to organize the necessary funds. Funding is available for
innovative technology projects through many state education departments, the
U.S. government, and private businesses and organizations. At Ulster BOCES we applied for and
received a state grant that will enable us to provide compressed video to all
of our school districts, two area hospitals, and other area sites. With the
increased use of technology to support education, we have hired an education
and technology supervisor, whose responsibilities include the application of
technology to support the curriculum.
School
district and organizational support for compressed video
activities
have demonstrated by the districtwide support of the staff
members
who have been involved so that these educators could spend
some
of their time planning and carrying out these activities.
The
SAXophone Project has been able to develop
through the
professional interest of the educators involved and with
each site
providing their own equipment and paying for their own
phone connections
to the bridge that has been used for multipoint
connections. Al
Mizell at Nova Southeastern University and Ted Detjen at
Ulster
BOCES have volunteered to coordinate this project. Nova
Southeastern
University has provided the use of their multipoint bridge
for SAXophone,
as has Stan Silverman at the New York Institute of
Technology.
Many
universities have compressed video equipment, as do large
businesses
and hospitals. Teachers who are interested in seeing or
developing
a compressed video project should contact area
universities and
businesses to see if they have the equipment and would be
willing
to donate its use to teachers and students. Staff at such
sites
are usually very excited about demonstrating their
equipment and
discussing projects they have undertaken. Once you have an
initial
videoconference with a site, you can discuss with them
other sites
that they have visited or worked with. PictureTel
publishes a directory
of those sites that have purchased their compressed video
equipment.
At Ulster BOCES, we have begun to develop a directory of
sites that
we know have compressed video.
For
more information about grants and partnerships, see
Obtaining
Resources for Technology in Education-A How-To Guide for
Writing
Proposals, Forming Partnerships, and Raising Funds, Second
Edition
by David Moursund and the Education
Technology Promotion
Guide.
Back
to top.
Videoconferencing
Equipment
Videoconferencing
equipment comes in two basic forms: group and individual.
Ulster
BOCES we use both. For large-group sessions, we use an
inexpensive
group system: the Swiftsite by PictureTel. This system
comes with
a 27" monitor, cart, NT-1 (an ISDN device),
compression-decompression
unit (co-dec), microphone, cables, and software. The
entire unit
can be purchased for approximately $10,000. For groups
larger than
20, we recommend using a video projection unit to enlarge
the image
so that everyone can see it.
For
individual and small-group sessions, we use a desktop
computer unit,
the PictureTel Live 200. This system costs about $7,000
and includes
everything you need to use it.
Many
other companies make video compression hardware and
software. Some
that people we know have been pleased with are available
from Vtel
and Intel. Intel
produces
a desktop system, ProShare 3.0, which retails for about
$7,000,
and group systems, which are available from
$12,000-$16,000.
For more information on compressed video technology, check out Compressed
Video for Instruction: Operations and Applications (Link no Longer Valid)
by Barbara Hakes, John Cochenour, Landra Rezabeck, and Steven G. Sachs,
or New Technologies in Education: A Beginner's Guide, Third Edition
by Ann E. Barron and Gary W. Orwig.
Back
to top.
Staff
Development
Ulster BOCES has many staff-development materials useful for
videoconferencing inservices, for more information or to receive copies, contact
Donna Moss.
Back
to top.
Relevant Web Sites
Hyperlinks have been removed that are no longer valid.
Funding Technology Projects
- Money
Matters:
U.S. Department of Education's guide to finding and
obtaining
government funding for various educational
projects.
- Search for Grant Sponsors: Links to various grant-finding
resources on the Web.
- Writing Proposals: Contains links to different documents
about writing a grant proposal that gets noticed.
Informational Sites on Videoconferencing
- Team
Solutions:
A good summary of videoconferencing.
- Halhed Enterprises, Inc: Glossary of audioconferencing, videoconferencing,
telecommunications, video compression, and ITU-T Standards.
- ISDN:
Eleven-page site listing ISDN tutorial and data; ISDN
books,
magazines, and periodicals; ISDN videoconferencing
information;
ISDN users groups; search databases for ISDN; and
other resources.
- Distance
Education Clearinghouse, located at the
University of
Wisconsin.
- Videoconferencing
in the Classroom and Library: A summary of
videoconferencing
issues, including equipment and
participants.
- CORD's Virtual Teaching Center: Information about CORD's
videoconferencing support and links to other informational sites.
Commercial Videoconferencing Sites
- TechTools:
Hands-On:
"Lights, Browsers, Action: Streaming Video Arrives on
the Web."
- Vtel Education Station: Contains interactive
videoconferencing lounge, listserv for educators, as well as information about
Vtel products and services.
- Videoconference.com:
Includes information on videoconference products,
services,
and user forums.
- Polycom: Includes
information for all continents.
Videoconferencing Directories
- Education
First Videoconferencing
Directories:
Eight different videoconferencing directories are
listed.
- Communications_and_Networking/Videoconferencing: Three-page
directory of over 70 connections to videoconferencing vendors, product lines,
resources, and sites for videoconferencing.
- Videoconferencing Connections Worldwide: If you click
on Other Resources, it brings you to the home page for Other Sites with information
About Videoconferencing, which contains information and connections to 15
excellent sites.
Copyright © 1997, ISTE (International
Society for Technology in Education).
All rights reserved.
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