Technology closes the gap of time and distance
 The main lab at the Schenectady training center |
 Instructor's workstation at the back of the lab |
 The lab looking toward the back. Note instructor's workstation (center) and conference area (back right). |
This interactive video conferencing virtual field trip, and many others like it, is made possible by the people and technology at Project VIEW in Schenectady, New York. Recipients of a $10 million grant from the US Department of Education, Project VIEW has become a crossroads for distance learning classes linking students, museums, businesses, zoos and other information-rich organizations through videoconferencing technology.
From a seed of an idea to a mighty oak.
It was Schenectady School Superintendent Dr. John Falco who came up with the idea of linking his classrooms to local museums and schools. That was seven years ago, and by the time the federal government approved the project's grant money, the idea had grown to include 35 prestigious organizations, such as the Guggenheim Museum and the Smithsonian, and it had the support of every New York State Congressman. Now, three years into a five year program, the growing list of available interactive video conferencing experiences now include the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, the Cincinnati Zoo, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Buffalo Zoo, and the Space Center in Houston to name a few.
These are not random educational experiences, though they include resources as diverse as scientists and puppeteers. A team of educators led by Project VIEW's Diane Wilkinson, Instructional Technology Coordinator, works with every participating teacher to plan and integrate connections into the standards based curriculum. "Diane works hard to insure that these connections align with what teachers are already doing in their classrooms," says Sal DeAngelo, Project VIEW's Technical Services Coordinator. "We want the content to drive the train."
DeAngelo says the increased concern over travel and taking students to public places has boosted the success of the Project's virtual field trips and interactive exchanges. In addition, teachers are no longer tied to the day the museum can take them, there are no busses to book, no permissions slips to gather, and best of all, students can see places all over the world come to life, rather than stare at them from the pages of a book.
Versatility and training are the key to success.
Project VIEW's primary goal is to create unique learning opportunities, not to promote technology. But it is the technology, of course, that has opened the gateway to this flood of knowledge. To take advantage of Project VIEW's services, however, all a school district needs is videoconferencing technology. What kind doesn't matter.
"We have a heterogeneous equipment environment," says DeAngelo. That means districts with ISDN lines already installed need not be put off by the newer H.323 IP-based videoconferencing offered by ProjectVIEW. "We provide gateway services between the two technologies," says DeAngelo. "That way we don't leave anybody out of the equation."
Most teachers now have a modicum of computer expertise, but not all are comfortable with distance learning systems. "Videoconferencing is a no-brainer for professional people," says Sal DeAngelo. "Not so for educators."
Teachers who want to master videoconferencing can take a three day training course at the Project VIEW training lab before making their first distance learning connection. The main training lab has 16 interactive workstations-each consisting of a PC with LCD monitor and videoconferencing board-plus 30 non-interactive stations in an overflow area. The H.323-equipped workstations give trainees the chance to call each other for practice, and of course there's no issue of ISDN line charges to limit the calling. They also have the chance to work with document cameras and learn to bring other multimedia into a conference.
The flow of the class is greatly eased by inclusion of a Sharp XG-C50X projector in the main training lab and older PG-C30XU projector in the supplementary lab. Use of the projectors makes it easy for trainees to follow the instructors' directions on their own workstations. DeAngelo says Project VIEW has used Sharp exclusively "because of their reliability and of course the exceptional image quality and brightness they render."
By the second day of the training students are ready to connect to the outside world. Instructors stage mini interactive video conferencing sessions with five or six of Project VIEW's roster of providers. This gives trainees a chance to get comfortable with the slight lag time normal for this type of system and perfect their skills teaching and facilitating over distance learning equipment. Here the XG-C50X serves as the far-end view and allows all the members of the class to see what is going on.
"We take them through our primer in videoconferencing," says DeAngelo. "Show them several different interfaces so they're not intimidated when they get back to their own school. Things like, where do you click to make a call, or change the size of a window. There's also a slight time delay. They learn to wait a second for an answer."
An important part of the class is videoconferencing etiquette. Should students raise their hands when they have a question? Should they line up at the microphone? Should they preset camera positions? And what happens if the connection drops in the middle of the program? Which end should reinitiate it?
Day three is on site
The third day of the Project VIEW training may come months later-whenever that teacher hosts his or her first actual videoconference. Project VIEW sends an "integration person" to the trainee's home school to help dust off the cobwebs, check out such things as window shades and light controls, and offer moral support as the trainee works with the equipment in front of his or her own students for the first time.
"A lot of little things can affect the experience," says DeAngelo. Even though the teacher has been through the training, the students involved are often the most comfortable. "They are so used to superior graphics and interactivity that we were worried the quality of the compressed video would frustrate them," says DeAngelo. "But they are so engaged by the technology at all grade levels that that isn't the case." Instead, the chance to interact with others with such engaging technology makes them sit up and take notice. There's no sleeping in the back of the classroom during these interactive events.
Ideas for the future
Now beginning their fourth year of operation, Project VIEW continues to innovate. DeAngelo says VIEW stands for "Virtual Informal Educational Web" and they are looking at redefining "informal." They are expanding training to include collaborating classrooms. They are moving from point-to-point sessions toward the inclusion of three or four classrooms in each conference.
"I'm amazed at the tremendous power of what teachers and students have to offer each other through videoconferencing," says Diane Wilkinson. "The teachers and the content they are responsible for provide a road map to the limitless possibilities for collaboration using this technology."
"When you plant a seed you want it to grow," says DeAngelo. "But you don't want it to grow so quickly that you can't maintain quality." That is Project VIEW's challenge for the future.
To learn more about Project VIEW and its training program, visit www.projectview.org