I am working to plan a professional development strand to help ABE teachers use live, interactive video conference as a platform for teaching adult basic education students across distances. Does anyone have effective models of instruction, model teachers, or other experiences in this arena to share?
Thanks in advance, Kate.nicolet@state.vt.us
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I have recently been learning more about Google+ Hangouts, they are free and you can use them with up to nine others plus yourself (I have heard that with an .edu email address you can have up to 14+ yourself), there are several built-in features, like screen sharing and Google document sharing and collaborating. Additionally, if you link up to your YouTube channel, you can stream live or record the hangout for others to view at a later time. Here's a link for some additonal information about how it is being used in teaching.
Use Google Hangouts for Teaching--some examples include: Start a helpline or Be your own classroom
http://googleplus.wonderhowto.com/inspiration/use-google-hangouts-for-teaching-0129169/
Even the White House is using them, check this out to see how!
The White House
Yesterday 4:34 PM (edited) - Public Update: This live event has concluded. Watch the video below. Learn more about the President's plan on immigration reform: http://wh.gov/immigrationJoin Cecilia Muñoz, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, for a conversation on immigration at http://wh.gov/immigration.
#immigrationreform#firesidehangout
We have been doing distance education in Kansas for about 3 years first for on-line ABE/GED learners. Later, we use our platform to train new instructors about adult education, goal-setting, instructional design, etc. Instructure Canvas is a web-based Learning Management System that has been must easier for me to navigate than moodle. They have tons of resources available to train you on how to use the features and have webinars every month. When I have had a question, their tech support have been quick to respond, too! The best part...it is hosted "in the cloud".
Here is a link to there Help Center: http://help.instructure.com/home
And here is a link to create your FREE account: https://canvas.instructure.com/login
Hope this helps!
Brooke Isas
I wanted to follow-up on my initial post to this thread about beginning to develop a PD strand for AE teachers on using interactive video conferencing as a medium for teaching/ learning (so, not online learning, but real-time, interactive *video* conference). My state (Vermont) has such video conference systems available across AE and K-12, as does Maine. We use high-quality cameras & mics over internet protocol connections. (Other key words associated with these systems are PolyCom, Tandberg.)
So, in Spring 2013, Vermont and Maine engaged in a collaborative planning process to put together a PD strand for our adult educators through the state offices.
I will attach a syllabus for a 16+ hour course that we designed. We ended up running two cohorts in Summer 2013 (one per state) and then supporting each other by de-briefing and comparing results.
Feel free to check out the participant syllabus and follow-up with either of us if you need more information such as the (much messier) facilitator plan.
Kate Nicolet-- Vermont Agency of Education, PD Coordinator for Adult Education
Nancy Dionne-- Maine Department of Education, PD Coordinator for Adult Education
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Adult basic education (ABE) level teaching and learning through LNV* [KN 06/20/13]
Purpose of the course: To provide professional development to ABE instructors on identifying, preparing, and providing effective, interactive instruction via real-time distance learning over the Learning Network of Vermont (LNV), our statewide interactive videoconferencing system, so that adult and young adult learners can access quality learning opportunities, and learning centers can leverage this technology to increase their capacity to serve students.
Participants will be primarily ABE teachers who will put these skills into practice. No more than 8 LNV sites total. Scopia Desktop is not a participation option for this series.
Intended outcome for participants: By the end of the PD learning experience, participants will have prepared and delivered basic skills lessons for adult students via the LNV, and will have explored how video conferencing can expand learning opportunities and increase student engagement.
By the end of this course, participants will:
Know
Understand
Do
Basic operations of PolyCom, to include:
· Turning on equipment
· Using the remote control
· Sharing content to far site
· Setting presets
· Integrating a document camera with IVC equipment
· Integrating the SMART Board with IVC equipment
· Using VE2
Qualities of effective instruction via IVC
How current instructional practices and lessons/units can be converted to be used in an IVC format
How to engage students through IVC instruction
Things that might typically go wrong with IVC and how to troubleshoot them
Effectively operate a video camera for the purpose of instruction
Create a common checklist of effective instructional practices via IVC
Adapt a current lesson to an IVC format
Present this lesson to colleagues via IVC
Give feedback to colleagues around IVC presentations
*Note: ABE (National Reporting System levels 1-4; grade levels 1-8) instruction/ skill-building as distinguished from Adult Secondary Education plan management services (NRS 5-6; grade levels 9-12).
Format: This will be a summer series convened over LNV. Adult educators throughout Vermont will be able to participate. We will use the focus of individual final projects (each participant will prepare and teach a demonstration lesson over LNV for peer feedback), guest speakers, intersession discussion topic stands on VE2, and virtual field trips as elements of this learning experience.
Facilitators: Sigrid Olson is the LNV coordinator and Technology Integrationist and Kate Nicolet is on the adult education and literacy team (professional development coordinator) at the Vermont Agency of Education.
Registration process: Register individually to kate.nicolet@state.vt.us by June 7; you are responsible for reserving the room and LNV equipment as needed at your own site.
Dates and truncated topic outline:
Session 1: June 21, 2013 (9 am -1 pm)
§ Camera operation
§ Guest speaker: “Adapting Presentations for Video Conferencing”
§ Ideas for final projects
Session 2: July 19, 2013 (9 am -1 pm)
§ More camera skills and showing your content through the screen; using peripheral equipment
§ Guest speaker: “Engaging and Differentiating through IVC”
Session 3: August 9, 2013 (9 am -1 pm)
§ Panel discussion on classroom management in the world of IVC: Dealing with technical issues (common glitches and fixing them) and non-technical problems (problems that may arise such as learner passivity/ lack of participation, etc) as an ABE teacher
§ Virtual field trips
Session 4: August 23, 2013 (9 am- 1 pm)
§ Project presentations with supportive, structured feedback
Project Proposal for Adult basic education (ABE) level teaching and learning through LNV*
Learning center:
Final project description: In this course, we want you to focus your learning on the concrete task of converting or preparing a lesson or unit to deliver to your learners over the LNV in the future. In the final session of this workshop series, each workshop participant will showcase her/his work by taking the floor and demonstrating a portion of the lesson for peer feedback.
Please provide a summary of your lesson. What are the student learning objectives, what is the general content and level, what is the successful outcome to achieve with this lesson?
What big questions do you have at this point about doing your project?
Hi Kate and all,
The course looks amazing.
Another option is Wiggio--which is an online community platform that includes several tools including a forum, a folder for documents and links, and a variety of ways to communicate including "Virtual meetings" which is the same as video conferencing. It limits the virtual meetings to 10 participants. But the nice thing is that documents and a calendar are all integrated in one place which can be helpful for those unused to tech
I've played with Google plus a bit and we had some tech issues, but I think we were pushing by trying to broadcast on YouTube to extend the amount of participants.
Best,
Nell
I think that Wiggio and Google Plus have many helpful features in the idea of being a one-stop place for students. Good to know and consider for those program managers who may be "shopping" for the right tool.
In our case in Vermont and Maine, we already had the tool/ equipment selected, up and running... so the task for us as professional developers was to help teachers to know what to do the same, what to do differently to promote student learning in this platform vs in a regular on-the-ground setting.
Thanks for the responses!