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posted by Hairynomas at
10:13 AM
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Monday, December 24, 2007
News from a neglectful blogger :(
The good news is that the Avon Schools and the Lorain Country Distance Learning Consortium (LCDLC) have been so busy it takes the first day of Christmas Break to update our blog… So here is the skinny... :) This school year the Avon Schools purchased bulk programming from the Greenbush ESC providing our teachers a savings in cost, but even more importantly a window of scheduling before programs are offered to schools for single program purchase. These programs have been very popular for Avon East (grades 1-2) and Heritage South (grades 3-4) in the areas of science, math and language arts. Many of the programs come with materials and resources for the teachers to use as pre and post activities. We have been very please with Greenbush staff making this a great opportunity for Avon students.
Avon High School’s Spanish classes have been very active this fall and winter. AHS students under the guidance of Janice Ventresco have been proving kindergarten and first grade classes at North Elementary School in East Liverpool Spanish lessons one day a week. This is part of a grant with Columbiana County Educational Service Center. In the New Year the HS students will work with the AHS multimedia class to create podcasts of supporting material for the classes to use between connections or as a backup during a calamity day.
Technology Toolbox has been very active this year with 18 schools connecting on December 20th for our session on Podcasting. Schools from the LCDLC, NOTA, NOECA, Miami Country Day and Columbiana County receive the programs for free in exchange for collaborative projects done throughout the school year. Desktop Videoconferencing and Digital Storytelling will be added to the program list over the break. These sessions will be available in February.
Avon Middle School upgraded their Multimedia center combining DL and their computer lab. Avon MS is currently busting out at the seams room wise. The current media center does not have a good location for a multimedia projector so we decided to combine the rooms with two Plasma TV’s proving cable TV/channel 1, DL and a computer image for the lab. The Polycom and the two Plasma’s are hung from the ceiling can rotate 90 degrees proving different groups the opportunity to use the equipment.
The Avon IP test unit is still running and sites are welcome to dial in a use the system to test their connectivity. We try to keep a DVD of last year’s videoconferences playing in a loop so sites can test audio and video, but every once and a while we forget to switch back to the player or leave the volume down on the mixer (sorry about that, but that is what you get for free…). We do ask that sites not use far end control to switch our cameras. That causes problems for other sites dialing in after you have disconnected.
We are really looking forward to a great 2008 in videoconferencing. On behalf of the Avon Schools we wish everyone a Wonderful Holiday Season and look forward to seeing you online in 08!
Paul Hieronymus,
Curriculum Technology Coordinator
Avon Schools
208.108.90.95
www.avon.k12.oh.us/distancelearning
Skype: Hairynomas
Educational Consultant
Lorain County Distance Learning Consortium
208.108.92.150
www.LCDLC.org
posted by Hairynomas at
11:18 AM
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Avon HS students take a virtual tour of six colleges in one day
The LCDLC held their third annual virtual college tour, an all day videoconference featuring some of the top colleges in Ohio. Starting at 7:00 am, 22 schools from across Ohio, one site in PA & Indiana connected for their first University presentation. Each hour a different college took center stage presenting for the first 20mins and allowing the schools to ask questions directly. During each session 12 schools were deemed interactive for the Q & A portion of the conference. Sites that were not interactive were able to ask questions via email that were read by the conference moderators.
This year’s Virtual College tour featured presentations from Lorain Country Community College (LCCC), Miami of Ohio, University of Cincinnati, Ohio State University, Kent State and Bowling Green. The presentations from the Universities were excellent and the students from all of the schools had outstanding questions.
This year’s Virtual College tour featured presentations from Lorain Country Community College (LCCC), Miami of Ohio, University of Cincinnati, Ohio State University, Kent State and Bowling Green. The presentations from the Universities were excellent and the students from all of the schools had outstanding questions.
posted by Hairynomas at
11:35 AM
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Map Skills for Today!
Third grade students at Avon Heritage North improved their knowledge of Map skills with and interactive lesson with the Muskingum Valley ESC. The students identified locations, identified facts from thematic maps and worked with latitude and longitude. This lesson was a great introduction to map for several of Avon’s third grade classes. To learn more about the Muskingum Valley ESC program offerings check them out on the web at www.mvesc.k12.oh.us/tap/
posted by Hairynomas at
1:44 PM
Monday, September 17, 2007
ooVoo hits the desktop IVC world. Does Skype need to worry?
The LCDLC has been trying out desktop Instant Messaging software that seems to be as good as Skype. ooVoo provides many of the features of Skype but allows users to conference with multiple webcams at one time. Like Skype, users can connect webcam to webcam, chat, and transfer documents in a seamless manner. Another new feature is video email that allows users to record a video message that can be sent through the ooVoo program for users that are currently off line. We have tested the system in our ITC network and from home with great results. The video looks as good if not a little better than Skype.
There are a couple of features not included in ooVoo that will keep Skype in my program list. At this point ooVoo does not support calls to LAN lines or provides any type of streaming (skypecast) of sessions. If this product takes off like Skype has I would expect to see many of the same features become available in the future updates.
While I am not ready to uninstall Skype at this time, I do plan to keep ooVoo on my laptop and look forward to watching this product develop. The one item I would love to see happen with either of these products would be the ability to dial our room systems. That dream may be a little lofty…
There are a couple of features not included in ooVoo that will keep Skype in my program list. At this point ooVoo does not support calls to LAN lines or provides any type of streaming (skypecast) of sessions. If this product takes off like Skype has I would expect to see many of the same features become available in the future updates.
While I am not ready to uninstall Skype at this time, I do plan to keep ooVoo on my laptop and look forward to watching this product develop. The one item I would love to see happen with either of these products would be the ability to dial our room systems. That dream may be a little lofty…
posted by Hairynomas at
1:25 PM
Citizenship: It's Your Right!
Third grade classes from Avon Heritage South enhanced their Constitution Day activities with a lesson on Citizenship with the Muskingum Valley ESC on This lesson featured a quiz of basic citizenship, video clips to enhance their lesson, problem solving activities and discussion. The Muskingum Valley ESC offers a variety of programs for Elementary Classrooms. Their programs can be found on the web at http://www.mvesc.k12.oh.us/tap/
posted by Hairynomas at
8:53 AM
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Avon Test Unit is back online!
The Avon Schools Test site is back online with a new number. Please use 208.108.90.95 to test your video system. Currently the system is running video clips from last year with audio.
Looking for other test sites? I have created a list of test sites at http://www.avon.k12.oh.us/distancelearning/testip.htm. If you know of any other sites please let me know via email at Phiero@leeca.org. I would be happy to add them to the list.
Looking for other test sites? I have created a list of test sites at http://www.avon.k12.oh.us/distancelearning/testip.htm. If you know of any other sites please let me know via email at Phiero@leeca.org. I would be happy to add them to the list.
posted by Hairynomas at
11:58 AM
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Please give White Plains a vote!
Hi everyone,
Please take the time to help a fellow IVC site to win funding for a great project. I recently sat in on her presentation at NECC. It was fantastic. They are doing some great tings in White Plains.
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My name is Jody Kennedy and I am a teacher in White Plains, New York. I have been working for 7 years on the development of global education programs for schools in order to prepare youth with the skills they will need for their future. We have been working with videoconferencing to connect our students to their peers and experts nationally and globally right from the classroom and the results have been very successful. Examples of many of our projects can be reviewed at www.ensemblevideo.com/annese.
Recently ,I posted a project on the American Express members competiton. We made it to the top 50 out of over 7000 projects but need many, many votes to get further.
The project we submitted is to increase opportunities and experiences for global education in schools and to inspire a new generation of responsible global citizens.
It is called "Connect Kids Around the World" Project #07229 .
If you could circulate this request through your network it would help us very much. We only have one week left until they cut the finalists to 25.
Only Amex cardholders can vote. Just go to www.membersproject.com click on the vote button for "Connecting Kids around the World" make sure to confirm your vote as instructed. Special thanks for your efforts and support .
Jody Kennedy
Please take the time to help a fellow IVC site to win funding for a great project. I recently sat in on her presentation at NECC. It was fantastic. They are doing some great tings in White Plains.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My name is Jody Kennedy and I am a teacher in White Plains, New York. I have been working for 7 years on the development of global education programs for schools in order to prepare youth with the skills they will need for their future. We have been working with videoconferencing to connect our students to their peers and experts nationally and globally right from the classroom and the results have been very successful. Examples of many of our projects can be reviewed at www.ensemblevideo.com/annese.
Recently ,I posted a project on the American Express members competiton. We made it to the top 50 out of over 7000 projects but need many, many votes to get further.
The project we submitted is to increase opportunities and experiences for global education in schools and to inspire a new generation of responsible global citizens.
It is called "Connect Kids Around the World" Project #07229 .
If you could circulate this request through your network it would help us very much. We only have one week left until they cut the finalists to 25.
Only Amex cardholders can vote. Just go to www.membersproject.com click on the vote button for "Connecting Kids around the World" make sure to confirm your vote as instructed. Special thanks for your efforts and support .
Jody Kennedy
posted by Hairynomas at
7:04 AM
