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.

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/

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…

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 Zanesville Ohio. The students discussed the roles students can play to be good citizens in their community.

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/

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.

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

Avon IP Test Unit Offline until August

The Avon Schools IP test unit is being moved from Avon Middle School to Heritage North Elementary School. Due to space constraints the AMS distance learning room/my office have to relocate. The Media center is being equipped with two plasma monitors that will be dropped from the ceiling providing the lab with a lab monitor to instruction and for the far site in videoconferencing.

The IP (208.108.90.88) for the test unit will be moved to the Heritage North Polycom FX. A camera will be pointed out the window for connecting sites to test incoming video from our network. Sites are welcome to test their connections at any time the unit is available.

Looking for other test sites? I created a webpage of several test sites you can use to test your connectivity. www.avon.k12.oh.us/distancelearning/testip.htm . If you have a test site of you own I would love to add it to my list. Just send me (Phiero@leeca.org) the IP, speed preference if needed and any information you can give me about the site.

Another Great NECC Conference

Atlanta, Georgia was the host of the 2007 ISTE National Educational Computing Conference the last week of June. If you have not attended this conference, you should make your plans now for next year! The networking opportunities with other educators make it worth the trip alone. I enjoy the time I get to spend sharing ideas and developing partnerships with schools from around the country.

Conference Highlights:

1) SigIVC Forum: If you are not a member of ISTE or the SIGIVC the forum offered at the conference should make you want to sign up. This session was a networking session on steroids. The session started with an activity titled speed collaborating. 15 participants each had 2mins to promote an IVC success story. There were some great programs and opportunities. I represented the Avon Schools presenting the Artifact Exchange project. I met so many great educators and look forward to working with them next year.

2) Program sessions: The sessions I was able to attend were fantastic. The session on Hyper-mirror with Japan was exciting and the Global Run project sponsored by Tandberg was outstanding. Every session I attended provided me with new resources or ideas to use with our students.

3) Meeting with existing partners: You know a conference is going to be fun when you get to the conference early and you run into your IVC partners in the food court at CNN. It was so great to see Rowena Gerber from Miami Country Day with her friends of iEARN. It is so much fun to shake the hand of educators you have only seen on the video systems.

4) Meeting local content providers: I want to give a special thanks to Patty & Deborah from the Center of Puppetry Art Center for their tour of the museum, dinner and tour of Atlanta. I was amazed with the exhibits in the museum. If you ever get the chance you have to check it out. After dinner we were treated to a trip the Varsity and finished the evening looking over the city on top of the Westin center. It was great ending to a great conference.

5) Volunteering for the conference: This was my second year volunteering at NECC. Last year I was a facilitator, this year I helped in IVC Operations. This was a great experience! Working with operations provides such great learning opportunities with new equipment and challenging scenarios.

6) Socializing with friends: After conference hours are always fun. This year the Robert, Katrina and I purchased tickets to the Atlanta Braves through the conference. Other than the Braves loosing to the Tiggers and knocking my Cleveland Indians into second place it was a great time.

7) NECC Exhibit floor: This area can just be described as “BIG”. There are so many different technologies and software available to visit and learn more about their offerings. This year I was presently surprised to see Visual Communicator (formerly from Serious Magic) demoed in the Adobe both. This will be released in the fall.

8) NECC shuttle service: Last year my hotel was 15 block away and had no problem walking to my hotel each day in San Diego. This was not the case with the temperatures in the 90’s in Atlanta. Needless to say I was a fan of the NECC shuttle service running everyone from their hotels to the conference center.

9) NECC volunteers: Good volunteers make a good conference great. The volunteers working the rooms and the halls are always helpful.

10) Finally getting out of Atlanta International Airport: While my conference experience was wonderful my flight home was not as successful. After three gate changes, a lost plane and our terminal being closed during boarding I finally made my 10:00pm flight at 2:00am. Yes they lost our plane…. Around 12:30 in the evening the airline representative actually told the group that they lost our plane in transport to our gate. I have to admit this was a better alternative to the plane going to Alabama that was delayed do to a “violent sickness” that took place on their plane. I was never so happy to see the Cleveland skyline as I was at 4:00am from my plane.

Next year’s conference will be held in San Antonio, Texas. I would recommend talking to your administrators early to take advantage of early registration and housing. You can learn more about the NECC conference on the ISTE website at http://www.iste.org/. I hope to see you at the conference next year :)

Avon Schools DL Program in Teacher Magazine

The Avon Schools and CILC had the priveledge of being featured in the May edition of Teacher Magazine on Using Content Providers. The article was written by Amanda Jones.

Check out the article online at http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/articles/2007/05/01/06tools-1.h18.html

Farmer Duck tells his story to Avon East Elementary

The students from Manor Primary School in Ivybridge UK shared a wonderful play titled Farmer Duck. The cast consisted of Farmer Duck, hens, cows, sheep and the farmer. The frustrated duck was concerned that the sleeping farmer was not taking care of the animals and took the farm under his wing by carrying out the farmers chores. In the evening the animals entered the farmer’s house to make them selves at home scaring the farmer from his home. All of the animals were happy with the duck and deemed him head of the farm making all of the animals happy.

The performance was a follow up on a field trip to a local farm. The students shared collages of farms. The efforts by the students were outstanding. They took great care creating the collages especially the sheep made of cotton, pipe cleaners and Q-tips.

Avon is in their final days of school making this the final connection between the classes. We have enjoyed the opportunity for the students to meet online and to have a better understanding of what life is like in their country. We look forward to expanding this partnership next school year.

Manor Primary has been a pleasure to work with. Will Davies the coordinator and teacher from Manor has been great to work with. We hope to do more with his school and expand our partnerships in the future.

The Broken Trail from Western Reserve to Avon

Middle school language arts classes from Avon and Western Reserve schools finished their collaborative story the Broken Trail as part of NOECA Intercom’s chapter project. The classes met over video to share their chapters and to provide their conclusions. The classes took turns reading their first and second chapters then acted out the conclusion to their partnered class. The distance learning room in Avon was transformed into a barn yard with students dressed as the animals of the story. It was quite a production for the connecting site.

The chapter program pairs classroom teachers from different schools with the task of writing a collaborative story. Mr. Casper’s class wrote chapter one which was followed by Mrs. Pelphrey’s class. Both classes wrote their own conclusion to the story which was compared and contrasted at the end of the videoconference. The students put forth great effort creating the chapters and the props were fantastic.

To learn more about the chapter project or to participate next year check out the project on the web at http://intercom.noeca.net/chapters/index.html

Avon Heritage South students take virtual tour of tropical rainforests with the Buffalo Zoo

Third graders from Avon Heritage South take a virtual tour of Buffalo Zoo with a focus on topical rainforests. The session lead by Rebecca Balk from the zoo was highly interactive and exciting for the students. The class identified the layers of the rainforest and the animals that make that location their home. Rebecca discussed the physical characteristics that make them successful in that layer. Several insects were placed on the document camera for the students to get an up close and personal view of them and their unique adaptations.

The students were also treated to a live viewing of some the animals in the zoo through camera placed in their exhibits. The students enjoyed the cameras of the sloth and a close up of the animals face. The camera angles and picture quality were amazing. The students had a better view of the exhibits than if they were onsite. Rebecca has the ability to move and zoom her cameras around the exhibit to make the live viewing exciting for the students.

The Buffalo Zoo is a program that has become a staple in our teacher’s curriculum. Mrs. Johnson has scheduled this program for the third straight year. She actually contacted the zoo in October to schedule the program in May. To learn more about the Buffalo Zoo and their distance learning programs you can visit them on the web at www.buffalozoo.org/distance_learning.html

If I were a Goldfish

First graders from Avon East took time out of science class to share what life would be like as a gold fish with the Life Science Education Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. The students took a closer look at a gold fish and the characteristics it has to live in water while discussing the characteristics that allow them to live on land.

Once the characteristics were defined and put to motion with our presenter the class played an exciting game of habitat bingo. Students were shown a habit on the screen while the students marked off the animal on their paper that would call that location home. The students were also treated to an interactive look an animal adaptations to their environment through activities directed by the presenter.

This session was our first experience with the Life Science Center but it will not be our last. The session was very interactive, and kept the class engaged throughout the lesson. To learn more about the Life Science Education Center and their distance learning program you can visit them on the web at http://www.lifescienceed.org/index.asp

Avon plays active role in the Northern Ohio Distance Learning Year End Showcase

The Lorain County Distance Learning Consortium, NOTA network and the Columbiana Distance Learning Consortiums hosted their year end showcase again this year at the Lorain County Community College. The Avon Schools distance learning program represented four of the eighteen presenters this year sharing some of our favorite videoconferences of the year. Michelle O’Hara and Peggy Masin from Avon East Elementary school presented the Holiday Traditions conference and their terrarium collaboration with Miami Country Day school in Miami Florida. Paul Hieronymus presented Follow the North Star program from Conner Prairie on behalf of Avon Heritage North and Country of the Week with the School of Life on behalf of Avon Heritage South Elementary School.

This year the showcase provided four remote presenters from the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth Texas, Melissa Higgs-Horwell from the SCOCA consortium, Valerie Erwin from East Liverpool Schools and Mike Griffith from Global Leap. The conference was opened to remote viewers for the first time as well this year with sites from the SOITA and LACA consortiums. The showcase was kicked off this year by Thomas Rockwell – Superintendent of the Lorain County Educational Service Center and Jillian Froment from Ohio eTech.

During lunch it was great to hear from our teachers how much they enjoyed the day. The common buzz around the room was comments about all of the different programs that had taken place this year in our consortium.

What ever the Weather with the Lorain County Metro Parks

Student from Avon East and Harris Elementary School were treated to a lesson on weather with the Lorain County Metro Parks from the French Creek Nature Center. The students discuss the relationship the earth and the sun have to make our atmosphere and the weather patterns. Several experiments were demonstrated to show air pressure, temperature and win velocity. The students were connected as part of their classroom partnerships and will connect again to do experiments with each others classes.

The Lorain County Metro Parks are a member of the Lorain County Distance Learning Consortium and provide programming to sites in the consortium at no cost, but will connect to other consortiums or schools on demand.

To learn more about the Lorain County Metro Parks and their program offerings you can visit them on the web at www.loraincountymetroparks.com/dlc.htm

Avon Celebrates Country of the Week with The School of Life – Jordon

Mrs. Clark and Michelich’s third grade students were honored to be contacted by the School of Life in Amman, Jordan for their country of the week program. The students from Avon were treated to information about their country through presentations by the second through fifth grade classes from the School of Life. At the end the class sang their national anthem which is sung each morning. The Avon students shared the pledge of allegiance with their students. A PowerPoint created by the Avon class’s shared information about the United States and the city of Avon. The students took turns presenting slides and adding information that they felt highlighted our community.

Once the formal presentations were completed the students enjoyed a time of questions and answers. Our students were amazed to hear that Amman, Jordan not only had snow this winter but had snow days. The sharing of common interests and activities made the students feel comfortable and they enjoyed their conversations. We were impressed to hear the languages studied and the common books read and used.

When the session was over the students shared my favorite comment I hear time and time again with connections outside of our state; “those kids were just like us”. It is amazing how a third grader can summarize the power of international collaborations. The fact that the students reinforced many of our state standards while broadening their understanding of other countries speaks volumes.
We hope to see the School of Life online again in the future!

Avon East students take a virtual tour of our Solar System with NASA Johnson

Second grade students from Avon East Elementary School took a virtual tour of our solar system with the NASA Johnson Center in Houston Texas. Using their vast selection of images and video the students received a tour with the NASA Staff. The education director took a closer look at each of the planets and our sun.

The students enjoyed the images and animations used to detail the objects of our Solar System. This program was a great introduction to our teacher’s space unit. The session was scheduled as a multipoint connection with a school in New York for our morning session and a school in Minnesota in our afternoon connection.

NASA is a great content provider and best of all there sessions are FREE to schools in the U.S. This provides schools with great resources to enhance our science curriculum. To learn more about programming you can visit them on the web at http://nasadln.nmsu.edu/dln/

The Muskingum Valley ESC hops into Avon’s science curriculum

First graders from Avon East Elementary School enhanced their science curriculum through an interactive videoconference with the Muskingum Valley ESC. Students shared their knowledge about frogs and amphibians are learned so much more during the interactive session.

The lesson was a combination of PowerPoint, streamed video and an interactive game to review the concepts covered during the session. The students were engaged by the instructor and kept on task through the media rich presentation. This program is aligned to our first grade science standards. The entire 1st grade combined to participate in four sessions with MVESC.

The Muskingum Valley ESC offers programs to schools through the Ohio K-12 video network scheduled on demand. To learn more about the MVESC and their distance learning programming you can check them out on line at www.mvesc.k12.oh.us/tap/

IVDL participates in Heritage Science Night

The distance learning department was a module of the 2007 Avon Heritage North and South Science Night. Students and parents had the opportunity to take part in a videoconference while taking a closer look at our planet and solar system using Google Earth and Celestia.

Students and parents learned more about the distance learning project and the virtual journeys their children have taken this school year. The parents were a bit camera shy but enjoyed learning about the technology and how the Avon Schools are using videoconferencing to enhance their curricula.

Once the butterflies were gone, the group looked at satellite images of our planet using Google Earth. This was followed up by a virtual tour of our solar system using Celestia. These open sources programs provide students an interactive look at our planet and solar system.

This opportunity is a great way for the community to better understand interactive videoconferencing. This is third year participating in this program. Each year we catch a parent commenting on the power of the technology and how lucky our students are for having this unique opportunity.

Avon High School and Middle School students learn about careers in photography

Students from Avon’s Alternative School Career Connections and students from Avon High School’s Multimedia classes connected to WVIZ PBS Ideastream for a career session on photography. From the TV studio at PBS 25 professional photographers gave up their time to discuss their jobs, the equipment they use and the positives and negatives of the careers.

Using the Ohio K-12 video network bridges at eTech Ohio both schools were connected with several schools from Ohio. The students from Career Connections have the opportunity to learn about many different trades through interactive video without having to leave the school or to have guests visit their classroom.

WVIZ provides schools in Ohio with exciting and rich programming through their partnership with Playhouse Square and visitors to WVIZ PBS Ideastream. To learn more about distance learning programming through WVIZ visit them on the web at http://www.wviz.org/edsvcs/k_12/distance_learning/involvement.asp