CILC Blog

The Cougan family officially became an iPhone family in February. So this weekend my husband says to me…”Hey do you have  – FaceTime – on your phone? “ “We can chat now face to face via the phone…isn’t that great?” Now the kids want in on the fun as well.  I just have to chuckle. After all, I have been working with videoconferencing (face time) now for 13 years. I have been in educational technology for over 23 years and I used to be the one who had the latest and greatest tools in the family.

It has been an interesting transition for me to observe.  My children who are now 17 and 20 have moved through the various networking crazes. Our oldest son began with Facebook, spent quite a bit of time on Skype, deleted his Facebook at one point indicating that people did not know what to do with it, and now he is back on with a much more professional look.

My daughter started with Facebook and then spent a year with Twitter; interestingly her comment to me last evening was “ I don’t know why parents are so into Facebook..you all spend way too much time on there….and I am tired of Twitter…I really do not want to know what everyone is doing all the time.”

However, she is definitely interested in moving to an iPhone 4 and having “FaceTime”.

Her school will be adopting iPads for the classroom next year and I know her school is one of many schools taking on this new educational technology venture.

CISCO, Polycom, Lifesize and AVer Information units are prevalent in classrooms and content studios around the world, and as we all know students receive fabulous programs.

Desktop applications like Jabber, Movi, Real Presence Mobile, Blue Jean Network, Skype, Vidyo, FaceTime  for iPhone and iPad, and many more are slamming the market at an incredible pace.  These applications are able to cross platforms and work with the traditional H 323 classroom units.

Apple iPad Face Time

The “FaceTime” phenomena is reaching new heights, our families are using it and our classrooms are going to be able to dial up on their iPads. What does this mean for education?

I believe that students will have the ability to not just reach content providers to receive programming, but as classrooms focus on “flipped” models of instruction – (The Flipped Classroom), where students spend time in the classroom in deeper conversations and research, the “face time” technology will allow students to dial up experts as primary research sources in their studies, much like we do in business every day.

Could “FaceTime” applications accessible through phones, iPads, Tablets and PC’s change how we do education?

Is it possible that we could use these tools in an effective way to facilitate rich conversation and engaging learning opportunities for our students?

Or

Will this just be another application that creates a buzz then disappears …leaving our classrooms in the 19^th century?

What do you think?

Please share your thoughts…perhaps your thoughts could be part of a sequel blog in May.

As of March 10^th, our household grew by one.  Nope, not a baby – much too mature (that’s a nice word for old!) for that.  My brother from Arizona moved in with my husband and me. We’ve been empty nesters since 1995 except for the four years my father-in-law lived with us.

So, is this a good thing or a bad thing? 

• The quietness of our environment has gone.
• We had to clean out the extra bedroom which  caused the reorganization of space and a cleaning out of stuff.
• Since we only had 2 tray tables, dinner is no longer in front of the TV and I’m behind on catching up on the shows hubby has tivoed for me.

I guess it all depends on one’s viewpoint. I prefer to embrace the changes.

• I like the new interpersonal interactions.
• I needed to reorganize and get rid of ‘stuff’ (don’t we all?)
• Most of those shows aren’t very good anyway!
• Dinner around the table like when we had kids is really nice.

What about you?  Do you have difficult students in your classroom?  Has the district changed its system demanding you do things differently, placing new requirements on you?  While these can be and often are difficult situations that require major adjustments, they also CAN be viewed as positives.  Perhaps the changes required can make your classroom, school system, and student interactions even better than they were. The choice is how you view it.

My grandmother used to say, “Change happens whether you want it or not.  You’ll be much happier if you just go with it!” So we are.  Are you?

Posted by Julia Shildmyer-Heighway

What do the Amazon and Lake Superior have in common?  Not sure?  You could discover the answer by road tripping it to the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth. Maybe a road trip isn’t in your plans for the near future.   I have good news!   The aquarium is considering launching a videoconference outreach initiative!

In February, I was fortunate to spend a few days working with staff of the Great Lakes Aquarium.  The facility is fantastic and the education staff is not only dedicated to the aquarium’s mission, they are wonderful presenters.  From the back row, I observed an educator as she facilitated a dive show.  A diver, in one of several aquarium tanks, demonstrated a variety of principals while the presenter expertly shared information and fun facts with several families and school children.  In the afternoon, I laughed as Anang and Zhoosh, the resident North American river otters, played in snow which was bucketed in from outside.  They frolicked and dug for oysters buried in the snow while another presenter shared details which endeared the otters to everyone present.

During my visit, we outlined two possible videoconference programs.  I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but let me say, they will be a great addition to current program offerings. They tie directly to educational standards and will expose students to a new way of looking at topics in the social studies and science curriculums.

Plan to add the Great Lake Aquarium programs to your curriculum next school year.

My next trip will take me to Washington D.C. to work with the International Spy Museum.  Their educational content is fascinating and will make wonderful videoconference programs. I’m wondering if the work during that trip may turn out to be top secret!