I came across this post from Pat Aroune in Western NY who has been diving head first into Read/Write Web tools with his students:
About one month ago, I asked five students to participate in an online experiment utilizing Skype and an online interactive whiteboard called Vyew. Vyew is a free, always on collaboration and web conferencing site that allows individuals real-time desktop sharing and capturing. I met with this small group of students, and we began what was essentially on online tutoring session for an upcoming essay. We did nothing that had not been done during the course of a classroom session, except we were all in our individual homes, and it was 8:30 p.m.. I began to sense, over the course of that hour long session, a wave of energy and enthusiasm from the participants. One month later, this concept of online collaboration has taken on a life of is own. Just last night,twenty sophomores from my A.P. European History classes, met online and did a Skype – Vyew session in preparation for an essay exam today. The remarkable thing is, I was not even a part of it. Individual initiative got last night’s conference off the ground. More power to the students!
You might want to check out the reflections of some of his students on another post as well.
Almost as cool is that Pat’s superintendent Neil Rochelle is blogging about his efforts to bring the tools into the school as well. And this post reflects the type of approach that I’ve been thinking and writing about more and more lately. It’s his recap of a monthly Parent and Student Cabinet meeting where they are talking about the Read/Write Web and it’s use in his school. The result:
Students that have been involved in blogging and social bookmarking love the use of these tools that are being made available and integrated into their instruction. Their chief “complaint”….they are overwhelmed! Because we have attracted teachers to the use of these tools in “pockets” across the district, the same teachers are teaching the content as well as the “how tos” for using the technology. Students feel that they need to learn the newest technology in another class BEFORE using it in these selected classes. A point well taken and one that I will be giving much thought to. Consensus however is they love the approach. They are motivated by on-line collaboration such as internet conferencing such as Skype and video conferencing. Before this year, MySpace was a close as they came to social networking. Now they see an educational value.
It reminds me that kids are overwhelmed too, that they don’t know all of this, that we still have a great opportunity to lead and model appropriate and effective uses, and to learn from each other and our students. Pat and Neil are taking their school in a much different direction, and it’s pretty exciting to watch.
Just some feel good for the holiday…any other stories to share?
This is definitely a contrast from the other front lines story. I think they both illustrate how some technology can be embraced and challenging for many school systems. I’m a big fan of Vyew and I’m glad someone is starting to use it.
I checked out the Vyew site because it looked interesting. However, I found this statement in its licensing agreement:
“3.1 There is a basic level of the Service that is absolutely FREE where You may be exposed to advertisement and promotions (“Advertsâ€). You understand that these Adverts may be offensive, indecent or objectionable.”
IS this standard language???!!!!
Are we signing on, saying we know students may be subjected to indecent “adverts”?
Did anyone else see this??
Hmmm… I’ve looked a bit, and the company offering Vyew seems legit with good customers etc. So why this language?
I read this service agreement and I must have missed that language. Maybe it has to do with not censoring what goes on the vyew board? Or maybe their leaving themselves open so if someone is offended by an ad they can say they warned you.
Still seems weird!
Regarding teaching for the future, I highly recommend you check out TutorVista.com. TutorVista started in the US in response to the failures of the No Child Left Behind act, and the lack of personalized attention that students are receiving. The site uses the latest technologies in providing one-on-one unlimited tutoring in a wide variety of subjects for 99.99 a month.
Will – My fourth graders are breaking new ground with SKYPE – Check it out here:
http://learningismessy.com/blog/?p=158
and part 2 here:
http://learningismessy.com/blog/?p=165
We are hoping to have this actually working by the end of the week – otherwise it will be after break.
My parents live in China, so we use Skype to communicate, which is really convienent and cheap. But beyond that, many ex-pat students here in China, my sis included, use Skype to communicate to teachers and tutors in the US to complete projects and get feedback. Only thing that is tough is the time difference.
Some other student reflections on their own learning in the comments here,
here, and here.
These are all freshmen in high school.
Hi Dan et all,
Thank you for using Vyew! We came across your comment above regarding our terms of services and I want to take a quick moment to address it.
Vyew has a strict advertising policy not to run offensive or indecent ads. However, we will be using 3rd party ad serving and participating in affiilate networks where there’s the chance that an ad that offends someone could get through without our knowledge. Thus, the language is meant in part to be a warning, as Dave points to above.
We’ve edited our terms of service to state our ad policy more clearly, and also added an email address where users can report any offensive ads they may come across. Our hope is to make Vyew a ‘safe’ environment for all that choose to collaborate through it.
Again, thank you for using Vyew and keep the feedback coming.
-Scott Jones, VP Marketing, Vyew.com
Dear Will, et. al.,
First I want to thank you for your support and help. You and fellow bloggers have given me some great suggestions and a way to work with those who may not be ready for the future.
I am a pretty confident person, but I struggle with becoming either bored or frustrated too easily [sounds like a typical teenager]. I think that is why my greatest professional success has been working with students, I get them.
As mentioned before, the past month has been a real eye opener as the school that I began my public school teaching career with, the one that I brag about to all of my peers, has begun to show signs of weakening and I hate that it is going in that direction. When I mentioned that I wanted to know how to fight them, I understood that forcing the issue wasn’t the answer but with the guidance of several bloggers, I have gained new insight and a new commitment to staying the course.
A special thank you to all of the bloggers who suggested other blogs and articles. I was especially impressed by the Fischbowl site and can’t wait to use it.
Thanks again, I have linked to several of your blogs so you will definitely be hearing from me again!
Happy Holidays.
I’d like to work with this, but I feel like I need more practice. Has anyone thought of maybe organizing a Skype/Vyew conference to demonstrate/practice with these tools?