i-Connect to Home and Hospital Bound Students

Today’s Presentation

http://iconnecthome.wikispaces.com/

Click on Discussion to add comments and post questions

Presenters

Prince George’s County Public Schools Sharon Neill – Office of Home & Hospital Teaching

Carmella Doty – Technology Training Team

Eron Cohen – Calverton Elementary School

Barbara Noll – Technology Training Team

Objective

Participants will learn how to use selected computer applications in order to keep home and hospital bound students connected to their classroom, keep up with their class work and prepare for high-stakes state testing.

Students enrolled in Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS)

Ages 3 through 21 years of age Unable to attend school due to a verified

physical or emotional condition

PGCPS Home & Hospital Bound Students

PGCPS serves approximately 600 to 900 students a year

The goal is to keep students current with classroom instruction and connected to their classmates

PGCPS Home & Hospital Bound Students

Simple i-Connect Tools

Email Instant Messaging Live video chat (Google

Chat and/or Skype) Web Sites including

wikis

Teachers can keep students connected using

Instant Messaging• Live

• During class, a student can Instant Message class activities to home bound student

• Can be recorded

• Many providers

• Google has group messaging

• Easy to use

Google Video Chat

http://www.google.com/chat/video

• Live video/audio

• Works inside of Gmail

• Both users MUST have Gmail and application

• Webcam required

PGCPS Office of Home & Hospital Teaching

One on one instruction (teacher meets with student face to face)

Virtual Classroom Learning Portal Video Conferencing

Service Options for Home & Hospital Bound Students:

One to One Instruction

Home Teacher meets student in home, hospital, therapeutic center or alternate site

Student can receive up to 6 hours of 1:1 instruction/week

Additional support can be given using video chat, virtual classroom, video conferencing, websites and learning portals.

Teacher Student

Virtual Classrooms

PGCPS started using to support Maryland High School Assessment (HSA) courses

For HSA courses, teachers are highly qualified currently teaching course in the classroom

Additional course offerings in pilot stage: Geometry, Spanish and Integrated Science (gr.9)

Teacher & student(s) meet synchronously (live) in a

virtual classroom

Elluminate

Virtual Classroom Teacher Coaching Model

Video

Virtual Class Recording

Click on link below to view recording of Biology lesson

Move time marker to 30 min to get to main part of lesson

https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2010-04-15.1308.M.C54D94ED9D3AC783BD9D8694A43F3F.vcr

Elluminate Information

Virtual-online Classes via Elluminate.com Classroom seats: 25 available Cost: $299/vOffice room/year FREE V-room – Three for free

PGCPS Training for virtual teachers and students

Elluminate.com offers live sessions and recorded training segments

OHHT trains via live practice session(s) Coaching model used for teachers

Elluminate Equipment Requirements

Teachers Computer with Internet (includes dial-up) Headset with Microphone Webcam (optional)

Students Computer with Internet (includes dial-up) Audio via speakers, ear phones Mic or Head set (optional)

Taking It To The Next Level:

Polycom Video Conferencing

Video Conferencing

Student able to virtually connect to the classroom in real-time

Two-way communication, visual and audio.

Can possibly be used in a home, hospital or rehab center.

Virtual Class

Student has the ability to control the camera— can pan and zoom as desired.

Teacher can also control what student sees and hears.

Fully featured remote control allows teacher

to control the camera while teaching.

Audio Video Control

Student at home

Picture-in-picture classroom

Student should have all instructional materials ahead of time.

Student site can sometimes be noisy, disrupting class.

Student site had Internet problems, causing audio/video issues.

Video Conferencing Classroom Experiences

Excellent quality video and audio. Sessions can be recorded with a VCR. Ease of use. Picture-in-Picture, so we can see both sides

at the same time. Additional hardware allows teacher to switch

to view of computer desktop.

Classroom side-Polycom unit required

Student side-Polycom unit OR computer software and a web cam required

Best scenario is if both sides have Polycom units

Internet connection on both sides required

Home set-up

Polycom Equipment

May be cost prohibitive. Polycom Conferencing units cost thousands

of dollars Polycom PVX software client license costs

around $100

School Systems may be able to use E-Rate funds

Cost Considerations

i-ConnectWeb-based Learning Portal

Can be used to support all i-Connect delivery options.

Web-based learning environment. Safe, secure, private. Often used for online courses. Free examples: Edmodo.com and Edu20.org.

www.edu20.org Free Educational Portal

www.edmodo.com

Q & A

Contacts

Sharon Neill – sharon.neill@pgcps.org

Carmella Doty – cdoty@pgcps.org

Eron Cohen – eron.cohen@pgcps.org

Barbara Noll – bnoll@pgcps.org