Extend Your Classroom

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EXTENDYOURCLASSROOM I HARDWARE PERIPHERALS &

Tokeyour classto visit NASA, zoo or moybe the diving on the reef... All without leaving your school.

echnologies such as video-, audioand web conferencing allowing are students connect 'real-time'to to in a variety experiences. Daunt of Carol reportson the features each of of
these technologies and how you can access and usethem to extend your classroom. T e a c h a c l a s ss c a t t e r e d a r o u n d t h e s t a t e . . . . Bring your favourite author into the school from wherever they are in the world.... Take y o u r c l a s s t o v i s i t N A S A ,t h e z o o o r m a y b e d i v i n g o n t h e r e e f . . . .A l l w i t h o u t l e a v i n g y o u r s c h o o l . Y o uc o u l d b e e x t e n d i n g y o u r c l a s s r o o m through the use of video- audio- and web c o n f e r e n c i n g- b e t h e r e w i t h o u t g o i n g .

Videoconferencing
Videoconferencing closest is the thingto faceto-face teaching, it allowsyou to see,hear as andtalkto people another in location.You can just a few people one siteor bringtogether at manyat sitesaroundthe world.lt is fantastic for teaching and learning you because gives it a richenvironment includes followinq that the features: . Usea document pictures, camera display to graphs, mapsand small objects. . Display your PowerPoint presentation or othercomputer files. . Play videoso everyone seeit. a can . Record yoursession. . Collaborate computer on datawith othersin the class.

ByCarolDaunt

T H EE D U C A T I O N C H N O L O G Y I D E TE GU

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CLASSROOM HARDWAREPERIPHERALS & I EXTENDYOUR

S y s t e m s r a n g e f r o m d e s k t o p s ,w h i c h combinewith your computer, large room to designed presentations larger for to systems you choose dependon will classes.The system your use. example, you needto connect For if with 20 peopleat one site,you will need a systemand dedicatedroom set up for that purpose- a desktopsystemwill not be the

pressing numberon theirtelephone keypad a You will immediately know the percentage of the studentswho chose each ootion and whichindividuals answered a particular in way - allowing you to followup if necessary.You also your following receive printout the responses a of sesston. Sub Conferencing Theremay be timesyou wish to breakstudentsinto smallergroupsto

You can also take studentsto websites d u r i n g y o u r s e s s i o nA s y o u c l i c k t h r o u g h . to the site,they will all be brought along with you. You can set studentsfree on the s i t e t o r e s e a r c hs o m e t h i n g & t h e n c a l l them back together by pushing your next slide. The system will also have an array of d r a w i n gt o o l s t h a t a l l o w y o u t o h i g h l i g h t sections drawinglines, by arrows, circles, and so on,or throughcolour. Youdo not n.eed investin any hardware to or software.Everythingyou need can be downloadedfrom the Internet.Participants w i l l b e g i v e n a w e b a d d r e s st h a t w i l l allow them to registerand enter the s e s s i o n W e b c o n f e r e n c i n g o m b i n e st h e . c p o w e r o f v i s u a l sw i t h t h e v o i c e a n d h a s the advantage being accessible anyone of to w h o h a s a n I n t e r n e t c o n n e c t i o na n d a p h o n el i n e .

answer. of and Videoconference systems now relatively discuss range issues then reportbackto are a the system the wholegroup.Through subconferencing cheap you can buy a qualitydesktop you for around53,000. However, do not need feature,you can put students into pregroups, arrange you for or themduringthe in determined to invest hardware; can hirefacilities per to rates(S150-S250 hour).Many session, example, for according the responses reasonable issue. Groups be aslarge as can or now havevideoconferencing systems, to a particular schools and as and Universities small, asfewor asmany youwish. as do most TAFEColleges - both hereand in othercountries. All of thesefeatures available are from audio at conference bridgingproviders a smallcoston top of yourstandard conference fee. Youdo call not haveto investin any hardware software or Advantages - allyou needisyourtelephone. . Livesound, colour and motion . Powerful medium- can be very interactive . Easy use to Disadvantages . Needspecialist equipment but this is
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Advantages . Widely - all accessible you needisa phone
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Advantages . Widely accessible just need an Internet connection . Relatively heap c . P r o v i d e sa v i s u a l c o m p o n e n t . P r o v i d e sa r a n g e o f i n t e r a c t i v et o o l s - p o l l i n g , a n d - u pa n d s o o n . h Disadvantages . Two linesneeded at this stagewith s o m e s y s t e m s- o n e f o r I n t e r n e t a n d o n e for voice

. Easy use to Disadvantages . No visuals you needto supply these such throughsomeothermechanism, as print.

Audio Conferencing

beeninvolved a'teleconference' in Mostof ushave but may not be aware of the new features which make teachingvia telephone available, Your telephonecan be a Web Conferen€ing a richer experience. powerful you to posea multiple Web conferencing allows you to speak to tool that allows your studentsand displaystill images(For choicequestionto your classand have them givetheir answer pressing numberon their PowerPoint) the Internet. via There a example, by has a r e a v a r i e t yo f p r o d u c t sa v a i l a b l es o m e : Telephone conferencing telephonekeypad. with the following t h a t c o m b i n et h e I n t e r n e tw i t h a n a u d i o becomevery sophisticated features available throughan operator-attended call or directly to a web interfaceon your the computer allowyou to control call. to allows students indicate to Q&A- Thisfeature they have a question or comment without By a on interrupting class. pressing number the theirdesire keypad, they indicate theirtelephone in will to speak.They be placed a queueandyou This can respond your discretion. allowsyou at without the more organised session to havea at the same time. disruption students of talking - Thisis a feature that allows Voting/Polling you to know what all students thinkingat a are givenpoint in time.By posinga multiple-choice question you can have everyoneanswer by
GU T H EE D U C A T I O N C H N O L O G Y r D E TE

T e a c h e r sa r e u s i n g t h e s e t e c h n o l o g i e s f o r many and varied rich learning experiences - below are a few examoles.

conference,others that deliver sound & latest video images throughthe Internet.The products via alsoinclude videoconferencing a weocam. B a s i cw e b c o n f e r e n c i n t o o l s w i l l a l l o w g you to transmitimagesin conjunction with your voice. you moveto the next slideon As

The dispersed class
Students in remote areas are now being connected via any or all of the above c o n f e r e n c i n gt e c h n o l o g i e s r a t h e r t h a n t h e o l d H F r a d i o u s e d b y S c h o o l so f t h e A i r i n t h e p a s t . Most states and the Northern Territory have

y o u rc o m p u t e t h i s i s ' p u s h e d ' t o l l s t u d e n t s , s y s t e m s t o c o n n e c t s t u d e n t s t o e a c h o t h e r a r, so that everyoneseesand hearsthe same a n d t o t h e i r t e a c h e r s .T h e u s e o f c l e a r a u d i o message the sametime. at Most systems havefeatures such as'hand raising', chat rooms and student response that choice systems allowyou to aska multiple get an immediate question response from and usingtheir keyboards. all students
a n d / o r p i c t u r e s g r e a t l y e n h a n c e st h e l e a r n i n g expenence. Students in small schools are also being connected to enable them to study subjects that their school cannot provide. Several state education systems have extensive

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HARDWAREPERIPHERALS & I EXTENDYOUR CLASSROOM

videoconference networks and these are usedto deliver dozens subiects students of to throughout network. the Universities TAFE and collegeshave been using videoconferencing over ten years for to connect studentsacrosscampuses with lecturers a variety subjects. in of

Bringinggueststo your class
You can bring anyonefrom anywhere the in world into your classroom. might be an lt author,scientist, celebrityor subjectmatter expert. How exciting for studentsto have a live connectionwith someonethey have been studying. They can question, comment on and discuss issues with the guest.lf you your usevideoor web conferencing, students can seethe guestand any itemsthey want to snow.

Professional development
Who would you like to have present a workshop? Distance no longera problem. is You can have any expert from any part of the countryor the world present your to next staff in-serviceday. Any of the above technologies be usedfor increasing can your own knowledge withoutleaving school. the S o t h i n k t w i c e b e f o r ey o u d i s m i s s h a t t next great idea because someone halfway is around the world - you may be able to

Connecting classes
Classes over the world are connecting all to eachother to exchange viewson all types of topics. Teachersoften build a project

use technology to link in real-time. around a few video or audio conference Virtualfield trips Anyonecan do it, anytime- for surprisingly s e s s i o n s i t h a c l a s s i n a n o t h e r c o u n t r y , A videoconferencefield trip gives you w littlecost. T h e s t u d e n t s u s e e m a i l , d i s c u s s i o n i s t s and your studentsan opportunity to visit l a n d b l o g s t o s u p p l e m e n t h e i r r e a l - t i m e placesyou might not be able to otherwise, CarolDaunt is an expertin the application interactions. such as zoos, museums,NASA,the reef & useof learning technologies.With almost One excitingexampleof a cross-cultural and more. One of the most successful of twentyyearsexperience is recognised she as experience was the teaching of dance to these is a dive to see the wondersof the the leaderin her field - both in Australiaand studentsin Central and in New Great Barrier Reef at the world's largest internationally. is co-founder Executive Queensland She & Zealand- at the same time. Both classes l i v i n g c o r a l r e e f a q u a r i u m i n T o w n s v i l l e . Director theLearning of Technologies User connected with their dance teacher in S t u d e n t s c a n e x p e r i e n c et h e r e e f l i v e Group. Brisbanevia videoconference. They spent a n d h a v e t h e i r q u e s t i o n s n s w e r e df r o m a several weeks learning traditional steps from both culturesand rehearsing routines. The Queensland students then traveled to NewZealand where two groups the rehearsed face-to-face performed concert a large and a for audience, including local dignitaries. deep in the tanks by scuba divers who will be Iinkedby microphone ithin the w scuba mask.Thousands studentsaround of the world haveexperienced spectacular this field trip. Forinformation see: www,learntel.com.au ANDwww.ltug.org

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