Videoconferencing: What Teachers Need to Know Free

Interactive videoconferencing, IVC, a form of two-way telecommunications, has been available and used in education for more than 20 years (Moore, 2004). As high-speed bandwidth has become more readily available to K–12 school systems, and the cost of videoconferencing has dropped, many schools have invested in videoconferencing equipment. Unfortunately, similar to the implementation of other technologies, the educational uses of videoconferencing are being considered only after the purchases have been made. Videoconferencing can be used to deliver synchronous courses at a distance or to supplement course content and student understanding through short connections with other institutions.

School districts interested in implementing IVC must research both the technical aspects and pedagogical applications prior to implementing this technology. Videoconferencing is a way of communicating, at a distance, for the purpose of exchanging information. This information sharing is done in a real-time, synchronous format using both video and audio. Information may be presented from one site to another or across multiple sites, or it may involve a dialogue between sites. The proposed uses, and understanding of the overall purpose of implementing IVC equipment, will affect how often and how well the technology is used. Videoconferencing, when properly implemented, will fulfill a variety of purposes in a K–12 school environment. Northeast and the Islands Regional Technology in Education Consortium (2004) lists some of these purposes: direct instruction, professional development, virtual field trips, community enrichment, meetings with experts, graduate school classes, high school instruction, peer teaching/learning, regional meetings, diagnosis support, and instruction for homebound students. Although videoconferencing is a valuable tool for professional development, adult education, district management, and community involvement, this article will focus on videoconferencing to support K–12 classroom instruction, and suggestions to maximize the results of each type.

High-speed connections and the development of low-cost Internet Protocol (IP) videoconferencing equipment has made it possible to connect students in classrooms with experts around the world. When students studying a concept ask questions of an expert in the field their understanding becomes deeper and the content richer. Connections with an expert also open new opportunities such as a demonstration of a physical procedure or process, perhaps using equipment not available to the students. The expert can explain new concepts, observe students performing a procedure, and offer feedback on the students’ projects or work.

One of the most common uses of classroom videoconferencing is the virtual field trip. “Real-time virtual field trips involve the use of videoconferencing and audio-conferencing technologies to permit students in one location to virtually visit and learn about people or places in another location” (Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration, 2007, para. 4). Many organizations use H.323 videoconferencing for educational virtual field trips, since this connectivity option eliminates connection costs over the Internet. There are a large number of content providers available to work with students of all ages. Locating a program offered by a content provider is as simple as finding a portal such as the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration. Such portals allow the user to search for a program using a variety of search terms including content standard, grade level, subject area, and location. The content providers include museums, zoos, centers for the arts, libraries, colleges, and other institutions that serve the public with information and artifacts. Most of the content providers have an education coordinator, often a certified teacher, who will present a 30–90 minute program to a group of students. Programs are generally scripted, but to get the most out of a videoconference, the teacher should contact the education program manager to discuss the details of the conference. This conversation must include expected outcomes and information about the students’ prior knowledge of the topics being introduced (Cole, Ray, & Zanetis, 2004). Additionally, this conversation will give the teacher the opportunity to discuss the instructional design of the videoconference to ensure it remains interactive throughout the entire lesson and there are pre- and postactivities planned to assess the students’ acquisition of knowledge.

Virtual field trips may serve various purposes including an expert demonstrating a physical procedure or process, demonstration of sophisticated equipment such as that utilized in a university science laboratory, or to expand students’ knowledge of content standards using artifacts available through the provider.

Videoconferences may also be arranged with an expert for other purposes, including the opportunity for students to engage in question-and-answer sessions. Authors are often available to discuss their publications or the writing process in general. Contact the author in advance to discuss the book to be read prior to the conference. This communication also enables the teacher to determine the activities to be completed with students prior to the virtual meeting with the author, thus ensuring students get the most out of this conference. Scientists may engage in a dialogue about their area of expertise with students. Again, the scientist, perhaps a college professor, must be contacted well in advance to prepare for the session. Students’ needed prior knowledge must be conveyed so that students get the most from the IVC.

IVC between individual students and an expert can take the format of a critical appraisal at a distance. An artist, specializing in a medium, can critique student artwork and offer suggestions for improvement. Engineers meeting with small groups of students can discuss a physics project, eliciting higher level thinking skills or the development of a broader understanding of a problem. Students living in remote areas will benefit from studying music at a distance with an expert musician or college professor located in another region of the country or world. Previously, the student would have had to relocate to take lessons from a chosen expert musician.

Experts also serve as mentors for career exploration. Videoconferencing gives students the opportunity to talk with people in many different career fields. A teacher or guidance counselor can facilitate short conferences in which experts share information about their chosen profession, including education requirements, a typical day, required strengths, and what makes the job alluring. Next, students are given the opportunity to ask questions. It is strongly encouraged that a bank of questions be predetermined to avoid embarrassing silence during the question and answer period. The expert must be given these questions ahead of time so that he or she has an adequate opportunity to prepare their responses.

Locating an expert may seem like an enormous task to many teachers, but a simple Google search will result in prospective experts for a given IVC. Once a Web site is identified, the listed contact information can be used to e-mail or call the potential expert. During a professional development session for teachers learning about videoconferencing, Kellie McIntyre, K–12 instructional technology specialist for the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District, shared a story about a class that videoconferenced with a scientist working in Antarctica. The initial communication between the classroom teacher and scientist resulted from a Google search about outposts in Antarctica. The teacher located an e-mail address that resulted in scheduled videoconferences between her classroom and the remote research operation in Antarctica.

Videoconferences with content providers, or directly with experts, have advantages and disadvantages that must be considered. One educational advantage to videoconferencing is that it allows students to virtually visit places and programs that would not be possible otherwise. For example, students on the west coast could visit the NASA space center in Florida to learn about space shuttle missions. The experts contacted through videoconferencing are able to answer questions and invoke higher-level thinking from students about topics of which the classroom teacher has only general knowledge. Perhaps one of the greatest disadvantages of virtual field trips is that many content providers charge a fee for the connection. The cost per program varies from less than $50 to upwards of $500 per session, although some programs are provided for free. This cost increases more if an ISDN connection is required. Another disadvantage is scheduling of the lesson. Popular programs are often booked months or years in advance, making it difficult for a classroom teacher to determine the best date for the session in conjunction with the instruction taking place in the classroom. The best way to avoid these problems is to plan video conferences well in advance after ensuring that the district has the money to pay for the conference and potential connection charges.

Conferences with experts are not the only beneficial use of videoconferencing; classroom to classroom connections can also achieve important instructional outcomes. Classroom-to-classroom videoconferences allow students to collaborate, compete, debate, present, and critique. Students should engage in constructivist activities. “For constructivist learning to occur, teaching must remain flexible and sensitive to learner needs, from intellectual, 109 cognitive, and psychological perspectives (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2006, p. 55).

Teachers preparing for classroom-to-classroom connections must ask the question “What will my students gain by connecting remotely to another classroom for the purpose of the lesson/unit?” The answer to this question should include answers such as the students at the other school:

• have a different perspective about the topic (they are urban and we are rural, they live in the South and we live in the North);

• are bilingual and we are learning a second language;

• recently studied the same topic as my students so

  • they can peer critique my students’ projects, or

  • they can collaborate with my students to synthesize ideas and create new understandings through group projects.

Classroom teachers responsible for the same syllabi can connect periodically to team teach a lesson from two different perspectives. A great example would be instruction on the Civil War through a connection between a Northern and Southern classroom. Teachers facilitate a discussion between students about the different biases found in their local textbooks. Another example, in the study of earth science and natural phenomena, involves students in different parts of the country sharing first-hand accounts of phenomena such as blizzards, tornadoes, and hurricanes.

Global issues, such as the depleting ozone layer or the economic effects of globalization, also provide excellent topics for classroom-to-classroom connections. Students living in an area responsible for emissions might discuss the negative affects of closing a factory or a requirement to only drive energy efficient automobiles such as hybrids. Students living in an area affected by the depleting ozone layer might discuss the negative effects on their livestock.

Another collaboration requires students to work together to create a product such as an advertising campaign to discourage students from smoking tobacco. This project would uncover different understandings of the issues faced by students from states that are great producers of tobacco compared to those of students from nontobacco regions. The use of videoconferencing between classrooms with different understandings of the world can help to expand students’ tolerance to varying points of view.

Finally, students studying the same content might apply the information learned to local resources and then share the results with another class at a distance. For example, students learning about the chemistry of water can perform a number of tests on a local stream or river to determine types and levels of pollutants found in the water. Another classroom, from a school also found along the same waterway, might perform the same tests at a site miles away. The test results can be shared, and the resulting video conference would be a discussion about the similarities and difference in the properties of the water and hypotheses for the differences.

Curricular expectations by grade and subject area for students are usually very similar within a state and contain overlap across states. Teachers may take advantage of classroom-to-classroom connections to allow students to compete. This competition can be strictly knowledge based, such as in a game show format, or can require students to synthesize information and solve problems such as through Odyssey of the Mind, an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities to students in a competitive format. It is extremely important that the teachers of the participating classes work together to determine the expected outcomes, share the assessment structure to be used, and create a format that can be shared with students prior to the day of the videoconference.

An example of a videoconferencing competition was shared by Alan November in a presentation he gave to a group of nonpublic school teachers in the fall of 2005. November showed a video clip of students competing in a citywide poetry competition. The judges of the competition were also connected through videoconferencing.

Teachers and students in other classrooms may serve as experts to share information. Students in a foreign classroom learning English as a second language would become great mentors for younger students learning a second language, the older students’ native tongue. The older students can present minilessons fully immersing the younger students in the language. PowerPoint presentations can become the medium for sharing photographs with a focus on vocabulary. Although the local teacher typically presents a similar lesson, the videoconference would be more motivational and the students would have an authentic opportunity to communicate in the language.

Presentations between districts keep students engaged and on task when they are interactive. A videoconference promoting literacy will include an information-sharing session in which students talk about their favorite books or authors. The presentation becomes interactive when students create a bank of questions that they ask of the presenters. For example, a conversation requiring students to compare and contrast something will elicit higher-level thinking skills (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). Student presentations that strictly take the format of stand and deliver can turn dreadfully boring, so teachers must plan for interaction.

Classrooms in different locations can also videoconference for the purpose of debating ideas. Debates between two classrooms may include topics such as the allowance of soda machines in school, required drug testing for student athletes, cell phone use in school, and mandatory community service projects for all high school students. These debates will generate new understandings if the demographics of the classes are quite different, such as students from urban and rural settings. The issues surrounding cell phones in school might be very different depending on the demographics of the schools. For example, students in a school deemed as unsafe might insist that they need a cell phone to ensure their personal safety. In a noncrime-ridden area, students might insist that the biggest problem with cell phones is that they can be used to text message answers on a test. Students would not only learn about the art of debate but they would also be exposed to different understandings of the world.

Virtual field trips with an education consultant provide the easiest way for teachers to begin videoconferencing. Once a comfort level is reached, the teacher can branch out to other experts or another class. It is extremely important that the teacher meet with the expert or other teacher to carefully plan the conference, taking into account time, content goals, activities, and assessment. When used properly, videoconferencing will open a new world to students.