Thanks Roland. I shared this article with my SR coaches. Many of them made plans to have their students use the video conferencing equipment to chat with an author. Skype provides them a free option they can begin utilizing while they are waiting for the IVC equipment to arrive and be installed. Also nice to have that quick list of authors for them to consider inviting into their classrooms. Thanks :)
"Project Description: Middle and high school students connect to discuss current environmental issues and their impact locally. Students present their research and the local perspectives and then discuss the issues with the partner class. See the Resources page for potential topics."
Videoconferencing Out on a Lim is about one distance learning coordinator's experiences, curriculum thoughts, and technology rants related to k12 videoconferencing. I coordinate videoconferencing for 18 school districts in southwest Michigan. We have 70 Polycom units and we also have Tandberg infrastructure (MPS, Gateway, Gatekeeper and TMS). We've been doing videoconferencing since 1999. You can read about our program online here: SouthwestNet Distance Learning.