Monroe #1 BOCES Partners with NYSERNet and Internet2 to enhance Teaching and Learning
By Brian C. Smith and Tadge O’Brien Monroe #1 BOCES
Our live connection to NYSERNet on August 11, 2005 made Monroe #1 BOCES New York’s first K-12 organization with access to Internet2. Developing and communicating ways for our teachers to integrate this new asset into a standards-based curriculum have already convinced us of this link’s nearly limitless potential.
Our first videoconference via NYSERNet and Internet2 – its audio and video crisp, without apparent delay –far exceeded previous technology. Available applications enable us to offer broadcast quality video conferences, even HDTV, with CD-quality audio, over IP protocols, none of which our commercial Internet connection can provide.
This initial success led Monroe to examine its whole videoconferencing paradigm, hoping to improve delivery to broadcast quality. Typically, BOCES videoconferencing aims to permit students, teachers or staff from multiple locations to interact in town hall-like style. Getting people to a media classroom, however, can resemble herding cats; even when that’s accomplished, interaction among attendees and sites often remains limited.
A recent videoconference with Pace University over NYSERNet’s Network unexpectedly revealed the solution: applications that support desktop videoconferencing minimize participant inconvenience while optimizing free exchange. Desktop videoconferencing now makes mass gatherings unnecessary, and the applications’ one-to-one and one-to-many capabilities encourage interaction. In addition, Monroe’s in-classroom use now permits students to desktop videoconference one-on-one with peers and professionals worldwide.
Though videoconferencing had induced us to connect to NYSERNet’s network and Internet2, other stunning applications that the commercial Internet supports poorly or not at all speedily became apparent. Last October in Rochester, Monroe hosted NYSCATE’s E-Learning Symposium. At the conference dinner, held at the University of Rochester, a NYSERNet member institution with Internet2 access, Bret Apthorpe, Director of Instructional Technology at Monroe #1 BOCES, and Larry Gallery of NYSERNet co-hosted a virtual 15,000+ mile trek. Hawaii’s Keck Observatory helped attendees understand Internet2’s live imaging and remote equipment management capabilities. Florida’s Mote Marine Laboratory relied on their participation to produce an interactive session on sea life. And Chris Myers, a network engineer in Australia, got up very early to chat with participants about international connectivity over Internet2.
These demonstrations spawned lively participant discussion about the advantages of connecting to a robust education and research network, also the ease of videoconferencing over NYSERNet and Internet2. Chris Myers spoke about the impact this technology will have on his 4-year-old’s education. Realizing that his daughter would never know a world without the Internet, Chris wondered how her education might differ from his. Will she attend college virtually, even remotely control Martian space rovers?
Of course, students and teachers can’t yet travel to Mars, and no school district can launch its own rover. But connecting over NYSERNet’s R&E Network and Internet2 to Monroe’s Challenger Learning Center (CLC) lets 5th and 6th grade students and teachers virtually experience both. After successfully landing on the Red Planet, students navigate its terrain using a coordinate system to collect soil samples for testing.
This excellent virtual adventure replicates situations that NASA scientists actually encounter. Indeed, the real Martian rovers transmit photos to satellite dishes that forward them for decrypting at Cornell, finally to the public, over Internet2 and NYSERNet’s Network. Districts with CLC training and equipment, and connected to the NYSERNet Network or through Internet2, can also participate in a Challenger simulation. Institutions with just the R&E connection can observe and interact with Monroe students as they creatively tackle problems unique in their experience.
Monroe’s Bathysphere Underwater Biological Laboratory (BUBL, another interactive, standards-based simulation for middle school students), examines the Lake Ontario biome. A Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) transports students to the lake’s bottom, where they enter an underwater lab to conduct environmental and ecological studies. BUBL and CLC let students sample highly specialized fields, including communications, navigation, meteorology, biology, chemistry, archeology, remote sensing and geology - all under conditions that make them want to learn more.
How does all this relate to teaching and learning? Experiencing NYSERNet and I2 transformed our thoughts about integrating technology into the K-12 learning environment. Our students belong to the Millennial generation; they have never known a world without personal computers, video games or the Internet. From Friday to Sunday night they immerse themselves in virtual worlds. Come Monday morning, we put them in chairs and offer little that resembles their familiar modes of communication and idea-sharing.
Embedding Internet2 applications and activities into our curriculum helps educators put excitement back into pedagogy. Using NYSERNet’s Network and Internet2, teachers can offer high-impact activities that link authentic experiences with learning, while students can collaborate via routine, real-time, hands-on, interactive connections around the world.
Brian C. Smith and Tadge O’Brien are Instructional Technology Specialists with Monroe #1 BOCES. They are responsible for integrating technology into the K12 curriculum.
Contact Info:
Brian C. Smith
(585) 383-6630
BrianC_Smith@boces.monroe.edu
Tadge O’Brien
(585) 383-6614
Tadge_OBrien@boces.monroe.edu
Monroe #1 BOCES Component Schools: Brighton, East Irondequoit, East Rochester, Fairport, Honeoye Falls-Lima, Penfield, Pittsford, Rush-Henrietta, Webster and West Irondequoit
Monroe #1 BOCES - http://www.monroe.edu
