Global ed / distance learning "on the cheap"?

[Alexander Russo]

lucy and i were thinking that maybe some of you on this NING could help me out with a few ideas, examples, or a little bit of time to talk?

i'm a freelance writer working on an article for edutopia about how teachers and schools can create a great DL / global learning curriculum "on the cheap" -- without tons of additional equipment, support, etc.

tips, tricks, examples, etc. would all be great -- post them here or email me at [e-mail] if you want or need to say something private.

got any ideas to share?

many thanks
- alexander

[Steve Hargadon]

I just set up a video-cast using ustream.tv, my laptop, and my DV camcorder. Pretty amazing--and cheap! http://www.stevehargadon.com/2007/10/mr-watson-come-here.html.

[David Truss]

I would love to see a site like this become a reality:
FieldFindr

I wrote about it here:
Portal Needed to Connect Classrooms to the World: Global Citizens c...

[Craig Howat]

Alex,
I am just starting to get into this type of project but I think Google Earth (free) has enourmous potential. We just received a Jordan grant for my students to create a video I-pod walking tour of the French Quarter. We will be posting it online for students and tourists. I read an article today about posting video to Google Earth. Imagine students around the world posting videos about their community. This immediately becomes real life, real world engagement for the students. Here are a few sites that I think are worth looking into:
http://www.google.com/educators/p_earth.html
http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/dherring/ge/googleearth.htm
http://www.soundwalk.com/index.php
http://techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=196604533
http://voicethread.com/
Also, last week my family and I had the pleasure to dance badly with Matt Harding of Youtube fame (www.wherethehellismatt.com) This is a prime example of how a simple youtube video has sparked he imagination of over 8 million viewers about global education. I hope this helps, Craig

[Lucy Gray]

Craig, I hope you have video of your family dancing badly with Matt... if so, you should upload it here! How funny! Where did you encounter Matt?

[Craig Howat]

Of course I have video of us dancing badly with him... He was in New Orleans last week. He is really a very low key guy. Actually, I was surprised how down to earth he was. This is the beauty of Web 2.0 the collaboration and sharing is incredible...

[Kevin Jarrett]

Another vote for Voicethread here! The service lets you upload pictures (soon much more) and add voice or texts comments to them. It's SO amazing and SO much fun. You can use it for anything! It's great for presentations too. Here's one I did following a live presentation I gave at a conference in Second Life:

http://voicethread.com/view.php?b=1853

But for some really cool examples, including how a lot of educators are using Voicethread, go here:

http://fresh.voicethread.com/#q

Anyway, I confirmed on my blog yesterday, via conversation with the developers of this service, that the new uber-cool pro version, which normally costs $30, is going to be FREE for educators:

http://www.ncs-tech.org/?p=948

This is ENORMOUS news. The collaborative potential of this tool is virtually unlimited. Within a few minutes of using it, you will almost assuredly see the possible benefits and start scheming up cool classroom projects.

Hope this helps!

-kj-

[Alecia Berman-Dry]

Hi Alexander and welcome to the Ning. We're doing exactly what you're researching: creating a global learning curriculum on the cheap. I'm assuming you've already spoken to Lucy about things like Wikis (here's ours http://worldvillage.wikispaces.com/) and of course, Nings. We also use cheap $20 webcams and Skype or instant messenger services to connect. Yack Pack (www.yackpack.com) used to be one of my favorite tools till I found out yesterday that they started charging.

Here are some free sites available to teachers to help them form partnerships:
Global School Net: http://www.globalschoolnet.org/index.html
Epals: http://www.epals.com/ (Which I am sure you know about as a partner of Edutopia)
National Assoc of Independent Schools Challenge 20/20 Program:
http://www.nais.org/resources/index.cfm?ItemNumber=147262
The Global Collaborations Center (Kim Cofino):
http://globalcollaborations.wikispaces.com/Creating+a+Global+Commun...

I hope there is something new for you in here. The very best resource for finding and making partners, I have found, is scouring your own school community. Because the nature of our world is itself international, many of our students still have ties to homecountries. I simply try to cultivate those resources for partnerships. It has worked for Venezuela and India so far!

[Alex Ragone]

Alexander, You might want to check out the EdTechTalk community at http://www.edtechtalk.com for professional development global collaboration.

There is also edublogs and wikispaces who provide free hosting for schools and have been a wonderful resource for the community.

Cheers, - Alex

[David Gibson]

Great idea! Edutopia is a great place to reach people. I was named a Lucas Faculty Fellow a coupe of years ago and the Big 10 ideas was an inspiration for The Global Challenge - a completely free activity for high school classrooms (www.globalchallengeaward.org) that builds small teams (2 students and an adult they want to work with - who then meet up with an international counterpart team). The kids create an innovative idea to solve global warming or the future of energy and we reward them with prizes, scholarships and summer study options. The global systems science content is all online and is free for the taking and using by teachers. Kids in some places work alone without any teacher help; in other places an after-school club is formed, and in still others, a classroom teacher picks and chooses from what we offer.

High school students can register now through December 1 at globenet.globalchallengeaward.org

Please share the attached pdf with all who might be interested. Join the 2600 students from 50 countries who registered last year!

[Carolyn Foote]

Wow, so many free tools out there that teachers are using:

At our campus, we are using:
Pbwiki--set up free wiki sites--we're using them for classes, staff development and training
--Ap Government Class here http://policyproject.pbwiki.com/)
--training site http://www.connectedlibraries.pbwiki.com--click on the "sidebar" to see a list of training tools for web 2.0 tools)

Blogs--Teachers and Students using blogging:
www.whsapgov.edublogs.org,
www.whscareertech.edublogs.org
(my blog is www.futura.edublogs.org)
www.searchology.edublogs.org

Google Docs--preparing to use this for a staff dev. next week to have all campus teachers collaborate on ways to use 21st century skills in the classroom

VoiceThread--great tool for creating instructions, student projects, etc.

MovieMaker--used this free video editing tool along with Audacity software(also free) and Photostory(also free) for our Vietnam video project http://whs.eanes.k12.tx.us/virtualvietnam/

TeacherTube, YouTube

Ning, Skype (which I use almost daily to work with other teachers around the globe), the new Google Presentations...many more!

I'm a librarian and see so much potential and ability to have access for students in these tools. Schools don't have to spend exorbitant amounts on software, yet can contribute to projects within the school and across campuses (like the Global Cooling project) or Flat Classrooms project.

Be happy to talk with you via email (or skype :) Carolyn!

[Carolyn Foote]

By the way, I read your blog :) daily!

[Alexander Russo]

thanks, carolyne -- i'm glad you found it and hope you keep liking it