Next GIVC

The next scheduled GIVC class will be in January 2009.

GIVC Presentation

Here is a link to the GIVC online presentation from the Emerge 2008 Conference.
http://emerge2008.net/access/content/group/emerge2008/PresentationFiles/Lawence/index.htm

Hiding in plain sight

THe GIVC model is simple and intuitive and is available to all but it is so simple it is ignored. Most companies are preoccupied in using sophisticated and expensive solutions to technical problems they cannot even hear simple inexpensive solutions. It is a continuation of the era of disbelief. We have been conditioned by Microsoft and Cisco that computing is difficult and expensive to acccomplish. Technical companies have a blind spot for simple cheap technical solutions just as car manufacturers cannot wrap their minds around alternative fuel engines.

Simplicity

The system is designed with such simplicity that once someone has been through the experience he or she should be able to do it again and again.
It is so simple that any group anywhere in the world who learns how to use the system can then become a regular user. Regular users will gain the advantage of the future which everyone will be having to catch up with some day.

Internet Video

Because of the accessibility of the Internet it is extremely easy to implement a session of GIVC. All that is required is a commitment from an individual teacher and support of the technology department to provide an Internet connection and some inexpensive hardware. Some imagination will also help.

Video

A benefit of the online classroom is that every session can be videotaped. The taped session is then available as a resource for later sessions. There will be a set of master lectures available.

Replicatable

The GIVC system is easily repeatable. If you have any idea for a practical usage of a remote teaching experience it will not be too much effort to implement the GIVC system to make the teachable moment happen.

Additional Resources

For additional resources I have provided a video of a CBS Channel 2 show, Different Drummers, where I spoke about the program while it was still in progress.

Also I have provided a ten-minute Video as the taste of the online sessions.

GIVC Design Principles

GIVC is a total learning solution, merging technology transparently to support sound educational goals such as learner involvement, learning facilitation, respect, immediacy, teamwork, and engagement.

GIVC provides global communication, intercultural and international education in a real-time synchronous learning environment.

GIVC offers easy cost-effective access to world-class expertise.

The Professional Setup

IT Department of most institutions should be able to install the hardware and software required. The professional packages available are from vendors such as Polycom and Sony. The systems are affordable and easily installed. The requirement is that the rooms that connect to each other either install the same vendor’s equipment or else ensure that the protocols are compatible and fully tested as installed.

What Software is required?

Once the hardware has been set up with an operating system and a browser that can access the Internet through a broadband wired or wire-less connection, the system can be tested by using any of a number of software programs that utilizes microphones and cameras.

Microsoft supplies Netmeeting so loading Netmeeting and testing its voice and camera abilities could be a start. It is always good to have extra software. Load one or more of the following: Live Messenger from Microsoft, Yahoo! Messenger from Yahoo, or Skype from Skype Limited.
Follow the installation instructions and testing instructions. In order to link up with the second classroom this process must be duplicated in another room and both classrooms should load the matching software. Each room should have an account with the matching vendor and once signed in can link up by connecting to each other.

What Hardware is required?

Usually the IT department will install the equipment.

A Personal Computer is required with Internet access. A laptop with a wireless card could suffice.

A soundcard is required and a built in microphone and speaker may not have sufficient power to serve a large group, so an external speaker that is plugged in to a power source should have enough power boost to be heard by a large group. A sensitive microphone that can serve a group should be plugged in and situated in the center and toward the front of the room.
A wide angled camera should be plugged in and should have a view of the whole room. It will be helpful if it has a zoom and pan control since a fixed lens wide angle may show the room but not provide much clarity about who is speaking.

What are the difficulties that can be encountered?

The major difficulties to overcome are technophobia and curriculum adaptation. Since curricula are not generally designed to account for a technology environment they have to be revised with a technology environment taken into account. The technology proficiency of the faculty is not a requirement but the technophobia can be a barrier.Both of these issues can be and have been addressed through faulty development processes.

What are the difficulties that can be encountered?

The major difficulties to overcome are technophobia and curriculum adaptation. Since curricula are not generally designed to account for a technology environment they have to be revised with a technology environment taken into account. The technology proficiency of the faculty is not a requirement but the technophobia can be a barrier.Both of these issues can be and have been addressed through faulty development processes.

How easy is it to implement the GIVC system?

The GIVC system is easy to implement since it has been thoroughly documented. All of the implementation steps have been documented and shared with the original implementation team who tested and then conducted live online video sessions.

The GIVC team has been through the total process. This is a practical learning process.

What are the drawbacks for online video learning?

Research shows that conversations depend on eye clues and because of parallax; video conferencing produces false eye clues. Technologies are addressing this issue and in the classroom it has less of an impact because the structure is such that eye clues are not as dependent for facilitation of conversations.

The appearance consciousness reported by researchers is indicated to possibly fade with time on camera and the actual video sessions I participated in technology transparency practically eliminates appearance consciousness.

No smell or touch is available but touch and smell are not generally required unless the topic is specifically addressing those senses. In that case two samples can be available at the different sites and can be evaluated for compatibility by the facilitators.

The behavior is more structured so less whispered private interactions are possible because of the sensitivity of the microphones.

What are the advantages of online video learning over traditional classroom learning?

The major advantage of the GIVC system is its cost-effectiveness. The technology equipment required is readily available from multiple vendors and has been through business and consumer testing.

Another major advantage is the time savings and efficiency that technology provides in online learning. Not only can guests participate without needing to be paid for travel and accommodation, they can use their own time efficiently.

The communication is two way and in real time.

Once the initial investment is made in equipment and training there are potentially huge financial savings possible.

How does the online video classroom work?

GIVC operates like a normal classroom, utilizing best practices in learning theory, so if the video link were not present the learning process would still be beneficial. The additional component of adding the technology allows for more than one classroom to have access and to be equally involved in this beneficial best practices learning process.

The additional classroom requires an additional facilitator to coordinate the equipment and the interactions at the remote site.

When the two rooms are connected the classes can learn as a single unit since the major communication through auditory and visual means can occur synchronously in real time.

What is the Global Internet Video Classroom (GIVC)

This is a design that links multiple classrooms together to create a single learning environment. The first implementation of the system was a link between Chicago and Cape Town across an 8 hour time zone internationally.

Implementing GIVC

To implement a GIVC is not too difficult since the hardware is mostly available already. A few items must be added and possibly some software may have to be installed. The cost may be a few hundred dollars to get set up and running.
The major component required is the will to utlize an online learning environment. As gas prices and other costs increase it may become more presssing to investigate online learning options.

Chicago Sun-Times article: Sharing a world via online video

http://www.suntimes.com/technology/guy/1099517,CST-FIN-ecol10.article

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/business/1099517,CST-FIN-ecol10.article
http://www.pioneerlocal.com/elmhurst/news/index.html

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/elmhurst/news/1059551,em-prophets-071008-s1.article

Sharing a world via online video
SCI-TECH SCENE Social justice course links students at Elmhurst College, Africa
August 10, 2008

BY SANDRA GUY Sun-Times Columnist
Ammar Haq had never paid attention to the message underlying a neighborhood's lack of banks and proliferation of currency exchanges until he took an honors course at Elmhurst College.
"You don't see one bank for miles," said Haq, a 22-year-old senior majoring in biology, describing a class tour of a bank-less Chicago neighborhood. "You see storefront churches and fast-food places and currency exchanges."
» Click to enlarge image
Elmhurst College student Ammar Haq (left) and professors Jane Jegerski and Oliver Lawrence see themselves on a television screen in a computer lab in July. Lawrence teaches a course in social justice using online video, which allows his class to interact with students in South Africa. (John J. Kim/Sun-Times )
RELATED STORIES• More Technology headlines
Haq, who grew up in Lombard and whose parents are from Pakistan, took the eye-opening tour as part of the course "Prophets: Visions of Social Justice," in which students talked live in online video sessions with activists and students in South Africa.
The Rev. Steve Saunders, executive liaison for Chicago-based Featherfist, an agency that helps the homeless, led the tour.
Haq described as "surreal" the ability to talk "live" with students in Africa about their circumstances, and said the activists were "great."
Activists besides Saunders who lectured about their fights for justice and against apartheid were "Uncle" Lionel Davis, who spent seven years in the same prison on Robben Island as Nelson Mandela; Marcus Solomon, director of the Children's Resource Center, who also served time at Robben Island; the Rev. Cheryl Uren, a student leader in the Soweto riots of 1976; Manford Byrd, Chicago Public Schools' first African-American superintendent; and Carlos Flores, a community activist of Puerto Rican and African descent who talks about how gentrification has displaced certain Chicago neighborhoods.
Oliver Lawrence, an adjunct professor at Elmhurst and other area colleges, co-designed the course because he wanted to use his expertise as a self-taught computer programmer to give students a bigger view of the world. Lawrence grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and experienced apartheid firsthand by being denied scholarships and jobs reserved for "whites."
"I thought, 'I'd like to give Cape Town access to the world,'" Lawrence said. "There is a way these disenfranchised communities can access the best education in the world, and at the same time let students meet activists from the 1960s civil rights movement in Chicago."
Lawrence leveraged his connections in South Africa to line up speakers, and coordinated the eight-hour time difference to make the project happen. He used hardware, software provided by Polycom and Elmhurst College's high-speed T-1 data line, along with a split screen so everyone could see each other throughout the sessions. The South African students were forced to use a videoconferencing system at the American Embassy after their equipment was stolen.
Lawrence and fellow teachers Nancy Lee and Jane Jegerski led students in debating the similarities and differences among biblical prophets and modern-day activists.
Lee, associate professor of religious studies, said the online course complements a service course co-led by Lee, Lawrence and Therese Wehman that takes Elmhurst students to Johannesburg, Cape Town and on a safari in a game preserve northeast of Johannesburg.
For now, Elmhurst College has set up a Blackboard discussion group so the students can continue their discussion.
Elmhurst College has received international attention from the course. Lawrence presented it to an international conference e/MERGE (http://emerge2008.net), arranged through the University of Cape Town.
The progress will further Lawrence's goal of giving students in impoverished countries access to renowned leaders, and it helps awaken students in another way.
"Instead of a lecture, we got more student involvement," he said.

Press Release

News Release


LEARNING FROM THOSE WHO CHANGED THE WORLD
Elmhurst College Students Use Live Video Connection to Talk Social Justice with Activists on Two Continents

ELMHURST, Ill., Summer 2008 - Elmhurst College students recently participated in the class of a lifetime: speaking face to face with civil rights heroes who bear the scars of struggle against the injustice of apartheid and the fight for civil rights in 1960s Chicago.
Throughout the duration of “Prophets: Visions of Social Justice,” students explored the lives of scriptural and modern-day prophets – with four class sessions featuring live interaction with activists in Chicago and Cape Town, South Africa.
The class taught by Dr. Nancy Lee, associate professor of religious studies, and Dr. Oliver Lawrence, adjunct instructor of the honors and the intercultural studies program, was highlighted by online video sessions that changed the perspectives of students on both sides of the Atlantic.
Although some students who enrolled in “Prophets: Visions of Social Justice” may have only expected to fulfill a graduation requirement, many left the course having been “profoundly affected.”
“As a social psychologist, I found the on-line sessions an exciting firsthand learning experience for both students and teachers,” said Dr. Jane Jegerski, professor of psychology at Elmhurst College. “I watched students being transformed from young adults, who took the course out of convenience or for a [general education requirement], into aspiring professionals with a strong sense of social context and injustice.”
The live video conversations not only proved to be eye-opening modern-day bonuses, they served as an instant link between continents and cultures, between crusaders and classroom peers – with students in both Elmhurst and Cape Town watching and interacting.
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“The most compelling thing I learned is that inequality is happening all over the world,” noted Kim Kaliebe, Elmhurst College exercise science major. “I have read and heard about it on the news, but this time, I was able to hear it firsthand from individuals who have been through the struggle. These speakers make me want to help the fight for equality.”
From several time zones away, Mandy Sanger of the District Museum in Cape Town expressed her happiness with the dialogue that came out of the project. “It’s been a wonderful learning experience,” she said. “This shows us the many possibilities of communication. We thought we would have to raise money and go to Chicago to have these conversations.”

The stars of the class were six activists.

From South Africa:
‘Uncle’ Lionel Davis – who spent seven years as a prisoner on Robben Island, a maximum security prison at which over 3,000 men, including Nelson Mandela, were incarcerated as political prisoners between 1961 and 1991.
Marcus Solomon – the director of the Children’s Resource Center, who also served time on Robben Island.
Rev. Cheryl Uren – a teacher and minister who was a student leader during the Soweto Riots of 1976 (a series of brutal and violent riots that grew out of the protests against the policies of the National Party government and its apartheid regime).

From Chicago:
Dr. Manford Byrd - the first African-American superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools.
Rev. Steve Saunders – the Executive Liaison for Featherfist, an agency providing housing and social services to Chicago’s homeless.
Carlos Flores – a community activist and artist of Puerto Rican and African descent who speaks of how gentrification continues to displace Chicago neighborhoods.
-- over --
Each activist addressed imprisonment, displacement, and inequities in American and South African communities. These interactions formed a historical treasure chest of once-in-a-lifetime dialogue between each activist and Elmhurst College students.
“We took two civil rights movements and, through the use of technology, had them interact before our students’ eyes - and with our students’ input!” remarked Lawrence. “The
technology made an instantaneous bridge between the two cultures.”
The discussions were particularly satisfying for Lawrence, an Elmhurst College teacher who lived in Cape Town during the sixties and into the eighties. Familiar with the people, the issues, and the countries, he sees many similarities between the Civil Rights movement and the anti-Apartheid movement.
It was Lawrence who, with his background in computer science, education and social justice thought, “Why not merge all three?”
Lawrence, at home in both Illinois and Cape Town, South Africa, with Sanger, and Rev. Michelle Hughes, associate chaplain at Elmhurst College, invited activists from their own experiences in the social justice movements to be part of the exchange.
“The irony lies in how we had to ‘go to South Africa’ to become aware of the needs and the lives lived in Chicago, in our back yard,” noted Lee.
The result of the class pleased all involved, as students on both sides of the world were very energetic about the discussions.
“I’ve never seen my students as engaged as that day,” Jegerski said of the first video meeting.
According to Lawrence, students on the South African side of the conversation were so immersed that they continued the discussion late into the night, long after class had ended.
“After just one session the Cape Town youth blew us away,” said Lawrence. “They stepped up, thought on their feet, and had relevant questions that showed forethought.”
Lawrence hopes that by introducing students to both their peers and activists from around the world, they will become empowered and educated individuals who will act on what they have learned.
“By sharing activism and experience from crucial eras, you share a recipe for
-- more --
changing the world,” he said. “The place where learning breaks down is when we don’t teach students to act upon what they have learned. It’s not enough to hear activists, the learning cycle does not end until one acts. Social justice is the action to address inequity.”
After the discussions, many Elmhurst students showed interest in helping the cause of social justice.
“I found myself making strong connections with the South African students,” said Maurianna Jones, an Elmhurst College psychology major. “What I gained most was the relighting of my spirit and concerns for social justice and what I am going to do in the future.”
Many South African students expressed the goals of changing and improving the perception of their nation, making their (as yet unborn) children’s futures better, and becoming more financially stable.
“Blacks in America still experience racism, poverty, and limited education. Here in South Africa we only got our freedom in 1994. How long is it going to take for black South Africans, according to your understanding, to be free?” Siviwe Mbinda, a South African student asked a captive audience of Elmhurst College students.
Lawrence and others at Elmhurst College fervently hope that the dialogue that took place during these live interactions will continue.
“It was a very inspirational experience and one that I will remember for the rest of my life,” expressed Nick Siegmeier, an Elmhurst College computer science major. “These online video exchanges with South Africa have been amongst the most interesting and educational experiences of my life. I am glad to have gotten the opportunity to join in something so inspiring, cutting-edge and educational.”
For more information, contact Charley Henderson, director of public relations at (630) 617-3033 or visit www.elmhurst.edu.
Founded in 1871, Elmhurst College is a private, four-year liberal arts College affiliated with the United Church of Christ.

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10 minute preview of GIVC

This is a ten minute preview of the GIVC Project in 2007. It is excerpted from a number of sessions with a number of guests.

Intrroduction to GIVC on Channel 2

This is a video of a Channel 2 Program Different Drummers, where I spoke about the project while the projct was still in progress.

Welcome

Welcome to the Global Internet Video Classroom Blog. I have set it up to share informatino about the GIVC Project and collect feedback from interested parties.
I will also answer questions so please read and view and post.