Friday, August 29, 2008
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.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
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.
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.
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