[Videoconf] Fall and still groovin...

[Karen Warren]

Hello all, (apology for length in advance)

We are back* though some of us never left.  I am still on the bandwagon and determined that we are going to keep things rolling with our project.  Phil and co at the Clerc Center have actually made some progress.  The databases are starting to take shape.  Take a look at the following email from Phil.  Please note that this is still testing and not live yet because pieces aren't done.  I am excited about keeping the ball rolling and getting this info out to folks.

"The good news is that Sydney has been working on the databases behind the pages.  He has completed a registration form.  The test page is at:
http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/vcweb/test.asp, but it is not linked up to
the Web pages yet (http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/vcweb/).  If you go to the schools page (http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/vcweb/schools.aspx),
there is a search tool at the bottom so that you can search for information
on a given school or state.  Try it.  You'll have to scroll down to the
bottom to see the results - I'll be cleaning that up, too.  The results are
based upon the ones we have already entered from the variety of sources.  If you click on the school or the person's name, a small window opens.  We need to clean that up, but when it is fixed, it will give you more information on the school or contact person.

Sydney hopes to have something ready this week for us to announce to a
small number of folks to test out and make suggestions for improvements.
Assuming that goes well and there are not a lot of fixes, we can go live in
the middle to end of September."

Next are any of you attending or taking part in the Keystone Conference? http://www.keystoneconference.org I am planning on registering ASD as a site and in the process of determining which strands.  Are any of you going or taking part?

Also, I saw a post for proposals for NECC:  

Submit proposals to showcase interactive videoconferencing programs and projects at NECC 2005 now! Deadline is October 6.

This past summer the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), the world's largest K-12 educational technology conference, highlighted a special program emphasis on interactive videoconferencing (IVC) and its growing impact on the K-12 community.  www.neccsite.org 

School-based initiatives that have uniquely expanded IVC usage
beyond general course instruction and were engaging and motivating for
students.

The post is a lot longer, but I don't want to make this a novel. I feel like I want to be doing something to get us out there.  Does anyone think that this initiative that we are embarking on right now might be something we could present on?  Anyone have any thoughts on this?  I would be interested if anyone would like to think about it with me.  

Lastly, I was asked to be on a panel for an FCC symposium in October.  I am not sure of the name of it right now.  But the goal is to shed a more positive light on the e-rate by highlighting some of the successes and importance of broadband at the K-12 level.  I plan on including our work in this.  I also want to share the successes of other schools at our level.  This is an opportunity to talk about K-12 deaf education and how we are using technology.  I am open to thoughts of things to include.  Please let me know if there are things you would want shared.

Stay in touch everyone* let's keep it going.  And welcome back. :)

Karen