May 2005 — Applications
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RACOL Project Delivers Distance Education to Rural Alberta Schools Through Videoconferencing
Now, each classroom has a Rear Projection SMART Board 3000i interactive whiteboard, Panasonic spilt-screen TVs, an Elmo 4400AF visual presenter document camera, audio cancellation units, and an innovative feedback system that allows students to indicate their status to other locations. This feedback system includes two buttons on every student’s desk. The first allows students to signal that they want to ask a question and adds them to a queue. The second sends an “I’m Lost” message so the instructor knows which students need help. All of the stations have integrated microphones, while video cameras around the room use the input from the audio system to focus on wh'ever in the class is speaking. Students can participate in the lessons by using the whiteboards to write in digital ink over multimedia elements and streaming video, all of which are broadcast to remote locations. In addition, any portion of a lesson can be recorded, saved or posted to the Internet for review.
Training the teachers to become effective educators in this new environment became the responsibility of David Geelan, the RACOL professional development coordinator. “One of the interesting challenges in delivering content over the RACOL system is that a teacher will have a small classroom of students in addition to the ones connected by videoconference,” says Geelan. “From the student perspective...[it] should feel like [they’re] in the same class.”
Developing a relationship between teachers and students was one way to ensure the project got off to a good start. Before the school year, all teachers and students using the system gathered in a central location to meet face-to-face. During this time, teachers were trained to develop theatrical skills by talking to the camera in order to practice projecting their image across distance. Also, throughout the school year, students were encouraged to form work groups with their peers in other locations, rather than with the ones sitting next to them.
One of the priorities for the design team was to secure broadcast-quality video transmissions so that students and teachers could see facial expressions. Geelan notes that they “wanted the interface to be humans teaching humans, and being able to see facial expressions from the people you interact with is what makes the project work.”
The RACOL project has graduated from a pilot project to the main method of education delivery for high school students in FVSD. Teachers using the system have also noted some interesting changes in their teaching styles since the program went online.
Plans are now in place to grant access to the classrooms outside of normal school hours so that community members can take postsecondary courses and professional training via distance education. The researchers who followed the project have also learned a great deal about distance education and the benefits of implementing technology solutions.
Most importantly, students in the district are now enjoying the same range of advanced science and math courses that are offered throughout the province.
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