December 2006 — Features
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2006 Innovators
:: BEYOND BOUNDARIES
Innovators: Craig Paulson and Jason Kopp,
Cambridge-Isanti High School (MN)
Breakthrough: Distance learning
Getting on board the internet2 movement has allowed Cambridge-Isanti High School in Minnesota to extend its education globally, regularly inserting its educators and students in discussions, virtual field trips, and case studies around the world.
“IP [internet protocol] video is quickly becoming an exciting new vehicle for distance learning,” says CIHS former Principal Craig Paulson, who left the school at the end of 2005-2006 to become the director of the doctorate program in educational administration at Bethel University, about an hour’s drive from CIHS. “The implication of the world becoming ‘flat’ is that interactions among educators around the world are becoming increasingly important. Educators are finding that their colleagues and students are international rather than just local.”
NO LIMITS Via IP video,
CIHS students engage in
activities around the world.
CIHS had previously used two-way interactive cable television and other two-way communication processes to create educational opportunities within its region, but a forward-thinking group of administrators set out to extend those learning experiences worldwide through the implementation of internet2 and IP video. The high school’s regional cable consortium, East Central Minnesota Cable Consortium, equipped CIHS with a Polycom ViewStation FX for its initial connections. But the school soon found its network infrastructure was inadequate for ongoing connections, which led to a full-scale upgrade of its backbone with new Cisco switches and a shared 100- megabyte connection to the internet. Since then, CIHS has purchased several Polycom videoconferencing cameras and has made IP videoconferencing over internet2 a regular part of many of its courses, extending the partnerships of CIHS globally.
“The use of IP video to expand a network of global partners takes a team of leaders,” Paulson says, “especially a technician and a facilitator.” He credits CIHS Technology Coordinator Jason Kopp for filling those roles. From his new post at Bethel, Paulson has worked with Kopp to continue creating IP partnerships for CIHS. One example of a cooperative, global educational experience developed by the two institutions brought Bethel science education majors together with science teachers at CIHS and Taikyu High School, CIHS’s sister school in Wakayama, Japan, to discuss current science-teaching practices. CIHS and Taikyu students also meet regularly via internet2 to discuss world events and how they relate to their respective country and culture. Additionally, Kopp facilitated a partnership between CIHS and Mary Mei, a high school teacher in Taiwan, which consequently linked Mei’s school with Bethel University.
These kinds of partnerships have created extraordinary educational opportunities for CIHS students. They observed a live open-heart surgery in Rhode Island and were able to ask the surgeon questions before, during, and after the operation.
CIHS personnel worked with the Minnesota National Guard to set up a live discussion with local troops in Afghanistan, as well as a dialogue between students enrolled in the school’s World Affairs course and an Afghan-Canadian national and his family in Kurat, Afghanistan. Meanwhile, CIHS teachers have used videoconferencing to “travel” to such places as the Buffalo Zoo in New York and the Oceanic Institute in San Diego, CA. They even linked up with Norvik, a remote village in Alaska, to discuss environmental impacts on its geography.
“Each connection in which we participate with others around the world creates a positive impact on our students’ learning,” says Paulson. “The only things necessary to create these global connections are creativity and a willingness to extend the classroom outside the traditional walls of the school building.”
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