June, 2008
Volume 1, Issue 11
Take your pick: Facebook, Pownce, Twitter, Bebo, Vox . . .
by Laura Lefkowits
Choice is ubiquitous in our lives. From on-demand TV programs to music downloads to
“fast” gourmet restaurant chains that let customers build their ideal burrito, we like “having it our way.” Technology supports individualization and customization and, some worry, isolates us from one another. Now, however, through the rise of dozens of new voluntary communities, or social networks, technology is bringing us
together in unique ways.
Laura Lefkowits
(info@mcrel.org) is vicepresident for policy and
planning services at
McREL, Mid-Continent
Research for Education
and Learning.
Ask students about social networks, and they’ll tell you that wherever their geographic locale, they
are a mere breath away from each other on Facebook, regularly negotiate sales of everything
from video games to car parts on e-Bay, and of course, create their alter-egos on MySpace.
The participation and active contribution of users is what makes these networks powerful,
“purposeful communities.” My organization, the Denver-based Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) believes such communities can have a powerful effect on student
achievement in our 21st century schools. A purposeful community can develop and use all available assets to accomplish purposes that matter to all members. Members have agreed-upon processes and operating principles for working together. Purposeful communities exhibit a sense of collective efficacy; they really do believe that together they can make a difference.
Social networking sites share many of these characteristics. They are established for a specific purpose and depend on
users adhering to agreed-upon processes on behalf of the community’s interests. On Facebook (www.facebook.com), for
example, you may only view another’s “profile” if you have been “friended” by that person. The online classified advertising
site, Craig’s List (www.craigslist.org) allows users to “flag” posted items that they beQuote of the Month
lieve are outside the terms of use. Users themselves set the standards for infractions
and, over time, each virtual community develops its own set of operating
“Intellectuals solve problems;
principles to guide its online behavior.
geniuses prevent them.”
Perhaps the most powerful similarity between social networking and purposeful com- Albert Einstein
munities is the notion of collective efficacy. Writers Howard Rheingold and James Surowiecki coined the terms “smart mobs” and the “wisdom of crowds” respectively to
characterize the power inherent in online communities. One only has to look at the
Inside this issue
impact of the Internet on presidential campaign fundraising to understand the strength
inherent in a community of like-minded people joining together in a virtual world to
Take Your Pick
1
support a shared goal.
In its 2007 report, Creating & Connecting, the National School Boards Association
revealed that 96 percent of students with online access spend nearly as much time
using social networking technologies as watching television. Moreover, more than half
of the respondents indicated that they use social networking tools to talk about education and
collaborate on school projects; yet, associated interviews with district leaders revealed
that most K–12 school systems have strict rules against nearly all forms of online social networking at school. What’s wrong with this picture?
True purposeful communities are composed of students, parents, teachers, and many
others. Together, stakeholders’ contributions to school improvement strategies could
grow exponentially and virally in the same way one adds friends on Facebook. Imagine what the next generation of schools might look like when they are led by today’s
students whose lives are filled with choice and whose communities are inherently purposeful.
This article is adapted from one that originally appeared in the Winter 2008
issue of McREL’s Changing Schools (www.mcrel.org/topics/products/339).
Wimba Voice Tools
2
Online Schools and
Credit Recovery
2
Jim Hicks
4
KVHS Teacher-Of-The-Month
BAVEL Students’ Success
5
Blackboard Upgrade
5
eLearning KY
6
Volume 1, Issue 11
Wimba Voice Tools — Keys to online student engagement
Page 2
Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks Research Study Findings
•
•
•
Students in this Sloan Consortium study received a mixture of asynchronous audio and text-based feedback. Our findings revealed extremely high student satisfaction with embedded asynchronous audio feedback as compared to asynchronous text-only feedback. Four themes, which accounted for this preference, were culled out in an analysis of interview data:
•
Audio feedback was perceived to be more effective than text-based feedback for conveying nuance
Audio feedback was associated with feelings of increased involvement and enhanced learning community interactions
Audio feedback was associated with increased retention of content
Audio feedback was associated with the perception that the instructor cared more about the student. Document analysis
revealed that students were three times more likely to apply content for which audio commenting was provided in class
projects than was the case for content for which text-based commenting was provided. Audio commenting was also
found to significantly increase the level at which students applied such content. Read the entire article.
Wimba Tools—Engaging Students Online at KVHS
By Tresine Logsdon
The three Wimba Voice tools that I have used as an online instructor and professional development facilitator are Voice Email, Live Classroom and Pronto. This year I taught three Academy Biology (Academy denotes participation in Henry Clay
High School liberal arts magnet program) classes that included a hybrid component. In this hybrid course, I used voice email as reminders of project and assignment due dates and reminders of online class meetings. These voice e-mails were
in addition to posted announcements and e-mail, but the student reception of the voice e-mails were certainly more positive
than the traditional announcement and e-mail. I used the hybrid course a great deal in disseminating information to my students for a semester-long group project with Kentucky Green and Healthy Schools. Almost Tresine Logsdon also
works as an online facilitaall of the information disseminated for that project was in the form of a voice e-mail.
tor for eLearning Kentucky.
Also, I held a Live Classroom (LC) session the day before a unit exam. I hosted a live chat session earlier
in the semester, but many more students participated than I had expected and the text chat format was not
adequate for the number of students who wanted to participate. Therefore, I scheduled a Live Classroom. This worked beautifully.
Students raised their hands to ask questions and I was able to answer them even more effectively than if we had been in our traditional brick and mortar classroom. Student feedback from the LC exam review was extremely positive and there was a measurable
improvement on overall student performance on that exam.
Students especially appreciFor my AP Environmental Science class, I also used voice e-mail and Live Classroom. Similarly, to
ated the opportunity to hear
the hybrid course, I used voice e-mail to remind students of unit end dates. I also used voice e-mail to
each other’s voices and learn
respond to questions I received from individual students so that everyone could benefit from the anmore about their classmates.
swer. I held a LC for my APEX class the day before a unit exam to accomplish several goals: review
for the exam, answer general questions about the course and navigating BB, and as a meet-and-greet
for the 25 students from across the state in the class. This class had previously participated in an online text chat session, and the
response to the LC was overwhelmingly positive. Students especially appreciated the opportunity to hear each other’s voices and
learn more about their classmates. As expected, the LC in my online class served a critical purpose unique to the needs of online
students: community building.
As an online teacher and professional development facilitator, collaboration with my online colleagues is crucial. I have enjoyed utilizing Pronto as an online collaboration tool. Though I haven’t used it as much as I would have liked, it has proven to be a tool that allows me to immediately get answers to questions and bounce ideas off of other teachers.
I have plans to build on my usage of Wimba tools in the future. For my brick and mortar classes, I regularly invite guest speakers to
my classroom to relate the content we are learning to real-life situations and professions. If the guest speaker is well-informed of their
purpose and carefully chosen, this has proven to be an extremely successful teaching technique. I would very much like to extend
this to my online classes. My goal is to invite at least two guest speakers to my AP Environmental Science class next fall semester.
Students Use Wimba Voice Tools at Olmsted Academy
By Norka Padilla
Using Voice Tools with students provides opportunities to develop all language domains, both formally and informally, while
also addressing different learning styles and students’ needs. And research continues to demonstrate that students will read
more when on a computer, since it provides for authentic learning and engagement. Students at Olmsted Academy South,
a middle school in Louisville, use a variety of voice tools in their classroom; Pronto, an instant voice and text
Norka Padilla currently
serves as a Community of messenger, Podcaster and Voice Board all increase interaction. In live time online, the classroom teacher facilitates a book-study-style conversation about passages students are reading as students discuss challenging
Practice Coordinator for
questions which require higher order thinking. Students who are otherwise reluctant to participate in a tradieLearning Kentucky.
tional classroom discussion are more motivated to contribute as they use voice, icons, and text. They think it is
fun! While using Voice Board asynchronously to exchange thoughts and comments about content area material, students develop
their oral expression using academic language. Again, students who do not normally participate in a traditional classroom discussion
will actually practice their formal speaking skills more often before making a recording. Students have used Podcaster to showcase an
auditory production of their portfolio pieces to share with other teachers, students, and parents. A great example of authentic audience and further opportunity to develop written and oral language skills. These highly authentic 21st Century Learning Tools have
certainly engaged the students at Olmsted Academy.
Page 3
Volume 1, Issue
Wimba Tools Integration —Texas Style
Magnolia ISD in Magnolia, Texas, has been using Wimba Classroom for the past two
years. With the recent upgrade in Wimba services, particularly the integration of
Wimba modules into Moodle and other CMSs, the district has expanded its professional development offerings to include both live and archived Wimba sessions as
part of the course structure. The live sessions are designed to gather
Charlie Brown and, among
students together for spontaneous instruction, questions, and student
other things, I am the resident Wimba specialist for the interaction with instructor-led activities. The archived sessions provide
Magnolia Independent School the opportunity for review of essential training elements, much like a tutoDistrict.
rial. With either the live or archived session, assessment usually comes
through instant messaging, forum responses, uploaded documents, or e-mailed assignments. Considering
everyone's time constraints, Wimba adds a unique facet to our professional development courses while allowing flexibility for both
instructor and student.
Tips for Successful Synchronous Learning
Seung Youn (Yonnie) Chyung, Associate Professor, Boise State University
As a speaker or an instructor, you should have another computer next to you and log in as a (fake) participant, so you can
compare the two screens, and tell what the participants are seeing while you are presenting.
Rory Frey, Consultant Technical Training,The Hartford
Avoid phrases such as “notice this ”or “look here” and replace them with more descriptive phrases like “Notice the small blue
icon at the top of your screen ”or “Look at the third bullet regarding..”.These extra few words will paint a visual picture, and
help guide the learner to what you are describing.
Bradley Shoebottom, Information Architect, Innovatia
Count on the first session taking 15 minutes to kick off, especially if people are new to the technique. Build that time into the
first presentation. Also, have a technical person on standby to troubleshoot anything from the presenter's end.
Michele Largman, Instructional Designer
Make sure you constantly “check-in ”with your audience. Speak slowly and clearly. Don't use jargon, as your audience may
be international, and not understand your words.
Tracy Ross, Instructional Designer, Intel Corporation
• Encourage facilitators to use a production assistant. The assistant can field questions, help
with technical problems, and generally help keep the session on track.
• Facilitators should schedule practice sessions before their first live session, to make sure they
are very comfortable with the tools.
• Create a welcome slide to greet participants as they log in. It lets them know they are in the
right place, and sets the tone for the session. If you have a “slideshow” option (such as the one
in LiveMeeting 2007), create a three- or four-slide welcome deck to rotate as participants log
in. Share instructor information and photo, a couple of “Did you know?” facts about the session
topic, or other relevant info.
• Facilitators should log in at least 10 to 15 minutes before the session, to load documents, test
that all is working properly, and greet participants as they join.
Excerpt with permission from eLearning Guild:
144 Tips on Synchronous e-Learning Strategy + Research
Another eLearning Guild resource:
The eLearning Guild’s Handbook on Synchronous e-Learning
Online Schools Widen Options for Credit Recovery Students
Susan D. Patrick, president and chief executive officer of the North American Council for Online Learning,
states that online courses are filling the growing need for credit recovery, according to Education Week’s
May 19,2008 article, Online Options Widen for Credit Recovery. Ms Patrick also shared that the group
is preparing a white paper on “promising practices” in credit recovery that it plans to publish this year. Virtual schools and curriculum providers like Plato and Apex, provide the majority of credit recovery offerings.
KVHS offers a credit recovery program. The flexibility of its online courses allows students to focus on the
content not mastered, yet is easily adapted to local school policies for credit recovery. Read the entire article.
Volume 1, Issue 11
Page 4
KVHS Teacher of the Month
KVHS Faculty Earns Honor
After having served as an educator and guidance counselor for a total of 32 years, Jim Hicks, when thinking about retiring
relates that “I really didn’t want to quit teaching. I wanted to be involved in some way in education. So I looked around and I
ran across the job posting on the KDE site for Kentucky Virtual Schools and applied. “ He was so excited about his new
opportunity that he actually attended the KVHS Teacher Retreat that year, even though he couldn’t yet work due to the 90day sabbatical that the retirement system requires.
Regarding his work at KVHS, Jim states, “It’s really been great for me because it was just the kind of thing that I
Jim Hicks facilitates
and develops opportu- was looking for.” During one of the Teacher Retreat discussions last year about online learning, blended learnnities for KVHS blended ing was mentioned. It was the first time he had heard of blended learning and he explains that “I had been
and hybrid learning.
thinking about having students mentored more closely by teachers on the internet. I mentioned the fact that
there were several teachers interested in increasing their use of technology in the classroom, but one teacher
in particular was interested in using more technology in 6th grade math. That’s when Jennifer brought me information about a sevencounty project and a copy of its grant. So, in addition to teaching for KVHS, I was recruited to work with promoting the hybrid/
blended work in Kentucky. Now I try to promote blended learning every chance I get. When you talk about it with people, it develops
interest and they spread the word.”
While working at KYVS, Jim has identified one important professional benefit that comes from teaching online — learning to communicate with students in a different way. “I had developed abilities to communicate in specific ways in the (physical) classroom. As a
counselor, I developed another set of communication skills. When you get into online learning, there is another set of skills you have
to learn. I was growing and learning new things, which really excited me –especially since the skills involved technology.”
He feels his new skills with Wimba Voice Tools is enhancing the online experience--for both teachers and students. Because of this,
Jim has set the goal to grow in proficiency and increase his usage of Wimba’s communication tools. With the expense of travel today, Jim sees that there is a lot that can be done online with teachers. In addition, his use of these tools models what he wants to
see teachers doing. A successful implementation this year was using Voice Email. “At certain times during this school year, I sent
morning voice emails. That way, the work is always at the top of the kids’ mind. It can be as simple as, ‘Good morning, I hope you
are getting off to a good start today. If you have any questions, make sure you email me back!’-- anything to show you are thinking
about them and that you care about what they are doing.” He adds that all of his students really liked receiving voice emails. One
student said it was really nice to hear the “voice in the morning.”, adding that the voice email got him (the student) going a little more
than just reading one. Next year, Jim wants 90% of his email to be in the audio format.
Online learning has also impacted the lives of Jim’s students. He describes the following experience: “I recently received an email
from a BAVEL student who had really done well in my biology course. I kept encouraging her during the course and she progressed
very nicely. In the email, she told me that she is going to enroll in a community college next year. What’s interesting in this case is
that the Kentucky Virtual High School was the only school she attended for two years. I wrote
her back and told her that she had a lot of courage for not having been in a (face-to-face)
One student said it was really nice to
school for two years and I told her she would do quite well. She may even be more successhear the “voice in the morning.”, adding
that the voice email got the student
ful at the community college because of her experience in a virtual school. So many of the
going a little more than just reading one.
community colleges are now using hybrid and online courses. Therefore, she’s had a lot of
experiences that she really needs. And, by being able to complete these online courses,
she’s developed a lot of skills, like self-reliance and self-esteem.”
Another encouraging experience comes from Kenton County Success Academy. Jim recalls, “ It wasn’t so much our courses, per
se, but the academy itself helped this student develop the self-discipline needed in order to be successful. If these resources hadn’t
been available to these two kids, they might have been lost. These may only be two kids, but these are two more that have been
successful.”
Regarding strategies Jim has used in his online classroom, he relates, “One strategy I’ve used to help my students be successful is
providing the supplemental materials that may not be in the content of the course. I tend to see the areas of information that might
be helpful in learning new content due to my previous 32 years of experience in the classroom. I usually provide this information by
typing up one or two pages explaining the background knowledge necessary. Then, I share it as an attached document in an email
with the entire classroom.”
Another successful strategy he uses is promoting student discussion and, based on this discussion, allowing students to generate
project ideas. One such project came from our discussion board forum on conservation. Jim states that “after lengthy discussion,
we brainstormed ideas for conservation activities and the benefits of implementing these. The resulting project wasn’t offered as an
extra credit grade, but as part of the discussion. Students could actually implement their conservation ideas and share photos of
their work in the discussion board. The first student to send me photos of her work was the same student who wrote me to say she
is going to a community college. She had planted trees and shrubs around their house. Afterwards, the Kenton County Success
Academy picked up this activity and the students still have the photographs of their work posted in their school.”
Jim, we applaud you for such innovative work with students and teachers in and outside of the virtual classroom and congratulate
you for being our KVHS Teacher of the Month.
Volume 1, Issue 11
Page 5
BAVEL Students Shine thanks to Barren Academy and KVHS
By Amanda Wright
KVHS Calendar
June 10 (optional date), 11 & 12
(required dates)—Summer Retreat
at General Butler State Park (for
KVHS Online teachers).
June 13—Last day to drop summer
course with no fee
June 30—Fall registration and MJY
fall scholarship application closes
August 1—Summer Session
closes
August 7—Beginning of Fall Semester Wimba Webinar
August 11—Fall Semester Begins
August 29—Last day to drop Fall
courses with no fee
October 1—Spring 09 registration
opens
October 17—Midterm Fall 08 semester
October 24—Midterm grades due
from instructors
October 30—Midterm Wimba Webinar
December 12—Spring registration
closes
December 18—Spring 09 Wimba
Webinar
January 5—Spring Semester begins.
The Kentucky Virtual Schools provide more than curriculum, they provide opportunities. We here at the Barren Academy of Virtual and Expanded Learning
(BAVEL) have partnered with KYVS to allow students the opportunity to access
high level curriculum in an alternate environment. Our students work from home
via the Internet to complete high school requirements through KYVS. Because
of the flexibility online learning provides, these students can do their work 24
hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere in the world. This has
Amanda Wright curopened the door for endless opportunities.
rently serves as Barren Academy Director.
One opportunity presented itself in the form of a two-month modeling
contract to a sophomore student in Northern Kentucky last year. She faced a dilemma:
continue attending her brick and mortar school with her friends and turn down the contract
or work online and travel the world. She chose option B. Since then, she’s
been able to model professionally in Miami, Florida; Milan, Italy and Los Angeles, California. By working online while starting her career, she has
been able to grow as a student, learning responsibility, selfmotivation and time management. In addition to these traits, she’s
grown into a person who is culturally aware and polished in business communication. This is one opportunity that I’m sure she’d
say she’s glad she accepted.
This 2007 BAVEL graduate had troubles
being successful in a large classroom atmosphere and transferred to BAVEL for the
last two years of her high school career. She’s since transitioned into the workforce and is looking to enroll in college.
This BAVEL student was
featured on the cover of
this Italian magazine.
Closer to home, KYVS
can still be found providing opportunities. A senior came into my office at
the beginning of the year looking for a way to help
and support her family. Her mom had recently been
re-diagnosed with breast cancer. She needed to be
able to stay at home and take care of the every day chores her mom would no longer be
able to do. And more than that, she wanted to take advantage of the precious time they
were no longer guaranteed. Working online provided her this opportunity that couldn’t be
found in the traditional high school.
There are 68 other opportunities that KYVS provided for my students this year. Each one is
unique and each one is irreplaceable. I look forward to next year as I watch more and more
opportunities present themselves and more and more students achieve success because of
this alternate environment we’ve created in the virtual world.
Blackboard Upgrade!
Kentucky Virtual High School upgraded to Version 8 with built-in Web 2.0 tools, on May 29,
2008. This means improved services for both
teachers and students due to the following features:
•
Self-Assessment and
Peer Assessment Tools— for
building critical thinking skills
through peer and self-analysis.
•
Scholar—a social bookmarking tool for sharing research findings
to all Blackboard members.
•
SafeAssign—a plagiarism detection tool.
•
A new and improved Grade Center with the ability to:
1. “Freeze” important columns in order to make them always visible.
2. Customize the Grade Center with “Smart Views”.
3. Enter grades and comments directly from the grading grid.
4. Establish grading periods.
5. Email students, parents or counselors from the Grade Center.
6. Manage most grading functions from the grading grid.
7. Share progress reports with teacher’s comments.
An in-depth training of KVHS teachers will be part of the June 10-12 KVHS Teacher Academy. Don’t miss it!
Page 6
Volume 1, Issue 11
How Are You Communicating?
By Anne Robbins
As you facilitate or teach an online course, do you ever form mental images
eLearning KY Calendar
of your participants or students? You’ve gotten that mental image because
of the way they have communicated—with words. You’ve never seen their June 5, 2008
eyes; you’ve never noticed hand gestures or body language;
Registration for 08 Summer online
you’ve never listened to voice tone or quality. Yet you do have •
Anne serves as the Asst.
PD courses ends.
Manager, e-Learning KY.
a mental image of everyone in your course. I’ll bet you don’t
and is Co- Director and
picture any two of your participants or students in the same
Outreach Coordinator of
•
Fayette County Technology Integraway. They have a mental image of you as well. An image crethe Bluegrass Writing
tion Specialist Conference: Edith
Project at the University of ated from the words you’ve typed in emails or discussion
Hayes Elementary School. Regisboards or announcements or perhaps phone conversations.
Kentucky.
ter online.
It’s an image full of language but void of body language, gestures or eye contact.
June 11-13, 2008 -- KYSTE Conference, registration required.
For a minute, ponder the power of the written word. It’s the only way you can communicate in our online world. You don’t have that “one picture worth a thousand words”—
June 11-12, 2008 - FREE LERN Online
only those thousand words. This presents challenges for online teachers and facilitaConference, Fostering Online Discustors. You want to build community. You want to see everyone complete the course. You sion. Register with Jenni Keith.
want everyone to do well in spite of their vast ranges of abilities and work habits. How
can you present your online self so you don’t sound like a robot or exactly like their last July 16-17, 2008 -- KET Multimedia
facilitator or teacher? How can your personality come alive with just your words? One
Training, select one day only, first come,
thing that works for me is to visualize readers as if I were having a conversation with
first served.
them. And in your case, because your participants or students are so diverse, perhaps
picture a small group of them sitting in a room listening to you. Be sure your group inJune 18, 2008 — 08 Summer PD
cludes a variety of types of people in your class in your imaginary room.
courses begin.
July 22-24, 2008 -- eLearning KY PD
Once you’ve got this mental picture, THINK BEFORE YOU TYPE. Sometimes it may
be tempting to be sarcastic or attempt humor when answering an email. You mean it in Providers Summer Retreat, Blue Licks
Battlefield. Registration required.
a light vein, but if your readers have had a bad day or are computer-challenged, they
may not see the humor. If they have asked a question that you’re sure you’ve answered
at least three times and you respond curtly, they may be offended. Because three people have not understood your earlier communication, it may be tempting to dash off a new announcement or email before you run to the grocery. Resist that temptation and think
how your WORDS will sound without your body language or laughter. And think about how those words will be received by teachers
or students across the state in a myriad of situations.
When in doubt, WAIT. How many of you have dashed off an email in haste, sent it, and later regretted it? Whether it’s full of typos or
you told the principal exactly what you thought of his/her decision (let alone him or her!) and later had second thoughts, you’re very
sorry. So the next day or later you have to make amends. What could have prevented this hasty missive? One suggestion is to dash it
off, then SAVE it, sleep on it, re-read it the next day as you picture your imaginary group of participants or students listening to you. If
it still seems appropriate, THEN send it.
SHARE IT. Does it seem like no matter how carefully you craft an email or announcement at least half the class has to ask about a
dozen questions? You know what you’ve tried to say, but somehow they’re not receiving the information. It might be helpful if you get
a friend or spouse to read your email or announcement and say back what they’ve read. It will take a little longer initially, but in the
long run, may cut down on the number of follow up questions you have to answer.
Who Knew Video Could be so Easy!
By Jenni Keith
e-Learning Kentucky recently acquired several new toys....Flip Videos. The Flip VideoT, a new line of digital camcorders designed to revolutionize how everyday consumers shoot and share video is a simple and affordable device with
an ultra-portable design and easy video capture and editing. Flip Video camcorders capture life's spontaneous moments, no matter where or when they occur. The camcorder retails at $119.99 for the 30-minute model and $149.99
for the 60-minute model.
These camcorders are so easy to use that any designer or facilitator can create video snippets for their courses and
easily upload quality video to enhance their courses. We're looking forward to the results of using this new tool in support of our professional development courses!
Volume 1, Issue 5
Page 7
Video Capture of ASL Interpreting in the Classroom for use in KVS Online PD
By Robyn Hobson
When I came on board with KDE almost three years ago, Bob Fortney approached both me and Wilton McMillan
about joining his team of KVS course facilitators and eventually course designers. This struck a chord with me
immediately for a variety of reasons. First of all, when I was first introduced to American Sign Language (ASL), I
was studying computer information systems so I already had a little bit of ‘teckie’ in me. I took ASL as an elective and soon found myself immersed in the deaf world, which led to interpreting, and the rest is history. Secondly, deafness is a low incidence disability. This means that professional K-12 interpreters work in isolation
without others in the field readily accessible to challenge and support them professionally.
Robyn Hobson is an
Educational Interpreter
Consultant, at KDE.
As a solution to this problem, KDE provides significant funding for ongoing training to interpreters in the
state. But one of my goals here at KDE has been to create an online course for educational interpreters. I
believe the online environment can provide much more access to training opportunities for those interpreters who might see one workshop a year, two if they are lucky, within a 150-mile radius of their home. The pinnacle of this possibility
was solidified by the ability to provide video within these courses because that is what it’s all about with deafness. If it’s visual, it
works. ASL videos embedded within the content could open up a world of training opportunities for interpreters – and right from
their homes. This course I’m working on is unique in that we want the participants to actually “see inside a classroom” and to be
able to overlay the ASL signing with the interpretation process as it allows students and teachers to communicate.
As I’ve moved through the process of learning to facilitate and subsequently design courses, I have reached the turning point by
getting knee deep into the video part of designing this interpreter curriculum. Originally, I met with the KDE Video team, and they
had the challenge of helping me to make a solid plan to carry out what I envisioned being the ‘meat’ of this course. I saw the videotaping being free form and letting it guide the content. However, I learned from the video crew that
having a plan of action based on the content would significantly guide the process to ensure the
“...the online environment
goals are accomplished and we didn’t end up with a lot of ‘film on the editing floor.’ I took this back to can provide much more
the course design team, and as the content we were developing began to take shape, we were able
access to training opporto sift out the main points that we were trying to capture on video.
tunities for those interpreters who might see
The nuts and bolts of the video shoot entailed contacting the principal, scheduling time with the
one workshop a year.”
teachers, obtaining permission forms from students’ parents and coordinating which classes would fit
into a filming day. Also since it is important for interpreters to see lesson plans and readings pertaining to class beforehand in order to interpret the information accurately to the students, I also coordinated between the acting interpreter and the usual classroom interpreter. Once we were on site, the camera crew worked their magic. They set up two different
cameras in each classroom so that we could have the interpreter and teacher on one screen and the student on the other screen so
that the signing of both the students and interpreters was visible. This way the course participants can see the dynamics of the
classroom from each person’s perspective. At one point, the teacher took the class outside to plant flowers as a part of a science
lesson. Clint Goins and Becky Newton-Embry didn’t miss a beat as they swiftly unhooked the cameras from the tripods, set them
on their shoulders and followed the class outside.
We were able to capture a variety of situations with interpreters, different deaf and hard of hearing students, different teaching
styles and informal cameos with the teachers as they experienced working with this population of students and their interpreters.
Classroom videotaping was followed by Day 2 where we had ASL signing teachers and teachers who are deaf themselves signing
stories and talking with their students. We continued with the two camera style of shoot, one focusing on the group of students and
the other focusing on the teacher. This will be used within the course to show the comparison of a fully ASL classroom as compared with an environment of inclusion with deaf and hard of hearing students. And showing both the interpreter and the students is
critical in classroom situations with interpreters and deaf students.
At this point, my task is to review the two days’ video, times two considering the dual perspectives necessary for this course content. Once they are edited and embedded, they will be the true foundation for participants’ learning of the content. I look forward to
seeing our videos and ultimately the final product loaded into the KYVS Educational Interpreter Course. See you online!