Video Fellowship

Video Fellowship

What is a fellowship?
A fellowship is an extended curricular opportunity for teachers to explore new instructional practices, methodologies, and/or technologies to enhance teaching and learning. The purpose of the fellowship is to select instructional pioneers whose research and development work will pave the way for easy future implementation for all staff. The fellowship will provide a stipend for project time outside the regular school day and during the summer. Each of the fellowships is part of a research and development effort to explore concepts in the strategic plan.

What exactly is the video fellowship?
There are two primary goals for this fellowship program:

Learn to use the district video conferencing capabilities and find the best strategies for integrating it into your classroom curriculum.
Learn to use the districts video distribution system and find the best strategies for integrating this technology into your classroom curriculum.

How many teachers will be selected for the web page fellowship?
In total, four classroom teachers will be selected. One will be selected from each Intermediate School and Junior High School. We will also be trying to select 2 teachers that will focus on the science curriculum and 2 teachers who will focus on the social studies curriculum.

Can anyone apply?
Because the specific equipment needs, the curriculum areas that we are focusing on, and access from 4-8 buildings only, this program will be limited to teachers who meet all three of the following requirements….

Must be a Pilot '96 or Pilot '97 teachers
Must be a science or social studies teacher
Must be located in an Intermediate or Junior High School

Will I receive any equipment for my classroom?
There will be no computers given out for this program that go directly to the classroom. However, your classroom will have access to the video conferencing unit (known as a VaN). Currently, our district only has four of these VaN's and you'll be the first to experiment with them in your classroom!

Will I receive any additional training?
Yes, there will be many opportunities for additional training for the fellowship participants.

What are the incentives for becoming a part of the fellowship program?
A $2000 stipend will be paid to each participant.

Is this paid in one lump sum? Spread over time?
It will be paid in four $500 installments: March 1, 1999; June 30, 1999; December 1, 1999; May 1, 2000.

How do I apply?
Attend an optional informational meeting held at Washington Intermediate School Auditorium on November 16 at 3:30 PM to receive full information and meet with a project director. Send the on-line application by November 25.

When does the program start?
Participants will be selected by December 18 and project work will begin the second semester of the 1998-99 school year.

How long will it last?
The video fellowship will last from January, 1999 and continue through the spring of 2000.

Can I sign up for just one semester?
No, we are looking for teachers who will commit to an effort of integrating the video products into their curriculum through out the entire fellowship.

Are there any specific dates for training?
At this time, there are no specific training dates set. Since there will only be 4 fellowship participants working on this topic, we will let those individuals get together to set the dates for training.

Are there any specific dates for the summer work?
The work that will need to be done during the summer session is mostly individual work. Therefore, we will let each individual create their own summer work schedule that best meets their own schedule.

What specific objectives need to be completed?
The following tables outline the specific objectives to be completed during each semester.

Spring 1999

The focus for this semester is video conferencing and will require the following objectives…

#1 Attend a half-day release training on operating the Video Access Node (VaN) which is used for video conferencing.

#2 Develop 2 activities that utilize the video conferencing system into your classroom curriculum.

#3 Develop ‘cheat’ sheets to be used for training others in operating the video conferencing system.

#4 Participate in 1 site visitor day.

#5 Develop a list of strategies for how video conferencing can be used in the classroom.

Summer 1999

During the summer, attention will focus on collecting, organizing, and recording video clips to the network.

#1 Attend a half-day release training on digitizing video to the server.

#2 Preview, select, and record 50 hours of video on to the network

Fall 1999

This semester you will continue to work with video conferencing and will be adding video distribution.

#1 Attend 1 after-school training session related to video distribution

#2 Participate in 2 site visitors days. Your responsibility will include opening your classroom to visitors for approximately 20 minutes while you have your students engaged in an activity that involves either video conferencing or video distribution.

#3 Develop 6 activities that integrate video conferencing into your classroom curriculum.

#4 Develop 8 activities that integrate video distribution into your classroom curriculum.

#5 Preview, select, and record 5 hours of video onto the video distribution system from the classroom.

#6 Develop a list of strategies for how video distribution can be used in the classroom.

#7 Develop ‘cheat’ sheets to be used for training others in using the video distribution system in the classroom.

Spring 2000

During this semester the focus will continue on conferencing and distribution as well as training for other teachers.

#1 Participate in 2 site visitors days. Your responsibility will include opening your classroom to visitors for approximately 20 minutes while you have your students engaged into an activity that involves either video conferencing or video distribution.

#2 Train other pilot program teachers in using both video conferencing and video distribution, utilizing the "cheat sheets" developed in previous semesters.