April 2007 — eLearning
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A Virtual Treasure Trove
The educational opportunities offered online can help students explore ancient Mayan ruins—or the reasons behind a poor essay grade.
TODAY IT’S POSSIBLE for you to:
- explore the British Museum, paying particular attention to the Egyptian exhibits
- ask the curator about the museum’s responsibilities to countries from which artifacts are acquired
- discuss with students from around the world their ideas about the provenance of relics
- write an essay expressing your opinion on the topic and have it graded instantaneously
When I say “today,” I mean
today you can do all that online—
the exploration, the Q and A, the
discussion, and the essay grading.
Our world has simultaneously
shrunk and expanded, and the
exchange of teaching and learning
can happen faster than ever
before.
Polycom is a major player in that world. Specialists in communication— integrating video, voice, data, and internet strategies to provide, among other things, videoconferencing for students, the company recently partnered with the Global Nomads Group (GNG), an international educational organization, to launch the Pulse program, a series of interactive videoconferences connecting high school students with each other and with subject experts.
David Macquart, the company’s director of communications, explains how it works: GNG sends out a mailing telling subscriber schools which topics are coming up. Interested schools sign up for an event. The company sends out preparatory material, then students participate in two videoconferences: one in which they discuss the designated topic with other high school students, and another in which they discuss the topic with experts.
A student moderates the conferences, taking questions from peers and voicing them through a microphone. GNG provides the issue, the content, and the material; Polycom provides the technology.
“The idea,” Macquart says, “is to use technology and videoconferencing to connect kids from different parts of the world. Collaboration and acknowledgment of other cultures is crucial.”
GNG has about 3,500 member schools, many in the rural Midwest. With the Pulse program, students have explored the ancient Jordanian city of Petra and the Mayan ruins of Copan in Honduras, and they’ve spoken directly with young people living in those areas. They’ve discussed HIV/AIDS and the war in Iraq, and they’ve experienced those issues through the eyes and ears of those most directly involved.
“If you scratch my skin,” says Russ Colbert, Polycom’s education market manager, “it’s gonna bleed education.” So he’s a big proponent, for example, of students around the country talking with Holocaust survivors, visiting Mount Rushmore, or strolling through the Los Angeles County Museum of Art—all online. As for the necessary technology, Colbert believes the hardware and software have become more integrated, less complex, and easier to use: “[Teachers] realize they don’t have to become technicians... to use the products easily.”
