Selecting Staff
Selecting the right staff is as important in instructional videoconferencing as in any other school activity involving students. There are aspects of recruitment, qualifications, motivation, and skills. Video-based instruction is not merely taking a picture of a good teacher teaching. Some categories to remember:
Motivation: The video camera has a way of magnifying body language. Do not choose a person who is not already highly motivated to teach and shows it.
Interest/Enthusiasm: Find individuals who have an interest in, and lack fear of, technology, and are willing to learn. However, a person enamored of technology for its own sake is not necessarily the right choice.
Background: Teaching experience and subject expertise are necessary.
Work Ethic: Initial experiences in videoconferencing, like other technologies, require extra work.
Acceptance of Change: The most effective use of videoconferencing requires change in style, procedures, and instructional design.
Self Confidence: Especially in course delivery applications, a teacher needs to feel confident in their skills without the physical presence of students in the same room.
Enlistment: Many teachers with appropriate characteristics might still need to be convinced.
Role Definition: A comprehensive videoconferencing implementation creates new roles, not only because of the technology but also because of distributed learning sites and new instructional designs. (See Role Definition section--will open in a separate browser window.)
Anne McGlone Teacher on Special Assignment, Kent, WA and Cathy Dormaier Elementary Principal, Kent, WA
Kathy Weeres Teacher, Butte, MT and Scott Buswell, Manager of Technology, Montana Office of Public Instruction
Some observations on these issues from experienced users:
McGlone, Teacher: "What we noticed in the past is you first need a teacher that's willing to take a risk. Once they do that in the building and they are actually participating in a videoconference project, their enthusiasm as well as the students' enthusiasm is going to spread and encourage the other teachers to explore and take part in this. So, I think what's going to help it catch on is other teachers using it and telling their story and sharing that with other teachers. It's almost like when e-mail first came, many people were afraid of it and weren't sure they needed this communication tool. But as soon as they heard other people talking about what they were receiving in their e-mail projects or doing with e-mail, then they knew it was something they needed for their classroom."
Dormaier: "I think that probably the key piece is getting staff who are willing to learn, understanding that they are from one end of the spectrum to the other in terms of their knowledge, skills and ability. Always support them, encourage them and provide support for them in terms of staffing and classes."
Chris Anderson, Technology Coordinator, Kent, WA: "The obstacles to staff participation are, number 1, they are already overwhelmed, and number 2, it's perception. Unless they actually see how easy it is to do one of these, once the unit is connected to either another site or multi-point site, it's kind of slow getting people excited about it."
Weeres, Teacher: "I think the whole school was very excited about that technology. Lots of teachers and classes that had projects that they were working on at the same time had visions of what you could do with this. It wasn't hard to sell other teachers on using the technology, especially when you see kids enjoying what they're doing and talking about it. Pretty soon it's kind of like a contagious bug, it catches on pretty fast. I know every time we do something that we are a little afraid of, sometimes it's best just to try and see if it works, and to realize that we're all in this job of education together. I think helping each other is a real key to succeeding and making our children succeed."
Buswell, Manager of Technology: "There's reluctance on many peoples' part to be on TV. They don't like being on the monitor. Even when I leave the system up in our conference room or here in my office and the TV camera is always on, they walk in and they're very self-conscious. You'll notice as they come in and stand in your office, they'll back up and get out of the camera's view. I think that's one important thing, that you have that comfort level in and around the cameras."