Today, we connected two classrooms as one…for about twenty-five minutes. My fourth period students were so excited to be able to video conference with some of the fifth graders at Russell Elementary at the southern end of our school district. This opportunity for this collaboration stemmed from some engaging conversations that were had at the first EdCamp Cobb.
EdCamp Cobb was an “un-conference” back in October of 2014 where teachers around the Cobb County School District could gather, collaborate, and present on fun and innovative things going on within their classrooms. I took that opportunity to share what my students and I were doing with Genius Hour. From that, we were invited to video conference with a group of fifth graders who were also tackling the project themselves and offer some feedback.
Excitedly, we connected through Microsoft Lync and, after about ten minutes of playing around with the program and our tools, we were able to fully connect with video and audio functioning on both ends. The whole process was a learning one for all of us, but I know that my students and I will work via video conference once again.
-Ms. W.
