Welcome back to another
year of Kigluait programming! Ever year we are getting closer and
closer to bringing our vision of the "perfect" videoconference
into reality. This year, we'll be extending our award winning
programing through extensive use of Web 2.0 tools-
Facebook, Ning, Flikr,
Twitter, Teachertube,
Delicious... And the list is still growing! All with an eye to
providing teacher's the tools they need to extend their time with
us into meaningful, individualized, classroom experiences.
This past summer for us has been a full one! Lot’s of relaxing,
backpacking, camping, and canoeing has given us time to reflect
on education, learning, and how modern communication tools are
influencing those two things.
We have come away from all this pondering excited and energized
for the new year, and the many possibilities it holds!
We are thrilled that after six years of providing distance
education programs, our core beliefs in Standard Based Education,
Experiential Learning, and curriculum development based on
Wiggins and
Mctigh’s Backward Design methodology are still glaringly
apparent in all the materials we create and more relevant than
ever in today's educational environment. We won't be changing
that!
But we will be introducing a few new ideas to help teachers
incorporate our materials more fully into their yearlong
classroom planning!
First, each month we will be highlighting one of our three
videoconference themes: “Mushing”, “Survive!”, and “Gold Rush!”
We will start out each month with a set of webisode videos to set
the scene and give you the backstory to the videoconference. Then
we will be posting free extensional classroom activities that can
be done in conjunction with the webisodes. And finally, we will
bring it all together in a special end of the month live webcast.
All of the activities will be standards-based and highly flexible
to meet the Content-Standard objectives of individual classrooms
and grade levels. And, of course, participating in the 1hr
videoconference that correlates with the monthly theme, will be
the ultimate culminating event for the months activities!
Our goal, and hope, is that these additions to our programming
will help provide teachers the tools they need to integrate our
videoconference programs into the everyday curriculum of their
classrooms, providing a real life context to the student’s
education. And thru that, tap into the incredible learning power
of a self-motivated student!
(Edited by
Christina - original submission Tuesday, 22 September 2009,
11:42 AM)
