Horizon Project 2008, a Beginning of a Chapter February 8, 2008
Posted by Steve in hz08.Tags: hz08
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February 7, 2008 saw me getting up early and participating in the initial online conference that had to do with the Horizon Project 2008. Interested people were from such places as Austria, Spain, Melbourne, Qatar and of course North America. The effort that Julie Lindsay and Vickie Davis have put in and will be putting in is amazing.
We used the video conferencing software Elluminate that seemed to easily cope with the 20 odd participants. The audio was very clear from all participants (which indicated they had the proper headsets with microphones). Julie and Vickie easily co-presented the initial session and Alan Levine, a contributor to the Horizon Project 2008 document gave an impromptu speech. It was quite seamless. I have severe doubts that I could handle moderating an Elluminate session and read the back channel at the same time. These people are obviously very experienced in participating in audio events.
An approximate timeline:
- March: research component, pre-project survey to be given, front loading anticipated
- April: teams allocated, wiki introduced, perhaps videos to watch, keynote speech given
- May: complete video, resourcing, summits, post-survey, post-project reflections
Specific websites that relate to the Horizon Project 2008 include:
- http://horizonproject2008.ning.com/
- http://horizonproject2008.wikispaces.com/
- groups.google.com site which will be used privately just for involved educationalists.
I have bitten the bullet and have volunteered a mixture of Year 8 - 11 students to participate. I expect 10 - 15 students to be involved. We will have our first meeting during Week 3 of our new school year. The school certainly has the video editing facilities. We need to tap into the expertise of one or two staff members in regards to planning storyboards and video angle shots. I am fine with the technical aspects but not so good with the creative side of things.
I am looking forward to all the challenges and the learning experiences that will take place with both my students and myself.
I can see that if the momentum is established and a number of guest speakers are used, “mass collaborations will change everything.”
The following is a tagging standard — you can add examples of your own using delicious.
2008 tagged items http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08
- Grassroots Video http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08+video
- Collaboration Webs http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08+virtualcollab
- Mobile Broadband http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08+mobile
- Data Mashups http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08+mashups
- Collective Intelligence http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08+collectiveintelligence
- Social Operating Systems http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08+socialos
Hello Steve,
We’re very pleased that Vicki and Julie are using Elluminate Live! for their projects. The New Horizon and Flat Classroom initiatives are just great!
Regarding your hesitation about acting as moderator: it can take a little getting used to, but you’d be surprised how quickly you can become comfortable. One piece of advice is to have one moderator facilitating the session while someone else manages the chat.
If you’d like your own personal online meeting room to experiment with, there’s Elluminate vRoom, which is free for up to three users at a time. Visit http://www.getvroom.com. Elluminate also has recorded training that can get you up to speed at http://www.elluminate.com/support/training/.
Keep on elluminating!
- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication