Subscribers Respond Videoconferencing Icebreaker Question from Eric in Hawaii:

* Kirk deFord, Northwest Education Technology Consortium, Portland, OR responded: Eric, your Open House sounds like a great way to introduce the Videoconferencing system. I have lots of ideas from working with K-12 with the Digital Bridges Project CLICK: http://www.netc.org/digitalbridges You will find many ideas for vc use at this Web site, and you can order the two videotapes (27 minutes each, one for teachers, and the other for decision makers) online at the Ordering link. Call me at: 800-547-6339 email: defordk@nwrel.org

* Dr. Diana Muir Intelligent Education, Inc. Atlanta, GA said: 1) Have them design their idea of a 'fun' interactive course which can demonstrate some of the features of the island. Having lived in Hawaii for several years, my children's favorite was the 'rock that spits' (the blowhole on the east side) the weekend swap meet at Aloha stadium and the rock beach up on the north side before you get to the pipeline. Or you might try the falls. 2) Issue a video cam recorder to each group, assign them a fun spot and have them come up with some creative ways of demonstrating how to navigate some of the spots. You could browse the swap meet for technological treasures, decide how to harness the blowhole for energy power to run a computer, or how to correctly use a boogie board. Fun and something they can learn from and take home. (CLICK: http://www.intelligented.com/

* From Robert Penaloza, Learning Innovations, Madison, WI: How about asking each person to answer the question. "What do you do while masquerading as a responsible adult?" ;-) (penaloza@learn.uwsa.edu)

* From Yanbo in China: Aloha, A successful conference has two characteristics: sharing and arguing. Here I provide some icebreakers: 1) What are your original imaginations before experiencing the technology themselves? Are their any differences after they have experienced it? 2) What positive or negative influences will take place to teachers and students? Why? (yb2125@china.com)

One subscriber who saw my response to Eric, discovered that there was n community college near her doing videoconferencing that she had not been unaware of:

* L. Heidi Primo wrote: I am teacher and a graduate master's degree student in the George Washington University Educational Technology Leadership program living in Hilo, Hawaii. I was not even aware of the people at Hawaii Community College in my same small town, on my small island, except through your DESIEN-List (when you responded to Eric's question.) Strange to fathom. I will contact and try to connect with them in person next week. Thanks for the lead - strange that the Internet connects people living in the same place who never met. (primo@aloha.net)