COV Project Veteran's Day Videoconference  2008

Overview

A videoconference involving Oklahoma military veterans, K-12 students and teachers is scheduled for Tuesday, November 11, 2008 from 9:15 am - 10:45 CST. This videoconference is being facilitated by the Oklahoma Heritage Association and Gaylord-Pickens Museum, the lead partner in the Celebrate Oklahoma Voices oral history project. Sign up / registration information is available. (NOTE: The deadline for registration is 31 Oct 2008.)

An updated list of participating schools is available as a shared Google Doc.

Update 7 November 2008

Test calls today were successful for Asher (we went through the entire event agenda), Key Academy (tho they could not text chat in the webstream), and Oklahoma A+ Schools. Mustang Valley H.323 test call was successful, they need download links to veteran videos because they will not play from their school from the learning community site. Key Academy, like Felt, needs ports to open so they can show up in the participant list and participate in the webstream chat.

Update 6 November 2008

Our test calls today on Nov 6th were successful! Asher Public schools is able to connect great to the bridge, I am able to "give them the floor" which makes them full-screen, and the text-chat for webstreaming participants worked fine with one minor issue. Felt PS and I both tried to connect to the webstream from a Windows computer, and even after downloading/installing the Codian WindowsMedia Codec the stream did not work. We WERE, however, able to get the webstream to work using the FireFox web browser and the QuickTime streaming option. At this point if you are web-streaming, I recommend you download, install (for free) and use the following:

• FireFox (web browser)
• QuickTime software

Currently the web stream appears in a smaller window on the left side of the webpage. I am checking with Lance Ford to see if this can be made larger. If you did not connect with us today please plan to join us in our 2 pm CST test call.

Connection Details for Registered Schools

Schools can connect to this videoconference either with H.323 videoconferencing equipment or with a web browser to view the live web stream. Schools connecting via videoconference will connect to a bridge provided by Tandberg using the following credentials:

• Conferencing Bridge IP: 164.58.224.90
• The Conference ID is - 159357#
• The Conference PW is 159357#

An instruction sheet is available (PDF format) for schools connecting via a web browser to view the live stream. Note the "#" symbol is NOT required when connecting via the webstream / browser interface, just when connecting via H.323 videoconferencing equipment. A teacher should stay at the keyboard during the videoconference to type in text questions for participants during the live conference. 

Test Calls

Participating schools must successfully connect to at least one of the test calls scheduled for the week prior to the conference. These test call dates and times are:

• Tues 04 Nov 2008 9:00 am CST - 9:45 am CST
• Thursday 06 Nov 2008 4:00 pm CST - 4:30 pm CST
• Friday 07 Nov 2008 2:00 pm CST - 2:30 pm CST
• Monday 10 Nov 2008 2:00 pm CST - 4:00 pm CST

Videoconference times on 11 November 2008

Schools should plan to connect to the videoconference 30 minutes prior to the start of the event.

• 8:45 am CST 11 Nov 2008 - Schools connect
• 9:15 am CST 11 Nov 2008 - Videoconference begins
• 10:45 am CST 11 Nov 2008 - Videoconference ends  

Pre-Conference Activities for Participating Schools

Students and teachers participating in this videoconferencing are HIGHLY encouraged to watch at least four of the Veteran Interview digital stories posted on the Celebrate Oklahoma Voices learning community website by Whitney Allen, librarian at Asher Public Schools. In addition to watching these videos, students and teachers should:

1. Brainstorm some specific questions they have for the veteran interviewed in the video, which could be potentially asked during our Nov 11th videoconference.
2. Discuss the war(s) and location(s) where the veteran served, and do some Internet research to learn additional background information about that conflict and context. (WikiPedia is a good starting point for research, use the "external links" at the bottom of articles for additional websites.)

Invited Veteran Guests and Presenters in Asher, Oklahoma include:

1. Tyler and Michael: J. T. Freeman and Judy (his daughter) (WWII)
2. Mason and Billy: Cliff Williams and Norma Williams (WWII)
3. Fred, Dakota, and Jerrod: Hank Thompson and Virginia Thompson (WWII)
4. Matt and Tanner: George Spence and Sally Spence (Vietnam)

Conference Agenda

9:15 - 9:20 Overview and Welcome

• Welcome - Wesley Fryer
• Welcome to remote schools - Carmita O'Bryant (Asher)
• Overview of Veteran Project - Whitney Allen
• Overview of Asher - Trent

Asher Public School students who have interviewed local veterans will introduce their veteran, discuss some of the things they learned as a result of their interview and digital story, and ask their veteran some prepared questions about their experiences serving in the U.S. military. Students and teachers will be able to submit questions during the videoconference when prompted for questions from their site, or by submitting text questions into their web browser. (For those web-streaming.)

9:20 - 9:35 Asher Student Group #1 and Veteran #1- Tyler and Michael: J. T. Freeman (WWII)

9:35 - 9:50 Asher Student Group #2 and Veteran #2 - Mason and Billy: Cliff Williams and Norma Williams(WWII)

9:50 - 10:05 Asher Student Group #3 and Veteran #3 - Fred, Dakota, and Jerrod: Hank Thompson and Virginia Thompson (WWII)

10:05 - 10:20 Asher Student Group #4 and Veteran #4 - Matt and Tanner: George Spence and Sally Spence (Vietnam)

10:20 - 10:45 Open Question and Answer Time