The Virtual Classroom at 21st Century Schools   



 

About the Virtual Classroom   -    VC Schedule & Registration     -    Demos and Instructions     -    Pricing and Savings  -  Features   -  Virtual Workshop Agendas

 

Welcome to our brand new Virtual Classroom!  Our Virtual Classes will be held online using eLecta Live, a software designed specifically for online, collaborative learning.  This program is used widely by businesses, universities and school districts around the world.  It allows us to have anywhere from 1 to 10,000 participants, and to have up to 10,000 separate Breakout Rooms (with 1 to 10,000 in each).

We are offering three of our regular, regional workshops via the Virtual Classroom, as well as custom-designed workshops for your district, campus or team.  The schedule for the three regular workshops is listed below.  The workshop descriptions are the same for the Virtual Classroom as they are for regional on-site workshops.  The only difference will be a slight variation in the schedule. 

Because we will not be physically together in the same room, and you will be participating through your computer, we will be adapting the regular schedule slightly.  We will not have the time constraints of an on-site workshop, meaning you will not have to spend the entire day on your computer.  This will give you some breaks and the benefit of more time to deepen your thinking and to develop your discussions on each of the activities.


About the Virtual Classroom

This is the ideal resource for those for whom travel is inconvenient.  You may participate in a live, real-time course from the comfort of your home, office or anywhere on Earth as long as you have an Internet connection. 

Additionally, it will save you a great deal of money - you eliminate the costs of air fare, sleeping rooms, taxis, meals, and other costs associated with traveling to a regional workshop.  This can amount to a sizeable savings, and we know that schools need to stretch their budgets today.

In a virtual classroom you will be able to be seen and heard.  You will participate in the same activities that you would if you traveled to a workshop, or if one of our consultants brought the workshop to you.  We will have whole-group sessions and discussions, presentations by the moderator, small group discussions and activities just as if you were all in the same place physically.  You can raise your hand, ask questions via voice, email, discussion board or whiteboard;  you can collaborate with others on projects using the breakout rooms and whiteboards!

Join us today for one of our regularly scheduled virtual courses, or contact us today to bring a custom-designed course to your team.

 


Virtual Classroom Schedule:

Each class will meet at 10:00 a.m. CST.  Click on the title of the course for it's description in the Virtual Classroom format.
Course Content Description Dates Register Here Cost
 

Smaller Learning Communities

 

September 12, 2008 Register $195
 

Service-Learning

 

September 15, 2008 Register $195
Designing the 21st Century Classroom  

September 20-22, 2008

 

Register $389

Click here to pay by credit card for your Virtual Classroom Course.

Solution Graphics

Designing the 21 Century Classroom is normally a two-day workshop when done on-site or at a regional location.  In the virtual classroom we will usually spend about 3-4 hours per day online.  We will meet at 10 a.m. CST on three consecutive days.  You will be doing some of your work outside of the live sessions, and you will receive the regular completion certificate for this workshop, crediting you with 14 hours of professional staff development.

The other two workshops, Smaller Learning Communities and Service Learning, are normally one-day workshops.  In the Virtual Classroom these will be two-day workshops, meeting each day at 10 a.m. CST for 2 hours.  Again, some of the work you do will not be live, on-line.  You will receive the usual certificate of completion of 7 hours of professional staff development.

 


Demos and Instructions for the Virtual Classroom

To tour our new Virtual Classroom, click the following link.  It may ask you to save the document;  we find it's easiest to save it to the desktop.  Save the file, go to your desktop, double-click and there you go.   The Elluminate Live window will open with the classroom.  Another window will open - Application Sharing - which is where we recorded the lesson in a way that you could see our entire desktop and "look over our shoulder" as we moved about the classroom demonstrating the tools. 
https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2007-06-23.1459.M.B5B33E1838144DDF08CFB56CAE3970.vcr

Additional Tours and Demos of the program  -  Tour the demo on Participants for Elluminate Live.  Just go online to Elluminate Live Participant Training, then click on Participant Orientation (5 min.).  It may ask you to save it.  If so, I recommend saving it to your desktop.  Then close the Elluminate web site, go to your desktop and click on the link.  This will launch the very informative demo of the features and tools in the Elluminate platform.


Pricing and Savings

Workshop Costs Comparison

 

Regional Workshop

You travel to NYC, Las Vegas, New Orleans, etc.

Virtual Classroom

Designing the 21st Century Classroom - a curriculum design and classroom strategies workshop

$529 - registration fee.  Includes materials, continental breakfast and two deluxe snack breaks on each day.

 

Two days.

 

Plus your cost of travel - air fare, sleeping rooms, meals, taxis, etc.

$389 - includes registration fee and materials.

 

Three days, up to four hours per day in the online classroom, plus some reading outside the classroom time.  (Same materials and activities as the regional workshops.)

 

No travel costs!  Save thousands of dollars!

Smaller Learning Communities - an introduction

$295 - registration fee.  Includes materials, continental breakfast and two deluxe snack breaks.

 

One day.

 

Plus your cost of travel - air fare, sleeping rooms, meals, taxis, etc.

$250 - registration fee.  Includes registration fee and materials.

 

Two days - up to three hours per day in the online classroom.  Readings are done offline.  (Same materials and activities as the regional workshops.)

 

No travel costs!  Save thousands of dollars!

Service Learning - Academics in Action

$295 - registration fee.  Includes materials, continental breakfast and two deluxe snack breaks.

 

One day.

 

Plus your cost of travel - air fare, sleeping rooms, meals, taxis, etc.

 $250 - registration fee.  Includes registration fee and materials.

 

Two days - up to three hours per day in the online classroom.  Readings are done offline.  (Same materials and activities as the regional workshops.)

 

No travel costs!  Save thousands of dollars!

Virtual Classroom Features include: 

 

Virtual Classroom Functionality

High Quality, full-duplex audio with simultaneous talkers

Multiple Co-Presenters

Shared multiple whiteboards

Instant private and public messaging

Images, Web Resources and Documents Library

Synchronized guided web tours

Users' profiles with photo and time zone support

Instant online polling

PowerPoint Library and Synchronized PowerPoint Broadcasting

Attendees status indicators, virtual hand-rising, emotions

Single click access to sessions

Low bandwidth requirements

Configurable number of seats for each classroom

Many-to-many Video Conferencing

Desktop/Application sharing

Session recording/playback

Archiveable Recordings

Screen capturing and copy/paste from desktop

Simultaneous file launching

Digital tablet support

Remote Audio Control

Universal File Viewer

Simultaneous Multiple Rooms

Unlimited number of users, students and moderators in database

Unlimited Simultaneous Classrooms

Administration area for managing events, rooms, email invitations, user/student accounts and subscriptions

Public/private calendar of events with email notifications. Attendance through calendar links. Password protected events.

Set up public community rooms and cafe rooms

Set up long-term enrollment based rooms for students

Personal folder for each user for storing files, homework etc.

Recorded session library and setting individual playback permissions

Detailed reports for attendees, room and system usage, user attendance logs.

Unlimited meetings and unlimited bandwidth

Integration with existing websites, Student Management Systems (SMS) and Learning Management Systems (LMS)

 

 

Also see the following links:

 

What is a 21st century education?

 

Supporting Research