USDLA President, Elaine Shuck, recently visited Alaska to share and to learn best practices in educational videoconferencing. USDLA members and friends are invited to read about her experiences on her blog.
USDLA President Visits Bethel, Alaska
Here’s another area that’s a little intimidating. Educational videoconferencing is my world and I love it. But in Alaska, I’ll be with some highly effective teachers who routinely use videoconferencing – not as a device for special activities – but as an implemented component used every day for teaching. Picture Elaine Shuck, an expert from the Lower 48, coming to teach them all about videoconferencing? I don’t think so! I’ll likely learn a lesson or two myself.
Alaska is known as the Last Frontier. The state does push back a lot of boundaries and some of those boundaries have to do with education and pedagogy. One of the aspects I love about my work is that wherever I am, I always (always!) learn from those I’m privileged to visit. This trip also presents me with an opportunity to learn a lot and take those lessons with me to share with others.
One stop I’m particularly excited about is the opportunity to reconnect with Greg Zorbas, Alaska’s 2014 technology teacher of the year, in Kenai. Our company has worked together with Greg and his colleagues for the past several years and the relationship has benefited both sides. Not only have we shared tactics and strategies surrounding electronic collaborations, but also we have formed a strong friendship in addition. Several years ago, I visited the Zorbas family and went dog sledding. I’m not sure what’s in store this time, but I’m hoping to join them – and the bears! – for some salmon fishing in their world-class rivers. This really is the way work-life balance should be – the Alaskan way! And I’m looking forward it!
MG: In reviewing your impressive background in education and extensive experience with educational technology, how do you keep it fresh and exciting? Is it the students who excite you?
ES: For me, when I see a student in the classroom, eager to learn, and they’re using video conferencing as a medium – because books alone are not engaging – that gets me excited. For example, I had students (including my daughters) interview a female leader of Kenya’s Mau Mau uprising. This leader was one of the notables we used that year to mark Black History Month. And what better way to learn than to speak to someone with first-hand experience? Videoconferencing for distance learning is not meant to replace anything in a classroom, but these are experiences that a book can’t provide.
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