Mrs. Morgan and Ms Blansitt

This fall one of our Student Teachers completed her required observations via Video Conferencing.  We found this was another great use of Distance Learning for the Supervisor and the Student Teacher.

“I graduated from the University of North Texas in May 2008 with a BA in English. After graduation I moved to Austin in search of a career in nonprofit organizations. After a few months of unsuccessful job searching, I received a letter from UNT about their post baccalaureate teacher certification prgram. Luckily, they had an on-line option to take all of the required courses, but Iwould have had to travel up to Denton for meetings and final exams. UNT is one of the few schools that provides long distance supervision, so when it came time to complete my student teaching I did not have a problem.  I had four class observations by my supervisor via a Tandberg Video Conferencing system. We were able to talk and see each other in real time. It worked great thanks to the help from Mrs. Jurica and Mrs. Richert…….. We would conference after each observation and my supervisor spoke with my mentor teacher, Mrs. Morgan, at times as well. Using the Tandberg VC system was helpful and overall a great experience.”

TEACHERS LEARNING_ACC Webinar

Nina Johnson, [HHS] and Lauren Reeves, [LHS] are both Graphic Design Teachers for the two HCISD High Schools and work closely to keep their course content the same for each school. In September they were invited to participate in an Austin Community College Adobe Illustrator Workshop, and one of the options for participating in the training was a Webinar. [Webinar- Short for Web-based Seminar. A Webinar is a seminar or presentation that’s transmitted over the internet and participants have the ability to give, receive and discuss information.]
After talking to them, and finding they needed a quiet place to attend the Adobe Illustrator Webinar, we decided to use the HHS Distance Learning Lab. We have a very nice 3M Projection System that would allow them to view the workshop on a much larger screen. They were able to connect successfully and view the lessons, which was a very productive way for teachers to attend required workshops.