I received this from our friends at MAGPI. These are programs that they’re in the process of working on for scheduling and they will post connection info at a later. If you have any questions, or ideas, please contact me at jgerraughty@cermusa.francis.edu.
Thanks,
James
100th DAY OF SCHOOL CELEBRATION (Grades K-2): Coming March 12, 2009! Celebrate the 100th Day of School in this national celebration! The 100th day of school is more than just a milestone worth noting - it’s the perfect time to have fun with the number 100. Jake learned all about the 100th day of school in Jakes 100th Day of School , written by Dr. Lester Laminack. Read the book, create your own class 100th Day of School project and share your experiences with the author during this exciting videoconference event!
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES: (Grades K-12): MAGPI is pleased to announce our new content partnership with The Academy of Natural Sciences! Founded in 1812, The Academy of Natural Sciences is the oldest natural history museum in the Americas and a world leader in biodiversity and environmental research. The mission of the Academy is the encouragement and cultivation of the sciences. Look for new projects for students in grades K-12 that explore the history of life on Earth, and learn how the first complete dinosaur skeleton, found on a farm in New Jersey, changed the world!
ALEX’S VIRTUAL LEMONADE STAND (Grades K-12) : Coming in March 2009! Kids helping Kids Make a Difference! Join other schools across the country as they host lemonade stands to raise money for pediatric cancer research and participate in other related projects. Schools will collaborate with each other through a blog, a special “kick off” videoconference spirit rally and closing project collage videoconference event. During this two week project, each school will hold their own lemonade stands to help raise funds for pediatric cancer. Schools can hold one big lemonade stand day or a series of lemonade stand events throughout the two weeks. Lots of special projects tied to the curriculum make this project easy to integrate into your classroom!
ARCHEDREAM (Grades K-12): Different programs offered throughout the year! MAGPI is very pleased to announce our new content partnership with the Philadelphia arts and culture group, ArcheDream for Humankind. ArcheDream is an archetypal mask performance theatre company that combines ancient art forms such as morality plays, allegories, Commedia dell Arte, folk and fairy tales in the modern medium of ultra violet light. Look for new workshops offered by ArcheDream next year - - including mask making workshops, movement workshops, anti-bullying hip-hop workshops and more! Programs will kick-off in October with special mask making projects around Halloween.
BRAIN AWARENESS – WHAT IS NEUROSCIENCE? (Grades 4-6): Neuroscience is an important and vibrant area of science that is quickly expanding, yet many, especially our youth, have virtually no awareness of it. Neuroscience is the study of the brain and nervous system. Answers are being sought for questions such as: What is the mind? Why do we feel emotions? How do we learn and remember? What are the underlying causes of neurological disorders?
Through this interactive program your students can learn more about the fascinating world of neuroscience! Drs. Timothy Cannon and Robert Waldeck will: Show your students how neuroscience influences them; show them how the nervous system is investigated; guide them to how they can study it; and point out the types of potential careers that involve neuroscience. The program will feature four demonstrations, spaced one to three weeks apart. Each demo will last approximately 25 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of questions & answers. Each session will give pieces of information about neuroscience and will build the students’ knowledge base. Demonstrations will include anatomical displays of the structure of the nervous system, live electrophysiological intracellular recordings of cellular activity, and behavioral experiments which will call on the student population to analyze data. After the fourth demo, participating classes will be challenged to collaborate with our faculty in designing future research projects related to animal behavior. The final interactive session will allow for all of the participating educators and students to share their projects and make suggestions for future sessions. This program has been developed and is offered by the University of Scranton.
CREATIVE DIRECTOR WORKSHOP - - and other Career Explorations! (Grades 9-12): MAGPI is working with Philadelphia area professionals to develop various ‘career exploration’ workshops. Coming this fall is a workshop with a Creative Director of a Philadelphia-based brand communication group. Students will have an opportunity to develop a branding project and then pitch it to the Executive Creative Director as part of this program. It will be a rare opportunity to engage a successful creative director during this particular career exploration workshop! Look for more career workshops later this year!
CREATIVE MINDS (Grades K-12): Bring authors and illustrators into your classroom via videoconferencing. Our fall series includes children’s book authors and illustrators, young adult fiction writers and story tellers. We’re bringing back ‘fan favorites’ Dan Gutman and Mary Quattlebaum and putting together a fantastic line-up. Look for more information this fall!
DIGITAL FLAT STANLEY PROJECT (Grades K-3): A year-long project! What happens when a normal boy finds himself flattened by a bulletin board and is sent through the mail to places all across the country? Your students can find out during this fun project, based on the 1964 book written by Jeff Brown! Classes across the country will participate in this project and send their Flat Stanleys around the USA to visit different students. Every quarter, one school’s Flat Stanley will visit another partner school. Students will take their new flat friend on different adventures near their school and record the adventures in a journal. At the end of each journey, partner schools will meet via videoconference for 30 minutes to greet one another, discuss their hometown and experiences with their flat friends, and that journey’s theme. At the end of the project, Flat Stanley will have visited 4 places and - - and so will your students!
FAIRMOUNT WATERWORKS WORLD WATER DAY (Grades K-12): One of the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals agreed upon by the world’s countries and leading development institutions is to reduce by half the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by the year 2015. Participate in this three-part yearlong program focusing on world water issues and how students can take an active role in moving the world toward that goal. The Kick-Off will be on UN Day, October 24th, as a panel of experts will walk students through some of the critical issues and challenges facing the world water crisis today. This will be followed by a Professional Development Session for Teachers in January, and will culminate in a virtual roundtable, presentation of students’ actions commemorating World Water Day on March 22nd.
INTERNATIONAL MATH GAME CHALLENGE (Grades K-12): Coming March 4, 2009! Sessions for grades K-2; 3-5; 6-8 and 9-12! Celebrate international math day and explore math through the international lens during this student-centered, interactive event! Each participating class will have an opportunity to share a math-related game from another country and play that game with interactive peers. Sessions for each grade cluster will last forty-five minutes to an hour, with up to 5 games played each session. This program will be highly interactive - - - and we’re looking forward to some interesting presentations! More information available this summer.
MYSTERY QUESTS (Grades 4-8): We’re offering several MysteryQuest programs throughout next year! Programs include: Where in PA?; Where in KY?; Where in DE?; Mystery Quest USA; and Mystery Quest World Geography. Through video conference technology, students are able to meet other students in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kentucky and Delaware while learning about the geography! Prior to the video conference each classroom will create a presentation with clues about a state, city, or country (depends on the game). The other classrooms, using maps, the Internet, textbooks, and other resources, will try to discover the mystery location. A fun, student-centered program! Our program is adapted from the MysteryQuest program developed by Berrien County ISD.
STAND UP. SPEAK OUT. LEND A HAND! (Grades 8-12): This four month project kicks off on December 2, 2008 and ends on April 2, 2008. What happens when students get a first-hand view of the Holocaust, investigate the historical issues surrounding it, and then turn a critical lens on social issues in their own communities? Students involved STAND UP. SPEAK OUT. LEND A HAND, will hear from Holocaust Survivor and world-renowned speaker Gerda Weissmann Klein during a special interactive videoconference event. Following the multi-site event, students will embark upon their own four month service learning projects. Each participating school will be tasked with designing and implementing a service learning project that combats social issues in their community. At the conclusion of the four month challenge, all students involved in the project will meet via interactive videoconference to share their projects with Mrs. Klein during a “collaboration collage” special event. This project is being offered through partnership with the Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation.
SOUNDS OF LEARNING WITH THE OPERA COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA (Grades 6-12): Special opportunities offered throughout the school year! MAGPI is very pleased to announce a new partnership with the Philadelphia Opera Company’s Sounds of Learning program. MAGPI member institutions that participate in the Sounds of Learning program will have an opportunity to participate in special pre- and post- opera company visit videoconferences with select Company members. What an exciting way to give your students access to the performing arts! Please note that the special videoconference opportunities for MAGPI Members are extensions of the FREE Sounds of Learning program; all requirements for the Sounds of Learning programs must be met by all participating schools (including a live visit to the Opera Company and one on-site teacher professional development session). Therefore, this opportunity may only be appropriate for schools and educators that have the ability to travel to Philadelphia. If you’re interested in participating or need more information, please contact Michael Bolton, Director of Community Programs, at 215-893-3600, ext 246 or at bolton@operaphila.org.
SCIENCE AND THE CINEMA (Grades 9-12): Monthly programs beginning in October! Science in the Cinema, in its original form, is a free film and lecture series intended for a broad range of individuals who enjoy the cinema and have an interest in science and medicine. Selected films touch on a variety of medical and scientific topics. Following each film, an expert discusses the science depicted in the film and takes questions from the audience. These discussions also include the ethical implications raised by the film. Science in the Cinema programs, in this form, was only available to live audiences. Through the use of videoconferencing our Science and the Cinema program uses technology to accomplish the same goals. It allows students to interact directly with scientists and researchers in their respective fields of expertise without leaving their school. These projects also challenge the students by engaging them in discussions on the ethical and moral issues that the advancement of science and technology places on the world community. Projects are being developed that will include experts in the fields of medicine, genetics, anthropology, cellular biology, and toxicology. This project is being developed in partnership with the Garden State Distance Learning Consortium, NJEDge, Verizon, MAGPI, New Jersey Association for Biomedical Research, and UMDNJ.
YOUTH AND VIOLENCE: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE (Grades 8-12): Coming spring 2009! Youth violence is a social problem that affects many different countries and cultures around the world. Although the root causes of youth violence (such as poverty, war, drug use and prejudicial beliefs) vary from country to country, the resulting symptoms of youth violence are universal. Feelings of alienation, connectedness and hopelessness are experienced to some extent by all youth offenders regardless of race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation or gender. Bringing students together from different countries, this workshop will take a cross-cultural look at how youth violence varies in different regions of the world and how young people can break the patterns of violent behavior and prevent it from following them into adulthood. Over a period of four months, students will work together to explore this issue and then create digital media projects that tell their own community’s story. A digital media project festival will conclude this project. This project is being offered through partnership with MYX: Multicultural Youth Exchange.
The Saint Francis University World Drumming Ensemble Spring Concert
April 14, 2008 : 7-8pm: Live Via Internet 2
Saint Francis University’s Center of Excellence for Remote and Medically Under-Served Areas (CERMUSA) is proud to The Saint Francis University World Drumming Ensemble under the direction of Jim Donovan live via Internet 2 on April 14, 2008 from 7pm-8pm EST.
The Saint Francis University World Drumming Ensemble is a performing group that consists of students, faculty, staff and community members who play a combination of traditional multi-cultural drumming songs as well as arrangements of modern music. SFU instructor of music Jim Donovan (formerly of the popular band Rusted Root) directs and arranges music for the group.
The concert is a performance only and is appropriate for grades 8-12 through undergraduate.
Cost: Free
First come first serve.
Test calls will be scheduled prior to the session date.
More info can be found here.
(http://cermusa1.wufoo.com/forms/sfu-world-drumming-ensemble/)
March 25, 2008 1PM-2PM EDT
Saint Francis University’s Center of Excellence for Remote and
Medically Under-Served Areas (CERMUSA) is proud to present acclaimed
musician and and sound therapy practitioner Christopher Bohn live via
Internet 2 on March 25, 2008 from 1-2pm EDT. Through lecture, live
demonstration and performance, Mr. Bohn will showcase aspects of music
and sound in regard to health and wellness. Three main areas of health
will be covered: physical, spiritual/emotional, and community.
Mr. Bohns’ session is appropriate for grades 10-12 through
undergraduate.
Musician, teacher, and sound therapy practitioner Christopher Bohn
facilitates workshops about sound healing, as well as presenting healing
sound concerts throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region. Christopher uses
toning, chant, mantra, overtone throat-singing, Tibetan and quartz
crystal singing bowls, and percussion in his healing sound concerts and
sessions. He practices out of The Pathways Center in York, PA.
Christopher is a teacher at the Pennsylvania School of Spiritual
Healing. He also performs as a singer-songwriter in solo and small
ensemble formats, exploring jazz, folk, Western classical, and many
other musical traditions from around the globe.
During the session, participants will have the opportunity to interact
and ask questions.
Mr. Bohns’ presentation is a rare occasion for Saint Francis
University, and we are pleased to share this session to remote audiences.
Please visit here for more information
On Tuesday, February 26, 2008, MAGPI will sponsor our fifth “MAGPI Internet2 Commons Videoconferencing Certification” Course. The comprehensive training will run from 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., and will be conducted via videoconferencing. Training is free for all MAGPI connected institutions and is only offered a few times a year.
In order to streamline technical testing for our events for the 2007-2008/2008-2009 school years, we are requiring at least one person at every IU and/or directly connected institution to be certified and one person in every connected school district to be certified in order to participate in our videoconference events. We would very much like the IUs/directly connected institutions to be host remote sites for the training and invite their connected institutions to participate from their site. We feel that by cutting down the number of participating sites and having folks gather at the host sites, we enhance the quality of the learning experience.
These training sessions are technical in nature and are geared toward tech coordinators, videoconference technicians, or others interested in the technical aspects of IP videoconferencing. We offer a separate PD opportunity for teachers and curriculum coordinators that focuses on integrating high speed applications into the curriculum (for more information, see: http://www.magpi.net/programs/curriculumintegration.html).
Please let me know if your IU would like to be host site for this event on February 26th. If you choose to be a host site, you will be responsible for publicizing this event to your connected institutions (I’ll send you an email template and the link to the MAGPI website), coordinating registration for your site, and will be responsible for getting MAGPI a list of participants, their titles, school/district affiliations and their contact information. I’ll send a form that you can use to collect this information. We are very much looking forward to working with you on this project! Please confirm your participation as a host site no later than January 18, 2008.
The next MAGPI Internet2 Commons Videoconferencing Certification Training will be in late summer.
If you are interested in participating, please email Heather at hweisse@magpi.net.
Now Available! MAGPI 2007-2008 K20 Program Catalog
MAGPI is very pleased to announce our program line-up for the 2007-2008 academic year! Programs are available for K12, Higher Education and more. We’re excited to announce our new partnerships with Defenders of Wildlife, the Pennsylvania One Book, Every Young Child project, the Multicultural Youth Exchange and Global Education Motivators.
We’re also very pleased to be bringing back old program favorites like Cartooning with Blitz, Inner World Discovery, Stand Up. Speak Out. Lend a Hand! and the Creative Minds Series. Don’t forget to take a look at some of our new collaboration-based programs such as the Digital Flat Stanley Project and Where in the USA (a project based on the popular Mystery Quest program developed by TWICE and Berrien County ISD).
All MAGPI Programs are free of charge to MAGPI members.To download the program catalog, visit http://www.magpi.net/programs/. More programs will be added throughout the year and all programs (with resources) will be posted on the program website by September 1, 2007. If you have questions about any of our upcoming projects, please email them to MAGPI Applications Coordinator, Heather Weisse.
Just Announced! New MAGPI/CMA Discount Program
MAGPI has partnered with the Cleveland Museum of Art to offer a new discount program for MAGPI members! MAGPI members will now receive a reduced rate of $120 per Cleveland Museum of Art program (regularly priced at $135).
The Cleveland Museum of Art’s award-winning program of educational videoconferencing offers over 40 different lesson topics for the K-16 audience. These imaginative, multidisciplinary topics use works of art from the collection to teach Math, Science, Language Arts and Social Studies. Presentations in French, Spanish, German and Italian are also available. Lessons are tied to national academic content standards and include extensive teacher materials for additional classroom projects.
Just fill in MAGPI-BULK RATE on your registration form! To discover more about CMA lesson choices and to register online, visit their distance learning homepage at http://www.clevelandart.org/educef/distance/html/index.html.
New MAGPI e-Newsletter and Mailing Lists…
If you haven’t been receiving regular weekly email announcements from MAGPI, you may not be signed up for our e-Newsletter and mailing lists! n order to better communicate with our subscribers, MAGPI uses the Newsweaver system to publish a bi-monthly e-newsletter and program/applications updates. These e-communications allow us to streamline communication. You will have the ability to subscribe to the following e-communications from MAGPI concerning programs, advanced networking applications and other related information:
Bi-Monthly MAGPI K20 Newsletter
K12 News and Events (Grades K-6)
K12 News and Events (Grades 6-12)
Higher Education News and Events
Public/Cultural Events and News
Healthcare and Medicine Events and News
To receive these electronic mailings, you must subscribe!
To subscribe, please visit: http://newsweaver.co.uk/magpik20/. Scroll to the bottom of the webpage and look for the subscription box on the left-hand side. Please enter your contact information and select which e-communications you would like to receive. Please know that we will not share your information with any other organization.
We ask that you share this new subscription system with your friends, colleagues and others who may be interested in receiving this information as well. To do so, please click the “tell a friend” button at the bottom left-hand corner of the webpage.
As always, we welcome your feedback as we implement this system. If you have any questions or concerns, please email them to Heather Weisse at hweisse@magpi.net.
From our friends at MAGPI:
THE EXCHANGE: National Conversation about School Violence - New Program from The National Constitution Center
Date: May 22, 2007
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT - 3:00 p.m. EDT
Grades: 10-12 (Upper Level High School Students)
How to Participate:
Interactive H.323 Videoconference Participant (Internet2 Connectivity Required for this)
Webstream Participant
Cost: Free!
Program Description:
The Exchange: A Marketplace of Student Ideas is a new national student program being launched by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The program stresses schools as a public space, in which all members of the school community are citizens.
The pilot project this spring is a four-phase program and is designed to bring together students to discuss pressing national issues. Students participating in this project will:
Have access to/interact with their peers through a specially set-up virtual on-line classroom
Hold smaller Exchanges/discussion about the assigned topic within their classroom and school building
Participate in a 2-hour interactive videoconference Exchange via Internet2 with peers across the country and with experts in the field.
Reflect on their experiences through a follow-up activity designed by The National Constitution Center
The first Exchange topic will be school violence. From Littleton, Colorado, to Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and West Philadelphia and most recently - the tragic incident at Virginia Tech, the issue of school violence dramatically impacts students’ lives and raises the same constitutional concern about security versus individual liberty that we all live within a post 9/11 world.
More Information/Registration: http://www.magpi.net/programs/exchange.html. Registration to be an interactive videoconference site in this event is available on a first-come, first-serve basis and is limited. Registration for both webstream participants and interactive videoconference participants closes on May 4, 2007.
This program is available for free to schools that are connected to Internet2 through either Saint Francis University or MAGPI.
For Music Students and Everyone Else
CIM @ the Idea Center
Thursday, May 3, 2007
1:00pm – 2:00pm EDT
Westfield Insurance Studio Theatre
Idea Center at Playhouse Square
Music Modern and Moving is a one-hour program that features musical performances by some of the world’s most talented young musicians. Performances
will be interspersed with interviews, commentary, demonstration and musical/ educational interaction with a live audience and high school videoconference sites.
This lively and interactive program will address two particular items from the National Standards for Arts Education:
• Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
• Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
Available via videoconference at no charge to Ohio K12 schools
Grades 6 through 12
This program will also be webcast live and broadcast in some areas. Check www.cim.edu for connection details.
Don’t miss this exciting opportunity! To register contact Adam Phillips at axp99@case.edu or (216) 707-4516
Register before April 15 to receive preparatory curriculum materials.
Presented in collaboration with:
Ohio Supercomputer Center
WVIZ - Ideastream
Virtual Coffee House
Date: May 17, 2007
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. EDT
Target Audience: Middle/Intermediate Schools and High Schools; Community Groups
Connection: H.323 Videoconference (Internet2 Connectivity Required for this event)
Description:
To celebrate youth and community art, MAGPI and Plymouth Whitemarsh High School invite your school to participate in a virtual coffee house for student artists! This is a great way to engage your school’s extracurricular groups, families, friends and community in videoconferencing!
We are currently looking for schools that would like to participate in a pilot version of this project in May. (We hope to offer more of these next year!) Interested schools will be required to do the following:
• Host an on-site audience for the live videoconference event on May 17, 2007 from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. EDT. Sites may want to charge nominal ticket prices for their location in order to cover refreshments, etc. This is entirely up to individual host schools!
• Put together one or two different 3 minute “acts” for the show. Acts could be poetry recitals, songs, band performances, dances, dramatic pieces, visual art showcases/explanations, etc. There are no restrictions on the types of acts schools perform; however, we ask schools to recognize that the content of an act reflects their school and community. Participating schools may want to host ‘auditions’ for their two performance slots. Schools may ask a community arts group to perform in one of their two allotted performance slots, should they choose.
• Participate in videoconference testing and a dress rehearsal. Schools will be able to choose their testing and rehearsal dates when they register for the project.
• Generate Questions: Each school will be assigned one or more acts for which they will be responsible to watch critically and ask questions of the artist(s). After each act, we will go ‘live’ to the school responsible for critically viewing the act for their question. Since schools will be viewing their assigned act for the first time during the live performance, audiences will need to be particularly attuned.
Project Outline:
• Call for Participants/Registration: Now until Friday, April 20, 2007
• Videoconference Testing: April 30th - May 4th
• Final Act Descriptions/Titles Due: Friday, May 4, 2007
• Dress Rehearsals: May 7th - May 15, 2007
• Event: May 17, 2007
Registration:
Interested sites must register online for the event by Friday, April 20, 2007. Online registration can be found at http://www.magpi.net/programs/coffeehouses.html.
EVENT: Alex’s Virtual Lemonade Stand Project
DATES: April 11 - April 26, 2007
TARGET AGE GROUPS: K-12 Students
HOW TO PARTICIPATE: As an Interactive Videoconference Site (Internet2 connectivity preferred for this option) or Webstream Participant
In celebration of Global Youth Services Day, join other schools across the country as they host lemonade stands to raise money for pediatric cancer research and participate in other related projects. Schools will collaborate with each other through a blog, a special “kick off” videoconference spirit rally and closing project collage videoconference event. Liz Scott, Alex’s mom and Vice President for Development of Alex’s Lemonade Stand, will address students during the kick-off event. Special guest, Congressman Joe Sestak, will speak with students during the collaboration collage videoconference.
During this two week project, each school will hold their own lemonade stands to help raise funds for pediatric cancer. Schools can hold one big lemonade stand day or a series of lemonade stand events throughout the two weeks. After each day of sales, schools will report their totals through the website. Last year we raised more than $3,400. Think we can double it? Or even triple it?
If they choose, schools will also have an opportunity to participate in a variety of curriculum-related special projects inspired by the idea of kids helping kids. All projects are tied to standards. Special Projects include: “Make a Difference” Poetry Contest, Lemonade Stand Poster Contest, “Making a Difference” Song Showcase, Virtual Pen-Pal Project, The Lemoncast - How Can WE make a difference?, and the Digital Collage Project. Participation in special projects is not required.
Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity! For the most up-to-date information, check out our blog at http://alexslemondrop.blogspot.com/.
Find out more/Registration: http://www.magpi.net/programs/alexslemonade.html Registration closes on March 8, 2007.
If you have any questions, please contact Heather Weisse, MAGPI Applications Coordinator, at hweisse@magpi.net
I stumbled across this site from Notre Dame that lists their activities with Internet2. There appear to be many resources listed for learning more about Internet2.
