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News and Blogs of Read Around the Planet

Published March 6, 2009 CAPspace , RAP Leave a Comment
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Today is the last day of the official Read Around the Planet sessions, but we know that rescheduled causes them to continue throughout the spring. We thought you’d enjoy these news reports and blogs about Read Around the Planet.

If you haven’t done the RAP evaluation for this year, please do so. Thank you to everyone for making this project a success!

Registration opens for Michigan Week Connections!

Published March 4, 2009 General , Michigan Week Leave a Comment

MI Week Connections logo

Registration is now open for the TWICE Michigan Week Connections interactive video project. This is a great activity for 3rd and 4th grade students studying Michigan. Project activities take May 4-15, 2009.

TWICE offers two participation options: Where in Michigan? and Michigan Exchange Projects.Where in Michigan? is a 2 hour multi-point connection where students present clues about a city in Michigan and try to guess the city based on the information presented. Usually 4-6 classes participate in each session. Michigan Exchange Projects are 45 minute point-to-point connections where partner classes each share a 15 minute presentation about their community and then spend 15 minutes asking each other questions about their respective communities.

Registration opens March 4, 2009 and closes April 8, 2009. Teachers or coordinators will register at Collaborations Around the Planet (CAPspace):   http://www.projects.twice.cc. To register for either project, you will need a CAPspace account. If you don’t have an account, directions at the CAPspace website will guide you through the setup process. Prior to registration, your videoconferencing equipment must also be verified to help prevent connection issues the day of your event – you will use your CAPspace account to sign up for equipment verification. If you participated in Read Around the Planet 2009, you already have a CAPspace account, and your equipment has been verified.

More information about Michigan Week Connections can be found at http://www.twice.cc/MI where the complete process, dates, and tips are outlined. These are wonderful learning collaborations for TWICE members  - encourage teachers in your area to sign up today!

Press Release for Read Around the Planet

Published February 25, 2009 CAPspace , RAP Leave a Comment
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Thanks to Polycom’s PR team, we have a press release for Read Around the Planet. It includes pictures and a video clip! (The clip is on youtube so you might have to view at home.) Feel free to share this press release to your local press.

We’ll be sharing the news stories that we find online through the next few weeks. Here are a few so far:

Just a reminder, if you’re blogging about Read Around the Planet, please use these official tags for any blogging, photo sharing etc. about RAP:

  • RAP09 for this Read Around the Planet
  • ReadAroundthePlanet as a general RAP tag
  • CAPspace if you’re talking about the website projects.twice.cc.

Read Around the Planet Final Numbers for 2009

Published February 23, 2009 RAP Leave a Comment
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Read Around the Planet connections start today! This post has final numbers and other interesting stats about this year’s project.

People Who Make It Happen

Read Around the Planet would not be successful without support from many organizations.

  • TWICE, Michigan’s K12 videoconferencing organization, started this project in 2002 and continues to invest volunteer time and funding to make the project sustainable.
  • This is the third year of corporate sponsorship from Polycom. This funding allowed TWICE to contract with Sue Porter to be our RAP coordinator. The project has grown so large that it isn’t sustainable without sponsorship, so we really appreciate Polycom’s support.
  • The Verification Partners lay the foundation for this project in the fall with all the test calls and assistance getting buildings entered into the system and connected correctly to their coordinators. Many of them have been involved through February in helping with test calls and fixing connections.
  • Building, district, and regional level coordinators and techs have worked so hard coordinating, dealing with tech problems, encouraging teachers, following up on communication problems, and generally smoothing the way for successful connections.
  • And of course, the teachers who plan creative interesting presentations for their partner classes and who weather all the little glitches and quirks that can happen in classroom-to-classroom connections.

A big thank you to EVERYONE who makes this project a success!

Read Around the Planet Stats

RAP 2009 Registrations/Classrooms: 1764
Student Estimate: 53,000 students
Equipment Profiles: 1579

Countries / Registrations
Australia / 1
Costa Rica / 3
Canada / 190
United Kingdom / 23
United States / 1548

States and Provinces
New States: Florida, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia
New Provinces: British Columbia, Ontario
Click the graph for a larger picture.

RAP 2009 States and Provinces

Notes on Matching

  • Entries with just one time selected: 491; 142 of the English leftover requests only entered one time.
  • We had too many French requests from Alberta, Canada, and not enough from other areas.
  • Language matches tend NOT to be the same age/level of study because there aren’t enough of them.
  • No ISDN in the leftover pile this year. ISDN seems to be finally disappearing from this project.
  • This year we tweaked the algorithm so that there are NO instate or same state/province matches in the first cycle of matching. There were only 37 in state matches in the language and leftover matches (because we couldn’t get a partner any other way).

2009 Registrations by Age
Clearly elementary classes love this project, but we still have significant participation from secondary as well. (Click the graph to view it larger).

RAP Graph - Ages/Grades

Registrations by Language
English: 1651
English as a Second Language: 15
Special Education: 11

Spanish Beginning: 15
Spanish Intermediate: 20
Spanish Advanced or Immersion: 26

French Beginning: 4
French Intermediate: 1
French Advanced or Immersion: 21

Mandarin Chinese: 11

Cree: 1
German Intermediate: 1
Japanese: 1
Latin: 3

Equipment Types
These numbers show how many sessions were scheduled using the different equipment manufacturers compared to last year’s numbers. Click the graph to see it bigger.

Equipment Used for RAP Connections

Other CAPspace Numbers

Friends
Friend Relationships Confirmed:  1341
Friend Relationships Pending: 1288
Have you logged in recently to update your CAPspace friendships? Go to Projects.TWICE.cc and login. Look on the home page to see if you have any friend relationships pending. If so, click the person’s head/icon and click Add Friend. Or, go to Search to find friends and add them.

Active CAPSpace Accounts: 2587

Just think of all the people you could partner with to create additional projects! Login to projects.twice.cc and check your privacy settings. If you want others to find you, check Full Access.

Imperfect Matches and Test Call Tips

Published January 28, 2009 RAP 2 Comments

We have just sent out the match emails for all but about 55 Read Around the Planet partners. We’re still working on those so don’t give up hope!

Imperfect Matches

Each year, some of you are concerned about your match. So here’s the story.

We did our best!!! There were 1700 match requests. We could only work with the times and schools signed up. Now that they are matched, we can’t make any changes because we’re still busy working on the unmatched requests. It’s up to you now to make it a good experience.

Please please please, do your best to make it a good learning experience for everyone involved.  With everyone’s flexibility and positivity, this will be a great experience. We really, really appreciate those of you who work so hard to make this a success!

Here are some suggestions of what to do during your session:

If you have additional ideas and suggestions for the actual interaction, please comment below. Thanks again for making this work!!

Tips for Arranging Test Calls

Kay Hauck shared this great tip last year:

Just a note to tech coordinators: When corresponding to set up test calls (and on all correspondence, for that matter) it is very helpful if you include the last names of the matched teachers in the subject line. Some of us are dealing with 40+ people and it gets a little tricky trying to keep everyone straight.

Still Working

We’re still working on those that aren’t matched yet, so don’t give up hope! Stay tuned, and read over the information to see if you can help us.

Also, we had a little snag with the CSV of all your matches & partners. It will be ready on Monday, February 2. You can find it in CAPspace on the Read Around the Planet page then.

Thank you to everyone who makes this project a success!

Working on Leftovers: How You Can Help

Published January 21, 2009 RAP Leave a Comment

We are now in the thick of working on the 326 (out of 1668 ) leftovers of the Read Around the Planet match requests.

Leftover List

We’ve published the spreadsheet of the leftovers so you can help us. Please note the following when viewing this file:

  • All the times have been converted to EST.
  • Notice the tabs for each language.
  • Pink “needs a partner”.
  • Green is done. (These will disappear after they are entered.)

You can help in two ways:

  • Add more times. If you have a teacher in the list, ask the teacher for more dates and times and then email Janine at verification@twice.cc.
  • Help us find partners. Talk to other teachers in your school. Do you have anyone else who wants to participate? If you can find a new partner for any of the leftovers (and you already have verified equipment in CAPspace), please fill out this form. If you can, please indicate in the time field the request# that you are trying to match with to help us out!

Late/Leftover Registrations

You can see the status of your leftover registrations here. This is where you filled out the form to help us match with others.

  • Green is done and has a match. They will disappear when they are entered in CAPspace.
  • White we haven’t looked at yet.
  • Pink we can’t use  unless you give us more times. Email more times to Janine at verification@twice.cc.

Overwhelmed?
If this all seems overwhelming to you, don’t worry about it. We’re working on it and will take care of it. If it doesn’t make sense, just wait and others will help us.

Match Report and Emails
I feel very hopeful that we’ll be able to get the match report and emails out by January 30 if not before. In the meantime, BE PATIENT!! Try not to email us unless you’re helping! :) That will speed things along.

Questions? Email Janine at verification@twice.cc

Read Around the Planet: Matching

Published January 15, 2009 RAP Leave a Comment
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Quicklinks: Read Around the Planet website and CAPspace login.

Registration Status
RAP registration closed yesterday at midnight EST. We had 1668 registrations, up from 1608 at the closing of registration last year. This number will increase some as we add registrations to match with the leftover pile.

In addition to lots of Canadian and American schools participating, we have a nice group from the UK this year, as well as first time participation from Costa Rica and Australia!

Leftovers
Now we begin work on the 300-ish leftovers that weren’t perfect matches. Leftovers are the ones that we couldn’t find a perfect match for. Leftovers are caused by several factors:

  • requests with only one time or very few times
  • odd numbers of requests
  • languages are still hard to match because we don’t get enough registrations
  • middle and high school are usually hard to match because there are fewer registrations
  • ISDN is getting harder and harder to match as fewer and fewer schools have ISDN
  • late afternoon west coast times are hard to match because there are fewer requests at those times

Leftover strategies
We have several ways to work with leftovers and it just takes time. Hence the delay! Here are some of the things we do:

  • Calling coordinators with lots of leftovers to see if additional times can be added to those requests
  • Using late match requests to match with leftovers (we only take late requests from verified schools)
  • Calling “tried & true” RAP coordinators to beg for help matching with leftovers
  • Forcing some not-so-perfect matches together (grade levels or times not quite the same)
  • Begging friends to bridge IP to ISDN to take care of the ISDN leftovers

How you can help

  • Be patient!!!!
  • Don’t change your mind on any sessions!
  • Answer your phone & email if we need to contact you.
  • If you have extra interested teachers and have already verified equipment, then fill out our form. If you’re willing to be flexible and match specific times, then do one form and just tell us and we’ll call you. If we can use you to fill a match we will. If not, we’re sorry, but we can’t create more leftovers!

Partner Information
We’re aiming to get the leftovers done and partner information out sometime the last week in January. I know many of you will help us get there. Thanks for all your patience and support of this project!

CAPspace/RAP Instructions for MCU Operators

Published January 13, 2009 CAPspace , RAP Leave a Comment
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We’ve just added another feature/capability to CAPspace specifically for coordinators at the regional level who are responsible for MCUs.

If your school or district contacts are creating their own endpoints in CAPspace and they use your MCU to connect, then this post is for you.

1. Add More People
First, you need to add your district and school level coordinators “under you” so that they are on the list of people you support VC for. So go to Admin, My People, and click Add More People, search for your district people and add them by clicking “I Support/Coordinate VC for this person.”

2. Watch List
By the way, the watch list tool can really assist you in keeping your My People list up to date.

3. Attach their endpoints to your MCU
Next, go to Admin, My Equipment, and click Attach MCU. Click the monitor MCU icon , and then click the checkbox for each of the units that you want to attach to the MCU as shown. All of the endpoints created by your district/school level contacts should be on this list. If not, let us know!

attachmcu

This also automatically adds you as a tech contact on their equipment, which will put their equipment in your My Equipment list.

4. Check their registrations list.
Now you can see registrations for matching events (like RAP) for your people. You can export the registration list to CSV as well. In addition, when the matches come out, you’ll be able to get an CSV export with all the partner information!

So, go to My Projects, click the event name, in this case, Read Around the Planet. Click the button for Reg by Equipment. This shows all the registrations for all the endpoints that you’re attached to. Voila!

Read Around the Planet Registration Problems?
If you’re having trouble with verification, email verification@twice.cc. All other problems, email sue@twice.cc. Deadline is tomorrow, January 14!

Partners
Remember, partners come out after we’ve had a chance to match everyone. We’re aiming for the last week in January this year. Thank you for your patience!

Checking RAP Registrations

Published January 6, 2009 CAPspace , RAP Leave a Comment

Read Around the Planet registration closes on January 14, so it’s crunch time! Registrations are coming in at a nice pace, with 652 submitted at this moment.

How Do I Know I’m Registered?
Since we sent the reminder email on Monday, we’ve been getting emails asking, “Am I registered?”

Here’s two ways to find out:

  1. Click My Projects, Read Around the Planet. You’ll see this screen and your registration(s) should be listed there.
    Check Registration
  2. The second way is to check your profile. Click My Profile from the menu. Under Previous Connections, you should have the 2009 Read Around the Planet badge as shown.
    Registration Icon

Coordinators: Checking Registrations
If you coordinate videoconferencing for one or more schools, you may find these additional tools helpful.

On the left of the Read Around the Planet event page, you’ll see these two buttons:

Check Registration Type

By default, it lists the registrations by you, and those directly under you in My People.

For most of you that is sufficient. However, if you coordinate videoconferencing at the regional level, and your coordinators at the school and district level are registering for their teachers, you may not see the registrations under Reg By User. So, select Reg by Equip. This lists all the registrations for all the equipment profiles that you’re attached to as a tech contact. Now you should be seeing all the registrations of your people. (If not, please email Janine at verification@twice.cc.)

CSVCSV Files for Excel
Finally, if you’re really an advanced user, you can click the CSV icon on either registrations to get an Excel download of all your registrations. This is helpful if you have many of them and want to check them over. Also, when matches come out, you’ll be able to get all the partner data as well. I know some of you have been longing for that!

Registration Problems?
If you’re having trouble with verification, email verification@twice.cc. All other problems, email sue@twice.cc.

Partners
Remember, partners come out after we’ve had a chance to match everyone. We’re aiming for the last week in January this year. Thank you for your patience!

New Tools for Connecting People & Equipment Profiles

Published December 31, 2008 CAPspace , RAP Leave a Comment
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In the process of getting ready for Read Around the Planet 2009, we’ve been polishing the tools for connecting people to equipment profiles within CAPspace.

If you are the sole person supporting VC in your school/district, and you will do all the registrations for your teachers, then you don’t need these tools. But for everyone else where other people need to be attached to the equipment profiles so they can register for RAP, you’ll find these new tools very helpful!

Watch List
First, we have a new watch list. This is a way to “watch” for people in your service area who have created accounts in CAPspace.

  • The watch list automatically uses your email domain. If you support for just your school or district, then you should be all set. If you support VC for several districts (email domains), then go to My Settings, Watch List, and add the email domains of your districts.
  • New accounts show up on the front page as shown:

    This list will show anyone from your watch list who created an account in the last 30 days and isn’t attached to an equipment profile.
  • You can see all the people on your Watch List under Search, Watch List. This shows all the accounts in CAPspace that match your watch list settings. If you see some old accounts that should be deleted, let us know.

Connect to Equipment
We had an old clunky way to add people to equipment (which still works) under Admin, My Equipment, then Attach End Users under the equipment profile. However, now we have a faster way to do it. This way assumes that the equipment profile(s) are already created.

  • Go to the person’s profile. From the home page, click on their name in the new watch list to get to their profile. Or use Search, click Watch List, and click the head icon to go to their profile. Or just search their name and click the head icon to view their profile page.
  • From here, click + I Support VC for this person as shown below. When the confirmation message pops up, click OK.
    I Support VC
  • Next, you’ll see the option to attach the person to an equipment profile. If you support multiple systems, you’ll see a pull down menu to choose the equipment this person uses. Then click Add to Equipment.
    Attach to Equipment
  • Finally, you’ll see the equipment icons on their profile, along with the name of the equipment they are attached to – as shown below. (If you don’t have access to ISDN, you won’t see that icon.)
    Attached to Equipment
  • Now this person should be able to register for Read Around the Planet, so send them an email and let them know.

We hope your registration for Read Around the Planet is going smoothly. If you have an verification related issues, email Janine at verification@twice.cc. For all other CAPspace and RAP questions, email Sue at sue@twice.cc.

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