Fiscal year 2008 marked another successful year for the ICN as indicated by the 2008 annual report. Over 9,200 hours of video sessions were delivered through the K-12 Connections program, a 26% increase over the previous year. Professional development, in particular, has become a major component of the K-12 Connections sessions as approximately 25% of the 43,000 participants were adults taking part in professional development opportunities. Sessions included topics such as bullying prevention, school nurse certification and food safety. One session brought together over 2,000 food and nutrition workers at 236 ICN video classrooms in the largest session held in the Network’s 15-year history.
High school students continued to benefit academically from high school, college-credit and Advanced Placement classes offered over the ICN. During the 2007-08 school year, classes in foreign languages, health science/medicine and science made up many of the hours of classes offered to students through high school class-sharing agreements or by two- and four-year colleges. Iowa Learning Online (ILO) continues to help connect high school students and teachers across the state to broaden the educational possibilities for Iowa students. In addition, ILO’s new struggling learners initiative, which is currently in development, will increase opportunities for students who are identified as high risk to finish courses and meet high school graduation requirements.
Rapid advancements in conferencing technologies, combined with the widespread presence of IP (Internet Protocol) networks, are changing the way organizations do business. Critical for achieving business goals, conferencing technologies are essential for any organization that wants to advance its business. To answer that need, in the spring ICN Service Delivery introduced a new managed IP video system to Network customers. As discussed in last month’s ICN News blog, PerfectMeetings Managed Video allows users to communicate from desktop and laptop computers in videoconferences across the office, town, country or ocean. Desktop video participants and board room video sites can come together in the same video meeting using the PerfectMeetings Managed Video environment and can be joined with those connecting by phone or viewing through Web streaming. The automated, on-demand and intuitive features of PerfectMeetings Managed Video allows anyone to easily initiate a multi-site video meeting, and any session can be recorded and stored for later viewing.
Changes throughout ICN modes of communication have improved the flow of information and publicity of the network. The ICN site is moving toward a Web 2.0 platform that allows for increased multimedia and more relevant information. Heartland AEA’s ICN information site was redesigned earlier in the year by ICN consultant Lyneé Casper to improve ease of use and include more relevant information. The new blog format of the ICN News has greatly increased the number of articles able to be featured and provides information in a timelier manner.
These are just a few of the many successes seen throughout the ICN in the past year. Please feel free to add comments and share your successful stories from the past year on the blog. What have you seen in your classroom and with your students that might interest others considering the ICN?
