Berrien County Intermediate School District

Name Janine Lim Position Instructional Technology Consultant

Projects/goals for the 1999-2000 school year:

  1. I have worked with my boss to facilitate the use of the new videoconferencing systems installed in 20 districts in Berrien and Cass counties. My goal was to schedule at least 40 videoconferencing field trips or educational programs from museums and zoos from January through May. We currently have 52 scheduled and there is interest in more. We have trained over 60 teachers on how to participate in videoconferencing field trips, 30 teachers on how to teach over the system, and offered numerous demonstrations for board meetings, curriculum groups, staff meetings, and more. Hardly a day goes by in February through May when we are not using the new videoconferencing system.
  2. I worked with our school-to-work consultants to add a career web adventure to our Berrien County Connect web site. The web site helps teachers and students learn about Berrien County’s history, economy, careers, and more. The web site has had about 5000 hits since it was unveiled. We are working hard have students publish writing about careers this year.
  3. I have worked with Kevin to offer some new creative technology workshops for this summer, such as Web Design Academy and the RoboLab Challenge. We are collaborating on ways to integrate the videoconferencing system with our technology workshops and projects.
  4. I have taught two for-credit classes online using WebCT. We trained over 40 teachers this way on how to use the Internet in the curriculum. It has been very successful and we feel we’ve found another method to offer technology staff development.

What improvements do you plan to make on a continuing project?

  1. I am working with my boss to find ways to continue to provide funding for the videoconferencing field trips. I am also working on scheduling videoconferencing author visits for our schools for next year. I plan to work with the high school teachers we trained to develop short term collaborative learning experiences such as debates and student presentations that can be shared over videoconferencing.
  2. Kevin and I are working on ways to integrate the Berrien County Connect project website with many of our technology classes. We think this will facilitate a greater participation than offering separate classes on participating in the project. I am also working with the Berrien County Historical Association and WAUS to provide 1-2 min. audio clips of Bob Myers sharing Berrien County history on the Berrien County Connect web site. I plan to work with teachers and the language arts and social studies consultants to create lessons that accompany the audio clips.
  3. Based on what I learned from the first online class, I am modifying it to make it more applicable to teachers and easier to learn in the online environment. We plan to offer the two online classes in alternating semesters.

What did you do last year that made a difference to our constituents and what evidence do you have to show it was effective? (Maximum two)

  1. I planned to organize at least 40 videoconferencing field trips and the interest and demand is so high that we’re over 50 planned until May with more requests coming in all the time. Student and teacher responses to these educational programs have been very positive. I also have worked with the principals and counselors to get at least 2 shared classes to be offered for our high schools for next year.
  2. The Classroom Resources web site on the ISD server that I started and now Kevin is maintaining now gets around 1500 hits/week, up from 900/week last year. This lets me know that districts are using the site in their schools to facilitate effective use of the Internet. Besides this, I have offered (some of them teaming with Kevin or Doniele) 51 classes that total 185 hours of in class time and 6 state wide trainings for Best Practices of Technology Integration in January and February. The evaluations for these workshops have been very positive.

What have you done in the past year in your own professional development?

  1. In the summer, I took a four credit class on teaching with WebCT from Andrews University.
  2. I attended the ETOM/MADL conference, November 4, 1999.
  3. I subscribe to three useful listservs on Staff Development and Distance Learning. I have learned much from colleagues on the list.
  4. I attended Polycom and Concorde technical training offered here February 15, teaching over videoconferencing training offered here February 29 and March 1 by Virginia Ostendorf; teaching with distance learning training offered here January 27 by Howard Major, and will attend MCS bridge training in May.
  5. I attended the Connected Classroom Conference in February 2000.
  6. I attended the MACUL Conference in March 2000.
Workshops & Handouts | Presentations | Web Sites
Visit the rest of My Internet Island: Family | Faith | Service | Writing | FEA | Movies | Vitae | Work
Last Updated April 11, 2002 | Email me at janine@janinelim.com