For the last several months, as I’ve been considering my PhD research, I’ve been wishing that we had a really good descriptive name for what we do – connecting to content providers, guest experts, authors, classroom-to-classroom projects, international cultural exchanges, etc.
Some names we have used are Videoconference Adventures, Electronic Education, Virtual Field Trip, and Expeditions. But these don’t really capture an all inclusive idea of using videoconferencing for curriculum based experiences.
I’ve been guilty of using the term “enrichment” to describe what we do. But enrichment has a connotation of an add-on, an extra. Some thing that is optional. We all know schools who have so thoroughly integrated videoconferencing into the curriculum that whole grade levels annually participate in activities that tightly match their curriculum. So enrichment doesn’t really work either.
So, what do you think of the term “curriculum videoconferencing?” It’s simple and straightforward. The emphasis is on CURRICULUM, right where it should be. It uses the most common term for this technology, videoconferencing. It works to include all the types of K12 videoconferences for the curriculum – authors, content providers, projects, collaborations. We could add K12 in front, but higher ed is dabbling in this use of VC too. Curriculum Videoconferencing. Has a nice ring, doesn’t it?
What do you think? Does it work? Can you think of a better term?
About Janine Lim
Janine Lim, PhD, currently serves as associate dean for online higher education in the School of Distance Education at Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, MI. She and her team support over 200 online courses, provide training for faculty teaching online, and work with the campus infrastructure support of online learning. Her department also provides educational technology and Moodle support for faculty and students. In addition, Janine is responsible for the faculty and courses of the Consortium of Adventist Colleges and Universities. Janine has taught over 15 unique graduate educational technology classes online numerous times over the past 15 years, with some classes attracting participants from all over the world. Her undergraduate teaching includes social media courses for communication and digital media majors. Janine has served on the board of the United States Distance Learning Association since April 2015.
Prior to her work at Andrews University, Janine coordinated distance education for 22 K12 school districts in southwest Michigan for 14 years. In that position, as one of the co-founders of TWICE, Michigan’s K12 Videoconferencing Organization, Janine has spearheaded popular international K12 videoconference projects such as Read Around the Planet and MysteryQuest. While still serving on the board of TWICE, she was instrumental in designing and implementing the CAPspace website for collaborative videoconference projects. Janine also served on a team of Michigan educational technology trainers providing a workshop called ATA Technology Academy.
Her current online learning research interests include successful teacher behaviors, quality online discussions, and student activity patterns in self-paced courses.
Videoconferencing Out on a Lim 
Cool. I’ll add that to my list of synonymies:
I still find it difficult to succinctly define/label what I do when talking about IVC. Saying that I work in television is brief enough for most folks, but doesn’t really capture the dynamics.
BTW, there is not preview option, so I hope my HTML coding works on this post.
Jason, when you write, “I still find it difficult to succinctly define/label what I do when talking about IVC. Saying that I work in television is brief enough for most folks, but doesn’t really capture the dynamics” that captures the essence that we all feel.
We know what we do and we know quality when we see and experience it, but how do we explain that to someone not in our field?
In our area, we defined what we do as “videoconferencing” but I agree that a term that we can begin to use within our community of practice to communicate the relevance to the curriculum and nature of the technology would be helpful. We have worked diligently to provide quality projects, recommend quality providers, and excellent support to create positive experiences for our teachers and students.
Janine, I think this is a great idea to find a succinct way to share this with curriculum directors and administrators
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