JSET ejournal

Teacher Education
Associate Editor Column
Sean Smith

No Surprises!
A Collaborative Planning Guide for Professional Development via Interactive Video

Guest Columnists
Joy Zabala and Belva C. Collins
University of Kentucky

Introduction
Distance education technology is becoming a more frequently used means of providing special education teachers in rural areas with both coursework and continuing education (Ludlow & Spooner, 2001). This is due to several factors. First, rural special education teachers often find themselves in school districts and communities where there is limited or no expertise in special education; thus, they may feel isolated and unable to find the support they need. Second, many rural special education teachers were recruited from fields of study outside of special education and are working under emergency or provisional certificates. Third, rural special education teachers may be employed in geographically isolated communities without local access to a personnel preparation program in their field. Thus, the use of distance education technology is one means of meeting the needs of teachers who are confronted with these challenges.

Several types of distance education technologies are being used to meet the needs of rural special education teachers. These include, but are not limited to, delivery via satellite, the Internet, and interactive video (Abernathy, 1997; Barker, 1992). Interactive video is often appealing to rural teachers because it allows synchronous two-way audio and visual interactions, bridging the distance between instructors and students by allowing them to interact in real-time as if they were meeting in a face-to-face format (Spooner, Spooner, Algozzine, & Jordan, 1998). With minor adaptations to teaching style and advanced planning, the use of interactive video can be as effective as on-site classes or other types of technology.
The use of interactive video can be especially useful in the delivery of programs in low incidence disabilities since the teachers in this field may be few in number and scattered statewide. Ludlow and Spooner (2001) listed 12 special education programs in the United States that are delivered through distance education technology. Most of these included delivery through interactive video and focused on low incidence disabilities.

Although certification programs meet the needs of a number of rural special education teachers, there also is a need for inservice delivery that may consist of a single broadcast or a limited number of broadcasts. For example, Passaro, McEvoy, and Latham (1991) use satellite teleconferencing to provide training for over 120 due process officers at 10 participating state education agencies. The training consisted of 12 hours of training sessions across 1 1/2 days. Rule and Stowitschek (1991) also provided inservice sessions using a cable television system. In their project, 15 teachers, teacher-supervisors, and paraprofessionals participated in inservice consultation. More recently, Shuster and Collins (2001) included guest lecturers from across the nation in the personnel preparation coursework they provided through the Training Rural Educators in Kentucky through Collaborative Relationships project. In this project, each guest lecturer delivered a single 2 1/2 presentation on a specific topic (e.g., inclusion, supported employment, augmentative communication) through interactive video technology from their home site within one of the project's courses.

Most programs that consist of a series of courses provide both an orientation for instructors, students, and ongoing technical support personnel. One-time or limited inservices, however, may not provide an orientation. Thus, students who have limited or no experience with distance education delivery may not know what to expect or how to proceed. To avoid devoting valuable delivery time to technical issues, it is advantageous to provide materials to receiving sites prior to the broadcast that tell students what to expect and explain technical procedures (Parisot & Waring, 1994; Shade & Shade, 1995). In other words, a small amount of planning in advance can contribute to the overall success of an inservice delivered through distance education technology. The purpose of this article is to provide a set of guidelines for conducting professional development inservice presentations through interactive video. Specifically, the article will provide guidelines for receiving sites that include a comprehensive planning checklist in addition to equipment and interaction tips for receiving sites. In addition, a sample detailed lesson plan is provided that includes specific instructions for receiving sites during the broadcast. The guidelines, tips, and sample lesson plan should be useful to those who are involved in the delivery of professional development using technology both at the originating and receiving sites. Although this article focuses on the use of interactive video technology, much of the content applies to other types of two-way audio, two-way video systems (e.g., internet videostreaming).

Comprehensive Planning Checklist
Table 1 shows a comprehensive planning checklist for receiving sites that are involved in collaborative professional development via interactive video. Although it may not be necessary to go through every step that is listed in order to plan an effective professional development session, it is important to be aware of the steps. That way, failure to address steps will be by intentional choice rather than by naïveté. It is an assumption that collaboration will begin somewhere around the step entitled "Assemble the local planning and delivery team."

Equipment and Interaction Tips for Receiving Sites
Face-to-face presentations should be highly interactive because students learn from each other and get ideas from the ideas of others. Interactive video presentations should be just as interactive for all participants. Careful planning before the presentation and attentive facilitation during the presentation can help this happen.

In some presentations, a great deal of information will be shared in lecture or demonstration format, but the presenter also may conduct exercises that encourage participants to reflect upon new information, integrate it with what they already know, and determine practical applications of the information in their typical personal or work activities. The expectation is that the delivery team will work hard to assure that the participants in the receiving sites have the same highly interactive experience as those who are in the originating studio. In order to assure that this happens, there are several points that the team should keep in mind.

Guidelines and Tips
The following guidelines and tips should be shared with the facilitators, planning team members at the receiving site before sign-on on the day of the presentation.
1. Interactive video is the next best thing to being there, but people at remote sites may not really feel like they are there.

2. Be aware of appropriate use of the microphones. Mute the microphone when a person from your site is not talking to the group. In general, interactive video systems move from site to site as people at a site speak. If that is the case over your system, non-muted microphones can play havoc with delivery.

3. Discuss the ground rules for speaking over the system. See information in the "Speaker's Chair" section below for a method of encouraging a variety of people to speak.

4. Please have participants locate where the camera is located in the room and, if possible, try to look toward the camera when speaking.

5. If possible, have the camera zoom in on a person who is speaking to the group. Panned out cameras contribute to the feeling of isolation for people in remote sites. Also, from the originating site, it is difficult to feel like you are actually talking to or communicating with someone who is a "speck in a big room full of specks."

Suggestions for Setting Up the Site to Encourage Inclusion and Active Participation
Each individual site will need to determine how speakers will get to the microphone(s) and decide if each person will speak for himself or if comments, questions, etc., will be relayed to one person who will speak for the site. (If you decide to use the relay method, it would be wise to rotate the person speaking every couple of hours or so. That way, there are more opportunities to be actively involved.) The following sections offer additional suggestions that should be shared with the participants at the receiving site before sign-on on the day of the presentation.

Speaker's chair. An excellent method of encouraging participation is that anyone who has something to say to the group comes to the Speaker's Chair where the microphone is located and a close-in camera shot is pre-set. By using the Speaker's Chair, each person is able to speak for himself. This may seem intimidating to people at first, but that feeling generally dispels quickly as participants become involved in the sessions and become more familiar with the system and each other.

Camera and monitor positions. Decide who will be in charge of the camera. Someone must take the responsibility for moving the camera, as necessary, to facilitate effective communication. The camera may be controlled by the Site Technical Facilitator or may be controlled by the Site Content Facilitator. The Site Technical Facilitator may be preferred if that person is available at all times since the Content Facilitator will have many other things to which to attend.

It may be easier if the camera remains fairly stable, but it may not be as conducive to the visual aspects of communication if the camera is not moved from time to time. If the camera is manned at all times, it should focus in on anyone who is speaking and sometimes on groups who are working together during exercises.

If possible, pre-set locations should be stored so that the camera view can be changed quickly and reliably from one view to another. Pre-sets should include the following:

1. A wide shot of the entire group (for use when people are listening and during group activities). This shot should be only wide enough to include the people in the room. The shot should be as close as possible so that others viewing the group on the monitor see the members of the group with as much detail as possible.

2. A closer shot of each section of the room so that visual attention by people at other sites is not always focused on one person or group.

3. A close shot (head, shoulders, hands) on the Speaker's Chair for use when someone is seated in the Speaker's Chair.

Eye contact is a major part of effective communication. If possible, the receiving monitor should be placed right next to the camera at eye level so that, when a person is looking at the people to whom he or she is talking on the monitor, the speaker also is looking almost directly into the camera.

It is disconcerting to most people when they must speak to a camera that is in a different direction than the monitor. In such instances, they tend to face the monitor; thus, the picture received by others is of the back of side of the head instead of the face.

Also, the sending monitor should be very close to the camera, if possible. Though speakers may not want to do so, most have a tendency to check themselves in the sending monitor while talking on camera. This, too, can be difficult for receivers. Therefore, the monitor should be put where the speaker can glance at it quickly without looking away.

Suggestions for General Room Arrangement
If possible, the room should be arranged so that people are able to move around comfortably. There may be exercises that require movement and working with different people. Room arrangement also should make it easy for all participants to move unobtrusively to the Speaker's Chair if and when they choose to do so.

A Sample Detailed Lesson Plan
Once planning and pre-broadcast activities are completed, the presenter is ready to conduct the professional development. One factor that contributes to the success of the actual interaction with students during this time is a lesson plan that clearly states timelines, responsibilities, and content. A sample detailed lesson plan for a presentation on Assistive Technology can be found in Table 2.

Discussion
This article has provided guidelines for delivering an inservice to participants through the use of interactive video. Guidelines, such as these, are beneficial in working with distant sites in an effort to be proactive and avoid last minute troubleshooting. While the focus is on interactive video technology, the guidelines can be easily adjusted for other visual technology, such as videostreaming over computer desktop conferencing.

In addition, a sample detailed lesson plan was presented. Again, the greater the level of advance preparation that is completed, the greater the chance that last minute troubleshooting will not be needed. Also, attention to such details as camera placement, clear communication expectations, and student interaction rules assure that the inservice will have a high quality of technology use as well as content delivery.

Although this model has been used effectively by the first author, those who choose to use the model should collect evaluation data to assist in refining the model and for adapting it to other disciplines and settings. Distance education technology is a valuable tool in reaching a great number of students who do not have easy access to resources; however, adequate planning is necessary to assure that it is effective.

References
Abernathy, D. (1997). A start-up guide to distance learning. Training and Development, 39-47.

Barker, B. O. (1992). The distance education handbook: An administrator's guide for rural and remote schools. Charleston, WV: Rural Clearinghouse on Rural and Small Schools.

Council for Exceptional Children (Fall, 1998). Integrating technology into the standard curriculum. Research Connections in Special Education, 1-12.

Ludlow, B., & Spooner, F. (2001). Distance education applications in teacher education in special education. Arlington, VA: Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children.

Parisot, A., & Waring, S. (1994). At a distance: The beginner's view of teaching with technology. Adult Learning, 10-11.

Rosenberg, M., & Sindelar, P. (2002). The proliferation alternative routes to certification in special education: A critical review of the literature. Arlington, VA: .National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education.

Schuster, J. W., & Collins, B. C. (2001). Training rural educators in Kentucky through collaborative relationships. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky.|

Shade, M. A., & Shade, R. A. (1995). Effective teaching and learning strategies using compressed video. TechTrends, 18-22.

Spooner, F., Spooner, M., Algozzine, B., & Jordan, L. (1998). Distance education and special education: Promises, practices, and potential pitfalls. Teacher Education in Special Education, 21, 121-131.

U. S. Department of Education (1999). Twenty-first Annual Report to Congress on Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Washington, DC: USDOE.

If you have ideas or would like to submit illustrations of ways your teacher preparation program integrates technology, please feel free to contact Sean Smith at seanj@ukans.edu.

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