Communication Technology

VSee
Cisco Learning Institute will be using VSee technology to communicate with the K-5 teachers and with CATCs. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Vsee was founded in 2003 to develop low bandwidth videoconferencing and application sharing software. Vsee technology allows users to see multiple people on a computer. A user can remotely edit and annotate documents, share applications and desktops, transfer files, record and share videos, pan, tilt, and zoom remote cameras, and show microscope and whiteboard cameras.

Cisco WebEx
Cisco Learning Institute will be using WebEx technology to communicate with the K-5 teachers and with CATCs. Founded in 1996, the WebEx vision was to use the Web to bring people together from around the world to collaborate and work collectively on creative ideas. WebEx, a Cisco company, is the worldwide leader in online meeting applications. More than 3.5 million people use WebEx every month to communicate and collaborate online. By combining the ease of audio conferencing with the interactivity of video conferencing directly from a desktop, a user can create a truly personalized interactive experience.

Cisco IP Phones
Cisco Learning Institute will be using IP Phone technology to communicate with the K-5 teachers and with CATCs. An IP phone uses Voice over IP technologies allowing telephone calls to be made over the Internet. When calling other IP phones over the Internet, the user only pays for the fixed cost internet bandwidth.

Polycom Technology
Cisco Learning Institute will be using WebEx technology to communicate with the K-5 professional development writing team. Polycom, Inc. is the worldwide leader in unified collaborative communications (UCC) that maximize the efficiency and productivity of people and organizations by integrating the broadest array of high definition video, wired and wireless voice, and content solutions to deliver the ultimate collaborative experience. Supported by an open architecture, this technology integrates seamlessly with leading telephony, workplace wireless telephony, and presence-based networks.

Cisco Telepresence
Telepresence is a technology which allows the user to feel as if they were present at a remote location. The user's position, movements, actions, voice, etc. may be sensed, transmitted and duplicated in the remote location to bring about this effect. Therefore information may be traveling in both directions between the user and the remote location.

Research has shown that one of the most effective forms of teacher professional development is coaching, or cognitive apprenticeship. The application of telepresence shows promise for making this approach to teacher professional development practical. Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Telepresence-Enabled Cognitive Apprenticeship Model of Teacher Professional Development. R. Shawn Edmondson, Ph.D.