TO: Jefferson County School Administrators and Faculty
FROM: John Kuzmich, Jr., Carmody Middle School 7th Grade Computer Teacher
RE: Innovative April 9, 16 and 30, 1999 Distant-Learning In-service Workshop
Please pass the word that there will be a special videoconferencing in-service class offered with a multipoint emphasis at Carmody Middle School on Fridays, April 9, 16 and 30, 1999 from 4 to 7:30 p.m. for all interested teachers and administrators. Distant-learning is a viable supplement to public and private school education from elementary through high school and beyond. Imagine a classroom without walls that can freely communicate with the world via the Internet with both video and audio interaction in bringing in distinguished educators and experts to your students with interaction in a unique forum without travel, room and board expenses normally associated with old-of-town consultants. Foreign language instruction is a dream come true via videoconferencing with more realistic instruction than can ever be duplicated in the single-teacher classroom. Or involve out-of-town guest lecturers who can bring new ideas to your students that isn't possible without much time and expense. Or students from different schools, school districts, states, and/or countries working collectively together on instructional projects that represent Gestalt psychology at its best when "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Home schooling gets much better with videoconferencing capabilities. Or better yet, eliminate tedious travel to attend administrator or educator school district meetings in which everybody can participate in the meeting directly from their school and/or home computers instead of frantically driving across Jefferson County at rather busy times after school.
Regardless of the reasons why distant-learning can enhance instruction, videoconferencing is a viable consideration that makes education both particularly challenging and rewarding as we go into the 21st century with much technology available. Just as computers are attractive for both remedial and gifted and talented teaching applications, multipoint videoconferencing can likewise be an effective educational tool for all students regardless of their ability levels. Find out by the instructor, John Kuzmich, Jr., regularly presents videoconferencing workshops at national and international educator conferences. This past year, he has presented videoconferencing workshops at the National Education Computing Conference in San Diego, at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California at the Classroom Connect Conference and the International Association of Jazz Educators, and on April 14th at the Classroom Connect Conference in Baltimore.
Please pass both this letter and its accompanying flyer to your staff as many of your staff members may not be aware of this in-service workshop that offers either graduate college credit or Jeffco School in-service credit. Schools writing grants that utilize distant-learning can offer some rather unique appeal to foundations as a way to share and implement quality instruction with other educators and with the business community. I envision offering this class several times to attract a nucleus of Jeffco School educators in which to develop pilot project that more fully utilize distant-learning instruction on a regular basis. The future is bright with distant-learning capabilities. Technology is improving and the cost is definitely attractive beginning at only $150 per workstation that includes all software and hardware needed to go on-line in the classroom.
I'm looking forward to offering the very first distant-learning in-service class for Jefferson County teachers on April 9, 16 and 30, 1999. Six workshop hand-outs are already posted on my web site at:
Thank you for the opportunity to share this information with you and your faculty. The best way for interested participants to contact me is either by e-mail at jkuzmich@jeffco.k12.co.us or by numeric pager at 303-208-6769.