Tweet this!

Let's face it - there are more conferences on the planet than one can possibly attend. While I always appreciate the opportunity to participate and share stories about "Re-Imagining the Classroom", I simply cannot be traveling all the time. So I have recently tried using HP Virtual Rooms - and it's a whole lot of fun!...

There's nothing particularly new about video conferencing. Those of us with loved ones far away have been appreciating the Glorious magic of Skype video calls - and some are switching to Google Video Chat. But what's missing from both is the ability to show and annotate. Having used a tablet pc for several years now, it's hard for me to imagine talking without simultaneously drawing - so you can imagine my frustration with most video webchats.

That's all changed now.

I finally have had a chance to use the HP Virtual Room service that we granted to our 2009 HP Innovations in Education awardees in the US. The version we granted is the Multimedia version of HP Virtual Room, which supports webcam video streams and Voice over IP conversations, so participants can see and hear one another without an extra phone line. Like all HP Virtual Rooms, the room's content is persistent (you can upload presentations and keep them there for future use). It really is "your room".

I recently used my HP Virtual Room Multimedia account as a Presenter at two conferences, neither of which I could attend in person - the Workshop on the Impact of Pen-based Technology in Education (www.wipte.org) held recently at Virginia Tech, and the Next Steps Institute, a K-12 science education conference hosted recently in Huntsville, Alabama, by the Association for Science Materials Centers (http://www.kitsupport.org/).

The setup was simple: I have a computer, webcam, external mic, earbuds, and an HP Virtual Room. I create an event and send the room URL to the conference organizers, who have a room full of people, a computer (with headphone output connect to their house P/A system, a webcam, a digital projector, and (preferably) a wireless house mic connected back to the mic input on their computer.

The result is an easy way to have a video conference with window sharing. Below is a screen shot of what the NSI event looked like this morning:

If you can't be there in person to give a presentation, it sure is nice to still have a way to participate... and in this visual, multimedia world, being able to show, point, and scribble is very important - and couldn't be easier!

Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Worldwide Education Programs
HP Global Social Investment
Hewlett-Packard
Twitter @jgvanides

For information about the HP Global Social Investments, visit www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants