Have you participated in an interactive videoconference? Traditional, "room-based" videoconferencing has involved either H.320 (ISDN) or H.323 (IP) connections to room-based equipment that generally is fixed in place after installation. Portable units on carts (like the Polycom Mobile Responder) have been available for some time, but tend to be less common in U.S. K-12 schools than fixed-room codecs.Videoconferencing offers great potential for students and teachers to collaborate and interact with each other. In Oklahoma where I live, however, it seems most videoconference equipment in K-12 schools is used for dual-credit courses offered by community college instructors for high school students or high school language classes offered by a teacher in another district. Some school districts, like Howe Public Schools in southeastern Oklahoma, engage students in a wide variety of collaborative videoconference projects and virtual field trips, but districts like Howe tend to be the exception rather than the rule.
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