December continued:

December was a short work month for us due to holiday vacations.  During the month, students in three of the subtopic groups were able to chat from school  This helped iron out some of the problems they were having on who was supposed to be working on what.  We tried using web cams in addition to chatting, but were unsuccessful due to firewall conflicts between Israel and Waterford. Mott was able to catch brief glimpses of the students in Canada.

Teachers chatted almost daily to keep updated on what students had accomplished and to make plans for the next day.  By the end of the month much of the research was done, storylines were being revised to match our opening sequence, and several pages were actually started. Suggestions for interview questions were compiled so students would be able to conduct interviews and complete surveys during their break.  The majority of Mott students would be finished with the project at the end of first semester, so it was important to get as much work done as possible before the holiday break.

Some students still appeared to be reluctant to post messages on Nicenet.  Several were uncomfortable writing in English while others thought their ideas weren't worthwhile.  Their teammates and teachers continued to encourage their participation.

Another problem we faced was our varied schedules. NC met once a week as a group.  At other times, some students were able to meet with the teacher to get help or participate in chat sessions.  ECS did not meet daily and when they did it was not always in a computer lab.  There is a seven hour time difference between NC and the other two schools.  When they were getting out of school, we were just getting started. 

In the week prior to break, ECS had a snow day on Dec. 15th and a half day of school on the 19th.  Pages that were started were posted to our temporary work area so that all schools would be able to access the pages that had been started.  We hoped students would have a clearer understanding of what we were trying to accomplish.

All three school were on vacation for the last full week of Dec.  NC was back in school the week of Dec. 29.  By this point in time, teachers had tried using ICQ, MSN, IVisit, and PalTalk for our weekly Sunday chats.  We were unsuccessful in finding one application that would give us both good audio and good video.  Chatting in text is useful because then you can save the dialogue and refer back to it.  Chatting verbally is faster and more can be accomplished.

January

After their return from Christmas break, Mott had only six class periods remaining until the end of their semester.  Mott students were expected to have their portion of the site completed by their last class.  What the research students had been doing was finally becoming apparent as web pages were starting to be produced.  Over the holidays, many students were able to complete interviews and surveys.  The "daily living" group had an excellent chat with members from all three schools participating.  They used PalTalk and were able to chat verbally (rather than in writing).  The video portion gave static images, but at least students were able to see what their partners looked like.

Mott and ECS received packages from NC containing pictures, printed information, a CD, bubblegum, and other interesting materials from their area.
 

The entrance pages were up and running as well as a good number of other pages.  Mott students were able to complete their portion of the project before the majority of them switched classes at the end of their semester in mid January.  Two students continued on with the project to help complete pages.  ECS students had several weeks of mid-terms during the latter part of January.

During the end of the month, ECS and NC students continued working on their pages.  NC or ECS students added pictures and continued storylines where Mott students had left off.  NC girls had a number of extra work sessions and ECS students worked several hours one afternoon with a pizza lunch provided by Mrs. Peters.

Teachers discussed a variety of ways to upload files and correct mistakes without wiping out each others work.  Things were finally coming together!