IMC Membership Benefits Expand To
IncludeVideo Conferencing And On Line Professional
Development
The International Montessori Council,
with members in more than 40 countries and growing,
plans to make a major commitment to facilitating communication
and distance learning for its entire membership.
As a first step, we
have arranged for each member to have a free special
IMC account on IVisit, a video-conferencing system
used by schools and universities around the world.
The free IVisit software
will allow IMC members to connect by text, audio and
video to other IMC members using their IMC member
access account.
Video
conferencing involves the use of the Internet to send
voice and video images between two, three, or more
people who are involved in a secure on line meeting
area. This means that, once configured, all you will
need is an inexpensive webcam (a small video camera
sold by most computer retail outlets and office supply
stores) and a microphone (some computers have one
built in).
Today, many people
are beginning to use the Internet to make world-wide
phone calls for little or no cost. With the cost of
webcams coming down rapidly, and many people switching
from dial up Internet access to high speed access,
video conferencing has begun to become more and more
common too.
Several services offer
audio or video conferencing, including Vonage, Skype,
the latest version of Microsoft Messenger, and Apple
IChat AV.
Unfortunately, most
work only with very high speed Internet access, and
work only between two users who have either windows
or Macintosh operating systems. Cross platform systems
(between Windows and Macintosh) and systems that work
acceptably when one user has a dial up connection,
are still very rare. Ivisit is one of the few exceptions.
With Their IMC IVisit
Video Conferencing, IMC Members Will Be Able To:
• Contact the IMC office for face-to-face
school consultation (school membership level
only, but may be used by any administrator, faculty
member, or trustees designated by the Head of School.
Contact
the IMC office to sign additional members of your
school up for an IMC video conference account.)
• Participate
in discussions organized by the IMC on a wide-range
of topics (The first sessions will begin
in January, and IMC members will receive details next
week).
• Contact
other IMC members on line and talk, either
one-on-one, or in small groups of up to 8 members
• Participate
in on line Montessori Leadership Institutes
(The first sessions will begin in January, and IMC
members will receive details next week)
IMC members and members schools should email timseldin@montessori.org
to receive their user name and initial password.
To learn more about our web
conferencing service, and how other schools are already
using it around the world, go to http://www.ivisit.com
For instructions on using
your IMC IVisit account, go to
Tim Seldin
President, The Montessori Foundation
Chair, The International Montessori Council
2400 Miguel Bay Drive, PO Box 130
Terra Ceia Island, FL 34250-0130
941-729-9565 • 941-729-9594 (fax)
email timseldin@montessori.org
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