I've been teaching now for 43 years - everyone from age 4 to 94! Why am I still here, plowing through snow and ice in the early morning the greater part of the school year? The easy answer is that it's just plain fun. The more complicated one: the kids inspire me to continue to find exciting ways for them to be learners and teachers. My REAL job is thinking about what needs to be learned and setting up situations where students can find out the answers for themselves while collaborating with their peers.

Years ago (mid 80's) the Illinois State Board of Education supplied a free 800-access number. With a phone line and modem, I accessed bulletin boards, learned from teens how to use First Class Client, looked at Mosaic and thought of the wonderful educational possibilities. I communicated with other pioneers as the Internet trickled down to the common educator.

Soon came AOL (yes, there was a version 1.0). I quickly found the HyperStudio forum and began exchanging stacks with other teachers, learning, teaching, and showcasing kids projects.

Eleven years ago, I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Publishing on the Internet was in its infancy and a beginner could easily learn the basics of html. I began publishing a web site for our school, which was hosted by a local ISP; now we have our own district server. While I'm now paid to create the District site, I still do our school site - volunteering my time.

URLs: http://www.op97.org and http://www.op97.org/julian (which is meant to fit into the district frame.)

AT&T's Virtual Classroom contest really allowed me to get students 'officially' involved in breaking out of their small universe. I learned that collaborating with teachers and students around the world not only opened my world, but also that of the students. The fourth and final year of the Contest, our “Class”, which consisted of Oak Park, Tokyo, Sydney, came in first place and won a trip to Hong Kong! It was a marvelous opportunity to meet the teachers and some of the students with whom we'd collaborated all year while creating a unified site from three different countries.
URL: http://www.virtualclassroom.org/99/vc_03/ (Because the server has been moved the REAL audio files no longer work.)

Virtual Classroom has returned after a 4 year absence. http://www.virtualclassroom.org and we are again eager participants. Our 2004 project Donivark, won an award of merit for creativity.

Virtual Classroom (VC) is also an elective class at Julian open to 40-50 seventh and eighth grade students each year. It emphasizes collaboration and telecommunication. One of the things I 'begged' for with the schedulers was that it be open to both grades and that sections have mixed grades. They were amazed that I should want such a thing, but have made it so. Students learn effective communication with different ages and cultures. They celebrate varied talents, combining those talents to create a product greater than one individual could create alone. They learn how to learn, being exposed to many new software products and educational themes; best of all, they learn to become independent, self-directed learners. Students receive a request or choose an interesting topic, divide the work, research, create, discuss, develop, and produce the topic with teacher guidance. Not all ideas make it to full production, but all are discussed. Success is seeing them work on weekends, during vacations, even after they are no longer in the class some have asked if they can still add just one more thing.

URL: http://www.op97.k12.il.us/lab/ (Logo created by students.)

Again this year students participated in Multimedia Mania and won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

Member schools have varied from 6-3. There are 3 long time participants: Julian School (my school) in Oak Park, Illinois, Media Scola San Benedito in Rome, Italy, and Inami Art Club in Hyogo, Japan. Two of our newest participants are Lyceum NSTU in Novosibirsk, Russia and Ein Ganim School in Petach Tikva, Israel. Lina Richichi has retired now, but still on occasion finds a teacher and class at San Benedito who will participate...and she helps them to do it!

This past winter holiday period, students from Israel, Japan, and Oak Park, created one site in which they illustrated the different holidays in the winter for gift giving. Students in Russia are a little older (16 and 17) but that has not made a difference in communications. They use their English class to research and write about topics; Julian students add to this with animations and additional information. the work they are doing this year about teen smoking caused our local paper to investigate when they saw our survey on the web. As a result they featured the kids in a news article. The Japanese students and teacher send mostly pictures, and a little text; Julian students often write more about the topic, or share a similar one. There are many Japanese festivals that have been featured: here are a couple: Gion Matsuri, Danjiri Matsuri.

Often our students have had to do additional inquiry to learn more about the topic so they could ask an intelligent question. They learn to understand the emerging English of EFL students and respond courteously. This is not always natural, and does have to be learned by students who expect their friends to know what they mean and if they are 'just kidding'.

The purpose of CyberTeen is International communication and collaboration. Students learn much about each other by sharing their works. Learning is student-centered; changing the teaching process and allowing for greater levels of inquiry, analysis, creativity and content production.

CyberDictionary

Since Sept 1999 to present: Fairy Tale/Folk Tale CyberDictionary – a site where primary children ages 4-9 can become producers of Internet content. CyberDictionary: http://www.op97.org/instruct/ftcyber/

There are over 80 unique tales (and a few done repeatedly), mostly from the U.S., but also several from Australia, New Zealand, and Venezuela. [best seen in the alphabetical tale listing] My dream is to have tales from around the world. The perfect age group for this project is the beginning reader…whatever that is in the school producing the tale. In most U.S. schools that ranges from K to 2. However, what a great project it would be for older EFL students. The standards listed on the teacher resource page are for grade 1. http://www.op97.org/instruct/ftcyber/teacher.html

Julian students create animations for with some of the pictures as they're learning the process of animating. The little kids love it and think it's 'magic'.

When Laura Eble first contacted me from Kinzie School for the Deaf asking if her students could participate in the project, I was delighted. Of course they could, and I discovered that the school was even physically close to us. I asked Laura if we could arrange for her students to not only draw and write their sentenced, but also to sign the story. Eventually all the problems were worked out, and the first graders came to Julian March 7, 2003. Some VC kids video taped them signing sentences for their story: Friends Forever. Click on each letter to see the video. My students processed the tape, dividing it into sections and then did a voice over to read the sentence.

We've recently added a jigsaw puzzle feature and Postys, with midi music created by a Julian student.

Some teachers share their 'tips' and these are listed for others on the main page. Often the email received is just one of happiness to see their work.

Email from: Rosemary N. West with CUSD #20

Dear Janet-
Wow- what fun to see the final product on-line. How proud the kids are and I thank you for the URL. It truly is a project that involves the creative process and we appreciate the efforts of your students. It is generating much excitement among our school, as other classes read it & explore the other offerings within the site as well.

Have any suggestions for another title or book you'd like to add to the collection? I am teaching summer school and thinking that maybe I could fit the creation of an on-line book into the schedule. (limited program/time) Please advise.

CU- Rose

Besides continued work on the two projects above, students this year are also participating in the Global Virtual Classroom with Netherthorpe School, England and Centro Educativo Apatzeo, Mexico; Multimedia Mania - in groups of 2-5; Global Dreamers with Israel; and a cultural exchange with LNSTU in Novosibirsk, Russia.

I'm also advising/helping two 8th grade teams and their teachers who are creating a unique project for the Internet on the stones embeded in the Tribune Tower. It IS a work in progress, but viewable.

ThinkQuest Japan - 2004
The experience the previous year sparked interest in sign language for one student in particular, so when Hajime Yanese, a partner in a previous VC contest asked if I had any students interested in participating in ThinkQuest Japan and that he had a student interested in sign language, CháLawrense immediately brightened and said 'yes'. In the end we ended up with 4 Julian Students and 2 Japanese students and two projects: Sign Language, a platinum winner, and School Comparison, a gold winner. The girls went to Japan in June to present their sites and pick up their awards.

Multimedia Mania - 2004
All my students participated in Multimedia Mania; we sent in 12 projects. Students are given the judges rubric and also need to go to the Illinois State Standards to see if their topic idea fits into the curriculum for their level. It is required that this be a group project. Three groups won! First place, Money; 2nd place, Shakespeare; 3rd place, Dance Through the Ages. First place winners went to NECC (National Educators Computer Conference) in New Orleans in June - yes, this was just a few days after I returned from Japan!

Global Virtual Classroom - 2004
Students worked collaboratively with students from Donington,UK, and Kyiv, Ukraine in the Global Virtual Classroom contest. The goal is to create a unified web site from 3 different classrooms in 3 different parts of the world, that looks as if it were created by one class. It does take awhile to work things out, but once students start creating there is no stopping them. Richard, from England took the names of the 3 towns and came up with a name for the 'town' we created: Donivark. It won and award of merit for creativity.

Our Country Book and Multimedia Mania - 2003
While participating in Friends and Flags, in 2003, we created our country book to let share many things with our partners in South America and Israel. [Collaboration Rubric here.] We also entered this website in the ISMF (International Student Media Festival) and won for best group informative website. Student representatives were able to pick up the award in Anaheim, California personally because they were presenting their Multimedia Mania project about Oak Park's Environmental Problems, at the Technology+Learning Conference, also held in Anaheim at the same time.

Cyberfair - 2003
Oak Park's Environmental Problems was originally created for GSN's Cyberfair and received a silver award.

At the Movies
September 2001-May 2002; At the Movies http://www.op97.org/lab/akids started as a collaboration with a school in England. They had many network problems, however, that they were not able to solve in time to participate. We did communicate some by email, but the other class was unable to add to the movie site, so the two sections of VC collaborated with each other. Since they're on totally different schedules and don't physically see each other, they had to use all their collaborative skills to get everything to work together.

Tobacco Free - No Butts About It
Nov. 2000-Feb.2001: With the input from students in Dublin (with whom we video conference weekly), Julian's kids created The Tobacco Free Site http://www.op97.org/tfree/INDEX.HTML which addresses a very important issue within our Middle School Curriculum. They addressed not only the health issues, but also peer pressure, and alternatives to tobacco use. I also created a discussion group for them at http://216.124.84.251/nosmoke/index.html [This discussion server is no longer supported by District 97.]

T3-Technology/Telecollaboration/Tobacco Prevention
July 2001-Feb. 2002: As a result of the previous year's anti-tobacco work, I was able the next summer to develop an anti-tobacco project with 12 area middle schools in which was funded by our Intermediate Service Center. Teachers broke into 4 working groups, with 3 schools in each group. [Server is no longer active, however some of it is archived on the 'wayback machine': http://web.archive.org/web/20021130121021/http://t3.west40.k12.il.us/]

Goals for this program are listed on the opening page of the site. Students worked together to promulgate the anti-tobacco message, using a discussion board [This discussion server is no longer supported by District 97.]

Pod B, the most active, also took students to the Illinois Student Technology Conference and made a presentation in February at the Illinois Tech Conference for Educators.

Email to the hub from participating teacher: Bettyann Hamilton

Janet is unassuming yet empowering in her approach to use of technology. There is firsthand knowledge of this most recently whereby Janet facilitated a project called T-Cubed (Tobacco, Technology and Telecollaboration) consisting of twelve teachers from various districts, provided some software, some hardware and turned us into communicators with technology. The project turned teachers and their students into telecollaborators with the common thread of tobacco prevention in teenagers. Students are communicating. Teachers are communicating. Students are creating with technology. This has been a wonderfully expanding experience for me as a teacher and as a staff development facilitator. The students are engaged, enthused and driven to do their best. This feeling started with Janet and the twelve of us in June 2001 and culminated in early 2002. She instilled confidence, knowledge and needed ability in order for us to pass this to our students.

Frequent communication is key to the success of any collaboration. If the other person doesn't know what you're doing or thinking, there is no common work, but just people working independently on the same topic. In our VC class this is done through a NiceNet. Only VC kids are permitted in. It's their training ground. They initially use it for additional communication with me and the other VC class. The two periods of VC are mixed 7th/8th, but are on completely different schedules and don't see each other any time during the day. Only a very few even know the kids in the other period outside of class, since they originally came from 4 different elementary schools, and can live on opposite ends of town. Our middle school has close to 900 students!

With partners outside of our school, we've communicated in various ways. Email works well, but is usually done through the receiving teacher. Since we began using NiceNet., I've created several groups so that it's possible for the kids to switch among the groups for different purposes. For example, we have one group for the Global Virtual Classroom project, one that's our "practice spot", one for collaboration with Russia, and one for collaboration with an author who is writing a fantasy book and lets us read and comment on the chapters as she writes them. For group discussions, a discussion board is preferred. Even though courtesy and correct Netiquette is stressed, the occasional student needs moderated communication. Boards work better for this than email. We've found that NiceNet. is a pretty easy to use discussion board…and best of all, it's free!

Used less frequently, but much more popular is Video Conferencing. We use a simple eyeball camera and iVisit. [ http://www.ivisit.com/info ] Until last year we used CU-SeeMe, but the firewall restrictions of our network made contact more and more difficult. We regularly conference with North Dublin National School Project, which started six years ago by participating in the first AT&T Virtual Classroom contest.

With our Cyberteen Magazine, communication is mostly between the teachers, with the students creating the 'work'. Lina, from Italy has become VERY fluent writing English. She translates to Italian for her students. Koichi does the same, translating the ideas to Japanese for his students. In the end all the students and teachers benefit, learning more about each other and finding that pictures DO sometimes speak volumes!

Our partner in Japan frequently mails us Japanese copies of MacFan; we send back English copies of MacAddict....when I can tear them out of the hands of the kids!

This year we also sent our partners in Israel birthday pencils -- as a winter holiday gift -- because everyone has a birthday! 

Since our VC program takes place in our technology lab, and is categorized as a technology rich class, we are easily able to exemplify the 'ISTE performance indicators for technology-literate students.' Students are expected to do basic hardware/software troubleshooting and help others when necessary. Unfamiliar software is learned with some demonstration, but also by trying what works and using manuals and help screens. Software we use most: Macromedia Studio MX (Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Freehand), Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, AppleWorks, iMovie, and Garage Band. Students are expected not only to learn, but also to teach - other students and their teacher - things they know or have learned that others may not know. They consistently produce multimedia rich work which supports the core curriculum. This year in addition to their regular collaborative work, they have created mini lessons using mPower5 and incorporating video from our United Streaming subscription that fit into the core class work and are accepted by their core teachers for exra credit. We're archiving the best of these on CD for future use by our classroom teachers.

Again, much is learned through shared knowledge. Students use tech to communicate: with the creation of web presentation. The availability of iMovie on every computer has added a new capability students are using to clarify concepts and illustrate information better especially for non-American partners.

Samples:
http://www.op97.org/lab/sweden/cow/interview.html
http://www.op97.org/lab/sweden/breakfast/index.html
http://www.op97.org/lab/sweden/house/arch.html

Our partners can use as much or as little tech as they have available and we supplement their work with our capabilities. For example, often in the CyberDictionary, primary students have used KidPix and their schools could only save as BMP files. Our students convert these to GIF using Photoshop so they can be viewed on the web. VC kids add to their knowledge of files/formats. [example]

An important – and difficult – concept for students to learn is the ethics standard, especially copyright and fair use, and the difference between it being OK for them to print a picture from the Internet to use in a Social Studies report and taking that same picture (or text) and re-publishing it on the Internet without first getting permission from the person who owns the rights to the picture (or text). However, they do learn it and are given a sample letter to help them when asking for permission to publish. Mostly they are encouraged to create everything themselves.

Collaboration rubric for this year's projects: http://www.op97.org/lab/collabrubric.html

Evaluation Narrative (teacher) VC-99: http://www.op97.org/julian/TECH/vclass99.htm and from the students in Japan, Australia, and the U.S.:
http://www.virtualclassroom.org/99/vc_03/realsite/wkshop/reflect/index.html

Teacher page for Fairy Tale/ Folk Tale CyberDictionary including a sample rubric: http://www.op97.org/instruct/ftcyber/teacher.html

Teacher page for Postcards from Paul: http://www.op97.org/bunyankids/teacher.html
Evaluation Narrative (teacher) “At the Movies” 2001: http://www.op97.org/lab/akids/plan.html

Students use the Mulitmedia Mania Judges rubric for their entries. We look at this in general at the beginning, then use the Student Checklist during the work period, annd again revisit the more extensive rubric when project is ready.

The biggest compliment I've ever received was from a student talking to a local newspaper reporter. He said, “Ms. Barnstable doesn't teach us anything, we have to learn it ourselves.” Isn't that wonderful? Of course, I actually do teach them some things, but it's important that they feel they are doing all the learning, not that I'm doing the teaching! I do hope that their experiences in my class have helped them onto the road of being life long learners.

Clare- a former 8th grade VC student- put the experience into words very well.

When I began this class, I knew how to get onto the Internet, send email, doodle, and type a paper. In this class I have learned so much more. I have learned to do animations, and hypertext, to layer pictures, and design objects or rooms. I really feel honored to be included in this class with my little skills, but I know now that I can do more because of this class.

I will always remember the freedom I felt in this class. In almost any other class the teacher will give you instructions and you will follow them. But in Virtual Classroom, it was as if the kids ran the class. We picked our topic, what we were going to do with our topic, and how to present it. We worked diligently every day on the project of our choice to include on the web site. I feel learning in this atmosphere has really benefited me in that I am more independent, and can work with others independently.

VC kids were interviewed by 4teachers.org via speaker phone and speak mainly of their anti-tobacco project, but also of the type of learning that has taken place: http://4teachers.org/kidspeak/barnstable/index.shtml

Students like Katy learn to deal with Village officials (she wanted them to close the street for a little while so she could get a picture of the school.) It was very successful and she created a panoramic view from the middle of the street.

She said, "This method of learning is extremely effective. It teaches us how to communicate better with other people. It was also more effective than text book learning or lectures would have been to teach us, because we had to completely understand the information to be able to create the site. I also learned more about public relations, because I went through with trying to get a permit, obtaining it, and following through with it. I learned a lot about local government trying to do this."

Most students agree with Robert about the way in which they learned:

What has appeared to be the best, easiest, and most fun way for me to learn the objectives that the class requires, is the independent way of working. I dislike, actually, I hate the rote assignments that do nothing to further my educational and academic prowess. In my mind, there is nothing worse than busywork, given to keep our parents satisfied.

Though I've always believed in empowering students in order to get them to work above and beyond, I've found that project participation pushes them into self-learning even faster. Fortunately our school and District also see the value as they have allowed me to create these experiences for our students.

I now regularly present at three or four conferences every year and have taught classes in telecollaboration, involving other teachers and their students in collaborative projects.

Jeannie Linss – D97 Library Media Specialist:

Janet is the inspiration and the backbone of our district's technology component. Teachers use technology in this district because Janet has taught them how, written the directions, and pushed to get the needed equipment into the buildings. She has had a huge impact on our district and the world. Through her conference presentations, her Internet projects, and her email correspondence, she has had a hand in changing how education views technology, not as another subject to teach, but as a tool to teach all subjects. She is generous with her time and knowledge, willing to teach the same thing over and over to those who have trouble. She has been even known to make house calls to help people get online.

Matt Kuntz – D97 Differentiated Resource Teacher:

Thanks for the help clarifying the situation with the parent and the copyright issue when posting on the web; how extremely helpful you were in straightening it out! Another example of how you have influenced me to ask the right questions and to follow up on copyright issues - and not just let them slide like other teachers would - you taught me the importance of abiding and following the law and passing that on to the kids.

When I first started learning about the Internet and web creation, there were many folks out there who helped me when I asked questions. Yes, Judi Harris, and many other pioneers did answer email! While I'm still learning every day, I feel it's my turn to give back and help the teachers world wide who are beginning to learn.

My teaching style has always been somewhat Socratic, so what the students describe as a unique classroom is a method of teaching is actually what I've learned works well during the 43 years that I've been teaching. Everyone teaches; everyone learns.

Personally, I've never learned so much and so quickly as I have working with teachers from around the world. There are things I never thought I could do, that I'm now doing with ease, because another teacher gave me the 'push' to try it, or one of my partners questioned how to do something, and I just had to learn. I remember one very specific instance in which I learned about REAL audio files - I'd had no clue! Mariko Yana's husband, Kazuo, a teacher in Japan working on a Windows machine helped me find my way on my Macintosh to produce what he was able to do there. It was a learning experience for both of us.

More importantly, I've learned about people and customs in other countries from those who know the best: the people who live there. My own life has been enriched immensely, and my understanding of other cultures has benefited the students I teach, many of whom are from different parts of the world.
Not every experience has been easy or found completion. Sometimes partners 'disappear' or only respond minimally. Such experiences are difficult because the students are disappointed. However, as much as possible I'm like a bulldog - I never let go and keep trying to get some response. I've also learned to work in multiple projects so that if one class disappears, another is there. Our most successful project is CyberTeen, because there is no pressure to complete something in a specified amount of time, and teachers and students from other countries can participate when they have the time.

Other project leaders have also been willing to promote my projects, especially the CyberDictionary and CyberTeen.

Presentations have been made at our local and State Wide conferences for over 17 years, and four years at NSBA's Technology + Learning Conference. These presentations allow me to introduce new teachers to the collaborative world.

During the October 2003 Illinois Education & Technology Conference in Springfield besides doing a hand's on session on Flash, I held a poster session about collaboration, featuring Friends and Flags.

In October 2002, at the same conference, I provided 25 teachers with a hands-on experience using iVisit for live video chat. They were amazed and impressed even though we were only 'chatting' from the 4 corners of the room.

In February 2004, I presented the CyberDictionary at the Illinois Technology Conference for Educators, where I did two precession days.

In October of 2003, four students accompanied me to NSBA's Tech+Learning conference. They were winners of the Multimedia Mania contest and made a presentation at the 1st general session as well as at a breakout session of their website: Oak Park's Environmental Problems. http://www.op97.org/opep/

Summary of the trip and video of their portion of the opening session: http://www.op97.org/julian/nsba/

June 2004, students again were winners of the Multimedia Mania contest for their site: Money. They presented their work at the NECC conference in New Orleans. Summary and video here.

That same month other students went to Japan to meet their partners in real life when they accepted their awards for ThinkQuest Japan. Summary and video here. Sites

For the CyberDictionary, I also try to email the students (through the teacher) once their story is posted, and if their pictures lend themselves to jigsaw puzzles, I'll tell them where to find that list as well.

Our CyberTeen has varying levels of participation. One of our greatest participants is from Japan. The art club teacher, Koichi Saito, shares lots of pictures, but has limited English skills. He sends pictures with a few words and I process them, learn more about what he's told use, and put together the "entry" for the magazine. Examples are the Cochin Matsuri and Kyoto New Year.

During the process of creating collaborative sites with classrooms in other schools, it's vital to keep the communication going. Email, discussion boards, etc. are checked daily and responded to promptly. Even if this does not happen from all the partners, it is important that they keep receiving updates and know what is happening with my students.

With the Teacher Web project in District 97, I'm able to make 'house calls' and support the teachers in person. We now have several schools in our District that, with the support of the principal, have many pages posted – especially for the regular classroom teachers. Elective teachers are also beginning to see the values of showcasing their work so that parents and the community can see what the students do in their areas. See http://www.op97.org/hatch/continents/ for an example of a great learning/PE integration that I helped the PE teacher put together. (The web part, not the actual activity. I don't swing from ropes any more!)

Tribune Tower Stones - Science teachers Tim Walsh and Angela Teubert involved their students in authentic research to document the stones embeded in the Tribune Tower in Chicago. This involved working collaboratively with students that they did not necessarily 'see' since they were on different teams. Four VC kids helped with the site design. The classes are in the process of making sure all links and graphics work correctly. This will be the first site representing all these stones that is on the web.

http://www.musicinventions.org/ – Elizabeth Rexford, music teacher, now retired - a site of musical instruments created by students around the world. During her last year teaching I encouraged her to continue her great project with her own domain. She did, and is continuing to encourage other teachers to participate.

Weather Eye – Marva Simmons, second grade teacher - study and comparison of weather by second grade classrooms in New York and Oak Park.

Hawaiian Key Pals – Rebecca Williams, seventh grade teacher - sharing of culture and artifacts with email and land mail.

Summer is a good time for inspiring teachers to work, and the summer of 2001, I led two workshop days in which teachers from telecollaborative project classes I taught were able to come back together to polish their projects and publish the lessons in such a way that other teachers could try them out. We stressed aligning them to the Illinois Standards.

Original URL: http://ilsi.ltc1c.k12.il.us no longer is there, but it is mirrored on District 97.

Julian's website has my MacBasics. Working with teachers in our District I produce TechTips.

I also created a group on Yahoo when the original Virtual Classroom program dissolved. This group of over 50 educators still participate in discussions and support each other - often working on small projects together.

As a member of the local Educational Service Center Technology group, I participate in monthly meetings and the listserv. My students have made presentations to the group about their work.

Conference presentations:

NECC National Educational Computing Conference - 2004 New Orleans

National School Boards Technology+Learning Conference-Denver (2X), Dallas (2X), Nashville, Atlanta, Anaheim

Illinois Technology Conference for Educators - Pheasant Run St. Charles, Illinois - 19 years.

Illinois Technology and Education Conference - Springfield, Illinois -6 years.

Most important to me is helping others to achieve success in their collaborative efforts. No matter where a teacher lives and teaches, I think it is the responsibility of those of use who know how to do this well, to share what we know freely with others. I've 'stood on the backs of giants' as I've learned; it is a privilege to give back.

CyberFair is a great idea. I think it could be improved by having schools work together on entries - requiring collaboration perhaps with extra points if collaborators are from different countries.

Districts have in some ways made things more difficult for teachers through restrictions on computers and the addition of firewalls. Yes, I know firewalls are necessary for many reasons, but they also stop or make difficult things that teachers need to do. This is the reason I had to stop using CUSeeMe, and it was great when we were able to connect directly with another school; the quality was even good. Using the reflector was always a hassle. Perhaps something that is needed and that GSN can do is to find and facilitate collaborative tools, like Nicenet and iVisit. Educating those who want to collaborate. Above all, tools need to work across platforms.

Server space is always a problem for partners, since, understandably, no school will give access to anyone other than staff. (Some will not even give all staff members server access.) More and more schools are also setting limits on email attachments. Could there possibly be shared server space?

This, of course, would bring other problems - of people needing help with FTP, web design, graphic optimization, etc. That's where I think I'd excel. I'm a great mentor; even via email, and very willing to do it. Perhaps a discussion board or listserv would do, but some folks might also need/want one on one help.