Camille Hunte

Camille Hunte's questions

What is ABEL?
What are you doing with ABEL?
Why are you doing this? Collaboration
How are you doing it? ABEL involvement
Where are you going next with ABEL?
Are there impacts on student achievement?
AN ABEL COLLABORATIVE INITIATIVE

Camille Hunte is a Science Teacher at Middlefield Collegiate Institute in Markham, Ontario (York Regional District School Board). Camille has been involved with the Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning (ABEL) program for three years. In this vignette, Camille describes her involvement with ABEL, as well as a collaborative project in which her grade nine science class partnered with two other classes - a physics class at Vaughan Secondary School and a science class at J. Percy Page High School in Edmonton, Alberta. Together they explored the economic and environmental impacts of various renewable and non-renewable energy resources; they also examined regional issues and differences relating to energy production and consumption. This was made possible by ABEL technologies.


Camille Hunte Middlefield Collegiate Institute ABEL Science teacher


WHAT IS ABEL?   Back to top
What are you doing with ABEL?   Back to top
Why are you doing this? Collaboration   Back to top
How are you doing it? ABEL involvement   Back to top
Where are you going next with ABEL?   Back to top
Are there impacts on student achievement?   Back to top

AN ABEL COLLABORATIVE INITIATIVE:

Energy Project 2

"Energy Project 2" was designed to have students research the economic and environmental impacts of various types of energy resources including renewable and non-renewable resources. The entire project was developed and posted in an online course management system called WebCT. There were three main components to the project:


Middlefield C.I. VC’s with J. Percy Page

      1. Students carried out preliminary research about an energy source, and then posted it in a discussion in WebCT. After posting, students had to read the postings of other students and then respond to them.
      2. Students participated in two videoconferences. The first videoconference was an introductory meeting where the students from participating classes introduced themselves and had an opportunity to chat with experts (individuals working in fields related to different types of energy sources). At the end of the assignment the second videoconference permitted students to share their views/responses to questions that were raised during online discussion.
      3. Students had the opportunity to submit PowerPoint presentations, Word documents or websites electronically as their final project. Although some students had technical difficulties, many of them enjoyed and preferred handing in electronic projects instead of the traditional poster board. Teachers enjoyed having electronic projects: they were easier to manage.

Impact for Teacher and Student Collaborators:

Having projects like the Energy Project are important because they challenge students to view issues from more than one perspective and not just their own. For the teachers involved, the Energy Project provided a tremendous opportunity to expand their collaborative boarders: with the use of videoconferencing, online chat and WebCT, teachers were able to plan the project, discuss ideas and assist one another.

Steps and Activities along the way:

  • September 22/03 Camille Hunte received introductory training in the use of WebCT.
  • October 21/03 to January 6/04 - teachers videoconferenced to plan and build the Energy Project.
  • November 27/03 Camille introduced WebCT to the Middlefield participants. Students were shown WebCT and had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with some of its features.
  • December 10/03 All four classes met via videoconferencing to meet with each other and to meet with the experts.
  • January 7/04 Geoff Buxton’s and Camille Hunte’s classes meet via videoconferencing to share their responses to some of the issues/questions that were posted in the discussion rooms within WebCT.
  • January 8/04 Anita Drossis’ and Todd McNicoll’s classes meet via videoconferencing to share their responses to some of the issues/questions that were posted in the discussion.
  • August 18/04 Camille reflected on her involvement in ABEL, and on her work with the Energy Project 2 initiative in an interview with Dara Forberg (ABEL Communications). WHY ABEL MATTERS?
  • ABEL has challenged me to think about how I can take technology and make my classroom better and how I can make learning better [for my students]: the possibilities are endless.

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Camille Hunte Want more information? Check out ABEL online: www.abelearn.ca