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I wouldn't have believed the quality until I saw it for myself, but using Skype Video was really great. A couple of features really stood out:

1. Tunnels video through port 80 so it is easy to traverse the school district firewall - no network setup or extra permissions from network administrators.

2. Video could be expanded to full screen, with good resolution for a web cam (not great) but good enough.

3. Skype's experience with VOIP shines through on the audio, with no echo. That's right - voice cancellation.

4. Possibility of multi-point with Festoon .

Thanks to Shawn for pointing out this Skype feature.

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My Firefox 2.0 Extensions:

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These are my personal notes based on the presentations at the Internet Safety Mini-Summit, held on Tuesday, January 23, 2007

RTT industry members and community practitioners will conduct a half-day session to clarify the many issues related to internet safety and identify strategies for greater student awareness and understanding of online safety concerns. Different perspectives will be examined including cybercrime (e.g. child pornography, online hate, and harassment), confidentiality, information accuracy and media awareness.

http://www.KINSA.net - Dedicated to eliminating the online sexual exploitation of children and youth.

First Panel

Bill Hutchison - http://www.hutchison-management.net/
David Butt - Lawyer
Mark H. Goldberg - http://www.mhgoldberg.com/
Beverley Paton - http://www.patonpublishing.com/
D/Sgt Paul Gillespie - http://www.paulgillespieconsulting.com/

KINSA - Helps push the government to introduce legislation. Kinsa Kids is another initiative. Also see http://www.ytv.com/etc/kinsa/

Safer Internet Day in Ontario - Feb 7, 2007

Paul Gillespie - Criminal elements using the anonymity of the internet to perpetrate crimes against children. Images and video of child abuse being spread 560,000+ across the internet involving 20,000-50,000 children – law enforcement worldwide identify and help only about 500.
Children are amazed and interested in technology with parents who aren’t fluent with technology. Education and awareness of safety for parents is quite important.

Mentions IPSOS-Reid Survey Startling figures from the new Microsoft Canada / Ipsos-Reid Survey reveal that although 72% of parents think that their children use the Internet safely,

- 30% of children age 10 – 14 spend 6-10 hours a week online
- 11% of children age 10-14 have been asked by a stranger for personal information
- 7 in 10 children believe the information they put online and send to friends is private.
(http://blog.kinsa.net/2007/01/new_microsoft_c_1.html )

David Butt - Change in amount of child abuse materials found in 1993 (Largest seizure in Canadian History – 13 videos), routine arrests now law enforcement sees 80 Gigs of images, video etc. with sophisticated editing.

Not just a criminal law issue - victimization where geography and juridical limits are a challenge, across counties and the world.

Child abusers forming powerful online support communities through anonymous areas like the FreeNet for their purposes. Where they can brag, etc…

Mark H. Goldberg -Looks at Canadian regulation of the internet.

CRTC has power to regulate but does not because it has decided that the market is sufficiently competitive. No regulation of services with exception of VOIP. CRTC regulates the major carriers (major ISPs) – those that own the physical cables and not those who rent the cables from the major ISPs. Major ISPs follow a self-created code of conduct.

Major providers have a notice and takedown procedure of illegal web sites held on these ISPs. But the problem is the web sites move to another server not in Canada within minutes.

Online hate websites overview by Mark - posting hate content on US site, threatening to kill Canadian lawyer who working against hate groups, but could not prosecute because US site and Canadian citizen. Money, Time …

More Notes to come…

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The Internet is nowhere…

The Internet is everywhere…

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The importance of a positive learning environment for student learning could almost be assumed, but we are all individuals, so what we perceive as positive environment will not be the same. I was curious what images people think of when they are creating a positive learning environment for their students.

I created a poll in the sidebar on the TeachingHacks.com web site that will give you a random image, if you think the image represents a positive environment, select “Yes” if not select “No”, you will then see what others think. To see and vote on another image just refresh the page.

The photos are from Stock.Xchange and have no restrictions with regards to its use.

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