Come behind the scenes and explore the amazing pictures collection at the State Library of NSW in this 5 part video conference series. Inspire your inner artist in these five, hour long interactive sessions. Each experience examines a different artwork from the collection, followed by a hands-on workshop where your students will create artworks using different techniques including perspective drawing, painitng, collage and 3D modelling to build their observational and art-making skills.
Book for one session or for all five, and best of all, it’s FREE! Pre and post visit notes complete the experience and outline curriculum links, and we encourage you to use this as a springboard for further art-making adventures: one school recently held an art exhibition in their hall for parents and students, showcasing all the artworks produced by their students during this VC series.
According to teachers who have participated, Art Around the Library is ‘a great way to easily get experts into your school’ and ‘a great way to bring history to life’. The next series will run on Tuesdays beginning week 2, Term 3. Bookings can be made at DART Connections.
NAIDOC Week is held in the first full week of July. It is a time to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and an opportunity to recognise the contributions that Indigenous Australians make to our country and our society.
Virtual Excursions Australia is presenting the NAIDOC Week Video Conferencing Festival. This event will run before and after the July school holidays for student across Australia. Please join the Australian Museum, Australian National Maritime Museum, State Library of NSW, National Library of Australia and Sydney Olympic Park for a series of fabulous events.
Derek from the Australian Museum presenting the Totems workshop
Overview: “To know the future we must first know the past” (Aunty Fran Bodkin D’harawal Elder). In this session of our Koori Classroom series, D’harawal knowledge keeper, Shannon Foster will guide students through the origins of NAIDOC – also part of her own family story.
Overview: To celebrate NAIDOC week Indigenous Programs Manager Donna Carstens will discuss the cultural significance of water to indigenous people. Water is integral to the everyday life of communities for survival, travel and play. Listen to a Dreaming story, examine an Indigenous artwork and build a canoe replica.
Overview: “To know the future we must first know the past” (Aunty Fran Bodkin D’harawal Elder). In this session of our Koori Classroom series, D’harawal knowledge keeper, Shannon Foster will guide students through the origins of NAIDOC – also part of her own family story.
Overview: In this special NAIDOC week art workshop students will explore Indigenous culture and art from various regions of Australia. In this lesson students will create their own Australian Flag by investigating their cultural heritage as well as that of Australia’s first inhabitants, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Overview: “To know the future we must first know the past” (Aunty Fran Bodkin D’harawal Elder). In this session of our Koori Classroom series, D’harawal knowledge keeper, Shannon Foster will guide students through the origins of NAIDOC – also part of her own family story.
Overview: In this special NAIDOC week art workshop students will explore Indigenous culture and art from various regions of Australia. In this lesson students will create their own Australian Flag by investigating their cultural heritage as well as that of Australia’s first inhabitants, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Overview: To celebrate NAIDOC week Indigenous Programs Manager Donna Carstens will discuss the cultural significance of water to indigenous people. Water is integral to the everyday life of communities for survival, travel and play. Listen to a Dreaming story, examine an Indigenous artwork and build a canoe replica.
Overview: The Indigenous Totems session is a practical workshop where students learn about lifestyles and beliefs of Indigenous Australians whilst creating their own totem. Concepts and culture will be demonstrated with real artifacts and aboriginal cultural material.
Overview: To celebrate NAIDOC week Indigenous Programs Manager Donna Carstens will discuss the cultural significance of water to indigenous people. Water is integral to the everyday life of communities for survival, travel and play. Listen to a Dreaming story, examine an Indigenous artwork and build a canoe replica.
Overview: Students explore Indigenous culture and art from various regions of Australia. Students investigate the traditional styles, symbols, materials and tools of Indigenous art around Australia. They use Indigenous art and cultural objects as a stimulus to create their own design.
Overview: To celebrate NAIDOC week Indigenous Programs Manager Donna Carstens will discuss the cultural significance of water to indigenous people. Water is integral to the everyday life of communities for survival, travel and play. Listen to a Dreaming story, examine an Indigenous artwork and build a canoe replica.
Overview: To celebrate NAIDOC week Indigenous Programs Manager Donna Carstens will discuss the cultural significance of water to indigenous people. Water is integral to the everyday life of communities for survival, travel and play. Listen to a Dreaming story, examine an Indigenous artwork and build a canoe replica.
Overview: To celebrate NAIDOC week Indigenous Programs Manager Donna Carstens will discuss the cultural significance of water to indigenous people. Water is integral to the everyday life of communities for survival, travel and play. Listen to a Dreaming story, examine an Indigenous artwork and build a canoe replica.
Overview: This workshop focussing on the fascinating, but little known story of Aya-I-Ga, also known as Neighbour. Neighbour was the first Indigenous Australian to receive the Albert Medal for gallantry. This program allows participants to interact with the National Library of Australia’s presenters, original objects and photographs and is suitable for students in Years 7-10.
Virtual Excursions Australia is proud to support this event
NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920′s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Indigenous Australians.
World Environment Day (WED) is the United Nations’ key event for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Over the years World Environment Day has grown to be a broad, global platform for public outreach that is celebrated in over 100 countries.
The theme for 2014 is Raise your voice not the Sea Level.
World Environment Day is an opportunity for everyone to realize not only the responsibility to care for the Earth and to become agents of change. Join the Australian Museum, National Maritime Museum, Taronga Zoo and the Powerhouse Museum in a 3 day festival recognising World Environment Day.
Overview:Join our intrepid groovy animal expert and media celebrity David Rabbitburrow to discover just how amazing these fascinating creatures are! Also investigate some of the threats to their future and what we can do to help.
Overview:Join our intrepid groovy animal expert and media celebrity David Rabbitburrow to discover just how amazing these fascinating creatures are! Also investigate some of the threats to their future and what we can do to help.
Overview:To celebrate World Environment Day the Australian Museum is participating in the World Environment Day video conference festival.The Catchment Health video conference explores some of the impacts facing our terrestrial and marine environments. This session looks at the importance of catchments and how everything we do on land has impacts in our marine environments.
Overview:Celebrate World Environment Day and adventure over to Taronga Zoo to learn more about the remarkable animals we share environments with around the World. This inspirational video conference will explore the plight of animals such as the Sumatran Tiger, Western Lowland Gorilla, Australian Sea Lion and our very own Corroborree Frog. All animals classed as endangered and in need of very specific actions from people to help their recovery.
Overview:Have you ever wondered what types of transport zoomed around our streets, railways and skies before motor cars, electric trains and planes? Come find out with Finn, our 20th Century transport enthusiast, as he transports you back in time to Sydney in the early 1900s.
Overview:To celebrate World Environment Day the Australian Museum is participating in the World Environment Day video conference festival. Bugwise explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important.
Overview:Put on your eco-designer thinking caps and take part in this hands-on workshop! Learn about ecological footprints and what it means to be sustainable. Meet Mr Airhead and teach him how to think sustainably using the 6 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair, Refuse and Rethink. Utilising ‘Rethink’ students complete a Lifecycle Analysis of a common product and come up with ways to reduce the product’s ecological footprint.
Overview:To celebrate World Environment Day the Australian Museum is participating in the World Environment Day video conference festival. Bugwise explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important.
Overview:Celebrate World Environment Day and adventure over to Taronga Zoo to learn more about the remarkable animals we share environments with around the World. This inspirational video conference will explore the plight of animals such as the Sumatran Tiger, Western Lowland Gorilla, Australian Sea Lion and our very own Corroborree Frog. All animals classed as endangered and in need of very specific actions from people to help their recovery.
Overview:To celebrate World Environment Day the Australian Museum is participating in the World Environment Day video conference festival.The Catchment Health video conference explores some of the impacts facing our terrestrial and marine environments. This session looks at the importance of catchments and how everything we do on land has impacts in our marine environments.
Overview:Join our intrepid groovy animal expert and media celebrity David Rabbitburrow to discover just how amazing these fascinating creatures are! Also investigate some of the threats to their future and what we can do to help.
Overview:Plastics are everywhere. It’s hard to imagine a life without using plastics. But the downside is that a lot of plastic enters the environment, where it will linger for hundreds of years. In the ocean, plastic moves into the so-called Great Garbage Patches. But why do these patches form? And whose garbage is where? What effect does the plastic have on marine life?
Virtual Excursions Australia is proud to support this event.
Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159.
Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.
The Powerhouse Museum, The Australian Mathematics Trust and the Australian Museum are pleased to offer a series of session celebrating Pi Day. Join us on the 14 March 2014 to learn more about this amazing constant.
Overview: To celebrate what has become known as International Pi Day, the Australian Mathematics Trust is presenting a special video conference event for school children hosted at the Australian Museum
Overview: What do ‘Peter Piper’ and ‘Jack and Jill’ nursery rhymes have to do with maths and measurement? What are gills, bushels, pecks and the smoot? Find out in this special hands-on maths video
Overview: What do ‘Peter Piper’ and ‘Jack and Jill’ nursery rhymes have to do with maths and measurement? What are gills, bushels, pecks and the smoot? Find out in this special hands-on maths video co…
Overview: To celebrate what has become known as International Pi Day, the Australian Mathematics Trust is presenting a special video conference event for school children hosted at the Australian Museum
Overview: Celebrate International Pi Day with an exciting session on the inventor of the computer, Charles Babbage! Powerhouse Museum’s Principal Curator, Matthew Connell, introduces students to one o…
See the Pi Day website for other ways your students can celebrate Pi Day
Sea Week is the Marine Education Society of Australasia’s (MESA) annual education campaign to increase understanding and appreciation of the ocean and its living organisms.
The theme for 2014 is Sustainable Seas! Are there really plenty more fish in the Sea?
Human activities are putting pressure of the ocean and marine environments in many ways. Direct impacts like overfishing, chemical pollution and litter lower water quality and threaten wildlife. Less direct activities such as carbon pollution leads to climate change and ocean acidification. It is important to recognise that people have the power to make positive impacts on the ocean in their everyday decisions.
Join the Australian Museum, Manly Environment Centre and the National Maritime Museum in a week long festival highlighting our marine environments
There are a variety of sessions on offer with topics to suit every school.
The Australian Museum is bringing our scientists to you! This is your chance to come face to face with an Australian Museum scientist and ask your questions. Meet Mark McGrouther Collection Manager; Ichthyology (Fish) to talk about the collection and some of the exciting field trips he’s been on.
The Catchment Health video conference explores some of the impacts facing our marine environments. This session looks at the importance of catchments and how everything we do on land has impacts in our marine environments.
The Claws, Tentacles and Spines session explores the fascinating diversity of marine invertebrates. Join the Australian Museum to discover some of the amazing adaptations of these spineless wonders.
Australian Museum is bringing our scientists to you! This is your chance to come face to face with an Australian Museum scientist and ask your questions. Amanda Hay will talk about her research into the ecology of larval fishes.
2014 is set up to be an exciting year for videoconferencing at the Powerhouse Museum! We are launching a whole new suite of regular programs starting Friday February 14th. Book your Powerhouse Museum virtual excursion on the DART Connections website.
Here’s a snapshot of what the Powerhouse Museum has to offer:
For Good Measure: Fun with measurement and standards
MATHEMATICS: Stages 2-3
What do ‘Peter Piper’ and ‘Jack and Jill’ nursery rhymes have to do with maths and measurement?
What are gills, bushels, pecks and the smoot? Find out in this special hands-on maths video conference! JoinPowerhouseMuseum Curator Matthew Connell on this mathematic adventure which includes access to the measurement collection usually kept locked away from the public. Students interact throughout the session with fun hands-on activities in your classroom. Get your students experimenting with measurement and mathematics!
Sustainable Solutions Workshop
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: STAGE 3
Put on your eco-designer thinking caps and take part in this hands-on workshop!
Learn about ecological footprints, what it means to be sustainable and how to think sustainably using the 6 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair, Refuse and Rethink. Get creative and get your hands dirty — students make their own creation using an eco-friendly, sustainable material.
Babbage & his Difference Engine
MATHEMATICS: STAGES 5-6
Celebrate International Pi Day with an exciting session on the inventor of the computer, Charles Babbage!
Powerhouse Museum’s Principal Curator, Matthew Connell, introduces students to one of the first computing machines ever invented, the Babbage Difference Engine No. 1.
Transport: Past & Present (Available from May 9)
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY & HISTORY: Stages ES1-2
A unique character-guided tour through Sydney’s transport history and future options. Using objects from our PowerhouseMuseum collection as well as archival images and footage, students will be transported back in time in this engaging and interactive program.
Visit the PowerhouseMuseum’s page on DART Connections website to book a session and for full details of upcoming sessions.
If you would like to participate in a session on another time that is not listed, or have any other questions, pleaseemail video.conferencing@phm.gov.au
It’s been an amazing year for Virtual Excursions Australia (VEA). Throughout 2013 we have been busy setting up and writing content for the website, Twitter feed and Facebook pages, planning events and consulting on virtual excursions and video conferencing.
Virtual Excursions Australia’s activities during 2013
It has been really exciting to see VEA grow into a collaborative network of content providers.During 2013 the network has expanded to include members from New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia and Northern Territory. In 2014 we will continue to expand and have participants from across Australia.
Virtual Excursions Australia network met every 6 weeks to discuss new technology, share ideas and coordinate events. These meetings generated some amazing discussions and helped create content for teacher professional development sessions, conferences and the video conferencing festival and one day event throughout 2013.
There have been a great list of event coordinated through Virtual Excursions Australia ensuring that there is something that would suit every school including:
To recognise Ocean Care Day on Sunday 1 December Virtual Excursions Australia is presenting Marine Day on Friday 6 December. Join us for a range of video conferences promoting healthy waterways and marine environments.
Participate in sessions from OceanWatch, Taronga Zoo and the Marine Stewardship Council and the Australian Museum. There are a range of topics to suit every school.
To recognise Ocean Care Day on Sunday 1 December the Australian Museum is participating in the Marine Day video conferences. The Catchment Health video conference explores some of the impacts facing our marine environments. This session looks at the importance of catchments and how everything we do on land has impacts in our marine environments.
Learn all about commercial fishing and the NSW seafood industry from those who know it best. Join Sydney fisherman Paul Bagnato and OceanWatch’s Brad Warren to get an up-close and personal view of an important local industry that puts food on our plates and export dollars in the bank. Paul and Brad will also discuss the marine environment, sustainability and how fishing is managed.
Meet the Experts brings Australian Museum scientists to you! This is your chance to come face to face with an Australian Museum scientist and ask your questions. Mark McGrouther the Collection Manager; Ichthyology (Fish) will talk about the collection and some of the exciting field trips he’s been on.
The Claws, Tentacles and Spines session explores the fascinating diversity of marine invertebrates. Join the Australian Museum to discover some of the amazing adaptations of these spineless wonders.
Taronga Zoo and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) have teamed up to educate students about healthy marine life, sustainable seafood and how their choices matter. We are holding FREE teacher video conferences to informally introduce the 2014 student based project.
Recently I had some fun and games with our two Tandberg Video Conference units at the Powerhouse. It had been report to me that it was not possible to dial into any VMR’s (Virtual Meeting Rooms), DARTs VMR’s included. To dial into a VMR it is necessary to use what is known as a ‘URI Dial String’, this string consists of two parts, firstly some text or a number followed by the ‘@’ symbol then an IP Address or Domain name so, <text>@<ipaddress>, this is typically implemented by inputting the VMR as the first part of the string then the IP address as the second part.
As you would imagine not being able to dial into the DART VMR is a big problem for us, and since I am still relatively new here I am not really sure how this was achieved in the past, but I set about fixing the problem, and after much back and forth and much googling I came to the conclusion that the firmware in our Tandberg units was way too old!
As it turns out URI dialing cannot be used with Tandberg software version prior to TC4.2 unless the system is registered with a gatekeeper. We do not have a gatekeeper and you would only really need one if you had to implement inbound URI dialing. Cisco only introduced full support for H.323 Annex O (URI Dialing) in TC4.2, we had TC4.1 so could only do IP dialing. Problem is that we do not have a CISCO support contract on our VC units and getting firmware upgrades is usually done through support contract channels.
Tandberg C60 at the Powerhouse
Thankfully, if you are in the same situation, there is a way out. You can either go to the trouble of installing gnugk a free gatekeeper application on a seperate server or you can in fact get a firmware upgrade for your unit. CISCO only require that you have a support contract to get the most recent version of the firmeware TC6.3, the older versions TC4.2 and TC5.1.8 are freely avaliable HERE. You will need a CISCO Tac login to be able to download it, but that is free as well.
There is a step-by-step process to installing a new firmware package in the administrators guide for your system. But basically you will need to;
– Download the package.
– Upload the packaged to the unit using the web interface that your unit provides.
– Wait about 10 minutes for the upgrade to finish and the system to reboot.
– Login to the CISCO Tac and obtain a Release Key from HERE.
– Login back into the web interface and apply the ‘Release Key’ from the maintenance menu.
Be warned though, a firmware upgrade like this is not for the faint hearted, things can go wrong, and if something breaks you will need advanced knowledge to recover from the situation!
So, if you’re brave, go forth, upgrade and enjoy all the new features that you never thought your VC Codec could do!
ClickFest is an annual video conferencing festival run in November each year. Clickfest highlights the diversity and scope of video conferences available to schools across Australia.
The Australian Museum has been involved in ClickFest since it started in 2011 and is proud to be part of this exciting event. In 2013 ClickFest will be launched with Dinosaur day on 4 November 2013.
Join Winny the Australian Museum’s Muttaburrasaurs as she opens ClickFest and Dinosaur day.
Dinosaur Day
Meet Winny
The Australian Museum launches the 2013 Dinosaur Day with Winny our Muttaburrasaurs. Come along to meet Winny to learn more about Australian Dinosaurs 10am Monday 4 November
Australian Giants
Giant animals from dinosaurs to megafauna have roamed the Australian continent at different times. Find out about some of these Australian giants. Look at fossils and learn what they tell us about these extraordinary animals. 11am & 1pm Monday 4 November
Dynamic Earth
The Video conference will look at the dynamic earth forming processes. There will be experiments highlighting different earth processes. You will also see Australian Museum specimens and there will be opportunities to ask questions, so have some ready. 2pm Monday 4 November
ClickFest
Geology Rocks
The Video conference will look at the dynamic earth forming processes. There will be experiments highlighting different earth processes. You will also see Australian Museum specimens and there will be opportunities to ask questions, so have some ready. 11am 5 & 19 November
Minibeast Magnified
Minibeasts Magnified explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important. 10am 5 & 19 November
ClickFest – Life in Freshwater
This event provides a glimpse into life in freshwater. You will find out how to use water quality collecting and testing equipment and we will look how we impact our water ways and what we can do take to improve our catchments.
10am 6 & 14 November
Meet the Experts – FREE
The Australian Museum is bringing our scientists to you! Meet the Experts aims to provide quality science education and research resources. This is your chance to come face to face with an Australian Museum scientist and ask your questions. 10am 15 November
ClickFest – Museum Secrets Revealed
Become a detective and discover how scientists collect, preserve and display the many extraordinary specimens in their collection. Explore the Australian Museum specimens to investigate how they were discovered and why they are important.
The Australian Museum has been involved in ClickFest since it started in 2011 and is proud to be part of this exciting event.
ClickFest will be launched with Dinosaur day on 4 November 2013.
Join Winny the Australian Museum’s Muttaburrasaurs as she opens ClickFest and Dinosaur day.
See below for Australian Museum session throughout ClickFest
Dinosaur Day
Meet Winny
The Australian Museum launches the 2013 Dinosaur Day with Winny our Muttaburrasaurs. Come along to meet Winny to learn more about Australian Dinosaurs 10am Monday 4 November
Australian Giants
Giant animals from dinosaurs to megafauna have roamed the Australian continent at different times. Find out about some of these Australian giants. Look at fossils and learn what they tell us about these extraordinary animals. 11am & 1pm Monday 4 November
Dynamic Earth
The Video conference will look at the dynamic earth forming processes. There will be experiments highlighting different earth processes. You will also see Australian Museum specimens and there will be opportunities to ask questions, so have some ready. 2pm Monday 4 November
ClickFest
Geology Rocks
The Video conference will look at the dynamic earth forming processes. There will be experiments highlighting different earth processes. You will also see Australian Museum specimens and there will be opportunities to ask questions, so have some ready. 11am 5 & 19 November
Minibeast Magnified
Minibeasts Magnified explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important. 10am 5 & 19 November
Meet the Experts – FREE
The Australian Museum is bringing our scientists to you! Meet the Experts aims to provide quality science education and research resources. This is your chance to come face to face with an Australian Museum scientist and ask your questions. 10am 15 November
All booking can be made through the Dart Connections website dartconnections.org.au/home
– See more at: http://australianmuseum.net.au/blogpost/Lifelong-Learning/ClickFest-2013#sthash.KMCQwsdr.dpuf
Book for one session or for all five, and best of all, it’s FREE! Pre and post visit notes complete the experience and outline curriculum links, and we encourage you to use this as a springboard for further art-making adventures: one school recently held an art exhibition in their hall for parents and students, showcasing all the artworks produced by their students during this VC series.
