The video conference, a new technology in Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

EAST LANSING, Michigan, May 24, 2007 — A group of students and teachers from a mid-Michigan high school will soon have the opportunity to chat with a group of their counterparts from a school in Algeria.

The students and teachers from Ovid-Elsie High School in Michigan and Cheikh Bouamama High School in Algiers, Algeria, will link for a one-hour video conference chat and culture exchange at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, May 29, at the mid-Michigan school.

The event is part of a U.S. State Department-funded Middle East Partnership Initiative project with Michigan State University’s College of Education’s Partnership Schools Program, which is designed to facilitate technology and culture sharing for schools.

Students in Algiers will be joined by the U.S. Ambassador to Algeria Robert Stephen Ford and Algerian education officials.

Students at Ovid-Elsie High School will be joined by U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers and education officials from MSU.

Ovid-Elsie is one of four schools in the area to participate in this MSU school linkage program – Durand, Pinckney and DeWitt are the others. Other Michigan schools that have participated are in Portage, Grand Rapids and Rockford.

The program, called E3Link (Education, English, Electronically Linked) pairs a U.S. school with a partner school in Algeria so each may better understand culture, diversity and the communities in which they live. It is designed to meet the needs of each country to learn about a global society and will serve as a model for use of online technology to meet education and curriculum goals.

Students in each school create PowerPoint presentations that utilize digital photos, videos and audio recordings to share with each other. The program is designed to improve Algerian students’ English proficiency and U.S. students’ writing skills and to improve technology skills of teachers and students in Algeria as well as in the United States.

Video conference to bring together students from mid-Michigan, Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

May 27, 2007 -- The technology of video conferencing has been introduced into the digital technology field in Algeria, said Mr. Boujemaa Haichour, the Algerian minister of technology and communication.

This technology allows two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously. The video conference method is to be used in certain specialities especially by surgeons, researchers, students, business men and economic companies, said the minister.

According to the same source, this technology allows the saving of money as the use of optical fibres cost 2000 euro in the past while using the satellite now costs 40 euro only. Some companies and administrations have recently benefited from this technology because the process of transferring files and exchanging data is safe.

For his part, the CEO of Algeria Telecom Satellite, Mr. Mahieddine Maach gave value to this new technology set up in Algeria in collaboration with a well-known French company.

He said the method of video conferencing allows companies to share economic ideas in addition to free competition.

He added that this technique facilitates the communication between people and different administrations and governments; even through laptops and G3 mobile phones.

The video conference, a new technology in Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

Lundi 28 mai 2007 -- L’importance de la visioconférence a été au centre d’un séminaire organisé par Algérie Télécom Satellites (ATSat). Ayant assisté à la cérémonie d’ouverture, Boudjemaâ Haïchour a expliqué que cette technique est nécessaire à plus d’un titre. Son apport dans le transfert simultané du savoir et du savoir-faire est sans pareil. Le ministre des Technologies de l’information a cité pour l’exemple que le fait de ramener un scientifique d’une région éloignée pour dispenser des connaissances, nécessite en moyenne un budget de 2000 euros, alors que le faire intervenir par le biais d’une vidéoconférence revient en moyenne à 400 euros seulement.

A ce sujet, l’orateur a assuré que l’Algérie est à l’avant-garde de cette approche technologie. D’ailleurs, c’est à partir de cet esprit que les centres universitaires du pays ont été dotés en outils nécessaires au téléenseignement, grâce notamment à une connexion haut débit via les fibres optiques. Haïchour a également rendu hommage à la filiale satellite d’Algérie Télécom pour son investissement dans ce secteur. En effet, le développement atteint dans cette filiale permet le transfert des voix, de données et autres outils multimédias. Au cours des différentes interventions, il a été expliqué que dans le marché mondial du travail près de 90% des employés travaillent en dehors du siège social de leur entreprise. D’autant qu’un taux compris entre 60 et 70% des employés activent sur des sites différents de leurs managers. Il a en outre été expliqué que le travail à domicile a augmenté de 800% à la faveur des connexions à distance, d’autant que le basculement vers le mode IP a été opéré chez une grande majorité d’utilisateurs. A noter enfin que le séminaire en question a été retransmis à l’étranger en multiplexe à l’aide de la vidéoconférence.

Séminaire sur la visioconférence

[Al-khiyal]

Video conference to bring together students from mid-Michigan, Algeria

Elise, Michigan, May 30, 2007 — Students in Algiers, Algeria gathered in a classroom Tuesday for an experience of a lifetime.

With some wearing green and white MSU T-shirts sent by the university, students of Cheikh Bouamama High School awaited a video conference call from students from a Junior Achievement class at Ovid-Elsie High School in Elsie, Michigan.

The class, taught by business department teacher Bonnie Ott, aims to educate and update students on international relations and global business.

The call, a result of the Partnership Schools Program, or PSP and MSU's College of Education, was designed for 11th- and 12th-grade students from both schools to share cultural and technological similarities and differences. The program is the first education project between Algeria and the United States.

"They are a lot more like us than I thought," said Alex McClure, an 11th-grader at Ovid-Elsie. "They like the same music and food as we do, and they dress similar."

Students from both schools designed PowerPoint presentations, compiling digital photos and creating questions for their counterparts to view electronically - all in an attempt to learn about each other's cultures and communities.

After they viewed the information, they had the opportunity to respond to each other through an Internet Web portal. E3Link (English, Education, Electronically Linked), provides each country with the technology to learn about a global society and serves as an online model for the exchange of information.

The meeting was originally planned as a one-hour video conference where each group of students would be able to see and hear the other group.

Because of a technical glitch, however, students at Ovid-Elsie were only able to hear students at Cheikh Bouamama High School while the students in Algeria were able to see and hear everything.

Joseph Codde, MSU educational technology professor and director of the PSP program, who is in Algeria this week, helped facilitate the conference.

"The students reported they've found they have many things in common with students at Ovid-Elsie and having an opportunity to see and speak with Ovid-Elsie students reinforced this idea," he said.

Codde was joined by U.S. Ambassador to Algeria Robert Stephen Ford.

In Elsie, education professor Rhonda Egidio, who has worked closely with the program, said the purpose is to open the students' eyes about similarities and to help Algerian students learn English.

"My highest hopes is that this experience becomes part of their makeup and identity," Egidio said. "As a young person, before prejudices become locked, they have an experience from someone in another country that they're open to learn about. I think they'll realize they are citizens of their country but also global citizens. I think they'll just see that connectedness."

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, who recently visited Algeria to help build better relations with the country, joined the students at Ovid-Elsie for the conference. While in Algeria, Rogers had an opportunity to visit Cheikh Bouamama High School after hearing of MSU's involvement.

"What you find, at that age, is that everybody is willing and open to understand each other and tear down barriers of mistrust and other things," he said.

During the conference, students shared what they had learned from each other over the past few months. An Algerian girl said she learned the students at Ovid-Elsie have many similarities, especially with sports and music.

"It was fun," said McClure. "But we also learned a lot and became less sheltered because we were seeing how other people live."

Connected to Algiers

[Al-khiyal]

Students communicate across the globe at Rogers-hosted forum

March 5, 2008 -- Shane Clary's Western World History students at Pinckney Community High School admitted they knew little, if anything, about Blida, Algeria, during class Tuesday.

But Clary's students weren't studying the culture of Algeria, a north African, predominantly Muslim, oil-rich country.

They were actually talking face to face with students their same age across the globe in real time.

"I know very little about Algeria and Algerian people," student Ashley Peapples said, talking to a student by video in Blida.

Tuesday's interface was set up by Michigan State University's e3Link program, which is partnering with several schools across Michigan to create cultural exchanges with the Algerian students.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton — who hosted the forum — learned Algerian high school students were communicating online with students in his district while traveling in Algeria last year on behalf of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee.

The Pinckney students sat in a room surrounded by computers, while the Algerian students all crowded around one.

Tuesday's digital exchange was disjointed because of transmission difficulties over the Internet.

"You have to bear in mind we have technical difficulties while trying to make this work," said MSU professor Joseph Codde, who heads up e3Link.

After a few glitches, however, Algerian students launched into a bevy of questions about Western student culture.

Pinckney student Rob Snow was asked about what he does in his spare time. Snow explained he plays guitar and video games, and earns his own money when not at school.

Another Algerian student queried about student celebrations in the United States.

Elise Bourke explained that American students hold high school proms and throw Halloween and Christmas parties.

"We celebrate a lot over here," Bourke said.

An Algerian student explained that students' social lives there are predominantly tied to family.

"We organize some parties with our families," she said.

Rogers, who spent time with students while in Algeria, said youth there are fascinated with Western culture, namely American students' access to technology at school and interests in music, film and fast food.

Rogers said most Algerian youth don't have access to vehicles, something American youth might take for granted.

"They are fascinated about you," Rogers said.

Codde said his program will spread throughout the United States, forming new ties with the Algerian students.

He said e3Link will inspire educators in Algeria to incorporate technology into the classroom, while breaking down social stereotypes.

"They know there's real people on the other side of that Web page," he said.

***



Students click from half way across the globe

PINCKNEY, March 5, 2008 -- Their time together was brief, but enjoyable as about 30 students at Pinckney High School chatted with students from Blida, Algeria, via satellite Tuesday morning.

As part of an international student-to-student program through Michigan State University, the schools - one representing small town America and the other a small farming Muslim community - found commonality as they talked about music, school and social events.

"They met kids like them, but their life and country is very different," said U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, who learned about the program last year and is working to bring it to other Michigan schools. "They saw those were the same interests they had although their culture may be different."

Following the 15-minute chat the students promised to talk again, Rogers said, adding that follow-up conversations will continue through the Internet.

[Al-khiyal]

e3Link

The e3Link Program is designed to create a link between Algerian and American secondary students. Funded by the U.S. State Department’s Office of Public Diplomacy and developed in collaboration with Creative Associates International, Washington, D.C., Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, and the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, the project involves students from each country creating and sharing community profiles using PowerPoint and the Internet. The project is intended to help improve Algerian students' English proficiency and provide a cultural exchange between students from both countries.

[Al-khiyal]

A bridge between Pinckney and Algeria :
Social studies program interactive

March 14, 2008 -- High school students in the Algerian province of Blida don't know much about fast food and drive-through restaurants. Most of them don't even have cars.

Then again, Pinckney Community High School students don't know what Berber tribal music sounds like, and most of them don't speak two or three languages.

By the end of the school year, teenagers in both places will know a lot more about each other and where they live because of a unique interactive social studies lesson developed by Michigan State University's College of Education.

"I tell my students that the best learning is done through travel,'' said Pinckney High social studies teacher Shane Clary. "In a way, that's what they're doing.''

Instead of using planes, trains or automobiles, juniors and seniors in Clary's western world history class are visiting their Algerian counterparts this semester via computer, video-conferencing and Internet blogging.

"It's an awesome and unbelievable opportunity to be able to talk directly with kids from another country,'' Clary said. "It's easier than learning from a textbook, and it's much more interesting.''

Pinckney is one of several Michigan schools participating in E3Link, a program originated by the U.S. State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative in 2005 to help develop an understanding of culture, community and country among students in the U.S. and the North African country of Algeria.

"It's important to do this,'' said Jenna Craft, a junior in Clary's class. "As Americans, we think we're the best. This makes us see what other countries don't have and that makes us more grateful of what we do have.''

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, visited Pinckney High when students from both countries connected for the first time in a video-conference get-acquainted session. There were a few technical difficulties, but the experience was eye-opening to students in both places.

"I have to admit that I really don't know anything about Algeria or Algerian people,'' said Pinckney senior Ashley Peapples. "I bet I'll learn a lot.''

Students in both classrooms shared brief descriptions of their communities with each other. They talked about what they liked to do in their spare time and the differences between their music and parties and celebrations.

"I think they'll discover as they go along that they have a lot more in common than they don't,'' Rogers said.