Logistics of Using Ustream in a Classroom

This post is simply a “thought exercise” to examine the logistics of implementing the use of Ustream — or similar web-based apps for video-streaming — in a classroom setting. Across the Blogosphere many of us have imagined how these tools could be used to virtually tear down the classroom walls, but few of us have actually offered up solid “how to” posts to help non-blogosphere educators actually implement the use of these tools.

So for the sake of this “thought exercise” — let’s imagine that someone in my district — a large, urban school district — has come to me and said “Hey, this is really cool and we want to try to use this to bring in guest speakers/national subject experts into some of our classrooms to give the kids some real-world connections to what they are learning. We are specifically interested in the use of this Ustream tool because the kids could send questions to the guest speaker/expert through the chat window. Can you help us figure out the logistics of this?”

My response, “Sure! I would love to help you! So let’s talk about what you’ll need in order to do this…”

1. Every student in each classroom would need to have their own laptop.
2. The classrooms will need wireless connectivity to the internet.
3. The district will have to unblock the IRC port that the Ustream chat window uses — otherwise the students won’t be able to use the chat feature at all.
4. The teacher will need some minimal training on moderating a chat room. Basic Critical Friends Coaching skills are helpful for this.
5. A school or district employee will have to travel to wherever the guest speaker/expert is located in order to setup the equipment and setup the webcast. We can’t assume that the speaker/expert has the equipment or knows how to use Ustream. (This requirement could be eliminated if you do have a guest speaker/expert who is familiar with Ustream and has their own equipment.)
6. Guest speaker/expert computer will need to be connected via ethernet cable to a network connection. Wireless connections for the webcasting computer is buggy at best and choppy at worst.
7. There should be a back-up system in place in case the technology doesn’t work. The teacher should always have a backup lesson plan, and there should be backup equipment in the classroom that would allow the class to at least connect via Skype in the event that Ustream isn’t available.

So blogosphere experts, what have I forgotten? What other logistical concerns have I left off of this list?