FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: US Speedskating is pleased to announce, as part of it's Tryspeedskating.com campaign, an educational event for schools across the USA: a live interactive videoconference and webcast on Friday, February 8th, featuring five Olympians that have earned a total of 4 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals between them. Three of the five Olympians featured are also now teachers in their post-Olympic careers.
This webcast event, titled "Meet Speedskating Olympians" is being sponsored by a grant from the Hewlett Packard Corporation. It will give students across the country at up to 300 schools, grades K-8 and 9-12, the chance to interact with the speedskating Olympians and learn about the Olympic experience. Eleven of the schools will have live two way video and audio capability. The rest can log on to have one way video and audio reception using RealMedia on their broadband Internet connection. Three of the eleven two way sites will host the Olympians. Leslie Bader, Allentown Public School District, Allentown, PA; Anne Henning, Cottonwood Elementary School, Englewood, CO; and, Cathy Turner, Sheila Young, and Eric Flaim, the Shriners Children's Hospital, Salt Lake City. The other schools with two way audio/video will be participating from around the U.S. including Katy, Texas, where Linda Poehlman McDonald, a teacher and the creative spark behind this event will be interacting with the Olympians. "Speedskating was a fond part of my childhood. I remember looking forward to the Olympics with such anticipation," McDonald reflected. "Twenty years later, as a teacher, I want students to share my excitement. I also want them to have a purpose for using our technology. The Olympics provides such an awesome theme for instruction and these athletes were and are incredibly inspiring role models! Teachers can deliver their curriculum objectives in an integrated manner, students get excited about learning, and, have a positive reason for keeping in touch with what is going on in the world." For those schools who cannot log onto the event while it is taking place live, the webcast will be digitally recorded and stored on a server for access on demand at a later time by any school or person on line with a computer and the proper media player software. This event will take place at 11:30am to 12:30pm Central Standard Time (CST) on February 8, 2002. Technical resources and management of the event is being provided by: the Southeastern Wisconsin Instructional Network Group (SWING), and the University of Wisconsin - Extension in Madison. This program has been made possible through a generous grant from the Hewlett-Packard Corporation. All interactive sites have been filled, but if you would like to tune in and view the webcast, please visit http://www.swing.k12.wi.us/. "US Speedskating is excited about the opportunity to reach up to 300 schools live for an hour, plus an indefinite number in the future via the archived recording," said Carl Cepuran, Development Coordinator for US Speedskating. "Sport and the Olympics create great teaching opportunities and developmental experiences for children. We feel it is a privilege to be a partner in the presentation of this event. We hope many schools will take advantage of the opportunity to hear what these remarkable athletes have to share with the students by joining us for it." More event information: Main site with a link for schools to use to sign up or get more information about the participants: http://www.swing.k12.wi.us/ SWING, contact: Barb Thorn or Dan Gross, 262-767-5354 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Auxiliary site link with more information designed by teacher Linda McDonald: http://www.katy.isd.tenet.edu/pathways/Instr_Ctr/spec_proj/speedskating.htm US Speedskating contact: Carl Cepuran, 630-790-0360 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Information on the web at http://www.usspeedskating.org and http://www.tryspeedskating.com. __________ Daniel E. Gross - SWING Network Director 380 McCanna Parkway, Burlington, WI 53105-3521 (262) 767-5312 (FAX) 767-5201 _______________________________________________ http:www.MadNorSki.org XC mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/xc
