Video Conferencing: California State Park PORTS Program
Author: Rick Phelan
Published: 12.10.14
The California State Park PORTS program is a free, live video conferencing program designed to help K-12 schools teach Common Core State Standards in the context of California State Parks. Through PORTS (Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students), students can make live classroom connections with park experts.
How does PORTS work?
The PORTS website gives teachers and students all the resources necessary to participate in a series of lessons that use park resources to address various academic content standards. Resources include lesson plans, digital images, digital video, historic documents, and more. Each unit of study also contains at least one video conference opportunity that engages students in speaking directly to a park ranger. The video conferences are often from a distant and interesting location—inside the State Capitol, from the middle of the desert, from a beach on the Southern California coast, etc.
PORTS Program Topics
PORTS offers a number of Common Core-aligned units of study and posts comprehensive descriptors on their website. Examples of the available units include:
- Ancient civilizations through art
- Animal adaptations and evolution
- Desert ecology and paleontology
- Gold Rush history
- Redwood ecology
- Salmon life cycle
- Tide pool ecology
- Weather and climate
Necessary Technology
To access the online units of study, a school simply needs a computer connected to the Internet. The minimum technology requirements for a video conference program are a standards-based video conferencing device, high-speed Internet connection (minimum 384 KBPS), and a TV or LCD projector to project the image and sound. Some schools are finding success with PORTS using iPads and the free Polycom app for video conferencing.
Need Assistance?
Are you from a school in Sonoma County that wants to do a PORTS activity with your class, but need technical support? Contact Matt O’Donnell at modonnell@scoe.org or Rick Phelan at rphelan@scoe.org for assistance.
Blog: Technology for Learners
