NEC 04

Virtual Dig Lite

Virtual Dig Lite is a low-bandwidth, kid-friendly site enabling students to follow the excitement of an actual archaeological excavation while learning about archaeology, history, and the religions of the area. We will provide lesson plans for teachers and access to a secured web site.  But the lite version will lack some of the interactivity (discussions, quizzes, tracking, integrated lesson plans, live sessions) of the full version.

Sign up

Teachers and parents who home school may sign up their classrooms for the Virtual Dig Lite through July 30, 2004.  Click to Sign-Up.

Description of the
Virtual Dig Educational Program
(closed to new applications)

Lesson Plans

A seven-week series of daily lesson plans will be made available to each participating elementary school.  Plans are modular in form, so teachers can pick and choose which lessons they wish to use.  Targeted to students in grades 6-8, the plans will introduce archaeological methods, acquaint students with the world of Christianity during the Byzantine period in the Holy Land, and connect students specifically with Concordia's excavation of the Northeast Church at Hippos.

Virtual Classroom

Each school will be assigned its own virtual classroom(s).  These secured web sites allow students individually to log in to the "virtual dig," participate in learning activities, follow the excavation, and raise questions of the excavators. 

Contact with Archaeologists

Through audio updates and "The Daily Dig," students will have the chance to read and hear about the excavation.  Through a process of identifying critical questions, students will get answers from the archaeologists themselves.  Classrooms located near St. Paul, Minnesota, may arrange for a member of the NEC 04 Team to visit the school prior to or after the excavation.

Live from Israel . . .

If technology and mutual schedules allow, one or more “live” sessions (VoIP or IRC) from Israel will be arranged.

Levels of Participation

To address the broad range of interest in the Virtual Dig in view of the limits faced by some schools, two levels of participation are available:

• Level A: Full Virtual Dig with training at Concordia Saint Paul
  A two-day teacher training session will be conducted at Concordia Saint Paul to familiarize teachers from participating schools.  The session will run from 11:00am to 4:30pm on Wednesday, August 11, and from 9:00am through 2:00pm on Thursday, August 12.  The session will train teachers on the technologies involved, provide an introduction to the excavation at Hippos, and help teachers to develop their specific lesson plans.  The sessions are free to the schools and include lunch both days.
   
• Level B: Virtual Dig with teleconference training
  For those who cannot attend the training at St. Paul, a 1.5 hour teleconference will overview the virtual dig.  To participate in the teleconference, teachers need a telephone to dial into the audio portion of the teleconference and simultaneous connection to the internet. As we cannot accomplish as much in a 1.5 hour teleconference, the Virtual Dig with teleconference training will not include live sessions. Further, teachers will have only limited ability to customize their courses.

Necessary Technologies

Participating classrooms must have access to current computers available to students in the classroom and a broadband connection to the internet for participation in the full versions of the Virtual Dig. Classrooms will need sound.  If the school arranges for a live session or a visit by one of the team members, computer projection capabilities will be necessary. Students must be comfortable with usernames and passwords, as the Virtual Dig will be delivered through WebCT.

Costs

As Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation is funding the project, there will be no direct costs to schools other than their local operating expenses, copying of handouts, and travel to the teacher training session. Participating schools agree to submit reports as required by the project.