SAXophone was an international school project from 1995 to 2006 where students from all over the planet came face-to-face with each other, without having to leave the comfort of their schools. They could discuss different subjects, share lessons, take joint field trips and hold concerts together, all with the help of video conferencing.

The project began over ten years ago when three educators in different settings connected a school in their area together with schools in the other two sites. Ted. Detjen in New York (BOCES), Col. Bengt Kroon in Sweden (Military War College), and Al Mizell in Ft. Lauderdale (NSU University) invited teachers from local schools to join with them online via compressed video to develop a way to use this tool to connect students from around the world. Every month or two, someone would suggest another topic for the next session. It was exciting to see and hear youth in various countries exchange ideas and experiences.

As time went on, more schools joined as the word spread from school to school. Planning meetings were held each May and the schedule for the following year was laid out with suggestions and volunteer coordinators, who came from many different schools, were scheduled. Over the years, Ruth Chernet, Katie Lyeswang, and Marilyn Shaffer at NSU, coordinated the many administrative details that are involved in such a project. They invited new members, oriented them, and provided them with the materials needed to register for each session. Katie completed development of our Web site including online registration.

Topics were announced in advance to enable teachers to include the activity in their curriculum planning. The first four to eight schools to register could participate in a session while any additional schools could register to observe the session. Participating schools agreed to complete the pre-class and post-class activities so they were prepared to actively participate in the session.

To participate, the school had to have or locate a school or business with compressed video equipment (such as PictureTel, PolyCom, Vtel, Tandberg, etc.) that operated over ISDN phone lines at speeds of 128, 256, or 384 KB. We had begun experimenting with incorporating IP over the Internet into the network.

With the closing of SAXophone in January 2006, we hope that the information and resources on these Web pages will help you develop a similar project or, at least, find existing projects in which you can participate.