In your experiences, what is an ideal room setup for a teacher delivering math through VC assuming the teacher has a face-to-face group as well as one or more additional sites connecting? Which supportive technologies are a 'must'?  How do you determine what the VC setup is like at the sites you're connecting with?

Please share your experiences and/or advice on this topic or, if interested, upload photos (no identifying student information) of your VC setup for course delivery.

If the math teacher is doing remote course delivery via VC with students with them, one would want to place the monitor and camera in a row, just like the students sitting in the class.  This would enable direct "eye contact" with students and somewhat normalize the class dynamics of the room.

In terms of supportive technologies, an interactive board at both sites would be "a must".  Also having access to a Bridgit server would allow the content of the whiteboard to be shared in conjunction with the VC.  It is good to have them support one another, rather than trying to using the VC to share the content, as the content would take over the "human factor" and it is good to have both as there is alot of communication that is non verbal (the teacher pointing at something on the board) and yet not physically touching the board (that would be shared in the Bridgit session).  The two systems are also useful if there are problems with one technology - you can still communicate and have the lesson go on.  For example, if there was VC problems, Bridgit has embedded VOIP and using a product like the Polycom Communicator (~$160 per site), you will have voice communication and still be able continue your discussion and share ideas.

A document camera that connects to the computer would be helpful as well.  Pages from the text, student work that was written on paper could be shared.