Video conferencing very simply is the ability to communicate with people who may be a few miles down the road, in another town, or the other side of the world and be able to see and hear them while we do so.
Today our students more than likely use video conferencing at home through MSN or Skype by simply using their internet connection and a cheap webcam.
However, in schools we simply do not take advantage of this great tool which has the potential to see our students collaborating with others all over the world or with the schools across town. It allows us as educators to potentially bring the outside world into the classroom with much more ease.
For example if your asking a guest speaker to come in to talk to the students distance may be an issue. Even if they live and work within the same region it could still involve them sacrificing a significant amount of their time to come in and speak. However, a simple video conference could simply just take up the time needed to discuss, take questions or present on the particular topic. This could mean simply 15 minutes to an hour instead of a whole day.
Quite often businesses and organisations have these tools available to them but may need a helping hand to get them up and running and a little of holding hands initially.
One thing I have recently done is invested in two relatively cheap webcams (total cost a whopping £30!). This means that we have one in class and we also have one to lend to a potential guest speaker who may have a computer and web access but no webcam. What I have also done is produced a short tutorial which is hosted on our VLE to show them how to create a Skype account and add our school to their address book. Then all I do is arrange the day before for them to phone in for a practice and all ready to go.
The training video has been invaluable as I can just send an email with the link and then the guest speaker is up and running. Having two webcams is a nice fall back but quite often people have them but never have a reason to use them so are quite happy when we give them that excuse (although a little nervous at the same time!).
So how can you use video conferencing? Below are some basic ideas some of which we will develop in future posts:
- A local/national politician to contribute to a class debate or simply explain policy or just what they do!
- A project with another school where individuals, small groups, classes or even whole years can communicate, collaborate and receive information (we are currently working with two schools in South Africa and make use of Video Conferencing).
- A guest speaker who is nationally or internationally recognised as a leading expert in a particular field.
- As a way of students getting to know their exchange students before a foreign exchange and the keep in touch.
I could keep going but the uses are only limited my are own imagination. If we use video conferencing as one of the ways to communicate during a project then it becomes extremely valuable along with email, forums, chat and web conferencing.
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