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 Chandlers Ridge Primary School in Middlesbrough look at Video Conferencing in collaboration with the National History Museum.
Background
Name of school: Chandlers Ridge Primary School
Location: Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough
Size: 400 children inc nursery
Type: Primary
Other participants: N/A
Equipment: Webcam, laptop and SMARTBoard
Context: To allow the children interactivity with other adults who specialise in certain areas of the curriculum. This was a one off video conference with the NHM museum,
Technical installation and set up
Type of equipment used:
Polycom PVX videoconferencing software
Logitech Quick Cam 4000
Networked laptop (teacher as administrator) Speakers and SMARTBoard for childrento see the other end of the connection.
Layout and location of video conferencing area.
Classroom situation – group size of 30 children.
Problems encountered and solutions developed with the above:
• We didn’t have a very good quality microphone to pick up what the children said.
• Also I cancelled the video call as it was early and I thought it was just a test! I therefore had to call JVCS and they reconnected the call.
Video Conferencing Partners:
Who? National History Museum.
Where? London
How contacted? Sarah Hone (from NHM) e-mailed schools asking who wanted to be involved.
Other communication channels apart from the video conference: phone communication before and after the VC.
Other schools or other institutions: N/A
If not school then what type of institution? Commercial museum
What you did
Curriculum focus. History - Key Stage 2
How the activity fits to work pupils are already doing. The children were not doing about this topic at the moment but we saw this as an opportunity for the children to experience video conferencing through a neutral topic.
Actual VC Activity. The gentleman from the NHM talked to us about how we can find out from the past through things we find. We were shown historical artefacts and we had to describe their purposes and what they might tell us about the era.
Aims and objectives of the conference(s). To introduce the children to the benefits of video conferencing.
What the teacher / other educational colleagues did. I discussed with the children what we were doing and why. The session was set up with an inter-school conference so that the children could use the software before the session.
What the pupils did. The children talked before and after the session about what they had learnt from the session and what they would like to do regarding video
conferencing in the future.
Evidence of Activity: No evidence other than JVCS bookings.
Use of the personal portal desktop – myclasses facility:
How was this facility used as part of the project? The project was received through email.
Overall conclusions from the project so far:
Positives and negatives. The children enjoyed learning about something through ‘unusual’ methods. They enjoyed speaking with someone else and we intend to build on this link for the future. Not all sessions however offered by the NHM link to curriculum areas being taught at the moment.
Future developments:
Where do you see your VC activity going in the future. Short term? one off conferences to link museums and the school to tie in with curriculum areas being taught. Long term? video conferencing with schools in this country and abroad to tie in language and geography links.
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Labels: VC, Case Studies, Case Study - School-based Innovations and Projects, Video Conferencing Case Studies