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The development of ICT tools and services for video and audio communication is very rapid and more user friendly all the time.
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To communicate with video between computers is a part of everyday life for "digital natives", as well as texting, chatting, twittering, facebooking, youtubing and googling. Today there are an abundance of means to communicate and share information and media.
With netbooks, laptops and other devices it is easy to communicate, as audio and video hardware are built in and ready to use.
The use of video conferencing in school helps to develop the students digital competence, a key competence for their future life.
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If used in the school, video conferencing can be a powerful instrument for learning in interaction with children, students and teachers in other countries:
- A window to the world, getting to know others and sense their environment.
- Real time communication with visual and auditive interaction gives an arena for learning experiences beyond media files.
- Interacting with a real audience; you present yourself and your localities in an authentic situation.
- Enhancing communication skills; practising languages in real situations strengthen self esteem.
- Using other forms of expression together with others; music, instruments, games, mime, drama. Communication is more than language and videoconferencing can be used also with pre-primary children.
- Video conferencing is great fun, and the students enjoy this form of learning
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There is a large variety of hardware and software available for videoconferencing.
In the WiMi video project we documented conferences between children and students from pre-primary to secondary school involving six countries in Europe.
We also used videoconferencing for meetings in our network.
Our starting-point was to try out user friendly and easy technology that can be handled by teachers in the classroom.
The hardware we used; ordinary computer equipment, webcams, speakers, michrophones and digital projectors.
For small groups and peer to peer communication you can use a laptop or a netbook. Today they have built in webcams, microphone and speakers. With Wifi connection laptops can easily be moved around and you can show different locations.
For larger groups /classes it is advisable to use an external webcam, microphone and speakers and a digital projector.
We used two different softwares, Skype and Bridgit, both are easy to manage and to install and handle.
  Skype is a well known software that can be used on all kind of operating systems; Windows, Apple and Linux. For free you can have video conferences between two participants or group with sound, chat, file tranfer and show your destop. If you want to have a video conference with more participants, you have to subscribe for a premium edition with a monthly fee.
Bridgit is Conferencing software from the Smart technologies. With Bridgit you can have 10 different participants at the same time with audio connection, and 4 at the same time can use the video connection. You can share a desktop and let other participants write or mark on that desktop. They can also use the shared computer remotely. There is also chat and the possibility to notify about the conference by e-mail. Bridgit can also be integrated with the software for SmartBoards. |
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In reviewing the Wide Minds Video Conference project and the experiences we have encountered, there are some points to consider:
- Check to ensure that all your hardware works correctly and that the software settings are right before the conference and make sure that you know how use the hardware and software.
- Test the internet connection beforehand so that you can be sure that it is good enough for video and sound. Also make sure that your local system allows you to use video-conferencing software and you can access what you need for the conference. There are various restrictions in schools and technicians may have to be persuaded to make it work.
- Organise the localities and the devices; webcam, microphone, speakers, computers and projector depending on the group and the content of the session so it is easy to manage devices and everybody can see and hear. (Bear in mind it can be quite noisy with big groups of students)
- Group size; the bigger group that you have in a video conference, the noiser it can can get and the space for improvisation is less - big group, more structure.
- Structure of the conference is important. The outcome and the quality of the activities in the conference depends on careful planning and how you prepare the activities and the children/students.
- Time: think carefully about how long the conference is going to last and consider the attention span in the group you are working with. Small children are not that patient. On the other hand, is there enough time reserved if there is a spontaneous activity that is engaging?
- Beware of the WOW-factor, maybe you think this is fantastic, but the digital natives in your classroom are maybe not as impressed as you.
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Video Conferencing Guide
