YHGfL - Making the most of your broadband

The illustration shows video-conferencing being used to connect students from Great Cotes Primary School to the National Coal Mining Museum of England. Our aim is to make even better use of video-conferencing by identifying and developing the means and materials through which video-conferencing can be integrated into school curriculae on an industrial scale, in a manner that makes better use of scarce teaching resources.

Our objectives are:

• to achieve economies of scale through common access to financial and non-financial resources.

• to establish common standards, protocols, networks and instructive materials that disseminate best practice and give teachers a positive experience of video conferencing.

• to road test competing methodologies, where appropriate.

• to establish a network, broker or dating agency to put schools in touch with each other so that communication can take place across the region and beyond.

• to create additional common teaching resources which promote and enable more video conferencing activity in schools.

• to provide a route to channel enthusiasm into activity.

To find out more general information about video conferencing in the classroom, view the useful documents and links page or contact us.

Our regional pathfinder will start in approximately 20 schools from October 2004. It includes five main elements:

A best practice collation project, to collate and review best practice based evaluations in the region, nationally and internationally.

A co-ordination project, consisting of a project manager who is able to provide a first stage of ‘helpdesk, to provide assistance at the interface between technical and teaching staff.

A continuing professional development project, working with other proposals for broadband related CPD, and focusing upon establishing:

• Demonstrators in live time probably based around single lesson combinations of multiple classes working in parallel.

• Remote conference access in live time, for example streaming conferences such as NAACE and to support special needs co-ordinators in schools and specialist networks such as special needs schools.

• Roadshows.

• Case studies in investment format, with live time question and answer sessions.

• Distance support by LEA consultants in live time.

• Interactive inset on demand for teachers and others in investment time, with personal tuition available in live time, around e.g. special needs, management training, being a curriculum advisor.

• Teacher to teacher chatrooms.

• Specialist teacher in one school supporting teachers in other schools as an ongoing mentoring process including a potential quick win in ICT and science.

• A portfolio of common standards.

• Investment in ‘how to do it’ guides.

• Development of a portfolio of teacher advocates who can enthuse to colleagues through chatrooms, conferences, roadshows etc.

• LEA Advisors for curriculum co-ordination.

A technical support project, which will identify and pilot common standards. This would be under the control of the project co-ordinator but have significant input from the VC and Technical groups of YHGfL.

At this stage, it is anticipated that the common standards will be a ‘quick win’ given the experience around the region.

Live time distance learning for students is the main outcome for the other work. Quick wins and foci are soon to be agreed with the participating schools.