Video conferencing live on NEAL
What did you do?
At the North Harbour Principals' meeting on 27th May we ran a classroom via video conferencing between Northcote College and Orewa College. The meeting was at Northcote and we had two Northcote students and two Orewa students in the Northcote College library with their Spanish teacher at Orewa College. The principals sat in silence and with fascination while the four students discussed the weather in Spanish with their teacher.
Learning for Students and Teachers
What happens next? Orewa College is part of the FarNet cluster drawing on skills from Northland College and others and in turn delivering curriclum topics to the north in return. Kate Shevland at Orewa College has negotiated some time from the FarNet e-principal to assist in settiong up a NEAL VC Cluster which will bring in schools in our group to enable inter-school teaching and learning.
How did the fibre help?
The fast broadband connectioin between the two schools made us completely independent of telcos and ISPs - we were in charge of our own destiny.
Future focus
Developing opportunities for collaborative professional development between schools in our group (and with our fellow schools on GCSN in Christchurch).