Feedback: Videoconferencing in the Advanced Higher French class

Feedback

Quality of equipment

As Renfrewshire schools have broadband connections the quality of the picture and the sound was good in most of the schools. Any slight time lag in speech and lack of direct eye contact appeared to present no difficulty to the students. Indeed one of them remarks that it was just like being in the class.

The quality of the picture and sound even allowed Ms Wilson to conduct an internal speaking test via videoconference with one of the students; the scope of the camera and the quality of the picture allowed her to ensure that no notes were being used and the clarity of the sound enabled her to record the test on a tape recorder for moderation purposes.

Advantages

The ability to conduct classes via videoconference has been an invaluable tool in teaching this year’s Advanced Higher class. There have been three main advantages:

It has allowed the whole curriculum to be delivered to all the Advanced Higher French students in Renfrewshire.
No one has been disadvantaged, as has happened in the past.
The students who have used videoconferencing have gained invaluable experience and confidence in using this new technology.

Technical problems and their solutions

However, the use of such equipment is not totally without problems; technical and logistical difficulties can suddenly arise.

The problems Ms Wilson encountered during the year were:

One of the schools did not have a Tandberg 880 and during some lessons there were intermittent difficulties with the quality of the sound.
When Ms Wilson wrote notes on the visual presenter the students experienced a blurring of the picture making it impossible for them to take notes simultaneously. However, this was easily avoided by pausing when giving handwritten notes and also by using previously prepared material.
It was impossible for the students to project their own work on to the screen, as their units were not permanently linked to a visual presenter. This could be overcome but it would also be necessary to train the individual students in the use of this equipment.
The siting of the videoconference unit in the individual schools was occasionally problematic. In two schools the equipment was permanently set up in a classroom and in the other in a part of a library. There were occasions in all of the schools when the students were unable to access the machine because of exams and/or other classes using the room. In Ms Wilson’s school, because of accommodation problems, the unit had to be taken from a storage area and then set up in the Modern Languages Base each time it was to be used. This was time consuming and also denied other teachers access to the work base.

Another potential problem, which fortunately we did not have to face this year, is the limit on the number of sites on a multi-site videoconference link – with the equipment in Ms Wilson’s school only four schools can participate at any one time. This could cause problems in the future as there are thirteen secondary schools in the local authority that could potentially have participating students.

However, all of the above can be resolved and there is no doubt that Ms Wilson and her students found videoconferencing to be very useful during the session. It is a valuable tool which will continue to be used to deliver the full Advanced Higher French curriculum to all students in Renfrewshire.