How to make Video Conferencing Work in Classrooms?

Imagine a child so eager to go to school just because he wants to learn. Let us face it, not every child wakes up in this mood. But what if going to school takes him to different places and lets him discover foreign lands and different animals? How about talking to a famous celebrity or politician? Is it not a wonderful, exciting learning experience? Nowadays, this is possible through video conferencing.

More and more learning institutions have been using audio and video transmission to communicate with students and fellow educators. Classroom video conferencing is becoming more and more popular especially for higher education students with limited time, money or with physical disability.
Distance learning is often confused with classroom video conferencing. However, they are not synonymous. Distance learning refers to the method of teaching between teachers and students in two different locations, while video conferencing is a tool used to bridge the gap caused by lack of physical interaction in the classroom. And how video conferencing really works in a classroom depends on how the teacher uses it.

Maximizing Video Conferencing

Here are some tips to maximize the use of video conferencing:

• Plan your conference for early in the day when the Internet is less congested
• When in a building, tell everyone that you need all the bandwidth and so if it is possible if they stay off-line during your scheduled conference
• Strategically assign the placement of your students on camera
• Test your connection to your partner or class. Use a direct connection if possible
• Conduct trial runs with your students so they would know how to be in the conference
• Be proactive. Expect for the worst. If the server is down, postpone it
• Beware of unexpected incoming hook-up requests
• Mentoring is a great experience for young learners and can be done with video conferencing. They get to compare and exchange ideas with each other
• Arrange for your computer specialists to conference with your class and answer technical questions

On top of these tips, classroom videoconferencing involves careful planning and preparation on the part of the teacher and the students. For it to be effective there has to be a purpose for each conference. A well planned video conferencing can be one of the most exciting and motivating learning experience for students.