Colaiste Feirste, an Irish medium secondary school in Belfast with 35 teachers and around 500 pupils, is one of many schools throughout Northern Ireland to see the benefits of video conferencing in the classroom. Pupils attending the Falls Road school have linked successfully with pupils in other schools, not only in Northern Ireland but in the Republic of Ireland, US and Japan.
According to Dara Woods, ICT teacher in the school, using video conferencing facilities has enhanced teaching in many different areas of the curriculum and pupils throughout the school have benefited as a result.
“Connecting pupils at Colaiste Feirste with pupils in other schools has been very beneficial, helping to introduce them to other cultures in an interesting and interactive way.”
Colaiste Feirste was one of several schools in Northern Ireland to participate in the Global Leap programme, which connected schools around the world in a continuous 24 hours video link-up.
Students at Colaiste Feirste had a virtual link with a school in White Plains New York and presented a live French play. Also they were able to question each other on their perceptions of and attitudes to a variety of political and social issues such as international terrorism.
“When the pupils know that they will be linking up with another school in a virtual classroom, it’s a great motivation for them to study and find out more about a wide range of topics,” says Dara.
Using ICT generally and video conferencing and online learning in particular in the classroom has many benefits, he continues.
“It’s been great for helping improve trilingual literacy levels as pupils are developing their communication and presentation skills while they work with pupils from other schools in a virtual environment. Another very worthwhile outcome is a noticeable improvement in the pupils’ self-confidence.”
Working in collaboration with other schools Colaiste Feirste are organising a series of story telling sessions. Among the other video-conferencing projects were English debates, traditional music sessions, Irish language lessons and drama workshops around the world.
Video-conferencing has proved to be a very effective tool for bringing people of all ages together, says Dara who adds that the different video conferences hosted by Colaiste Feirste have all been very beneficial for everyone involved.
Dara says they have all helped pupils at Colaiste Feirste become more independent in their learning.
“Video conferencing has helped give a better understanding of the topic as well as giving the pupils an opportunity to practice IT research and investigative skills and their ‘question and answer’ techniques.
The quality of videoconferencing facilities at Colaiste Feirste has improved enormously over the past few years.
“When we started doing video conferences a few years ago, we used web cams but the equipment which has since been installed in the school’s lecture theatre is of a much improved standard with better sound and high definition pictures.
The level of support provided by C2k’s managed service has also made a big different to Dara and his colleagues.“It means that teachers and pupils can concentrate on teaching and learning, safe in the knowledge that the school’s ICT system is in safe hands.”
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