FORT FRANCES—Students at J. W. Walker School here participated in the fifth-annual “Megaconference Jr.” last Thursday—a world-wide videoconference where students give presentations focusing on academic and cultural issues.
“Megaconference Jr., now in its fifth year, is a project designed to give students in elementary and secondary schools around the world the opportunity to communicate, collaborate, and contribute to each other’s learning in real time, using advanced multi-point videoconferencing technology,” according to www.megaconferencejr.org
While some classes at the school had the chance to watch a presentation, three Walker students acted as VJs for the conference—introducing three presentations and also helping to moderate the sessions.
“They did a really good job and got a lot of praise, especially with people viewing them from around the world,” said Monica Armour, a teacher at Walker who helped organize the event along with fellow teacher Jodi Easton.
She said the trio—third-graders Cameron Lidkea and Lauren Vold, along with Grade 7 student Brady VanUden—were selected for the VJ role for their strong speaking skills, personality, and reliability.
“I think that being a VJ was a great opportunity because I learned a lot from Megaconference Jr.,” noted Lidkea. “I also learned a cool fact about fossils but it was kind of crazy when we had to say extra stuff [to fill time] that we never read before.
“But for the most part it was really fun.”
Armour noted the students had some practice time prior to the real-time broadcast, but when presentations weren’t running on time, it was up to the local VJs to intervene.
“In the three years that we’ve participated in this, we’ve never needed to use fillers and this time we did,” she remarked, adding the students stayed calm and read the fillers that were displayed for them—even though they hadn’t rehearsed those particular lines.
The students also had to interrupt a presentation that was running longer than its allotted time.
“This is difficult in itself because you are always taught not to interrupt,” Armour said. “So they had to wait for an appropriate time to intervene and do it politely. . . . And they did very well.”
This is the third year Walker has participated in the “Megaconference Jr.,” but it is the first time students in the primary grade were chosen to act as VJs.
All three years, local students acted as VJs as opposed to offering up a presentation.
There were several other VJ sites for the conference, Armour noted, but the Walker students were the only VJs in Canada.
During the videoconference, the three students, wearing “Megaconference Jr.” T-shirts, sat side-by-side at a table in front of a backdrop that highlighted Northwestern Ontario.
Before introducing the presentations, the students talked a little about Rainy River District and played the sound of a moose call.
While everything went smoothly, both Easton and Armour indicated the amount of work that goes into preparing for the event even before the students begin rehearsing the introductions.
Easton said they had information about the presentations they were introducing, but they had to rewrite it to make it interesting and readable for younger students.
As organizers, they also had to prepare the backdrop and fillers, and help the students with their speaking.
However, since the “Megaconference Jr.” only works with the aid of technology, the teachers expressed their appreciation for the technician support worker who assisted in making the event a success.
“I thought that being a VJ was wicked fun because I got to talk to people from around the world,” enthused Vold. “Being a VJ could be a really fun experience for anyone. I learned a lot. . . .
“The hard part about it was when we had to say lines that we didn’t even know. I am very glad I got to be a VJ.”
“I thought that being a VJ was cool because we got to talk to people around the world, which was really cool,” echoed VanUden. “It was fun, a neat experience, and we really learned a lot.
“It could be a great experience for anybody.”
Easton and Armour noted since the “Megaconference Jr.” is such a great experience for the students, it is something they’ll likely participate in again next year.
“It gets easier each year,” Easton remarked, adding they learn what they could do differently for next year.
“And we can save a lot of the stuff and reuse it, such as the backdrop and the fillers.”
Armour said their plan is to have one of this year’s VJs participate again next year with a new group of students. That way, the experienced student could mentor and help out the others.
“That way it would become more student-led,” she explained.
More than 200 schools from Portugal, Great Britain, Australia, Croatia, Slovenia, Spain, Egypt, Malta, and Japan—as well as the U.S. and Canada—participated in the 12-hour videoconference.
The video stream will be broadcast again March 1 from the website www.megaconferencejr.org
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
