Students see world through teleconference

Students in Dana Kosowick’s Grade 6 class at Robert Moore School here took a little trip to the other side of the world earlier this month through the magic of technology during a worldwide teleconference.
The first Megaconference Jr. took place May 6, when elementary and high school students from around the world dialed in and made presentations to each other over the 12-hour event.
“Students were clearly engaged and interested in the presentations,” said Robert Moore vice-principal Heather Campbell.
The project was a collaboration between the Ohio State Supercomputing Centre, OARnet, and Internet2 Commons, all based in the United States.
Most of the more than 100 schools that participated were in the U.S., including Hawaii and Alaska, but schools from Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Turkey, Spain, China, Iran, and Australia, as well as several from Canada, also participated.
“The Student Megaconference [Megaconference Jr.] is a new 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,” the organizers explain on their website.
“It was really quite exciting. It promoted cultural understanding and awareness,” said Campbell.
The students also were quite enthusiastic about the experience.
“It was fun,” said Tanner Cuthbertson, who, along with two of his classmates, Laura Morrish and Casey Kerber, sat down with the Times last week to talk about the conference.
The students were dialed in to the conference for just over an hour and saw two presentations: one from New Zealand and one from Cleveland, Ohio.
The presentation from New Zealand included a quick course in Maori (the Maori are the aboriginal people of New Zealand).
“They told us a little about their language. We learned how to say ‘hello’ and ‘welcome,’” said Morrish, adding they also watched a Maori war dance.
The presentation from Cleveland, meanwhile, featured a young girl playing the violin.
After each presentation, students were welcome to ask questions. “We asked if she played any other instruments,” Morrish said. “She said she played piano, but not very well.”
Each time a student asked a question, their classroom would come up on the screen, so the kids were able to see several classes—even if they weren’t able to see all the presentations.
“I thought it was good to see how their classrooms work. One had lots of bookshelves. It looked like a library with round, wooden tables,” Kerber noted.
Campbell said none of the students had ever used teleconferencing technology before. “It was good for them to understand how advanced our board is,” she noted.
Because of strict deadlines for submissions, the Robert Moore students were not able to make a presentation during the teleconference, but they’ve already got their thinking caps on for next year.
“We hope to get involved more as a school next year,” Campbell said.