If at first you don't succeed....

It's always very easy to reflect upon things that have gone well but it's also useful to think about things that didn't necessarily go according to plan. This was certainly the case yesterday with our first attempt at video-conferencing.
We had our German and Spanish exchanges pupils in school all week and we decided that it would be a nice idea for our Spanish exchange pupils to video-conference with one of our feeder Primary Schools. The idea was to have the pupils at both our school and at the Primary School got to the computer in pairs of threes and exchange information about Spain and England and also maybe talk a little bit of Spanish. We tested out the technology and got the webcams sorted out, however for some reason we just could not get our images and video working together at all. I was at the Primary School (as "Spanish specialist-lol- and technician - rofl) and a couple of colleagues were at our school and try as we might we couldn't get is working properly at all. Eventually wat we did was just do audio and a small group of the Yr 6 pupils managed to ask questions of the Spanish pupils and also talk and undersand some Spanish. They absolutely loved it and the were so keen it was pleasure to be involved. It was just such a shame that I had to spend the best part of an hour "faffing" to get it sorted out. The children in the class were amazingly patient (as was I). Again it goes to prove that one can never rely entirely on technology working every time but it's important to keep trying, as the benefits are so worthwhile for everyone. The pupils gained something from the session and we now know that, even with technical hitches things still can be done. At least we did it and now know that there are a few things we need to tweek for future endeavours. We haven't been put off though!
Lessons learned:

• Have a test conference before hand (which we were unable to do this time)
• Make sure that there can be someone technical at both ends
• Try no to have to set up in a classroom where there are 30 children waiting to take part in the activity
• Be prepared to change your planned activity if things don't work
• Don't let yourself be put off if things don't go according to plan the first time.

Flashmeeting with John Warwick

My second session of the day was about using Flashmeeting with John Warwick (one of the eTwinning Ambassadors), Deputy Head teacher of a Special Needs school in Hertfordshire. He showed us how Flashmeeting, a free video-conferencing tool could be used with our classes both abroad and in our local neighbourhood.
Flashmeeting is an extremely useful tool because, not only is it free, it is also a secure form of working online with other schools, so therefore it is safe. All your partner school needs is an internet connection and you're away, basically! They don't even need a webcam (unless the really want to see you)...it can all be done using microphones or the "chat" facility, where you type what you want to say. Unfortunately the technology let us down and we were unable to have a Flashmeeting at that time, however, I was "fortunate" enough to be able to take part in another Flashmeeting later in the weekend but felt so self-conscious about others being able to see me, was over come with hysterical laughter (although, I don't think I was the only one!). You always have to be prepared for technology to let you down when trying new things and not let it get in the way of making further developments at a later date.
There were many excellent ideas for how Flashmeeting could be used, such as to teach a traditional song to pupils in another country, maybe discuss cultural differences, teach a short session on a particular theme...the key really seemed to be "be prepared" and don't just plan to do a Flashmeeting and stand / sit at different schools staring at one another. Other ideas included having a "hot seat" where individual pupils would take this position and do their "bit" then moving on to the next person, this gets rid of the need to keep moving the webcam.
We are planning to do some online collaboration with primary schools, initally in a couple of weeks time when our Spanish exchange come to visit and then working on transition with Yr 6 pupils from feeder Primary schools chatting with Yr 7 pupils who went to their school, discussion worries that they might have have about coming up to Secondary School. However, we won't be using Flashmeeting (not because we wouldn't be happy with it), because we are fortunate enough to be able to use Elluminate, another online collaboration tool that includes video-conferencing. This, unfortunately is not free but does still only require an internet connection. Luckily, our local CLC has "bought" 100 seats within Elluminate so we are able to use that at the moment.
However, for a tool that is free and that can bring schools closer together, Flashmeeting really is excellent. If your school is considering moving into video-conferencing on any level, I would thoroughly recommend it. As with anything to do with technology thought, it's important to be well-prepared (maybe practise with another member of staff to begin with), don't be put off it the technology lets you down (try, try and try again) and start small then get bigger.