How
do
we...
webcam?
Gorseland
School
Kudawella School
We
came into school early on May 22nd to set up the webcam equipment and
prepare for our video conference with Kudawella. It was 8.30a.m. but
the time difference in Sri Lanka meant it was 1p.m. there.
We logged in but at first
we couldn't hear anything, although we could see Kudawella clearly
by webcam, then the sound came through loud and clear.
Miss Stanley introduced
herself to Mrs Liyanage, Kudawella's English teacher and Twins
school coordinator, and then introduced the children.
Then
the children took control and introduced themselves and asked each
other questions. Gorseland children had spent time during their
Lunch Club thinking of questions they would like to ask Kudawella,
which they sent off in an email to the children. This gave the
Kudawella children time to prepare their answers in English and
practise their speaking skills, so by the time Gorseland asked the
questions, Kudawella were ready!
The
children also exchanged information about their families and school
life and were able to share artwork and pictures across the
internet.
The sound was played
through external speakers, so that all the children could hear what
was being said and the pictures were projected onto a screen for all
to see.
Gorseland
children were able to talk about the iCookBook project, the work
that they had recently been doing and they could swing the webcam
around and show the large posters representing their work. Kudawella
had also brought pictures of the traditional musical instruments
that they recently purchased to replace the ones lost during the
Tsunami. The pictures came clearly across the internet (although
it's difficult to see in these screen shots!)
Then,
Gorseland were able to do something wonderful! Xavier Houghton of
MTD Anywhere had been into school the previous day and made some
technical changes to the wireless setup to allow the Gorseland
children to go mobile! So, two children took the laptop and webcam
into the garden to talk about the East Feast Growing project and
Kudawella could easily see the recent signs of vegetable life as the
wireless connection stayed solid.
As
the webcam session was drawing to a close, Kudawella sang a
beautiful song all about 'mothers' in Singhalese and Gorseland
children sung Kumbaya to Kudawella.
And finally, Gorseland and
Kudawella children waved goodbye... until the next time!!!
Both
Sue (Gorseland) and Samanthi (Kudawella) were using Eyeball
messenger software (courtesy of Xavier Houghton, MTD Anywhere) This
was found to be far more reliable and much clearer than MSN and
other software. Both schools were using standard USB webcams and a
broadband connection. Gorseland had external speakers, which worked
well for everyone to hear, but only used the laptop microphone,
which proved difficult for the Kudawella children to hear, as
Gorseland couldn't seem to speak loudly enough. On the other hand,
Kudawella used a headset and microphone which worked very well
indeed but didn't allow for the other children to participate by
listening in and prevented the teachers from being able to help when
needing to translate.
A combination of
both desktop speakers and headsets would be the solution!
Thanks to:
Tony Houghton of
BT,
Xavier Houghton
of MTD Anywhere
and our special
guest Julie Gittoes, also of BT.
See
Look
What
we did!
for
more pictures
Back to
How
do
we...?
