Videoconferencing for Schools in the Digital Age

Introduction

Wallis and Steptoe (2006) tell of a “dark little joke” that is bandied about among certain educators. It recounts the tale of Rip Van Winkle, who on reawakening in 2006 after his hundred years’ sleep, experiences utter bewilderment until at last he finds solace in the familiar environment of a classroom, where teaching is going on as it did back in 1906.

The story is amusing. The message is blunt. In the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, despite ongoing technology-driven societal transformation, schools are still functioning largely in the easily recognizable traditional model of the industrial era (Steinkuehler, 2006; Veletsianos, 2007). The rush to computerize the classroom has generally not brought about a corresponding change of mindset on the part of educators (Cuban, 2006; Spector, 2000; Shaffer, Squire, Halverson, & Gee, 2005; Thornburg, 2003). Schools are failing to address the needs of the Net generation of learners (Barnes, Marateo, & Ferris, 2007; van ‘t Hooft, 2007). These digital learners who have grown up in a technology-saturated world that has defined and shaped their way of learning find school irrelevant and boring (McCombs, 2000).

By drawing on the literature and on case studies from within the experience of the author and other educators in Northern Ireland (NI), this article seeks to demonstrate that videoconferencing, alone as well as alongside other technologies, and used with appropriate pedagogy, can help transform the traditional classroom and make it a place hospitable to the learning needs of the Net generation.

Background

Higher education led the way in the use of videoconferencing in education by introducing it into distance learning courses (Anderson & Rourke, 2005; Hayden, 1999). Although the technology has been available to schools since at least the early 1990s (Cole, Ray, & Zanetis, 2004), it has generally remained underutilized and undervalued (Anderson & Rourke; 2005; Comber, Lawson, Gage, Cullum-Hanshaw, & Allen, 2004). In addition, there is a dearth of specific research on the use of videoconferencing in the K-12 classroom (Anderson & Rourke; 2005; Heath & Holznagel, 2002). However, much of the literature on videoconferencing in higher education is relevant to teaching and learning in the pre-tertiary sector. Coventry (1995) writes that the effectiveness of videoconferencing for learning lies in exploiting its capacity to facilitate effective learning through enabling dialogue. She defines learning as “a social process involving the active construction of new knowledge and understanding through individual learning and group and peer interaction” (Part Two: 1). This resonates closely with how digital learners actually learn (Barnes et al., 2007).

Rowan (2000) identifies a significant barrier to the uptake of videoconference technology by classroom teachers,viz a lack of information concerning the ways in which it can operate within an educational program. She lists three crucial points for teachers wishing to use videoconferencing which, again, would help to engage digital learners: the need for interaction to keep students engaged; the need for videoconferencing to be part of a multimode delivery; and the need for teaching with videoconferencing to be integrated with new teaching methodologies and with appropriate professional development.