Educational Videoconferencing

The mainstay of our work since 2001 has been supporting the Scottish curriculum for excellence through videoconferencing. We work with schools and local authorities to develop real-world links - links that are relevant to the moment, which map on to the requirements of the curriculum, and which are respectful of a pupil's local environment.

We aim to give the pupils a real-world adventure from within the classroom educational context. The work is innovative, challenging and hugely rewarding; presenting the children with real life possibilities and allowing them to actually connect with, and take part in, worlds that they may never otherwise be exposed to. For purposes of educational evaluation, we have developed a test, the Mr Benn Test, which encapsulates our methods and approach to educational videoconferencing. The Mr Benn test was presented at the European Distance Education Conference in 2010, in the paper presented at the foot of this page.

Our work so far has encompassed real-world links connecting students with places of prospective employment; including the Health Service, Government, Arts, Museums, Colleges and Universities, the Civil Service and Inernational Festivals, including the Edinburgh International Film Festival. We strive to give pupils a wider understanding of the world and give them the opportunity to not only be a part of it, but to help change it. And so, for example, our link with the civil service took place during the consultation stage of the government's "Nutrition in Schools" bill, and the pupils contributions were transcribed and brought into the body of evidence. Our videoconferencing links are supported by online training materials. We ensure that all educational videoconferences complement the pupil’s learning tasks as described in their curriculum.

We have a particular interest in transition work. Our Primary 7 to Secondary 1 project "French Language Familiarisation" was one of our 4 projects presented at the European Schools Network Conference in Helsinki. You can also read of some of our recent Chinese language work in the March 2010 issue of the Scottish Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research newsletter. here

Our tertiary education transition project, "Tv Tutors", which ran between St Paul's in Pollock and Glasgow University, Edinburgh's Telford College, and Aberdeen University, was presented to 4th, 5th and 6th year students at St Pauls. St Paul's was chosen for the project because a low percentage of their pupils were going on to tertiary education. That same year, St Pauls went from 28th place (out of 29) in Glasgow's examination league, to second. Our projects all require that pupils and teachers have ownership of the link materials (and that it is not prescribed for them, or dictated to them), and that the links clearly relate to the needs of the curriculum.

Our work has been primarily with schools, but we also work with universities and colleges. In 2010, we were chosen to develop training workshops for the University of the Highlands and Islands flagship "Next Generation Videoconferencing" Project. We also work with research projects: in 2011 we have been developing an online learning environment and portal for the S-TEAM project.

If you would like further information on how Prescience Communications can help your establishment make a difference to today’s learners, contact Tom Kane.

Prescience Communications is a trusted content provider on the Joint Academic Network (JANET) Videoconferencing Service. We have worked with Learning Teaching Scotland, local authorities, schools and colleges throughout Scotland. Our work has been internationally reported, and presented at both the Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow and Edinburgh's E-Live Festival.