Article by Maria Antoinette Magro, Yr 4 teacher at San Gorg Preca College, Hamrun GP
Every activity instils excitement and great enthusiasm in all those involved in it. On the morning of the 27th April 2009, we were all excited and enthusiastic. Why?
The Year 4M students of Dun Gorg Preca Primary School in St. Gorg Preca College, were eagerly waiting for the clock to strike eleven to start a videoconference with fifteen European Schools using FlashMeeting.
FlashMeeting is an online conferencing tool which allows 2 or more participants to meet online through the use of a webcam and microphone. The participants will take it in turns to speak but all the group is listening to the one who is speaking. Apart from the conversation, one can also type in instant messages, use an interactive draw board with all members putting in their annotations at the same time, share documents or URLs and do an online vote. All the conference is recorded and a link is sent to all the members afterwards so that they can replay or share with others their experience.
FlashMeeting was booked by Michael Purves, founder of the eTwinning Project “Schoolovison2009″ which involved thirty one European Primary schools. Every participant school had eleven questions to answer.
Some days before the meeting, we discussed the questions and decided who was to answer each question. We communicated with the other schools using a projector and screen, and a webcam and a microphone connected to a laptop connected to the internet.
As each child sat in front of the webcam with a microphone in hand, they waited in the queue to give their answer. A few hours after Flashmeeting ended, we saw the replay of the meeting as the link was placed on the project blog.
The students were now eager to meet again through another FlashMeeting on the 15th May to cast their votes for the best songs in the contest. Through this fascinating experience, each child realised that ICT can really bring countries closer together. Best of all, they could see their foreign friends in their classes, just as they could see us.
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