Videoconferencing in the Classroom Developing interactive videoconferencing
across the curriculum in the UK and around the world
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Videoconferencing in the Classroom Developing interactive videoconferencing across the curriculum in the UK and around the world |
What is Global-Leap/ Videoconferencing in the Classroom Teachers' Association (GLVCTA)?
Does GLVCTA provide or sell VC equipment or connectivity solutions?
What do I need to have in place in order to access the GLVCTA resource?
What can my school expect to receive as a subscribing member?
What if I subscribe and then I can’t meet the minimum requirements to take up the VC opportunities?
What happens if the provider needs to cancel a session I have booked?
I need to cancel my subscription part way through the year. What happens?
Can I have any session at any time and on any day? (flexibility)
I'm at a small rural primary school (less than 50 pupils), what happens?
Can I purchase additional support to develop the videoconferencing at my school?
Why is it important that my school subscribes promptly and regularly?
We have spent a lot of money on VC equipment for our school…. No one is using it…. What should I do?
I am part of a local VC project. Why do I have to subscribe?
I want content and support at a day time to suit my timetable.
I am a USA/Canadian school or in another region outside the UK interested in joining GLVCTA.
My staff are reluctant to use the equipment we have bought. How can I encourage them?
I’ve spotted a typo or an error on http://www.global-leap.org
I asked to link to GL at 5:00pm, after school, but nothing happened?
Copyright and the Global-Leap
GLVCTA is first and foremost a resource for teachers in the classroom who have identified videoconferencing and other communication technologies as a resource that will add value to teaching and learning in their classrooms and to facilitate successful realisation of learning outcomes for their students. GLVCTA is an independent organisation that strives to represent the best interests of subscribing school members.
Global-Leap/ Videoconferencing in the Classroom Teachers' Association (GLVCTA) is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting teachers in the classroom by the sourcing, provision, coordination and delivery of a wide variety of videoconference (VC) content, collaboration opportunities and contacts. It is intended as a resource to support classroom work, to develop teacher and student confidence and to enhance curriculum development in accordance with UK National Curriculum standards and other teaching standards identified internationally.
GLVCTA is a Teachers’ Association (not for profit) founded by Mike Griffith and funded by UK school membership subscription. It originates from the Global-Leap/Videoconferencing in the Classroom Project that was funded by the DfES and BECTa between 2001 and 2005. From 2005 to 2006 Mike Griffith himself funded the project in order to sustain the programme. However, in April 2006 it became clear that it was necessary to create a Not for Profit Association funded by UK subscription.
The primary objective of GLVCTA is the continued maintenance of the Global-Leap resource in order to facilitate delivery and expansion of VC content and contact opportunities for its members, and support them in their effective use of the resource. We emphasise the promotion of confidence and soft skills amongst classroom teachers, their students and content providers. This ensures that teaching and learning outcomes are met, and minimises frustration with using perhaps unfamiliar technology. GLVCTA continue to deliver and extend range of VC content, and to provide essential co-ordination for the programme. It provides ongoing support for teachers and content providers, who are essential in order to maintain the resource for the benefit of subscribing school members.
GLVCTA continues to support content providers that were involved the original Global-Leap pilot VC programmes. We also work to identify and extend and deliver the range of content opportunities available for schools, by sponsoring and supporting new VC opportunities, and supporting new providers and presenters. We continue to work closely with colleagues in international locations in order to enable them to develop the skills and confidence necessary to develop collaborative opportunities with subscribing schools in the UK.
No. GLVCTA does not represent any resellers or manufacturers of videoconference equipment or connectivity solutions, although it may be possible in some circumstances to offer impartial advice to subscribing schools and content providers as required. All advice given will be based on our considerable practical experience (in a school context) of products and services. Schools and content providers are advised to research their options to find the best solution to them.
It must be noted at the outset that the content provided through GLVCTA can only be accessed by users who can demonstrate classroom quality connectivity in both directions. This can be established through a short VC meeting with the teachers involved to discuss your plans and desired outcomes, and to confirm that the kit and connectivity at your location are suitable for teaching activities offered by GLVCTA. This live face to face VC link is available to members by appointment. An automated test service (IP and ISDN) is also available for use by schools and providers as a convenient and quick way of checking all is working correctly just before a planned link. (Please note lines to the automated test site may be busy from time to time. Therefore we recommend this facility for testing only, not demonstration purposes and it does not replace a live face to face meeting to Global-Leap’s studio). The automated test lines, for reasons of cost, are restricted to a speed of 128 Kbs only. You must reduce your speed to make a satisfactory connection to the automated test lines.
Lines to the Global-Leap studios are in constant use for teaching activities and should never be used for testing without an appointment or direct invitation.
(http://www.global-leap.org/story/index.php). The original "Global-Leap" took place on 29th February 2000. Global-Leap was the name chosen by the students at Arbour Vale school for our around the world VC marathon event that took place on that day from Arbour Vale School. It was launched by the UK prime minister The Right Honourable Tony Blair. Tony Blair said, "This is the future. We've got to make it work." The marathon involved schools on 5 continents and thousands of students took part during 16 hours of curriculum activities around the world. This event for classrooms around the world, was the original curriculum videoconferencing marathon. Sponsored by PictureTel, it remains the original global teaching marathon conference, which has often been imitated but never equalled. In October 2000, this was followed by "Global Pie", a two week trip around the world when Mike taught his class in Slough, UK from a variety of locations in Japan, Australia and across the USA. Other multipoint VC events followed with international locations including, NASA, The Science Museum, The Ocean Institute, The Great Barrier Reef Education HQ and South African teachers exploring global issues such as AIDS, science, geography and world environment issues.
The Global-Leap website was developed by Mike Griffith to address an urgent need to create a resource for teachers. It was the original "One Stop Shop", to enable schools using VC to find each other. Mike also worked to develop collaborative programmes, and to develop, promote and support the Museum Gallery and Archive programmes. In 2001, the DfES identified funding to develop the Global-Leap resource and invited Mike to manage The Global-Leap Videoconferencing in the Classroom Project. This project worked to identify and support schools using VC, and to provide VC equipment and practical support to develop pilot VC programmes in a selection of Museums, Galleries and Archives. DfES funding was also identified to enable the project to support research on videoconferencing applications in 27 Global-Leap supported schools, and to develop various international collaborative projects, and to write and publish videoconferencing guides, newspapers and literature. The schools we supported were encouraged to support the Pilot Museum and Gallery programmes, and varoius international collaborations were closely supported by Global-Leap. Central (DfES/BECTa) funding ceased in March 2005, and the project was then supported by Mike Griffith to prevent this resource for teachers and VC content opportunities and programmes, and the support for contacts from disappearing. In April 2006, UK schools were invited to contribute to the resource via annual subscription, using e learning credits where these were available. Global-Leap Videoconferencing in the Classroom Teachers Association (not for profit) was set up to represent the interests of subscribing UK schools and to continue to maintain and coordinate VC content and to continue to identify, expand and deliver new VC content opportunities and to continue to support VC contacts.
UK schools receive funding from the government in the form of e-learning credits. We ask UK schools to subscribe to enable the GLVCTA to continue to exist for teachers, so that we can continue to offer the essential support, and coordination to our schools, content providers and other colleagues to ensure success and maintain the high standards expected in the classroom, and sustainability of content opportunities.
UK school subscription is currently £295 + VAT per school, per year. E-learning credits can be used where these are available.
In addition, schools around the world are encouraged to add their details to www.global-leap.org. Currently they are not asked to subscribe. Any financial contribution they feel able to make towards maintaining this resource is always welcome!
UK school subscription is the only source of funding to continue to maintain and extend this resource for teachers. Joining GLVCTA enables your school and teachers to join a network of like-minded colleagues and share their interest in communication technology. Our members share success and good practice wherever possible to enable young people in different regions of the world to have a better understanding of their world in a global context.
A proportion of the subscription is used to deliver essential administrative support, including bookkeeping, accountancy, banking costs, and other office expenses and consumables such as:
This breakdown is intended to dispel the myth that videoconferencing is a “free” resource. It is not. The reality is that equipment, connectivity and, above all, time involved in facilitating VC collaborations makes it one of the most expensive, “teacher time” intensive resources in the classroom. It is the only IT resource that needs someone else’s cooperation and time to make it happen. At GLVCTA, we go the extra mile because we believe that until this fact is presented honestly to schools, the level of frustration and high level of wasted unused hardware resources will remain at an unacceptable high level.
Access to http://www.global-leap.org website resource for teachers.
Access to initial support and advice, or VC meeting to discuss with you and your colleagues the outcomes and aspirations for you and your school through the use of VC. This will help you to confidently get started. This can take the form of formal or informal INSET session to your staff room.
Two “My First Videoconference” (MFVC) sessions to selected classes in your school (see reasonable use policy). These are intended to build confidence in students and teachers, enable teachers to experience using this technology, and to identify and address any classroom issues. These activities help your class teachers to begin to see the potential of using this resource. (Additional sessions can be purchased along with individual tailored consultancy from Global-Leap Ltd.)
Newsletters and news bulletins sent to the email address of the contact person at the subscribing school, for distribution to all staff.
Access to sessions arranged and presented from the GLVCTA studio. These sessions enable schools to talk directly to MPs, Authors, representatives of national charities and other invited guests, or general topical discussions.
(see funding notes below)
Access to funded Museum and Gallery VC sessions as advertised and promoted on www.global-leap.org, and supported by Global-Leap (G-L) (see funding notes below).
Access to other non-funded VC programmes, especially set up and subsidised by Global-Leap for use by our subscribing schools.
To access any of the VC opportunities available through www.global-leap.org, you will need to be able to demonstrate that you can send and receive classroom quality audio and video, and your equipment has been set up in an appropriate room or space in your school. The presenter and the students must be able see and hear each other without significant time delay, pixilation of image or background noise. We are happy to advise you and make a brief connection with you, but if you discover you have connectivity issues caused by issues local to your school or region, it is your responsibility to address and resolve these.
Please note that IP communication software solutions like skype, netmeeting, msn, flash media, breeze and similar are not suitable for connecting to museum and gallery programmes.
Schools are welcome to subscribe to GLVCTA before they have classroom quality capability in order to receive help and support as described above, however, the ability to procure the necessary capabilities (especially connectivity) remains with the school, and help and advice given by GLVCTA is not a guarantee of success if the connectivity problem is a local or regional one. We therefore recommend that you research the connectivity and equipment solutions before you subscribe in order that you make full use of the VC opportunities available.
Subscription tenure cannot be extended because schools are unable to make classroom quality links due to reasons local or regional to the subscribing school.
Please do not book sessions until you have demonstrated to GLVCTA in a face to face VC that you have suitable connectivity and equipment. If you book activities before your new equipment has arrived in your school, or has been set up and thoroughly tested, and subsequently you find you can’t do the session you have booked, you may incur a cancellation charge imposed by the provider according to their cancellation policy, in exactly the same way as if you cancelled a class visit to an education venue at short notice (please see ‘what if I need to cancel a session I have booked?’). You may also have prevented another school from using that session. Remember, freelance teachers and actors need to be paid even if the school cancels. Failed VC sessions unfortunately adversely affect museum outreach statistics and consequently future funding, so please help the museum/ gallery staff to ensure they can maintain their programmes for schools!
This depends on the provider concerned. Many providers do have a cancellation policy and it is at their discretion if the session is cancelled at the last minute (i.e. less than 24 hours in advance of the appointment). Remember, freelance teachers and actors are booked weeks in advance.
Please ensure any cancellation is communicated immediately as soon as it becomes known to both Global-Leap and the content provider involved.
Policy may vary according to the provider and may depend on whether someone else can be found to receive the session. Therefore, it is essential that schools let both the provider and GLVCTA know if it becomes necessary to cancel a session for any reason. We need to reopen the session on the website ASAP and try to find another school.
Cancellation policies are necessary because most providers are freelancers who are available at that date and time to provide the session. Their costs must still be covered. In practice, however, many providers are willing to offer a degree of flexibility as long as the school has been in contact with them with as much notice as they can reasonably give. As always, communication is the single most important element of VC success.
“No-shows” for VC activities will almost certainly result in a cancellation charge from the provider.
The provider will always communicate this to you with as much notice as possible, and will also inform GLVCTA. If appropriate and depending on teacher and studio availability, an alternative from Global-Leap Lessons may be possible (but is not guaranteed to deliver identical content). Every effort will be made to re-schedule the VC if possible, or a suitable alternative arranged from another provider or from Global-Leap Lessons for a later date. Any charges (in the case that the cancelled session was one which the provider was due to invoice the school for) will be a matter for discussion and arrangement between the provider and the school
Yes. If the freelance sessions you require are limited to one sponsored session per subscribing school, per subscription (for example) you can pay the provider directly for additional sessions. Session should still be booked in the usual way on http://www.global-leap.org and the provider or freelancer will invoice your school after the session has been provided (subject to cancellation policies, see above). The reason that some non-funded sessions are restricted to one per school in the first instance is to ensure that, if funding has been identified and allocated for only 10 sessions, that at least 10 schools will have the opportunity to use these sessions, rather than all 10 being used by just 2 schools.
Regrettably, it is not possible to refund part of annual subscription fees due to the nature of the work, which typically requires a greater degree of support at the outset.
Museum and gallery programmes are usually restricted to room availability, and staffing availability and budgets. They generally provide details/text descriptions of sessions well in advance, and can often only offer VC content on the days/times advertised or promoted on the booking pages.
Visiting speakers invited to GLVCTA studio are arranged well in advance and studio time booked out for a day or half a day.
Collaborative projects, like for example the Human Rights programme, are arranged for fixed dates and fixed times, and participating schools must commit to participating in the whole series.
For general inset, “MFVC” sessions or other custom made sessions, from GLVCTA studio, we can be flexible subject to diary and studio space. If you need a MFVC or inset at a certain day/ time, please telephone and we can see what we can arrange.
Some of our independent freelance presenters can be flexible with start times, depending on other work commitments they may have in their diaries. Some freelance presenters set aside one day or morning a week for VC sessions. The text on the booking pages for each session will advise you.
Unfortunately it is not possible to offer reduced subscription to small schools at this time.
In practice, often very small schools require and receive just as much support as large schools. We recognise that often it is the small isolated school that will benefit most from this technology, and we will do our best to support you closely.
Yes. GLVCTA’s subscription funding offers an initial support programme for your videoconference needs. If your school has more ambitious plans or needs additional consultancy support and studio time, or should schools have or wish to make or realise plans for VC projects which will require considerable organisation and support, you should contact Mike Griffith at Global-Leap Ltd to discuss and arrange some consultancy and support. This typically starts from £600 + VAT for 7 hours (equivalent to 1 day’s consultancy). A nominal day’s consultancy, can be spread over a period of time, by arrangement, for example, support for a collaborative project, over a period of time, or perhaps activities arranged and presented to your class one week, followed up the next week, with a presentation prepared by your class to present back to an audience in another location. These are just a couple of examples of work regularly arranged for schools.
Please note that the sourcing of particular speakers, investigating and testing with international partners, providing help and support to third parties who may not themselves be regular VC users or have the infrastructure already in place to meet your requests takes a lot of time, including studio time, and often significant telephone and connectivity costs. Global-Leap Ltd will work to help you realise your aims, but schools must bear in mind the very considerable time and resources that this can incur.
Schools should discuss their particular needs with Mike Griffith to discuss their options. Global-Leap Ltd will not knowingly embark on an impractical project on your behalf, however, due to the nature of relying on third parties, precise success cannot be guaranteed.
Please discuss your plans with Mike Griffith. The sorts of things covered can include, but are not restricted to examples such as:
International links
Subject experts
Interschool projects within the UK
Trans Atlantic collaborative programmes
Subject specific development of sustainable integration of VC into your schools’ curriculum and schemes of work.
The work of City Learning Centres and other resource centres outside school is recognised as a location for schools to develop their understanding of videoconferencing. CLCs are therefore welcome to become subscribing members of GLVCTA to receive help and support as detailed above. However, subscription is restricted to that CLC only, and does not include associated CLCs in other parts of your town or region, and does not automatically include all the schools in your catchment area.
Generally the support available per subscription for these centres is limited to the regular in service training and initial support. However, it is recognised that from time to time these centres invite classes from other schools into the centre to use their resources. The Association recommends that each individual school becomes a registered subscribing school. This enables all schools to receive all the benefits of membership, but also to contribute to the sustainability of content and support opportunities. In some instances, the CLC, LA, Education centre or High School has chosen to cover the costs of annual subscription for their feeder schools. This ensures that CLC projects are not being subsidised by other schools' contributions in other parts of the country. The Association is about the development and growth, understanding and good practice in the use of Videoconferencing in the Classroom. The association does not encourage limited “one off” activities, which often lack ownership by the school involved, or the students participating.
To ensure a fair distribution of GLVCTA resources, in accordance with our reasonable use policy, GLVCTA places a limit of a total of three sessions to be booked by a centre on behalf of schools visiting the centre. These three sessions might include INSET, a My First Videoconference, and a "funded" session from the Museum, Gallery and Archive programme. Centres that require additional sessions to support events will be invited to purchase additional consultancy from Global-Leap Ltd.
Centres that wish to extend this programme beyond the regular accepted use of GLVCTA should contact Mike Griffith at mikeg@global-leap.org or on +44 (0)20 8866 6036, to identify additional consultancy and support to meet their, and the school community’s specific requirements.
Please note that where there is a charge for a session, (such as for a freelance teacher session sponsored by GLVCTA), the visiting school or centre will be expected to cover any advertised costs and will not benefit from the one session funded by GLVCTA offer available to subscribing schools.
In all cases, the class teacher should be identified on the booking form and should be contactable by the VC teacher or provider involved. Make it very clear on the booking form who the teacher is, the name of the school, and direct contact details, and the age/numbers/ability level of the class involved, and preferred start time (if this option is offered.)
Make sure that you ‘hand over’ to a colleague so that your school can continue to utilise GLVCTA services and opportunities. This includes updating your school contact details, especially your email contacts, so that your replacement can continue to receive news bulletins and booking confirmations for VC sessions.
You can access your schools registered contact details on http://www.global-leap.org by entering your schools ID number. Please update existing details. Do not register your school again as a new school as this results in duplicate entries for your school with slightly different details, and confusion for anyone trying to contact you.
Newsletters and booking confirmations are sent to the email contact that you enter. If you enter an incorrect email address, or enter a typo, communication will fail.
Use your school ID number to access your existing details on line and update as necessary. Please don’t ask us to update for you. You need to do this yourself, and please check for typos, especially in email addresses.
GLVCTA has limited funding. We want to use this to support you and develop and deliver VC content. Chasing up late invoices uses up our time and resources in a way that doesn’t benefit our members. We believe that as much of our members’ subscription as possible should go back into developing the project for the benefit of our members. We don’t want to spend time and resources on administration to recover subscription fees. Please ensure invoices are paid promptly. GLVCTA reserves the right to add a 20% admin charge to late payments if the school does not contact us to discuss the reason for the delay.
It is only through regular subscription and financial support that VC content and resources can be made sustainable. In practice, we tend to support groups of schools and teachers fairly intensively over a short period of time, until they get confident, and then we hear less from those groups and the next group of novice schools, who require lots of support, replaces them. We still need and welcome the on going support of all our schools as their VC projects become embedded into their curriculum, as opposed to one off special events.
Please spread the word. If you remember to recognise the support and help you have received through access to GLVCTA in any reports, feedback and publicity you produce, the more members we will have, and the better the resource available for your school will become.
This resource and the content opportunities and support for contacts we are developing and maintaining is for schools and the programmes and activities are funded by UK member school subscription. We can’t use member subscriptions to support, advise or deliver content or inset to non-contributing LAs, consultants or advisers - Sorry!
If schools subscribe, or you identify funding to fund subscription for them, then of course we can support those schools. It may also be possible to arrange consultancy if that was appropriate to help you develop videoconferencing in your region.
Providers and freelancers are often restricted by room availability, staff availability and budgets. Some organisations can fund only 7 sessions a term, others can fund 10 sessions a week, so there may be variations in availability and flexibility.
Flexible VC content requires a full-time teacher to be paid by someone, daily unrestricted access to room space, technical support, and admin support. This is not realistic for most providers. Until these levels of funding and resources are available, we can only try to be as flexible as possible, but in reality can only offer VC opportunities with in restricted days/ times. Activities from G-L studios can often be arranged subject to studio availability to try to fit your timetable. Telephone +44 (0)20 8866 6036 with your diary to see what can be arranged to suit you (depending on studio and presenter availability).
Some museums have limited administrative or office staff and some have no in-house technical support at all. If the VC activity is mainly organised and delivered by a freelance presenter only available a few days a week, then it can be difficult to speak directly to the person you want to speak to. We will try and help you in these cases. Please try to be as flexible and prompt as possible when arranging tests etc. to help our hard pressed colleagues!
Please remember to put as much detail as you can about your class, ages/ numbers, their previous study, ability, learning objectives under “additional information” and preferred start time (if appropriate) on the on-line booking form. This will avoid confusion and frustration if things don’t go exactly as you expected between your class teacher and the freelancer. The freelance teacher will have in writing on your booking form what to expect on the day, if you have remembered to put it on the booking form. Please ensure that the class teacher is always in the loop. GLVCTA strongly advises against making bookings on behalf of other people; the teachers need to be involved from the outset to promote ownership. Sessions booked by a third party or co-ordinator have greater potential for communication failure and frustration for the classroom teacher on the day.
If you have a problem please telephone or email us and we will do our best to help. Check your email regularly. You will receive an automated email confirmation when you book a lesson and you need to print this and keep it for future reference. Remember to have it with you on the day, so you have the name and telephone number of the lesson provider
We cannot identify you from a message from Another_Teacher@hotmail.com (or similar).
When booking a session please check you have given the correct information about YOUR connectivity on your booking form.
Please don’t tick “I have ISDN connectivity” when you really mean “I have independent IP connectivity”, or tick “I can link via JVCS” when you really mean “I can link via my local bridging facility” or vice versa. If in doubt, ask some one who knows, or check with GLVCTA and we can usually do a quick face to face and advise the correct way forward for your particular school and that particular content provider. If you have more than one “end point” (that means equipment in several different rooms on your site) please remember to specify which end point you intend to use.
First investigate connectivity in your local area. Don’t spend all your money on expensive hardware and equipment and then find you cannot use it because you do not have connectivity suitable to allow you to achieve classroom quality VC connections. Ask your network manager and approach your LA or RBC to find out local situation.
In certain circumstances, we can lend you some equipment. Please ask for details.
Remember that “budget solutions” will usually require considerable teacher time to use, and frustration rates might be high. Chose something that is user friendly and reliable. On the other hand, spending large amounts on “top of the range” equipment is generally not worth it.
Don’t put your equipment into an IT room. Choose a flexible space or room that is not heavily timetabled. Consider lighting and environmental factors. Remember, school halls are echoey and often difficult to timetable. If you choose a room where you can’t move the furniture out of the way, or control light levels, you will find this frustrating during the VC activity.
GLVCTA strongly recommends that you also set aside a budget to support your staff and cover the costs of content and project development and consider the cost of content availability. Our extensive experience shows that only by thinking of the ‘soft’ issues at the outset can you enthuse and engage colleagues in truly integrating VC into your school’s curriculum. Acquiring equipment alone will not make a successful project.
If you would like to receive help from Global-Leap, you need to subscribe to GLVCTA. We cannot use scarce resources, paid for by GLVCTA members, to support and maintain VC opportunities for schools and Local Authorities who don’t contribute to the project themselves. Ask your LA if they will cover your subscription using the funding they will have identified and allocated to develop your VC project.
Ask whoever has loaned you the equipment what arrangements they have made to support your staff, and support and deliver the VC content and opportunities you would like to access. Equipment alone does not make a successful VC project. GLVCTA cannot subsidise your project using other subscribing member’s subscriptions. It is for exactly this reason that GLVCTA advises people responsible for setting up new VC projects to identify resources and funding for soft skills support and content, as well as equipment.
Your LA has not invested in maintaining and extending VC content and contact opportunities that GLVCTA has developed over the last 7 + years. GLVCTA uses your subscription to maintain and extend these opportunities for you. Ask the LA to fund your subscription, or identify a budget to support content and inset.
This level of flexibility requires the availability of a teacher, freelancers or presenter 5 days a week. This is the equivalent of a full time post. This flexibility can only be funded if sufficient funding via UK school subscriptions is available.
GLVCTA supports numerous collaborative projects with non-UK schools. Schools outside the UK are currently not required to subscribe, when they register their contact details on www.global-leap.org; the admin time and banking costs would be prohibitive! However international schools are very welcome to make a financial contribution or honorarium towards maintaining this resource if they wish to http://www.global-leap.org/webpayment/buyonline/index.php.
Numerous schools around the world have received practical far end support, inset and activities including equipment loans from Global-Leap over the years in order to enable them to work proactively with UK schools. We ask that these Global-Leap international supported schools work with our UK subscribing schools.
Nurturing schools in far away locations often takes weeks, months and years of on going support and encouragement. Please be considerate and avoid abusing our colleagues’ time and goodwill. In the past some non-Global-Leap schools, LAs or resellers have made excessive demands on our colleagues’ scarce time and goodwill, unfortunately resulting in these partners leaving the project. Please always ask for an introduction and support to avoid potential offence and avoidable difficulties.
We are happy to be a sympathetic far end, to get over those initial worries and concerns your teachers have. If you feel slightly uncomfortable talking to a camera, it is easy to understand that your students may have similar feelings of discomfort at first. The only way to get over this is to arrange some initial practice sessions to Global-Leap studio. This allows teachers to experience the practicalities first hand and begin to think about the possibilities.
Don’t try to make everyone use it from day one. Target a few enthusiasts. When other colleagues begin to hear what your enthusiastic teacher/class has been doing, and the students are buzzing in the playground after their first VC activity, they will begin to show an interest.
Access to many of these sessions are unrestricted because the provider receives funding from central education sources and they can therefore cover their teacher, actor /freelancer ,admin, connectivity, and room space costs.
Many sessions/providers supported and sponsored by GLVCTA do not receive any central funding, (except in-kind practical support /advice and time and equipment loans from Global-Leap, and nominal payments allocated from GLVCTA towards session costs incurred by the unfunded content provider). In these cases it may be the case that subscribing schools will be restricted in their uptake of these sessions by numbers of sessions per school per annual subscription. This is clearly indicated in the text at the time of booking. Schools are welcome to purchase further sessions, which can be booked online in the usual way. The individual provider or freelancer concerned (not GLVCTA) will invoice the school directly. The cost of second or additional sessions is also shown in the text description on the booking page at the time of booking. The aim of this restriction is so that, for example if GLVCTA identify and allocate funding to cover 15 sessions from a particular freelance provider, we would like at least 15 subscribing schools to benefit from that investment, rather than just a couple of schools use all 15 sessions.
Similarly, some GLVCTA sessions are restricted to one per school, due to the availability of the visiting speaker (for example an MP, a representative from a charity, an author visiting for a day etc.). If this is the case, schools are requested to only book one session in the first instance until the demand for these sessions has been ascertained. Schools wishing to book multiple sessions with particular speakers should discuss their requests with GLVCTA. It may be possible to accommodate you, and enquiries can be made with regards to re-booking the speaker or finding similar content for you. Our speakers generally prefer to speak to a selection of schools spread around the country, rather than deliver 4 or 5 consecutive sessions to the same school. We suggest that if you have several classes in your school interested in a particular activity, why not book one session for one class, and then ask them to present what they have learned to the other classes.
Sorry! Please let us know and we will do our best to correct it. Please remember our webmaster is a volunteer, and squeezes web work into spare moments in a very busy life. Please be patient with us if sometimes things take a bit longer to action.
Text about the sessions promoted on the VC programme booking pages is usually provided by the staff at the museum/gallery themselves and posted on www.global-leap.org by us. Any typos or errors are theirs! Providers, please check your text carefully before you send it, and again as soon as we advise you it has been posted. If you spot something amiss, please tell us ASAP.
Schools are responsible for adding their contact details on http://www.global-leap.org themselves. If you need to change something, or spot a typo, please access your school details using your school ID number and update the text yourself. Take particular care with telephone numbers and email addresses.
Sorry, the answer is NO! Permissions and copyright issues are a very complex area. Recording an activity that is intended and delivered as a live interactive activity should not be necessary. To avoid breaching any possible rules and regulations, and the possibility of legal action, recording of VC activities is not allowed. No one knows what the recording might subsequently be used for, or in what context, and free lance presenters, schools, students, and the content itself may all be subject to permissions, and copyright. GLVCTA policy is therefore very clearly NO RECORDING PERMITTED.
Sadly, a number of the original and very exciting and innovative VC programmes that were part of the original Global-Leap Videoconferencing in the Classroom pilot programmes, are now no longer running.
Individual museums had staffing, room space or other difficulties and could not continue to run the programmes without continuing funding and management support. Sometimes, management would not or could not continue to fund programmes because uptake by schools was felt to be too low, and erratic. Funding for content provider support ceased in March 2005, and without support, many staff were unable to allocate the time to deal with increasingly complicated connectivity issues
Please make every effort to support these programmes. Without regular uptake from schools, programmes will continue to disappear. Similarly, please support the new programmes we have initiated and sponsored. Without support from schools, our freelance teachers and providers will go and find something else to do
If you arrange a VC activity, please ensure you can be reached directly and quickly by telephone in the event of any delay or technical issue. We cannot help you if we cannot talk to you in your VC room. If you are waiting a link that doesn’t come though as expected, phone us on +44 (0) 208 866 6036 rather than wait. There may be a problem we can easily resolve. Don’t leave it to the school secretary to come and find you. In large schools, the office staff often have no idea which part of the school you might be trying to VC from, and cannot leave their office to go and search for you! If you arrange any sort of link or test with anyone, make sure you have a telephone in your room for direct audio contact. If you use a mobile telephone, please remember to have it switched on! Test links are usually squeezed in between other VC lessons or inset sessions. Please be prompt, and remember to let us know if you can’t make your appointment. If you miss your 10 minute studio slot, because we couldn’t get you on the telephone, you will need to make another appointment.
Please contact Global-Leap. We can add you as a provider and promote your activities on the lesson booking pages
42. Copyright and Permission (c) 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 GLVCTA and Global-Leap Ltd. All activities and work sponsored and supported by Global-Leap is subject to copyright. In no circumstances should this work be represented or reproduced in any form without the express permission of GLVCTA and Global-Leap Ltd.
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Global Leap, PO Box 446, Pinner, Middlesex, HA5 9AY
 +44 (0)20 8866 6036 mikeg@global-leap.comCopyright © 2006 Global Leap |