Tony and I had a conversation about what would be both appropriate and possible, deciding that a small hothouse event the preceding day would get everybody in the mood and prepare the young people, who had been volunteered by their school, to tackle a significant challenge for them - presenting to several hundred teachers at a major conference. We decided to build on the educational enhancements we had made to the process after the last event - cover presentation skills, how to do a 60 second advert and help the young people with feedback skills to coach themselves. Wednesday went well and even the teachers said they got a lot from the afternoon. I departed for the train home with plenty of new ideas - as usual!
The following day, the groups were warmed up with a reminder of the key points from the day before. Much work behind the scenes had given us the opportunity to demonstrate some live video links to partner schools around the Globe - all on our newly developed open source EASICOP website.
Tony sums it up beautifully:
The highlights were the:
- Remarkable way in which Per shore, Stoke and St Joss worked together in mixed teams developing and presenting their vision for a global future school to a workshop audience in which three expert educationalists gave excellent critical feedback.
- Stunning clarity when Gorseland, Buhumba and St Jos appeared via our easiCOP videoconferencing facility, plus overnight video from Buhumba. There was a sense of disbelief in the audience when we got Buhumba on the screen...
- Sustained applause at the culmination of the presentation with Parvinder and Katha videos showing the beautiful potential of first and third world working together.
Heart warming stuff when you can see the results of the learning experiences we are providing with this project. This quote from the Gorseland teacher says more than anything:
'the children where in absolutely awe of the technology and couldn't believe we were talking to the 'real Africa'. I think James said, "What, the 'real' Africa, you know the one miles and miles away???" I think the sight of 300 people blew Alex away and she was in awe of the children who made the presentations 'live' to the audience".
We know we have made a real difference to those children, stimulated the teachers who work with them and demonstrated the power that business can bring to education in front of 300 senior educationalists - well done to us all!
David Hancock
