Africa comes to Durham using videoconferencing Magic

Children in county Durham were taken on a journey through Africa using the latest in Videoconferencing technology.

Storyteller Malcolm Green used his experiences of life in the Cameroon to teach children about the culture of the African people, whilst also leading the pupils in African chanting and singing.

The schools involved, Willington CofE, Crook Primary, Our Lady and St Thomas, Willington Primary, Hunwick, Hartside, Whitworth, Sunnybrow and St. Cuthbert’s as well as Crook Nursery, are taking part in the DfES Testbed Project run by Becta. The children have been learning about life on the African continent in an attempt to forge links with schools in Tanzania.

The Durham Testbed project was attempting to test the feasibility of engaging pupils’ attention via videoconferencing.

The suppliers of the Videoconferencing equipment, Direct Visuals Tim Hoddy said, “The children really took to Malcolm and got involved in the stories he told. He kept their attention and the kids were thrilled by the whole event.”

He then went on to add, “ Credit has to go to Malcolm, he had never previously encountered Videoconferencing, and was absolutely astonished at the way the kids reacted. And he was absolutely superb with them.”

The DfES project has been leading the way with videoconferencing projects and this is just one of many projects run. At Christmas the children in the testbed were visited by Santa Claus direct from his video suite in Lapland, Byker Grove and Dream Team star Daymon Britton visited to answer questions about being a TV star and a group of children formed their own mini-parliament and quizzed government chief whip, Hillary Armstrong, who linked in from the House of Commons, about issues relevant to them.