CROSS-CANADA CONFERENCING

Elizabeth Murphy

Newfoundland

French-immersion teachers in Newfoundland often reflect on the enviable position of those who teach in areas situated nearer to francophone cultures. In Newfoundland, we don't have a very large or visible francophone population so making contact with francophones often means having to travel farther than one's budget allows. This isolation is, to a large extent, a common experience for French-immersion teachers across Canada in general. Unless you're living near Ottawa or Quebec, for example, opportunities are rare for linking immersion students with francophones and their culture.

Fortunately, new, emerging technologies are going to make it easier for students to communicate with their francophone counterparts across Canada. Audio, video and desktop conferencing are three similar modes of communication offering exciting possibilities for linking groups of students from across the nation. These are not new technologies. Business has used them for many years and provincial departments of education have used them to facilitate distance learning and to deliver services to remote areas. Conferencing can help students to have real-life meaningful contact with their francophones peers. Through the use of these technologies students can share and compare ideas, opinions and feelings on issues, themes or projects that interest them. At the same time, students get a unique and challenging opportunity to experience the versatility and advantages of state-of-the-art technology.

One of the most exciting and yet affordable forms of these technologies is desktop conferencing. The simple addition of some software and a small videocamera to a personal computer will enable a group of students in, for example, Calgary to communicate and interact in real time with a classroom in Quebec or a francophone community outside of Quebec. The students can view each other in a corner of the PC's monitor while at the same time being able to screenshare any combination of data, images, text and graphics. This interactive technology offers students the capability of working cooperatively on a given project with someone as far away as the other side of the continent at an affordable cost.

The simplest and most accessible form of conferencing today is audio conferencing. The only equipment required is a touchtone telephone in each location. The technology does not offer any visual capability. However, its simplicity makes it highly accessible and therefore convenient for use in an educational setting where budgets and time restrictions don't always permit more elaborate and sophisticated equipment. Setting up the conference is as simple as contacting the operator and the costs involved relate primarily to long distance charges. Audio conferencing could facilitate a live debate or discussion between any number of groups of students from all over the nation at one time! Imagine a group of students in eastern Canada such as l'Acadie, another group in Ontario or Quebec and another group from western Canada engaged in a debate or discussion related to Quebec sovereignty issues.

Video conferencing represents another innovative and motivating means for students from across the continent to connect with each other to share ideas and projects. We have all seen journalists on television in live video conference with newsreporters and guests in other provinces and countries. Video conferencing allows a group or number of groups to see and be seen, hear and be heard at long distance as if they were sitting across the table from each other. This technology also offers you the possibility to view videotapes and any other presentation tools or documents. Video conferencing uses up to as many as 1200 telephone lines at one time to transmit data. However, it is unlikely, because of the costs involved, that a school could have access to as many lines. Simply using two lines will give an adequate quality although there will be about a two-three second delay in transmission of both visual and auditory data with a strobing effect where there is movement.

Significant planning and preparation should be carried out before all conferences. Time and money will be much better invested and students will benefit more if the conferences are focussed and directed. The first step in setting up any kind of conferencing involves gaining access to the technology. In the case of desktop conferencing, you will need to purchase and install your equipment and make sure that you are familiar with how to use it. Your hardware/software vendor should be able to give you the information on what to do from there. In the case of audio conferencing you don't need any special equipment beyond a touchtone phone so the technology should be already accessible and at a low cost. You simply need to contact the operator for details.

Video conferencing differs from these other types of conferencing in that the sophistication of technology required and costs involved do not make it directly accessible to schools or educational institutions. Fortunately however, there are many companies that are willing to donate their facilities and even to pay the phoneline costs for interested schools. An example of such companies is the STENTOR ALLIANCE which has as one of its objectives to help schools form a technologically literate generation of students. Some companies belonging to this group at this time include:

If you are interested in video conferencing you should contact the telephone company in your area early in September to enquire about assistance in funding the project. When making a contact you should specify that you are interested in video conferencing with one, two or more other provinces.

Once you have decided on the type of technology you plan to use, the next step should be to determine the groups with whom you would like to conference. The Internet is a good place to post a notice looking for a contact or perhaps you already know of another school or teacher in a province who would be interested in participating. Once the main groups are formed, the participating students must be selected. There may already be a group in your school who is working together and who could adopt the project. Each conference lends itself to direct participation of a maximum of about eight students from one area. However, many other students can be involved behind the scenes in researching information or in preparing materials. Early on, you and the students should begin deciding on the themes. As well, you should decide whether the format of the conference will involve a discussion or a debate and whether extra materials, displays or videos will be incorporated into the conference.

The first conference should be introductory in order to give students the chance to get used to each other and to the technology. Students meet one another via conferencing, introduce themselves, familiarize themselves with the technology and discuss their plans. Depending on your budget, the type of project and the level of motivation of the groups involved, you may want to schedule three, four or more subsequent conferences. You may want to reserve the last session for follow-up activities, for evaluation or simply for a final pizza party together across the nation.

During the 1993-94 school year a group of students from my school in Newfoundland, a school in Toronto and one in Calgary participated in a pilot English-only, video conferencing project. All costs were absorbed by the telephone companies involved. Students from Newfoundland got together and chose the conference's themes. They wanted to focus on issues they felt were important for teens today so they chose: Family and Friends, Education and Technology, Relationship and Sex. One theme provided a focus for one of the three conferences each scheduled about two months apart. The three participating schools researched and prepared a video on one of the themes. In our case, the students directly involved in the video conference did not prepare or act in the video because we wanted to involve as many people as possible.

Newfoundland's theme was Relationships and Sex. The group who prepared the video decided to use the school's theatre improvisation team to act out situations related to the topic. The video lasted ten minutes and was shown at the beginning of the conference and preceded a live 40 minute cross-Canada discussion of the issue in front of a camera and some monitors. The same format was followed for the other two conferences. It was enlightening and entertaining for students to share and compare their experiences and ideas. The students gradually got to know each other and the phonelines were even able to transmit personalities.

For the students involved, the video conference represented a new learning experience. More importantly, it allowed them to step outside the isolation of their province and their classroom. For me as a teacher, I learned that my classroom was not bound by four walls, but only by my imagination and by the extent of my willingness to experiment with new technologies.