Video conferencing has become an essential component of the business world, but there are some schools using this technology for educational purposes as well. You may not think of school teachers reaching outside of the classroom for learning experiences with their children, but this is exactly what is happening in the modern classrooms around the world.
Bringing the World to the Classroom
It used to be that children learned about the culture and current events of other countries by reading outdated text books, looking at pictures, or hearing what their teachers had to say about the country. They learned about current events and different cultures without having a personal or deep connection with those people.
Today, this is changing because teachers are learning how to bring the outside world into the classroom in a very real way. Instead of just reading old textbooks and maybe reading newspaper cut outs, students are able to use video conferencing to talk with real people who may be in different states or even different countries. They are able to see and hear others in a way they could never see and hear a textbook.
Since this technology is expanding around the world and more and more countries are allowing schools to reach out in this manner, it is even possible for students from different countries to communicate through video conferences.
Enhanced Lectures
Video conferencing allows schools to bring speakers to their children that would otherwise be too expensive to book. Kids of all ages love it when they get to have an assembly and hear someone other than their teachers talk to them in a fun manner. In many cases, schools have to work with people who live locally because they simply cannot afford to pay travel expenses for better speakers who may live elsewhere.
That problem is now solved with video conferencing technology. The best speakers are now charging less to do video conferences since they don't have to pay any travel expenses and don't have to leave their regular lives for an extended period of time. The conference takes up much less of their time so the fee is lower.
This means more schools can now afford more speakers for their children if they have video conferencing technology. Since the technology is now widely available and prices are falling with more interest, a lot of schools are starting to take advantage of this.
Learning through Video
Children can actually learn through video conferencing. They can learn from exciting speakers and educational tours and they don't even have to leave their classrooms. Schools don't have to load up the kids and pay high fuel prices to transport kids to places because they can tour those same places through video conferencing.
Many schools can set up one area of the school for video conferencing and use it as a shared area for all classrooms. They can have conferences for grade levels or large conferences with the entire school. School districts can even bring together groups from many different schools and allow them to attend the same conference with a special speaker all at the same time.
This is the ideal solution to many problems within modern schools. Students are now supplementing textbook education with video conferences.
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