Alan Cameron's Edublog Learning in the 3rd Millennium 

On the last day of March the weather again is very poor in Dumfries & Galloway, however not enough to dampen enthusiasm at further HD video conference installations. First visit of the day was to Carsphairn Primary. A good chat with Margaret regarding possibilities that video conferencing brings for pupils in the school. One or two other exciting ideas discussed!

Cross country from Carsphairn through the snow via Moniaive, Penpont and Thornhill, the installation team receive an enthusiastic welcome from Angela at Kelloholm Primary School. The school is now ready to move forward with their new HD kit. Good to have Graeme with us today (visiting from New Zealand) taking a keen interest in our HD video conference installations.

The weather today has been atrocious, with heavy falls of snow across Scotland. Dumfries & Galloway got off lightly, with wind and driving rain. And down at Drummore today, the waves crashed over onto the road (and my car) as I made my way to Scotland’s most south-westerly school.

Today saw the installation of new HD video conference kit in Whithorn and Drummore Primary Schools. Tomorrow, other rurally isolated primary schools in Carsphairn and Kelloholm will receive their new systems. Young people in these schools will be able to receive instrumental music lessons on site over High Definition Video Conferencing. Teachers will be able to ‘attend’ twilight CPD sessions without leaving their schools; and schools are encouraged to use their new systems as a window on the world for a wide range of learning purposes. Already Whithorn Primary have specific plans to link with Georgetown Primary School in the Cayman Islands. Young people in Langholm Primary will soon be linking with peers on the remote island of St Helena in the South Atlantic. And secondary students in Douglas Ewart High School (Newton Stewart) are actively planning to hook up with fellow students in Lapland, in Finland’s most northerly secondary school.

School communities are only limited by their individual and collective imaginations as to what might be possible. Watch this space for some amazing local, national and international collaborations!

Playing piano in Dumfries to an audience in Orlando (Nov. 2009)

I gave up blogging over a year ago, I doubt if anyone noticed  –  the world’s still turning and educational establishments are still open for business. Not one blog post in 2009, but after a YouTube skirmish last year with Stephen Heppell and Elliott Masie on Video Conferencing in schools, it’s now time to get on the blogging trail once more……….