Great! Finally a teacher that I can switch off!

The Open Polytechnic has been teaching virtually for years but not using video conferencing since students are studying in different time zones all over the planet in their own homes.

As a teacher living up in them thar hills I would welcome the opportunity to have a decent Internet connection. Potentially I could deliver my classes from home ! I question whether rural primary schools would benefit as primary schooling should still require generalist teachers rather than specialists. It is really only at secondary level that specialists are necessary. However realtime access to world events and the occassional web shared event would be of enourmous benefit. Some schools are citing communications with other schools as momentous learning events for their students but I am concerned that flashy computer driven bells and whistles are detracting from the development of essential core skills.

Good idea for those focused. Parents would need to keep a strick eye on progress.

I think it is an excellent idea! As a mother who wants to home school children via video conferencing and virtual learning, I would like this very much. Technology is amazing!

Try fixing the urban broadband as well. In the evenings I can barely use facebook, youtube (or anything else with streaming audio/video), and even gmail times out on me. I was better off on dial-up.

Im curious about their definition of Rural. Parts of Christchurch (Heathcote Valley for example) do not have broadband - but they are urban residential sub-divisions, which happen to be on the wrong side of an industrial zone.

I don't see it so much as a substitute for getting kids together in class with their teacher, but rather broadening the reach of the classroom itself.

One such opportunity could be as part of a Social Studies module, just as a random example, studying the lives of their contemporaries in other societies, kids get the opportunity to Video Conference with their counterparts where the study is focussed. Sharing life stories, and experiences; the realities of life elsewhere. And of course the sharing goes in both directions.

Potentially a much more immersive experience than reading about a place in a dusty old text book, or even via Wikipedia.

And the tecnological requirements aren't that scary or challenging. Skype is probably up to the job, so we aren't talking about huge investments in specialised hardware any more.

It certainly increases the oppotunity for more schools to be involved in video conferencing which provides great opportunities for rural students. There are already currently 280 schools in new zealand using videoconferencing daily for distance learning and virtual field trips. This will help grow on that.

I am a student and take level 3 calculus through VC it is really helpful as you have a teacher that talks you through the work like a normal teacher in class would and then you can email them any problems and they get back to you tell you how to do it. I really recommend it if you cant take the subject through school with a teacher.