CLEO schools use Videoconferencing to support socially isolated pupils with Hearing Impairment

Roger Lang – CLEO Learning Consultant
Iain Midgley – CLEO Broadband Services Consultant
January 2007

Within the Cumbria and Lancashire Education Online (CLEO) Regional Broadband Consortium region there are pupils with hearing impairment that are socially isolated from peers with similar impairments. Isolated pupils can sign with teachers, specialists and family but are isolated from other pupils and have restricted opportunities to communicate in both academic or social circumstances.

The CLEO Project is actively promoting opportunities for isolated pupils to communicate with peers in both academic and social situations by using video conferencing technology.

In a recent videoconferencing event CLEO staff enabled an isolated pupil in Cumbria to talk to peers at the Royal Cross school in Preston.

Royal Cross Primary School is a Centre of Expertise providing specialist education for deaf children and children with speech and language difficulties. Based in Preston but with pupils from across the region, Royal Cross is the only provision of its kind in Lancashire. Children at the school benefit from specialist teaching strategies and resources, personalised learning programmes, full access to all aspects of school life, inclusion opportunities with mainstream schools and excellent ICT facilities.

In contrast E is socially isolated from Deaf peers. She has an excellent network of support in Cumbria and has integrated well into the mainstream school. However, she has very limited opportunities to sign with deaf peers.

The Royal Cross School in Preston is well resourced with IT and has a Polycom Viewstation videoconferencing unit. This unit is connected to the CLEO network and can make video calls via IP and ISDN.

The CLEO Project Office installed a second VC unit at Barrow Island School in Cumbria. A Polycom ViaVideo and Polycom PVX were installed and registered to the CLEO network.

As both endpoints were on the CLEO network it is possible to make IP video calls at no cost.

Through registration with JANET Videoconferencing Services (JVCS) the school is also able to connect to any school outside of the CLEO network including establishments still using ISDN.