As JANET Collaborate welcomes its 1000th member, the site continues to go from strength to strength
Last week a teacher at Gwinear Community Primary School became the 1000th member of JANET Collaborate, adding to the rapidly growing number of schools and content providers to take advantage of the opportunities available to its members.
To date, JANET Collaborate has been used by a wide range of schools to enhance curriculum delivery. One of the main attractions of the site is the facility to find educational videoconferencing content from Museums and other providers in order to bring learning alive by enhancing the student experience.
“I think JANET Collaborate is really fantastic. Getting the message out there to lots more schools and teachers is the next step,” says Sarah Whittle, Educational Programme Developer at The Natural History Museum. “I think it’s great that JANET Collaborate is free to access for all teachers because we need to make sure that as wide a membership as possible can see our videoconference opportunities,” says Sarah.
“I used it to find opportunities offered by content providers, kind of like an online directory,“ says Gary Limb, Primary Teaching and Learning Consultant – ICT, Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council. “The teachers seem to like the site. They like the look and feel of it. It’s easy to use and friendly. It has helped, to launch videoconferencing a lot more effectively in Wigan. One of the things that was coming back from schools was that videoconferencing is good and there is a lot of potential but where and how do I find things and what do I do with it? But now, having a site like JANET Collaborate, offers a one-stop-shop.”
The now completed pilot stage, in which JANET(UK) issued a survey to members, collected case studies and commissioned an independent usability study, has produced a detailed picture of the use of the prototype by the enthusiastic and expanding membership. Conclusions from the pilot report and feedback from the users will contribute to specifications for potential Phase 2 developments of the prototype service. Some suggestions for future developments include using the site for training and networking activities, strengthening international partnerships, adding new features such as email alerts and developing more fine grained search facilities.
JANET Collaborate was also used to launch a Videoconference partnering programme earlier this year. The aim of VC Partners is to help schools find similar groups to collaborate with; it has been a great success so far. “I got an email back from a teacher who had joined a VC partner opportunity saying thanks and that they had received a partner in just 20 minutes!” said Iain Midgely, Broadband Services Consultant at CLEO (Cumbria and Lancashire Education Online).
The importance of such resources as JANET Collaborate is summed up in the words of Leanne Swallwell, IT Teacher at Dyke House Secondary School in Hartlepool “It allows me to just focus on what we’re going to do in the videoconference instead of spending lots of time finding a partner”.
The JANET Collaborate site is going from strength to strength with the number of members growing rapidly. Looking to the future, Iain Midgely comments “The more schools that get involved and the more opportunities posted there, the more use it will be to schools”.