Why participate in a Virtual Field Trips and Speci...

LynnetteW · ‎09-04-2011

VSSEC Mars.jpg

It has said that children, teenagers (and some adults) learn from their experiences. If that is the case, this would explain why there is a flux of global content providers and virtual excursion encounters entering the education domain.

Virtual field trips, content providers, special curriculum events and school-to-school collaborations enable students to enhance their knowledge by taking classroom learning further. Experiences trigger senses – students are able to visually see the colours on a canvas, understand what why an Author wrote the character the way they did, hear the sounds a whale is making, emotionally relate to a holocaust survivor’s story, and empathize with a group of students in Afghanistan.

A classroom, which connects using videoconference to any form of virtual experience, enables students to collect all facets of an experience and learn in new and innovative methods. Think about a student who struggles…this entertaining, informative and stimulating method may be exactly what they need to excel.

Within the North American region there are hundreds of content providers, however within the Asia Pacific region, (until 2010) there were only a couple.

Did you know that Polycom has a "Polycom Content Provider Program"? I tackled this project while I was Vertical Manager for Polycom Australia & NZ back in 2008, when I observed that local schools were frustrated with providers only offering sessions that suited the NA time zones. I met with organisations that would enrich the Australian curriculum and either provided loan equipment* or, they have purchased equipment outright as a customer. Once they had Polycom equipment, I was able to promote them throughout the region, incorporate them into the Polycom APAC Special Events and advertise them in our Polycom in Education Newsletters. As of today's date, we have eleven Polycom Content Providers,

These providers are encouraged to reach out to schools, education industries, DET management, and work with curriculum specialists to develop their programs. They are able to connect to all H.323 videoconference endpoints,

So, back to the question, who are the Asia Pacific Polycom Content Providers?

ReefHQ - (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Aquarium located in Townsville, Qld)
Questacon - the National Science and Technology Centre - (located in Canberra, ACT)
Charles Sturt University - Remote Telescope Project - (located in Bathurst, NSW)
Australian National University - School of Music - (located in Canberra, ACT)
Green Cross Australia - (located in Brisbane, QLD)
Australian National Maritime Museum - (located in Sydney, NSW)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney - (located in Sydney, NSW)
National Museum of Australia - (located in Canberra, ACT)
Victoria Space Science Education Centre - located in Melbourne, VIC)
Literature Live (group of four Authors (located in Sydney, NSW) and one Illustrator (Auckland, NZ))
Te Papa Museum - (located in Wellington, New Zealand)

I am currently on the look out for customers who use our equipment in the Asia Pacific region who would like to join our program. It is FREE, and would offer their organisation/institution and opportunity to expand their Education Outreach division within the Asia Pacific market. If you know of someone, please contact me directly at Lynnette.Whitfield@polycom.com

* Polycom provides units for long term loan to organisations who meet certain criteria. If you wish to know more, please contact me.