A small group of Devon teachers are gathered around a large TV screen in Exeter, the camera pointing at their faces registering an air of anticipation. It's the afternoon of Holocaust Memorial day, and with the Iraq conflict hovering in the air, it's an appropriate time to spend an hour videoconferencing with colleagues in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the US and South Africa, sharing different approaches to anti-racist education.

For many of the teachers, this is their first experience of videoconferencing, and no one seems relaxed or familiar with the technology. The debate feels slightly clumsy, with teachers from different countries taking turns to question staff from the Robben Island and Anne Frank museums. But the live format is gripping, and by the hour's end there is a real sense of bonding. Contacts have been established, relationships initiated, links forged.

"I found it really useful," Rebecca Mardle, teacher of English and drama at South Dartmoor community college in Ashburton, says. "Being at a normal conference, for instance, is a much more passive experience. With this you feel more in the loop and part of what is going on."

For John Seal, Key Stage 4 and 5 co-ordinator of English at St Peter's high school in Exeter, it was equally encouraging. "It was exciting," he says. "In the south-west there is a great taboo surrounding racism because students don't have the experience of many other cultures down here, so this is incredibly important. We all need more training and input on how to deal with the various difficult issues that crop up. Hopefully, soon, videoconferencing will mean our students can have frequent conferences with others who can talk about their own experiences."

These teachers are enthusiastic about the potential, but how much of an impact is videoconferencing really making in UK schools? Tim Arnold, adviser for media education at Devon Curriculum Services, believes it is finally reaching a critical mass of credibility. "In the last three years, videoconferencing has gone from something that people were considering, to teachers actually embedding it into classroom practice", he says. "We had a stand at the Bett show this year and last. Last year there was interest, people saying it was in their development plan, whereas this year they actually wanted to know 'what's the cost' and how to implement it in the classroom."

Part of the impetus is affordability and ease of use. A videoconferencing unit costs about £2,000, with prices slowly falling. And the technology is transparent, Arnold says. "It's easier than operating a video recorder; it's not a complicated piece of equipment at all."

There is a great deal of interest from UK schools in using videoconferencing in the classroom, according to Mike Griffiths, a teacher-adviser working with the DfES on its Videoconferencing in the Classroom project. This is currently evaluating the use of videoconferencing in the curriculum, and developing pilot projects with a range of museums and galleries to provide curriculum links for schools.

"Teachers don't have time to devote to something that needs a lot of attention to make it work - they want guaranteed success, and we're in a situation now where the technology is so robust and reliable that they seriously see it as a classroom resource. The issue is, what do we do with it? How do we embed it in the curriculum? How do we make sure the kit doesn't get put in the cupboard once the novelty has worn off?"

The answers are various, it seems. Used well, videoconferencing is a communication tool par excellence, bringing children into contact with other people and experiences in ways you cannot otherwise achieve. "You can literally bring other cultures into the classroom," says Griffiths, who cites the example of students in Slough doing a project on the Arctic Circle.

"They managed to establish a direct videoconferencing link with an Inuit community in the northern Arctic and found out all sorts of things from the pupils there about how they build igloos as a temporary shelter and hunt for caribou. They discovered so much about each other's lives that you couldn't find on the internet or in a book, and the motivation and extra value it brought to the lessons was amazing," he says.

Email can achieve this to some extent, but the visual element of videoconferencing is invaluable, he insists. "In one key stage 3 lesson on the earth, pupils talked to a Californian teacher living on the San Andreas fault, who told them about the school earthquake drills and actually showed them the survival kit. It brought home to them the idea that these things really happen to people."

Used imaginatively, videoconferencing can also break down barriers and bring lessons to life. Arnold uses the example of the sixth-form group talking to students in Germany about using the euro. "It livened up the lesson and built bridges in all sorts of ways," he says.

Griffiths points to the case of the leading transplant surgeon who videoconferenced with eight schools around the world. "The technology gives you access to people you simply wouldn't normally have access to."

It also gives you a VIP ticket to some of the world's top locations, it seems. With videoconferencing units going into institutions like the National Portrait Gallery, the Imperial War Museum and the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, pupils are getting the opportunity to see places they might never have the chance to visit, and to talk to the staff directly.

Griffiths says: "It's so much better than a video because the kids are asking questions and interacting."

The verdict seems to be that the technology has matured and the potential is vast. After all, how better to learn about other people than to actually meet them, says Arnold. "In the hands of a good teacher, there is no end to the sorts of things they can do with it."


Videoconferencing in higher education

The higher education sector has also cottoned on to the potential of videoconferencing, particularly its ability to transcend geographical barriers. The new Welsh Video Network is now the largest and most advanced internet-based videoconferencing network in Europe, with 84 studios scattered across all 37 further and higher education institutions in Wales.

"In terms of meetings for the senior management teams, videoconferencing is the ideal solution," further education adviser Geoff Foot says. "Travel in Wales can take a long time. Lots of colleges are multi-site and it can take 30 minutes or so to get from one site to another, so it's being used extensively for internal meetings, as well as for teaching across sites and between colleges."

Videoconferencing is particularly useful for minority subjects where you have small groups of students at different locations. "Videoconferencing can bring them together, making use of expertise in different colleges," says Foot. But it's not all just about talking to a TV screen - videoconferencing sessions can involve Powerpoint presentations, playing DVDs, document-sharing, even interactive whiteboards.

"You can embed all sorts of other types of technology into videoconferencing," Foot says. He believes that although it's no longer a technology looking for a solution, it's in many ways still in its infancy. "There needs to be an extensive training programme. We've invested heavily in equipment and infrastructure, but not training, and we need to raise awareness of how it can be used to complement teaching, and embed it more into practice."


By Emma Haughton