JANET Collaborate launches a new videoconferencing partnering programme for schools and colleges.

The VC Partners programme allows schools and colleges to find another partner school or college to videoconference with on any topic or age group.

Teachers and lectures can find the VC Partner opportunities on JANET Collaborate by searching for the term “partner” on the JANET Collaborate site, or by clicking the link below.

http://www.janetcollaborate.ac.uk/search?SearchableText=vc+partner

Currently partnerships are available for all year groups. Simply Click “Join” on one of the VC Partner opportunity pages to register your interest and request a partner. There are also partnerships for schools in both rural and inner-city communities to compare lifestyles with a school from the opposite rural or inner-city environment.

Once two members of JANET Collaborate have joined the same VC Partner Opportunity they are introduced and provided with guidance towards using VC to collaborate.

“We'd signed up last week and got a partner school within half an hour! Seems to work well,” says Mike Prince, Headteacher at Staveley CE Primary School,

A growing numbers of teachers and schools have access to videoconferencing technology. The VC Partners service is designed to allow schools to share educational opportunities with other schools, working collaboratively with partners across the country.

The VC Partners programme has got off to an amazing start; it went live on Thursday 24th April and on the first day of launching the service, 7 partnerships between 14 schools were created; these partnerships span different cultural, geographical and year groups.

The JANET Videoconferencing Service (JVCS) now has almost 3000 school venues registered with more joining every month. It is estimated that around two thirds of the schools conferences booked via JVCS and are school to school videoconferences. The remaining third involve a school and an educational content provider such as a Museum, Library or Archive.

Ideas for content and activities will shortly also be available via the VC Partners programme on JANET Collaborate.