Videoconferencing in English schools: one technology, many pedagogies?

This paper explores the use of videoconferencing as used in English schools, drawing on data collected over seven years from a number of funded and unfunded projects. A common theme emerging from across these investigations is that the educational use of videoconferencing technology in schools is not a unitary phenomenon. Rather, different assumptions about learning, and the employment of different pedagogical skills facilitate varying patterns of usage and levels of educational effectiveness. Following initial experimentation with videoconferencing (which we characterise as the familiarisation phase) preliminary classroom usage was typically ‘bolted‐on’ to existing practice. Growing confidence in the technology was associated with a wider range of pedagogical techniques whereby videoconferencing contributed to curriculum enhancement. The most advanced usage involved the adaptation of the technology for more innovative approaches in which videoconferencing enabled learner–learner interaction, without the mediation of the teacher. In the paper, the advantages and disadvantages of these varying modes of use are explored. We conclude that innovative deployment of videoconferencing pedagogy is in its infancy in English schools, but that teachers exposed to its potential quickly find new ways of exploiting the pedagogical possibilities offered by the technology.