Introduction

This resource includes two case studies which present evidence of the impact of video conferencing on communication skills and on attitudes to and the experience of reading.

The first case study features a video conference between King Edward V1 Community College, Totnes and Peacehaven Community School promoting reading with low attaining Year 8 boys.

The second features a conference between book groups for gifted and talented students: Year 8 students at Bexley Grammar School and Year 9 students at South Dartmoor Community College .

These case studies provide practical advice about getting going with video conferencing; materials for promoting book talk; clips from two video conferences to give teachers a clear idea of the potential of this technology. Having worked through a selection of the materials, teachers should be in a position to evaluate the approaches and to use the technology in their own schools.

The material is divided into sections to enable users to focus on the aspects which interest them to support promoting wide reading and creating a reading culture. Questions and prompts are included in the left hand column to help teachers consider how they might use the approaches suggested by the case studies.