by Mireille de Biasi, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Background of the project and teaching objectives

A chief education officer in Classics initiated this method of teaching in the year 2000 in the Auvergne region. He had previously observed its experimentation in the regional education authority of Limoges. It was proposed to isolated rural secondary schools with the following objectives: to offer pupils the opportunity to study a rare optional subject (where small class numbers do not justify the hiring of Classics teachers), to broaden their general knowledge, to allow pupils in isolated areas to communicate and to use ICT. For the fourth year, for isolated rural secondary schools in the region of Puy-de-Dôme thus give their third-year pupils the opportunity to study optional Greek by the way of videoconference: teachers and pupils work at a distance, using ICT systems and, in particular, videoconferencing.

Broadcasting and receiving

The teacher works in the school he or she is attached to and teaches pupils whose school can be dozens of kilometres away. Until now, the lesson timings varied depending on each school but, within the year 2004, a weekly one-hour lesson could be given simultaneously to pupils in two separate schools. For instance, the six pupils in Cunlhat and the eight pupils in Saint-Amant could take the same lesson at the same time. This would improve the interaction between the two groups.

Equipment

All the schools participating in the project should be equipped with a television set and the devices required for a videoconference, including a remote-controlled camera and a multidirectional microphone. A computer for the teacher and one for each pupil are also needed. Broadband connections are not yet available in isolated rural French regions, so two digital lines are necessary, one to be used for video and the other for the Internet. The course material is based on an electronic handbook: this teaching aid is described in the following case study.

Spatial aspects of the classroom

Pupils are all seated in front of the camera and the television set through which they can see and hear their teacher. Each pupil is provided with a computer and a loose-leaf file in which he or she gathers both hand-written course notes and printed documents. 

Generally, most pupils don't possess their own computer at home, in which to install the electronic handbook. In instances where financial resources are limited, pupils have to make do with one computer only. This one is then set up on a table in a central position so that all pupils can view it. The teacher in charge of the transmission has a whiteboard he or she can zoom on for pupils to look at it. 

Supervision at local level
During lessons, pupils are supervised by an adult, for security as well as technical reasons. This person checks that pupils use the equipment properly and tries hard to solve technical difficulties such as potential breakdowns in sound and image or any computing complications. He supervises pupils during evaluations and prints documents. He also helps students to understand the instructions given by the distance teacher for their independent work. This authorised person is responsibile for providing the teacher with all the necessary information on the day-to-day life of the school. This person is most of the time one of the school supervisors.

Timetabling Issues

Pupils in their third year of secondary school may begin Greek lessons three times a week. The organisation of timetables for such courses is subject to very strict rules. Headmasters in charge must take into account that each teacher is responsible for several schools. They thus have to consult each other and agree on timetable slots. My own personal post is in the Trémonteix secondary school, Clermont-Ferrand, but I also distance-teach at the schools of Cunlhat and Saint-Amant. It thus takes three headmasters to organise matching timetables.

Lesson organisation

During some of the three fifty-minute weekly lessons, teachers and pupils work together using both video presentation and the electronic handbook. At other times, pupils work independently, only using the electronic handbook (see the following case study).

The role of the teacher outside lesson time

Pedagogical

• Producing digital teaching aids
• Defining precisely how lessons should be carried out
• Producing methodological files to help pupils with their acquisition of the B2i* basic competence needed in this kind of distance learning
• Correcting the files produced by pupils
• Communicating with pupils by email even outside lesson time
• Putting this teaching aid at other teachers' disposal on collective work platforms

Technical

• Evaluating developments in communication technologies
• Solving potential technical difficulties and breakdowns, especially since the project in Auvergne includes no technical support

The role of the teacher during lessons

Contact Time

• Preparing all the documents given to pupils ahead of the lesson
• Ensuring total involvement by each and every pupil, so that none of them should become only a spectator. Interactivity is essential: the pupil must be able to convey to the distant teacher any difficulty he encounters. He or she must also be able to show him and the whole group any element on a textual or pictorial document and to produce his own documents (hand-written notes, exercises).

Non-contact Time

• Preparing instructions for pupils to follow when they work on their own: exercises, documentary research, revision.
• Communicating with pupils by email providing them with constant educational support, monitoring the progress in their work, transferring files to them.

The distant teacher within the educational team proves his/her own involvement for subsequent evaluation by:

• Communicating the marks by email
• Taking part in staff and parents' meetings by the way of video
• Following the educational projects of the distant school
• Working with teachers in other disciplines and meeting new pupils through video
• Practising distance teaching and validating competence in B2i*

General observations after three years of experimentation

The project was highly challenging for the teachers. In fact, they received no specific training and when the programme first began they had no tools in support of an efficient distance learning practice (eg, electronic handbook). The main quality required should thus be patience coupled with the desire to create one's own methodological tools. The handling of the videoconferencing equipment is quite easy.
As for the computing aspect, the teacher should be familiar with the use of a word-processor and be able to produce documents of various formats. He or she also must have knowledge of how to enter a document using a Greek font and how to manipulate image files. He or she should be able to communicate by email and surf on the Internet.

This way of learning ancient Greek requires no particular competence in ICT on the part of the pupil.

Difficulties encountered

• Technical problems due to connection loss and complications in computer usage. To avert these, having a telephone on both sides can be important.
• Choice of the classroom: the best solution would be the use of a soundproofed  classroom to ensure sound of high quality. A standard classroom may however be suitable for this kind of lesson if equipped with several microphones.
• The educational teams at distance schools rarely consider the distant teacher as a member of their staff (at staff or parents' meetings, or in terms of sharing information on the school's day-to-day life).

Proper communication between the distant teacher, the educational team and the administration is a necessary condition of success.

It is essential for distance teachers to work together as a team: they can compare their experiences, solve technical and educational problems and create some teaching aids. In the regional education authority of Clermont-Ferrand, there are two of us who have been teaching Greek in four different distant schools. We have been exchanging information on our methods during a period of four years and this, several times a week. The electronic handbook is the result of this work together (see next case study).

In conclusion

The use of ICT in the teaching of ancient Greek is a way to compensate for the lack of cultural provision in rural secondary schools. Apart from their learning ancient Greek, pupils enjoy acquiring competence in ICT and developing their abilities to study on their own. Face to face encounters between teacher and pupils have, however, proven necessary. These encounters are thoroughly enjoyed and three of them take place each year: in September, February and at the end of May. Teacher and pupils meet together in one location, where they usually share cultural activities such as visits to local or national museums or meetings with local craftsmen to compare the modern and ancient art of ceramics or sculpture. Virtual practices thus take root in reality and pupils learn about their ancient patrimony.

* The B2i (Brevet Informatique et Internet) is a certificate of competence in ICT which French pupils must acquire within their first four years in secondary school. Some of the basic competences required should be taught in primary school.