James Watt College, in Greenock, has been providing professional development for learning support assistants in Argyll and Bute since spring this year. Initially students came from as far afield as Oban, Rothesay, Lochgilphead and Helensburgh, but this was costly in terms of time and organisation. So, as the college and students all had access to video conferencing, we decided to use the facilities to teach subsequent units.

The first video conferencing meeting was held in May and although there were no students in the room at James Watt College, 14 were attending my class: two from Rothesay Academy, who joined two at Drummore Learning Centre in Oban, one at Tarbert Academy and nine at John Logie Baird Primary school in Helensburgh. All four sites were connected via a bridge provided by Learning and Teaching Scotland, who co-ordinated the technical side of the session.

Argyll and Bute regularly uses video conferencing for meetings and classroom activities, with staff at remote museums, for example, showing island schools artefacts or museum pieces. However, the idea of using the technology for a staff development class was new to the college.

Information on teaching techniques using video conferencing was scarce, though the Joint Information Systems Committee website, www.jisc.ac.ukjtap, features a useful report providing practical guidelines and some helpful tips. A crucial point was that the group and lecturer were known to each other through earlier meetings, so a working relationship had already been developed.

The class was best run on an informal basis and it was important to appreciate that some students might be uncomfortable in front of a camera. It was important to know the class members by name and not fall into the trap of addressing their locations.

The video screen is divided into quarters, with each site having an image of all the others. There were problems with sound, both in level and clarity, as well as a slight time delay, as with the video news reports from Afghanistan. This sometimes led to one caller talking over another who had already started to speak. However, the students quickly adapted and allowed suitable pauses.

It was also difficult to plan how long it would take to cover the course. Conventional teaching methods had to be adapted. I decided to provide the students with all the handouts at the beginning of the course, so that they had material to work on if the video conferencing connection went down. I also found that visual materials were helpful and course materials had to be restructured.

Students were asked to fulfil tasks during the sessions, so that they would not be viewing passively and interaction would be two-way. (It is worth remembering that sotto voce comments can be picked up by the microphones!) It was also a good idea to get interactive feedback about how the classes were progressing.

This is new technology and it will take time to realise its full potential. Despite some of the problems with sound, early responses from the students have been positive and they seem to be enjoying the experience, particularly not having to travel far.

John Brims is senior lecturer in the school of special education and training at James Watt College, Greenock