5th Megaconference Junior Joins K-12 Students Worldwide via Advanced Multi-Point Video Conferencing
Sydney, Australia
– 21 February 2008 - Starting from 11pm AEDT on February 21 and running for 12 hours, the Australian Academic Research Network (AARNet) will be connecting Australian students to the fifth annual Megaconference Junior global virtual classroom event.www.megaconferencejr.org. http://commonsvcg.oar.net/megaconference. The event runs from 11pm Thursday – 11am Friday, Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time. The 12-hour duration makes it possible for schools from many time zones to participate during their regular school hours. www.aarnet.edu.au.
Megaconference Junior is the world’s largest videoconference for school students. Thousands of K-12 students from 215 schools across 13 countries will come together using advanced videoconferencing technology to deliver presentations and activities focusing on a wide array of cultural and academic ideas.
In Australia, students and educators from Scots College in Sydney will participate in the Megaconference Junior and students from Mt Gravatt High School in Brisbane will view the event.
Chris Hancock, CEO AARNet, said, "Megaconference Junior is a project designed to give students in primary and secondary schools around the world the opportunity to communicate, collaborate and contribute to each other's learning in real time, using advanced multi-point video conferencing technology. We are pleased to be able to bring this type of global collaboration to Australian school students via AARNet’s high-capacity link."
Presenters for Megaconference Junior design and conduct videoconference-based presentations and activities focused on both academic and cultural issues. Participants are able to address questions to presenters and to collaborate with geographically diverse peers in collaborative learning activities, thus building international cultural awareness.
Starting at 10:05am on Friday, February 22 AEDT, students at Sydney’s Scots College will be presenting a 25-minute documentary as part of Megaconference Junior. The documentary, entitled, "A Truth Acknowledged", focuses on the students’ lives and their feelings on global warming. The students will be available for a Q and A session after the documentary is complete.
Detailed information about the event, including the day’s schedule of presentation, is available at
Countries involved in this year’s Megaconference Junior include Australia, Canada, Croatia, England, Hungary, Japan, Malta, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and the United States.
Sites anywhere in the world are also encouraged to watch the live webstream on
Technical services and facilitation of the Megaconference Jr. event in Australia and the Pacific Region are provided through the collaborative efforts of the Australian Academic and Research Network (AARNet) and Internet2.
ENDS
About Megaconference Jr.
Megaconference Jr. is the world’s first all virtual K-12 videoconference event over Internet2 and high-speed networks around the world. This event is made possible by a volunteer team of technologists, students, teachers and staff. The collaboration of the AARNet and Internet2 Commons Videoconferencing Services provides the high capacity multi-point videoconferencing technology that makes this event possible.
About AARNet
AARNet Pty Ltd (APL) is the company that operates Australia's Academic and Research Network (AARNet). It is a not-for-profit company limited by shares. The shareholders are 37 Australian universities and the CSIRO. AARNet provides high-capacity leading edge Internet services for the tertiary education and research sector communities and their research partners. AARNet serves more than one million end users who access the network through local area networks at member institutions. For further information, please visit:
