In support of Black History Month, DTEN partnered with UK-based The National Video Conferencing in Education Group (NVCEG), to deliver an inspiring virtual workshop to 30 classrooms across 14 schools, with none other than Nelson Mandela’s former bodyguard, Chris Lubbe.

In October 2023, over 600 Year 6 and Sixth form pupils based across the UK, Poland, New York and Taiwan, joined the series of Zoom meetings, organised by the National Video Conferencing in Education Group, to celebrate the annual observance and hear from inspirational speaker, Chris Lubbe.

Mina Patel, Chair of The National Video Conferencing in Education Group and The Global Video Conferencing in Education Group said: “One of the NVCEG aims is to partner with groundbreaking innovative companies in the AV sector, like DTEN, to enrich and develop the curriculum in schools. Our mission is to connect classrooms across the globe and to the wider community, to raise attainment and aspirations for young people and give them a global voice.”

“DTEN enabled us to achieve this with the Black History Month Workshop. We were honored that they were able to support and their technology worked with such ease. Without their participation, the students wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn first hand from Chris and discuss how they could challenge racism.“

In these interactive sessions, Lubbe used a DTEN ME Pro desktop device to share his personal experiences and learnings from his 9 years working with Nelson Mandela. He shared content, annotated his presentation and told stories from his childhood during the time of Apartheid, as well as discussing ways to prevent racism in schools. Pupils in the classroom were able to ask Chris questions and engage with their peers from other schools using the video conferencing tools available.

Selborne Primary School, in West London, were amongst those who attended the workshop and also joined the session via a DTEN D7X 55” All-in-One device, connected to their existing classroom screen.

Both the Head Teacher, Kerry Shilling, and the Year 6 pupils of Selborne Primary were impressed with the experience using DTEN and commented: 

“Wow, look at the quality of the DTEN picture versus our other screen. The clarity, brightness and colour is so much better!” – Kerry Shilling, Head Teacher of Selborne Primary School

“Using the device was really easy. I didn’t need to be shown what to do – I just touched the screen and pressed the button to unmute us” – Pupil #1

“I liked that we could ask questions from where we were sat and we didn’t have to go up to the front if we didn’t want to”- Pupil #2

“I was surprised that the small camera on top could see all of us in the classroom. It had such a wide view” – Pupil #3

Chris Lubbe also commented on the classroom technology: “It was great to see how DTEN technology is able to cost-effectively and seamlessly connect students in different locations.”

Overall, the event was a huge success with pupils leaving the classroom educated, inspired and motivated to make a difference. One pupil summarized their feedback on the event, stating: “It was really fun. The message he taught around peace and forgiveness is very inspiring and I learnt that nobody should be discriminated against, as it can be life threatening.”

Mina Patel concludes: ”Not only did the session help raise an extremely important topic but it also helped to develop our next global workforce, who will be working with video conferencing technologies, like DTEN, in their future.” 

This story was also featured in AV magazine and can be found here: https://www.avinteractive.com/news/collaboration/user-view-distance-learning-about-freedom-13-12-2023/

About NVCEG

The National Video Conferencing in Education Group (NVCEG) are a group of primary and secondary schools across England all working together to enrich our curriculum though using video conferencing. They are using Zoom to connect to schools and experts around the globe. 

For more information, please visit https://www.nvceg.co.uk/ 

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