Building a learning community via videoconferencing

Rapid technological development in the last decade makes it easier than ever to use technologies as collaborative learning tools. Computer video conferencing as a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) technology provides increasing opportunities for learners to share experiences across time and space. The following describes how multipoint desktop video conferencing (MDVC) is used in preservice teacher education programs in Singapore to enhance the professional development of preservice teachers by allowing them to share ideas, experiences and teaching resources in real time with an audience wider than the schools where they teach.