Electrical students at Berwick TEC Matt, Jak, Ben, Jordan, Ryan, Adam, Josh, Mark, Dave, Tim and Steve chat to fellow students in Shanghai using Skype.
By Kelly Yates
ELECTRICAL students at Berwick Technical Educational Centre (TEC) are using the internet communications tool Skype to work with fellow students in Shanghai, China.
The students, aged between 16 and 18, built battery chargers in kit form and then shipped them to the students at the Shanghai Power Industry School last week and using Skype they helped them reassemble the kits.
Electrical teacher Lachlan Maclean and ICT co-ordinator Keith McGinn came up with the idea after Mr Maclean wanted to make the standard battery charger project more exciting for the students.
“I thought, why not try to create a problem-solving exercise that’s a bit different?” he said.
Both Mr Maclean and Mr McGinn travelled to China in June this year in a bid to further develop their partnerships with Chinese training colleges.
Mr Maclean says the project is very much “student-driven.”
“The 15 Australian participants and 12 Chinese students will have a laptop, webcam, earphones and microphone as tools to complete the project and be expected to solve any issues or problems that arise themselves,” he said.
“Some barriers that they will be required to overcome will be language, cultural and technological.”
Mr Maclean plans to do the project every year within the VCAL Electrical program.
