An increasing number of primary and secondary schools are leveraging video conferencing for classroom-to-classroom collaboration as a way to expand their curriculum and interact with students and teachers in other regions.

Each year hundreds of schools get their first experience through Read Around the Planet, a free videoconferencing event sponsored by Polycom and US-based Two-Way Interactive Connections in Education. In its ninth year, the evnt involved more than 58,000 students in six countries.

Elaine Shuck, Global Market Director of Primary and Secondary schools, Polycom, noted: "Use of videoconferencing within schools is expanding from popular virtual field trips with great content providers like NASA and museums, to include more direct collaboration between classrooms. Programmes like Read Around the Planet are a great way to engage students and expand the possibilities for classroom education."