Posted June 2009 Bedtime reading for Ormiston
		For many Queenslanders' the thought of getting up at 5.30am is enough to make them cringe. Not to mention roll over and go back to sleep. But Sharon Hendy-Moman didn't give the early start a second thought when she was asked to sacrifice sleep to read a bedtime story to children on the other side of the world. A collaborative project between Ormiston State School and Ormiston School, Scotland, the teacher librarian used the department's web conferencing program to help the international students celebrate Library Week. The Learning Place's web conferencing system helped the two schools communicate securely during Library Week.

'It was an absolutely amazing experience and one I will never forget,' said Ormiston State School teacher, Mrs Hendy-Moman.

'The web-conferencing program enabled me to take part in the Scottish celebration by reading Australian book 'Koala Lou' to the children, while I sat in front of my computer in Brisbane.

'The technology enabled the kids to see and hear me, and I could see and hear them,'

An initiative of Mrs Hendy-Moman and Scottish teacher, Jenny Ross, the project focused on the pair finding a way to join the two schools - both carrying the same name - together.

With the assistance of staff from the Learning Place, it was eventually decided that the school's Reader's Clubs should join together using Web Conferencing and a data screen.

The department's new Web Conferencing program is currently being implemented and will be available to all schools.

After several early-morning practice sessions, the real thing happened on 23 April 2009, coinciding with the Scottish school's Library Week sleepover.

'I may have been sitting in my pyjamas but I felt like I was at a rock concert, and I was the rock star,' said Mrs Hendy-Moman.

'The Scottish children were so excited and cheered when my image popped up on their data screen - it really was a bit of a novelty for them because they had not experienced anything like it before and I had not anticipated their excitement level would be so high.'

Come the end Term 2, it is hoped Ormiston State School's Readers Club will get their chance for an international experience. 'We are thinking of doing exactly the same thing again, only in reverse,' said Mrs Hendy-Moman.

'It will be a chance for the children here to have a famous Scottish story read to them from the other side of the world.'

View more examples of the web conferencing system being used in Education.