Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Understanding the Psychology of Domestic Violence
  • GADRA and Mobile Science Lab launch new science project
  • Beading through the generations
  • Almost 50 GADRA alumni graduate from Rhodes this week!
  • How it feels to go without water for seven days
  • Cleaning Kowie River and Fairview Spring for World Water Day
  • Local soccer teams avoid SAB Regional League relegation!
  • Bongani Fule: new Eastern Cape Junior Lightweight champion!
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»EDUCATION»Windows on the world: Makhanda and Syracuse meet through giant portals
EDUCATION

Windows on the world: Makhanda and Syracuse meet through giant portals

Rod AmnerBy Rod AmnerJanuary 20, 2022Updated:January 20, 2022No Comments2 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
The Video Portal test between the Joza Youth Hub and the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central (ITC) school in Syracuse, USA, in early January. The launch event is Thursday January 27 at 4.30 pm.

By STAFF REPORTER

How can students experience the world in the middle of a pandemic?

With limited travel abilities over the past two years, Ken Harper, professor and director of the Newhouse Center for Global Engagement at Syracuse University, USA, and a team of teachers in Makhanda and Syracuse, hatched a plan to bring their students together: giant video portals.

“When students enter the portal, it’s as if they are standing directly across from another person, but that person is halfway around the world,” said Harper.

Intercontinental collaborators on the giant video portal project: Rod Amner, Grocott’s editor and senior lecturer in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University (left), and Ken Harper, professor and director of the Newhouse Center for Global Engagement at Syracuse University, USA.

Two 82-inch screens have been erected at the Joza Youth Hub and the Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies.

Two other screens and cameras are located in the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central (ITC) high school and in the Newhouse School of Public Communications, one of the USA’s top-rated journalism and communications schools.

In real-time, students in Makhanda can chat with students in Syracuse, halfway around the world. Recently, a group of learners at the Joza Youth Hub tested out the portal and conversed with ITC media students during their school day. The conversation started with general questions about the time and weather, their programs, and the foods they enjoy. Later the students compared dance moves and hairstyles.

The official opening of the Joza to ITC video portal is on January 27 at 4.30 pm. The Rhodes/Newhouse portal will launch later in February.

The intent is to offer a life-size, alternative communication platform to further learning, research, and exchange in Makhanda and Syracuse, acting as an organic, informal window into another world. This initiative will be followed by a collaborative course and research project between Rhodes University and Syracuse University in 2023.

“We couldn’t have done this project without the support and cooperation of several funders and partners,” Harper said. “We appreciate the generosity of the Dorothy and Marshall M. Reisman Foundation, the John Ben Snow Foundation, Syracuse University Humanities Center, Hendricks Chapel and more.”

The Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communication building in Syracuse, New York State, USA.
Previous ArticleWeekly rainfall report – 13-19 January 2022
Next Article New Sarah Baartman executive mayor elected
Rod Amner

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.