In partnership with five different technology and health organizations, the Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC) will participate in the largest VirtualClassroom group session to date, scheduled for April 19, 2007.

A record number of 600 students from across the country are expected to take part in the upcoming Youth Town Hall Session, to virtually discuss the topic of "Diet & Body Image." Six high schools in Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, St. John's and Fredericton will use CAnet 4 - Canada's very high-speed research and education network - to communicate by videoconference and through some newly-developed, research prototype visual communication tools.

"To our knowledge, this is the first time that a broadband cross-Canada youth town hall session has taken place," said CRC's John Spence, who co-manages the CRC/NRC VirtualClassroom with Dr. Martin Brooks at the National Research Council (NRC).

"A variety of synchronous and asynchronous broadband visual tools and grouping strategies will be implemented to facilitate the sheer number of students," said Dr. Martin Brooks. "This will be a unique opportunity to leverage technology for citizen engagement and will allow students to gain experience in e-democracy,"

While the CRC and the NRC will offer the network, technology tools and support to the equation, the heath and wellness aspect of the event will be rounded out with the support of the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, the Global eHealth and Wellness Network Initiative (Department of Public Health Services, University of Toronto), the Canadian Paediatric Society and the Canadian Obesity Network. The partner health organizations will provide the latest scientific knowledge on diet and body image, and their members will participate as expert mentors during the session on April 19.

During the session, grade nine to 12 students will research the underlying factors that cause obesity and eating disorders. They will also discuss the physical, social and mental challenges they face in achieving a healthy lifestyle. Periodically, students at all locations will view pre-taped interviews offering various perspectives on topics related to diet and body image. For example, an NHL player with the Ottawa Senators will offer his views to students on the pressures of steroid use amongst young males.

In addition to the synchronous, real-time discussion during the videoconference, each school will have access to tools for user-generated online video as asynchronous visual communication. For example, in upcoming school sessions, each small group will generate a one-minute video using VCam, a visual communication answering machine. After VCam is used to describe the group's position on a health issue, it is mounted on the VCam server where it is immediately accessible to the other participating students. Subsequently, each group will be assigned to view and respond to several other groups' videos.

The VirtualClassroom program has been providing distance learning technologies to students within Canada and around the world for over 10 years. The program uses high-speed (10 MB to 1 GB) fibre optic and bidirectional satellite connections (500 kb to 1 MB) as well as broadband visual communication tools to create rich media-interactive learning environments.