The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Helen Clark launched the latest DigiOps initiative, Project ACTIVate, at St Mary’s School in Northcote, Auckland.
Miss Clark said she had taken a personal interest in all the DigiOps projects and was excited to be launching such an innovative project. Using leading edge Interactive White Board (IWB) technology, Miss Clark said projects like ACTIVate ensured New Zealand students remained at the forefront of new technology being used in the classroom.
“Project ACTIVate will enable teachers to do exciting things and open up learning opportunities for students,” said Miss Clark.
Involving five Auckland and 10 Southland schools, Project ACTIVate is a pilot study looking at how IWB technology can facilitate co-operative and inquiry-based learning between schools in different parts of the country using an interactive portal, Macromedia Breeze, where classes ‘dial up’ and content is shared on the whiteboards via video images and a range of presentation tools.
The Prime Minister was later given a demonstration of the IWBs in action when a St Mary’s School Year 6 class linked up to Southland Girls’ High School and conducted an experiment into what sinks and floats.
Auckland-based Envision Presentations Ltd brought the Promethean IWB technology to New Zealand 18 months ago, one of a range of such products presently available.
“It’s a dynamic ICT tool that will allow teachers to go further by enriching, enhancing and inspiring students,” said Envision Presentation director, Murray Thoms.
The project will be monitored using an action research model. Benchmarked against Massey University research guidelines, John Raine, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the Auckland Campus of Massey University said that Project ACTIVate research will provide useful and exciting insights, and identify how the technology can be used to support collaborative and inquiry-based learning.
Rex Capil from Venture Southland, also a partner in the project, said they were delighted to be part of it and look forward to supporting the participating Southland schools’ for the duration of the project.
