A commitment to learn and a commitment to help others learn are the tenets that guide students at Mangere’s Viscount School, and for one class the fulfilment of the second tenet has become easier with the arrival of an Interactive Whiteboard (IWB).
“The IWB strongly encourages collaborative learning and that is totally in line with our principles,” says deputy principal, Barbara Woods.
As part of the Auckland cluster for Project ACTIVate, the school installed a Promethean ACTIV Board brand of IWB in a mixed Year 7 and 8 classroom where it’s used for up to four hours a day to discuss international events, research information, practice reading and writing, and play the occasional educational game.
The IWB has also been used for individual class presentations on topics as varied as why the Titanic sank, to creating static electricity and what college is right for me? While students are free to use whatever graphics, soundtracks and other computer wizardry, each presentation must include substantive and supplementary questions and answers and a conclusion.
With each student having a file to store their work on the IWB, form teacher Sarah Reid uses the IWB to show parents their child’s work. With a roll that’s 80 percent Pacifica, Sarah finds the IWB an effective tool to help communicate with parents who often have English as a second language.
“They love it, it completely blows them away to see their child’s work displayed that way,” says Sarah.
The research component of the project has recently been completed and looked at the influence of the IWB on engagement levels in the class. Full results from this and other studies in Project ACTIVate schools are being written up as case studies which will be made available on the Digital Opportunities website later on in the year.
Sarah commented that while the introduction of the IWB has been a steep learning curve for her, it has facilitated group learning and is a welcome addition to the classroom.
“It’s been good. It’s taken a while sometimes to get things up on the board but the more I use it and the kids use it, the easier it has become and they love it,” says Sarah.
