Principal of St Mary’s School on Auckland’s North Shore, Paul Engles, recently presented a paper on Project ACTIVate at the inaugural Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Conference in Hong Kong.
Outlining Project ACTIVate to educationalists, researchers and IWB providers from around the world, Paul said the sharing of resources between schools hundreds of kilometres apart was seen as an innovative use of the IWBs and created a lot of interest.
“Overseas, a school’s resources are shared on the intranet between classes, not between schools,” says Paul.
Subsequently, Paul has responded to numerous queries regarding the use of IWBs to facilitate distance learning.
The three-day conference was also an invaluable opportunity to source ideas. Several hours were spent at the nearby English-speaking school where Paul saw how IWBs were applied in the classroom.
“We were able to see the IWBs being used in schools that have had them for much longer than us… it was also a chance to meet with researchers to discuss and refine things and confirm where we’re going with the project. It showed that Project ACTIVate’s goals are robust and similar to that of other countries.”
Accompanying Paul on the trip was Murray Thoms, Director of Envision Presentations and supplier of the Promethean whiteboard to Project ACTIVate; Simon Briscoe, South Island Teaching and Learning Advisor for Envision Presentations; Roger Stephenson, Principal of Windsor North School, Invercargill; Hilary Miller, ICT Facilitator for Auckland's Westlake Girls' High School; and Karen Corbin, ICT Co-ordinator for James Hargest College, Invercargill.
With the conference declared a success, Paul says delegates are hoping to make it an annual event.
