Brill School Innovative Projects Report

School Contact Hazel Hughes, ITCO

Project Aims

In September 2001, after careful research, Brill School purchased two interactive white boards and projectors with funding from the innovative projects initiative. We wanted to incorporate ICT into the teaching of all core subjects and across the curriculum. We were interested in exploring the potential of this teaching tool and enhancing the delivery of the curriculum. We also wanted to discover the practical advantages and the pitfalls in using Interactive White Board (IWB) technology.

The IWB has been used across the curriculum in PHSE and RE as well as the core subjects. In particular it has been very popular when used with RM Easiteach to deliver maths lessons. Children have enjoyed participating in maths lessons, which have been lively and motivating. It requires a little time to become familiar with Easiteach but this was considered to be extremely worthwhile. In other subjects the smart notebook software (free with the board) proved to be an extremely easy and versatile tool.

All staff have made valuable contributions to the project. KS1 teachers encountered more practical difficulties using a mobile board with young children. They have emphasised the importance of setting up a convenient system with a wall-mounted board and fixed projector, neither of which can then be nudged by children. KS2 staff also stress the importance of overcoming practical arrangements in the classroom so that the IWB is clearly visible and accessible for frequent use. The addition of speakers and printers for the laptop were considered desireable. All of these suggestions however stemmed from the wish to use the IWB even more. Teachers recognise the enormous potential of this teaching tool and once tempted to trial the IWB they have generally come back for more.

Like any equipment, the IWB needs to be readily and conveniently available for use by busy professionals. Whilst all class teachers have enjoyed using the board, it is has been most beneficial when installed in a classroom and used frequently. In this case I have been grateful for the opportunity to use the board intensively and fully explore its potential. I am sure that any enthusiastic user will quickly become fluent. My thanks go to the Advisory Service/Innovative Projects Fund for making this possible, to the Head teacher Chris Hirst for his outstanding encouragement and to all my colleagues who have advanced this whole school project. I can't imagine life without an Interactive White Board again. It has now become an integral part of teaching at Brill.

Rationale

I'm an optimist. Two years ago and flushed with post NOF success, I decided to investigate using interactive whiteboards to teach across the curriculum. I read everything I could and visited one or two excellent pioneer schools to look at boards in situ. In general the boards sat in splendour but in lonely isolation in the school computer suite. My intention was to take this technology out of the computer suite and into the classroom. It was made possible by the Bucks innovative projects fund. This report is about one school's experience in the use and development of this exciting tool. Our interactive white boards were installed in September 2001 and have quickly become an essential classroom asset.

Choosing a Board

It was worthwhile spending some time investigating the different types of interactive white board. They are all impressive and I quickly realised that Sales Representatives were adept in demonstrating what their boards could do. They did not of course show what can't be done! In order to help recognise the limitations as well as the capabilities of a board I tried them with a set of specific lesson objectives. This immediately reduced the field of contenders.

There were still many excellent solutions available. For our circumstances I decided to prioritise on the medium of communication. I wanted all the children (including KS 1) to be able to interact directly and easily with the board itself, which was to be the constant focus of attention. This ruled out special pens and tablets. I was also looking for easy to use software. I was demanding /wanting additional functionality without adding to the teaching burden of unfamiliar software!

Finally I chose the Smart Board, You can write with almost anything that comes to hand; a pen, a drumstick or simply use your finger. Children's attention is not diverted by any hand held device, as we all focus together on the board. In addition the software is genuinely intuitive and ready to go. You can prepare lessons using the Smart Software or use any other standard application. Better still you can move easily between the two to overlay standard applications with annotations and explanations.

Purchasing

I quickly realised that purchasing a board may call for some slightly less than scout-like behaviour! Polite requests for departmental purchases were backed up with vigorous discussion in the staffroom, a curious influx of persuasive leaflets from suppliers and finally a personal demonstration on our own premises. This resulted in huge enthusiasm from everyone but still no board. Finally we seized on the innovative projects initiative and were delighted with the successful outcome of our bid.

Training
I remember once reading a depressing leaflet entitled, 'How to get fit'. A list of sports activities was appended with a brief explanation of how this sport would help you on the road to fitness. I read down the list: Cycling for stamina; Dance for co-ordination; Basketball .for agility. When I got to squash it simple said 'Don't play this game to get fit, you have to be fit to play. Using an interactive white board is a bit like playing squash.

Anyone who feels reasonably comfortable using a personal computer will enjoy experimenting with a white board, Post NOF, all our staff approached the project with great enthusiasm. We allocated an INSET day for training so that everyone could have some hands on experience. This was so successful that we had to quell disagreement by arranging a timetable for the fair sharing of our two sets of equipment.
Initial training was an important factor in encouraging everyone to feel part of the project. I also felt that it was important to continue to support the project with further training at a later stage. Two months after the initial INSET day we held a further training session to discuss any practical problems and share our experiences.

Practicalities
In using our boards we have experimented with different classroom set-ups. We want all classes to be able to access this resource so we purchased trolleys to conveniently accommodate the projectors and laptops. A lower shelf on the trolley enables us to have a printer too. One of the boards is wail mounted and carefully carried between Key Stage Two classrooms. The other board is genuinely mobile, attached to its own trolley. To my surprise the wall-mounted board has been the most successful. It is cheaper, takes up less space attached to the wall, has no inconvenient trolley feet to trip over and cannot be nudged by curious children. It must of course be carefully sited in a central .room position and at a sensible height - alongside the traditional whiteboard may be ideal. In Key Stage One we allow as much space as possible between the board and the projector for carpet area discussion. In my own classroom in Key Stage Two, I have arranged seating so that everyone can see the board whilst working at their desk. Whilst these are perfectly acceptable solutions, there is no doubt that fixed resources, permanent cabling and ceiling mounted projectors would be preferable.

Subject Teaching:

Maths

We were now ready to launch the board into teaching. As proud owners of interactive whiteboards it seemed logical to purchase some specialist applications specifically designed for use on a board. We invested in RM Easiteach to enhance the delivery of our maths lessons. This can be used in three ways:

• Quick tools
• Ready made lesson
• Personal lessons

At first sight RM Easiteach provides an excellent array of useful teaching tools. There are number lines, number grids, place value cards and a function machine alt of which would be difficult if not impossible to reproduce quickly using any other method. The ability to drag symbols, pictures, characters and coins onto the board as well as number digits is also impressive. Key Stage One teachers were particularly pleased with the coins and in Key Stage Two we have enjoyed the ready made sorting diagrams.

Included with the Easiteach license, RM also provide a useful Web site of read! made lessons to download and use in class. Clearly labelled, these lessons address some but not all of the Numeracy Strategy objectives. By viewing these lessons I was able to find out more about the potential of this teaching tool and explore demonstration techniques.

I soon decided that I would like to write my own lessons tailored to the needs of my particular class. It's straight forward to compile simple maths procedures and your decision as to how much time you spend on the details. I confess that I've had great fun and spent many happy hours incorporating graphics, cartoon characters, speech bubbles and photos into maths lessons. It takes patience and not all file formats can be imported but children really sit up and listen when its time for maths. The benefits of Easiteach have been a highly motivated class and improved concentration.
l believe that the long term value of using these tools lies in the ability to increase the pace of a lesson. It takes some time to become familiar with the software but this investment enables you to fluently incorporate Easiteach features whilst continuing to move the lesson on.
We are continuing to use RM Easiteach at Brill School as well as exploring commercial maths software from other manufacturers. RM has now introduced a revised version of Easiteach which should make lesson writing much simpler. It also introduces some new features such as a digital and analogue clock.

As one of the Bucks Innovative Projects we are pleased to share our experiences. If you prefer to see for yourself instead of reading a report then we suggest two options.

Firstly we are hosting an RM Maths event on May 21" when it will be possible to view the whole suite of RM Maths software You can watch RM demonstrations orsee a personal lesson and ask for some honest answers, Whether you are considering purchasing software or have already invested and want to find out more, we hope this will be a useful occasion.

Alternatively make arrangements to visit our school for a daily maths lesson with an LMT, we have tiny classrooms so this is limited to a maximum squeeze of two visitors.

Literacy

In literacy we have not purchased any additional software, Instead we have made use of the board's own excellent notebook The smart notebook is extremely versatile and very easy to use. Unlike Easiteach, there is no limit to the number of pages which can be prepared arid stored. It accommodates a wide range of graphic files and you can embed items into the background to avoid distortion.

Children thoroughly enjoy getting involved in lessons by writing a word of improvement or editing and moving objects across the screen. As long as the objects are a reasonable size, all children can succesfully grab them centrally so that they move instead of distort. I make sure they grab only mobile items by embedding other objects into the background. I have discovered that almost all children find it easier to drag items down the board instead of moving them upwards, fve no idea. why this is the case but I now position items very carefully! Lessons then move on smoothly with all the fun of interaction and less of the minor difficulties in technique.

'Grammer for Writing' has introduced a changing emphasis in the delivery of the literacy hour. The DFES lesson material seemed very appropriate for adaptation to an interactive white board and I have used this as the basis for developing a series of writing lessons. I would not suggest that the board is suited to large quantities of creative writing. This would be much faster to model on a traditional board. However, it is idea! for most sentence and word level activities. In particular the interactive board has proved ideal for editing and improving passages, sentence construction, changing the order of words, punctuation and spelling patterns. An unexpected benefit is the ability to review lessons. Once written, lessons can be reused and revisited and when appropriate we start a lesson by reviewing the previous day's work.

Science

In Science we have used a flexcam microscope for investigations

• Year One children were amazed to explore the inside of some fruit.
• In Key Stage Two we were able to examine the human eye - live and moving!

The flexcam is a powerful microscope, which plugs directly into the projector. The benefits are clear; the whole class can share one microscope, participate fully and see what's happening. Unfortunately we are unable to maximise the potential of this particular tool by capturing the image onto the computer. The purchase of an INTEL microscope has enabled us to both view and capture the image but the image quality and magnification is much poorer

ICT

It was never intended that the interactive white board become part of the computer suite. Nevertheless it has proved an 'en suite' aid with immediate and huge benefits! The ability to view applications and demonstrate and discuss options with the whole class is much appreciated by all. Spreadsheets for example, can be analysed and compared with whole class teaching in a way that was never possible before. Children are eager to suggest and write formula together and by sharing ideas we were able to develop more efficient practices. lack breaking ICT lessons bent over individual monitors are now a thing of the past and I have no regrets! In addition the children feel better supported and are making more progress. Even without an interactive board I would recommend whole class teaching by projecting the image onto a large screen or wall.

Teaching across the curriculum

With an interactive white board the possibilities for whole class teaching are endless. I prepare my lessons at home and bring them to school on a floppy disc ready to load up the next day. In addition, any CD can be loaded and viewed by the whole class. With Internet access to the laptop you can also access the world wide web and incorporate innumerable resources into your lessons,

Evaluation

After a year it is difficult to imagine being without this tool again. The children are eager to participate and have become fluent users of this technology. Their generic computing skills have improved as I talk through the daily routines of loading software, opening files and saving our work. Furthermore they have approached any difficulties we have encountered with a pragmatic problem solving approach They have happily supported one another anal their teacher as we have worked together to master the simple operating techniques. "Computers are really stupid," .remarked one child, "you have to tell them the obvious things, whereas interactive whiteboards are something else!" As a confirmed whiteboard fan, I couldn't agree more!