ICT in Schools

Interactive whole class teaching

Barking and Dagenham's technology solution - A unique approach

Technology to support the pedagogy

The approach used in Barking and Dagenham is to provide a technology solution that enhances and supports effective pedagogy, rather than have the pedagogy being led by the technology.

The successful pedagogy prevalent in classrooms across the borough is one based upon talk and interaction, where pupils and the teacher are all able to face each other and engage in proper dialogue.

A large display screen positioned so that everyone is able to see it acts as a stimulus for this dialogue and provides a common and shared focus for discussion, explanation and exposition.

Why not interactive whiteboards?

Whereas many schools elsewhere in the country have invested in interactive whiteboards, in Barking and Dagenham this was not appropriate.

The technology could not support our pedagogy as it required the operator (teacher or pupil) to face away from the rest of the class.

Not only that, but the display would be obscured for some of the class whenever anyone is touching the board, and the board size and height would make it difficult for everyone to see the whole of the image clearly.

Add to this the obvious health and safety concerns about looking into the path of a projector beam and access to the technology by disabled people and it was very clear to us that whiteboards were unsuited to use in the classroom.

The search for a pedagogically sound solution

A bright ceiling-mounted projector and a standard large projection screen mounted high enough on the wall solved the problem of how everyone could see the displayed image from a computer.

We still needed a way of interacting with the software using the whiteboard tools but from anywhere in the classroom and particularly while the teacher was facing the class.

The graphics tablets used for many years in the design world would be ideal, but nobody made a portable wireless version.

Although it solved the problem for the teacher sitting at the front of the classrooms, it could not be passed around the class without a very long lead that would tie everyone up in knots!

The technology breakthrough

Finally, after lobbying educational suppliers for about 2 years, 1 company came up with the solution we had been looking for - a wireless (not infra-red) portable graphics tablet for an affordable price.

Subsequently other manufacturers have followed suit and there is now some real choice in the market for alternatives to whiteboards.

We now have 2 models in schools in Barking and Dagenham - the GTCO CalComp InterWrite School Pad and the Promethean ActivSlate.

Adding value to a whole class technology solution

Following our successful study visit to North Carolina in 1999 we had been impressed by the sheer enabling power of the Visualiser - the power to transform the ability of the teacher to show real objects to the whole class at the same time, and for pupils to show each other their work.

Although installed in the City Learning Centre since it opened in 2002, it was a combination of the Department for Children, Schools and Families ICT Test Bed Project and a general reduction in prices for the technology that enabled us to put the Visualiser, together with the wireless tablet/slate, at the heart of our technology solution.

Completing the picture

Good high quality stereo sound, VHS and DVD video, and a bespoke furniture design all combine to produce the ideal classroom workstation toolkit and one which supports and enhances effective practice.

The Test Bed Accelerating Change website has many images and supporting text on the successful implementation of this technology.

The new Jo Richardson Community School at Castle Green has been designed to incorporate this approach from the outset.