Whiteboard Support from Haywood CLC

The text which follows was prepared by Andrew Flowerdew, (Senior ICT Adviser and City Learning Co-ordinator).  Andrew circulated this to schools on 18th July 2002 as a briefing document and used it to secure funding for the project from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.  The milestone dates specified in the 'implementation' section are now incorrect because of delays in securing the funding.  A revised implementation schedule will soon be available.  The project is being managed under the auspices of the Stoke-on-Trent Excellence in Cities Partnership via the City Learning Centre based at Haywood High School.

Improving Attainment and Changing Cultures in the Classroom through the use of Interactive Whiteboards

Aims

• To improve the proportion of students who achieve 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE and level 4 or above in key stage 2.

• To encourage pupils, teachers and other members of the community to interact more effectively with a variety of stimulating learning tools (Research indicates that students were more involved, attentive, and motivated when lessons were offered using the board rather than using other teaching methods). To improve pupil motivation through the application of this exciting technology (Research suggests that using Interactive Whiteboards with those pupils with the most initial problems showed the most improvement in achievement and confidence, ergo increasing participation in their regular classroom) To build on initiatives within the LEA that focus on the use of Interactive Whiteboards to enhance the learning environment.

• To encourage new approaches, in combination with video conferencing, to enhance the transition between different key stages by allowing teachers from different schools/key stages to view, participate in and carry out, lessons in partner schools.

• To improve learning and teaching by using the Interactive Whiteboard as a focus for stimulating whole-class teaching.

• To reinforce, and build on, improvements in attainment made through the literacy and numeracy strategies by enabling more effective and interactive whole-class teaching.

• To improve attainment by more effective use of Internet resources within a range of subjects through the use of the interactive whiteboard to deliver whole-class teaching.

• To improve individual pupil understanding of complex concepts by allowing whole-class discussion and modelling on the whiteboard followed by being able to store and review session interaction on school/home computers later on (For example, the use of vivid colour and the flexibility to change colour removes the two-dimensional aspect of trying to teach geometry and the storing of work carried out on the Interactive Whiteboard during the class on the school network/web site).

• To accommodate different learning styles. Tactile learners can benefit from touching and marking at the board, audio learners can benefit through the development of class discussion and the use of amplified audio presentations, visual learners can see what is taking place as it develops at the board. One-computer classrooms can maximize the use of limited computer access by using the whiteboard. Students can work together with individuals contributing at the board, other participants at the computer, and the group as a whole discussing the activity. Students with limited motor skills can enjoy board use. Because of large format, it may be easier for students to run programs by tapping on the board rather than mouse clicking. To build on an LEA initiative aimed at encouraging the use of electronic mind-mapping tools to enhance the attainment of all pupils.

The combination of these benefits will help change the learning culture within the following schools and assist in improving attainment by pupils within their learning community:

Project Development

We will launch the concept at a twilight workshop session lead by expert teachers. The concept will be explained in detail, as will the need for commitment on behalf of the school. Their commitment will be to adopting an informed and agreed process to maximise the benefits from this new technology. In return they will receive mainstream and networked peer support as well as a whiteboard. They will also need to commit themselves to creating community access to the whiteboard facility.

Schools will commit themselves to the interactive whiteboard project. We will then order the whiteboards centrally according to commitment, budget availability and criteria. Teachers within each school will be trained at one of the two City Learning Centres that will be given Specialist Training Centre status by the whiteboard provider and our experts in teaching and community learning.

Specific activities and resources, aimed at both Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4, will be developed and used to focus school developments in these areas. In particular:

Literacy The use of ICT within the English curriculum emphasises the use of ICT to develop "Communicating and Exchanging Ideas". The creative use of the features of word processors, desktop publishers, web pages and email will be explored. Learning situations that include the use of ICT to develop understanding within literacy are investigated and opportunity is given to share resources and expertise in these areas. Pupils will be motivated to become more involved in research and analysis activities when their final presentations are delivered to the whole class through the Interactive Whiteboard. Specific tools that are provided with the Interactive Whiteboard enable teachers to focus on specific parts of a piece of text, involve students in discussion and record both the discussion and any outcomes for use later. Students can be shown on-line learning and revision resources more effectively using the Interactive Whiteboard, encouraging the use of these resources.

Numeracy Classroom examples will be used to illustrate the way ICT can help to develop mathematical concepts and aid understanding. Learning situations using generic software will be developed and teachers will be given opportunity to share experiences and resources with other mathematics teachers. Workshops will develop the use of such things as graphing packages, computer models and spreadsheets. Students can be shown on-line learning and revision resources more effectively using the Interactive Whiteboard, encouraging the use of these resources.

Science Science teachers will investigate suitable software for science and will look at learning situations that incorporate its use. Examples of how to use generic software such as spreadsheets, word processors and databases to best advantage will also be pursued. Face to face and video-conferencing workshops will give practical experience of the use of such things as data loggers, digitised video images, subject-specific software and spreadsheet models. Students can be shown on-line learning and revision resources more effectively using the Interactive Whiteboard, encouraging the use of these resources. This is particularly appropriate in science where there is a large number of excellent on-line resources, particularly useful in a whole-class context, encourage the type of stimulating discussion that helps to re-enforce scientific concepts that can be difficult for students to acquire through other means.

ICT The use of Interactive Whiteboards improves the delivery of the knowledge, skills and understanding required for effective teaching of ICT by providing a focus for the demonstration of skills to the whole class as a starting point for class activities followed by the ability to re-focus and re-enforce skills during the lesson. Students can be shown on-line learning and revision resources more effectively using the Interactive Whiteboard, encouraging the use of these resources. The Interactive Whiteboard provides an ideal medium for students to present their work to the whole of the class and to involve their peers in discussion about its merits.

Teachers will be required to develop and share ideas about the use of the whiteboards through the medium of:

• Termly workshops - to develop and share good practice in learning, teaching and the community applications of the technology.

• An on-line discussion forum - will provide the opportunity to share ideas about good practice and discuss problem resolution that will ensure that the implementation and training phase will be shorter than previous projects. This will help ensure maximum impact on learning and teaching in the shortest possible time.

• An on-line bank of ideas and resources - this will provide a fast and easy mechanism for providing resources that can be downloaded by both pupils ad teachers, again, speeding up implementation. These resources will be created as part of the initial training activities and as a result of continuing training and idea sharing activities both on-line and within schools.

• Regular meetings within the CLC to develop materials - groups of teachers will be required to meet regularly to develop specific curriculum focused materials based around need. In particular, we will be focusing on the use of electronic mind-mapping with a range of curriculum subject areas.

• Development of case studies for publication - schools will be required to produce case studies identifying successful, and not so successful, activities. These will be presented on the Stoke Grid for Learning web site along with an associated discussion forum.

These activities and resources will provide quality assured materials that will enable teaching staff within the schools to provide a range of educational activities focused on improving pupil motivation and attainment across the curriculum as a whole and specifically targeted at literacy, numeracy, science and ICT.

Research indicates that pupils who are placed in an ICT rich environment can make significant improvements in attainment and this has been reinforced when the use of Interactive Whiteboards is considered.

Evaluation Process

Target schools will incorporate planning for the implementation of this project within their school development plans, in consultation with LEA advisors, and will evaluate the effectiveness of the project on the learning and teaching activities within their own environment, against the planning that they have carried out. They will be expected to report on these evaluations to other schools within the project. There will be an expectation that their school development plans in the second year of the project will reflect these evaluations.

Reviews of commercial software resources aimed at specific subjects and Key Stages will be produced and included in the project report.

Working groups set up to coordinate activities around a Key Stage of subject area will be required to produce a report on their activities each term.

The impact on individual schools will be reviewed as part of the school self review and evaluation process (SSRE) undertaken each year by the LEA in partnership with the schools. This includes qualitative and quantitative data analysis.

Publication of a series of case studies reporting on the effectiveness of the learning, the opportunities for interaction with students and the amount of teacher time involved during the preparation of the lessons. A questionnaire will be developed to support this.

Ethnographic based research activities, exploring teacher and pupil responses to Interactive whiteboard technology and its impact on the learning environment will be developed and the research evidence presented as part of the project report. This will include analysis of selected pupils progress throughout the project.

The Project Report, both interim and final, will be presented for peer review in various journals and via other means, such as conference presentations, on-line discussion events, etc.

Implementation Plan

This is the overall implementation plan. Support is loaded during the first year of the project with the expectation that as the project progresses more support will be delivered via a variety of on-line methods.

The participating schools are: Belgrave C.E. Primary; Sutherland Primary; Sneyd Green Primary; St. Mary's C.E. Primary; St. Peter's Catholic Primary; St. Maria Goretti; Christchurch C.E. Primary; Hollywall Primary; Summerbank Primary; Edensor C.E. Primary; Edensor High; Mitchell High; St. Thomas More Catholic College; Heron Cross Primary; Blurton Primary; John Baskeyfield C.E. Primary; Newstead Primary.

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With acknowledgements to:

Stoke-on-Trent Excellence in Cities Partnership                     The Haywood City Learning Centre                      Stoke-on-Trent LEA                     Neighbourhood Renewal Fund                     NLS/NNS Interactive Whiteboard Demonstration Pilot                     LEA Numeracy Team