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Research Project Conference in Mexico Begins to Reveal Key Findings
Key Findings | Getting over the Hurdle | Cascading Education
Across 4 countries, nearly 4000 children with age ranges from 5 to 18 are continuing their ‘action research’ project into the benefits of using Activboards in teaching and learning.
This unique research project is now revealing key findings about the positive impact of using Activboards:
- Greatly improved attendance by students – they love the impact of interactivity in their lessons so don’t want to miss any of them
- Improved student information retention – students find that because the technology facilitates individual learning styles they are able to retain and remember things easier because of the learning links it creates in their minds.
- Motivated teachers –teachers involved in the research are beginning to get recognising for the value of their new found talents, as a result they are highly motivated to improve their lessons.
- Sharing of resources – having realised the value and simplicity of digital resources teachers have begun to develop e-communities through which they are improving the overall sharing of resources.
- Improved quality of students’ work – teachers from Number 50 School in Beijing report a marked improvement in the quality of their students’ work, which seems to be directly related to their understanding of subject areas covered. Children also seem to be covering work quicker and with greater ease than before.
The project, which is being undertaken by MirandaNet and sponsored by Promethean, includes researchers from UK, China, South Africa and Mexico. Delegates gathered for the week long conference and workshop in Monterey, Mexico from the 25th to 31st of March 2006. This unique 3 year project hosts an annual conference in each of the countries involved in the project. The aim is to discuss findings and share best practice from the project. Last year in Cape Town, South Africa, this year in Monterey, Mexico and for 2007, in its final year, the research conference will be hosted in Beijing, China.
The ambassadors’ workshops and conference in Monterey began at 8.30 am each morning. Teachers and researchers developed their evidence and best practice into a full seminar which was presented at the Teatro Universitario unidad Mederos University. The presentation, on Friday 31st of March, was entitled ‘Interchange of Successful Experiences’ and the key message was how technology is ‘transforming teaching, transforming learning, transforming lives’. The day began with a full Mexican Civic Ceremony. Officially hosted by the Secretary of Education for the region of Nuevo Leon in Mexico, Prof. Maria Yolanda Blanco Garcia, who welcomed over 600 Mexican teachers to the event.
This year’s conference and workshops have allowed the teacher researchers to bring a sense of understanding of both the unique differences and similarities of children throughout the world today.
Teachers from Number 50 School in Beijing, China have 2700 pupils and 55 classrooms. They are also challenged with approximately 50 pupils in each class. Their experience of pupils using the boards is very positive as students are presenting their work on the boards before the lessons begin.
Whilst in Mexico the teaching day is split into two shifts to facilitate the number of children as there are not enough schools.
Getting Over The Hurdle
During the study researchers have found that the teacher’s lack of ICT skills was initially a barrier to the adoption of IWB technology. They also found that this lack of skills held teachers back in their career prospects. This skills gap was identified as lack of personal ownership of IT. The project is now beginning to reveal that as teachers have become well versed in the use of the technology they are becoming more motivated and progressing their lesson content and delivery further.
Christina Preston, Director of MirandaNet says “Teachers in the project are reporting improved outcomes for themselves since the installation of their Activboards. Since developing new IT skills they are now better able to motivate their students. They are also seeing the benefits of sharing their work and lesson plans. The impact is a truly collaborative effect for both teachers and learners.”
Cascading Education
Because learning is a life long process this project has seen the benefits of embracing all learners from the outset. The continued professional development of the teachers involved, is clearly evident throughout the results as teacher motivation is seen to be impacting positively on their children’s’ learning.
Furthermore teachers are cascading their own enthusiasm down to colleagues. This in turn is having a truly motivational impact on the whole school.
Stephen Jury, CEO at Promethean confirms, “We are very excited to see such positive outcomes from this project. Especially since the impact is relative to both teachers and learners.
We were extremely pleased to have such generous support and involvement from the Secretary of Education for the region of Nuevo Leon.
The project is still in its infancy yet and we hope that over the full 3 year period it will provide even greater insight into how technology can be used to ‘light the flame of learning’ for everyone.
Read MirandaNet's Report on the Findings
Read the Report on the Monterrey Workshop
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