Eureka Primary School in South Derbyshire is a mixed day school, with 150 pupils, taking children aged from 5 to 11 years. Teachers at the school identified a need to engage its students and make lessons as enjoyable as possible through the use of ICT and online tools. The school also wanted to develop remote learning and collaborative working technologies that went beyond the classroom. Adobe® Connect® was introduced to the school’s Learning Platform to engage with a school in Florida. Through live online web conferencing Eureka’s pupils are able to learn directly from other pupils about another culture, its history and geography in an exciting new format. Bringing learning to life Teachers at the school see ICT as a key part of primary education, and believe in using it to enhance the children’s overall learning experience, in particular engaging them through bringing the subjects they are studying to life. The school provides computers and interactive whiteboards in each classroom and, in addition, each year group has access to six netbooks. Jacqui Johnson, a TLR senior teacher at the school and Becta Next Generation Learning Teaching Award winner (ICT), saw an opportunity for the school to expand its existing Learning Platform to enhance the pupils’ learning experience as RM had added a web conferencing product as an optional addition to its Learning Platform. Jacqui wanted to see if the solution would provide simple routes to engage the students and making the curriculum as enjoyable as possible through online engagement. She was particularly interested in how integrated web conferencing software, in the school’s existing Learning Platform, would develop more collaborative ways of working which would allow her to introduce the children to enjoy experiences beyond the classroom setting. Pioneering web conferencing tools in primary education Eureka Primary School enhances its existing Learning Platform to beer engage pupils in a range of subjects Eureka Primary School, South Derbyshire Spokesperson: Jacqui Johnson, TLR senior teacher hp://www.eureka.derbyshire.sch.uk Eureka Primary School, South Derbyshire Case Study
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Eureka Primary School in South Derbyshire is a mixed day school, with 150 pupils, taking children aged from 5 to 11 years. Teachers at the school identified a need to engage its students and make lessons as enjoyable as possible through the use of ICT and online tools. The school also wanted to develop remote learning and collaborative working technologies that went beyond the classroom.
Adobe® Connect® was introduced to the school’s Learning Platform to engage with a school in Florida. Through live online web conferencing Eureka’s pupils are able to learn directly from other pupils about another culture, its history and geography in an exciting new format.
Bringing learning to lifeTeachers at the school see ICT as a key part of primary education, and believe in using it to enhance the children’s overall learning experience, in particular engaging them through bringing the subjects they are studying to life. The school provides computers and interactive whiteboards in each classroom and, in addition, each year group has access to six netbooks.
Jacqui Johnson, a TLR senior teacher at the school and Becta Next Generation Learning Teaching Award winner (ICT), saw an opportunity for the school to expand its existing Learning Platform to enhance the pupils’ learning experience as RM had added a web conferencing product as an optional addition to its Learning Platform. Jacqui wanted to see if the solution would provide simple routes to engage the students and making the curriculum as enjoyable as possible through online engagement. She was particularly interested in how integrated web conferencing software, in the school’s existing Learning Platform, would develop more collaborative ways of working which would allow her to introduce the children to enjoy experiences beyond the classroom setting.
Pioneering web conferencing tools in primary educationEureka Primary School enhances its existing Learning Platform to better engage pupils in a range of subjects
Eureka Primary School, South Derbyshire Case Study
Using ICT to extend learning beyond the classroomAdobe Connect was first introduced to the school just over a year ago, when it was launched as a pilot case for Eureka’s Learning Platform provider, RM. Initially, the pupils used it to talk to each other within the school as they got to grips with how the software worked. However as they have adopted the software, it has increasingly been used to communicate with people outside the classroom. Many of the children log in from home in the evening to talk about projects they are working on in school with their friends, and recently have used it for a film project they are working on. Through Connect, the children can watch each other’s animations and review other work, give immediate feedback, and discuss how to develop it. Sometimes Jacqui will also enter one of the evening web conferences to provide advice, encouragement and to monitor the conversations.
The availability of a safe, secure online environment for the children to chat has also been a comfort to parents, who are increasingly aware of the threat of cyber bullying and other online exploitation that a growing online youth presence invites.
Eureka has also set up an ongoing virtual school exchange with a large 41-class elementary school in the USA. Jacqui initiated a dialogue with a like-minded teacher at the school through an online networking site for educational institutions and teachers. Like Jacqui, the teacher from Double Branch Elementary in Florida was keen to develop the engagement that her pupils had with other environments and cultures. She was open to the suggestion from Jacqui to introduce Adobe Connect to the school, so that they could hold an online class exchange between Jacqui’s class of eight and nine year olds and an equivalent year group from Double Branch.
The first web conference was held at the beginning of this year, and was a huge success. The pupils shared information on their schools and country history, and had anecdotal conversations about their environments, interests and hobbies. While Eureka talked about the badger that lives on their school grounds, Double Branch children shocked them with stories of a resident alligator! The children were also able to vote on certain questions during the chat and the answers were revealed at the end of the session. The exercise helped develop students‘ project management skills, as they had to prepare the content and presentations for the conference. It also helped build confidence, as students were required to present to each other.
Future projectsThe schools are planning to set up a regular monthly web conference, which they’ll tie around their school mascots. ‘Goldie’, the Eureka school teddy, and Double Branch’s ‘Woody’ will become the reporters, and Jacqui plans to use these as a focus point for the children to share experiences and information with their exchange friends each month. Video will become a big part of the conversation, with the children being able to record and edit current projects and activities they’re working on in school, and any trips they go on, over the course of the month and share these video clips over Adobe Connect during the web conference.
Jacqui comments:“Eureka has made a commitment to learning through practical experience, and Adobe Connect (via the safe environment of our Learning Platform) has supported the school’s fundamental goal of engaging the pupils and enhancing their learning experience by making it more enjoyable. Using the sort of online learning space that children are increasingly familiar with, the exchange is teaching them about alternative cultures and their geography, history, art and politics. The children are engaged and excited by the prospect of sharing information with children their age who are living so far away, with such different, and yet in many ways similar, lifestyles. The real success of the project however has been the way the technology has made learning more engaging and helped to build key skills in the students, such as collaboration and communication.”
In the future, she would like to increase the number of exchange schools Eureka is talking with, looking at ways the project could help enhance lessons across the curriculum. For example, introducing Adobe Connect to French classes, where the class could connect with a French school to share language lessons. In addition, Jacqui is also exploring how to utilise the software for remote engagement with the parents.
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