Inside modern, chalkless IT classroom

By Harold Ayodo

Mr Eliud Mulanda connects his laptop computer to a modern whiteboard for a science lesson at the Nairobi International School (NIS).

The biology teacher surfs the Internet as students see the sites on the gigantic board before them during the lesson.

Mulanda, who is also the curriculum coordinator at the institution, surfs the Internet for more references as the class follows.

The interactive whiteboard technology is a new teaching tool that enables anything done or seen on a computer to be projected on the whiteboard for the class. The new whiteboard system consists of three equipments that are connected to relay images from the computer to the board. NIS IT assistant Eddie Mutua says the system entails a computer, a data projector and the whiteboard.

"The whiteboard acts as a touch-sensitive screen that can be operated using an electronic pen or a finger just as a chalk is used on traditional blackboards," Mutua says.

He says the technology is better than when about 10 students crowd a teacher who explains a point on a computer.

Settings

They technology is used in a variety of settings: classrooms, corporate boardrooms, professional sports coaching and broadcasting studios.

Students at the school, which offers the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), say the facilities have made education fun. Mohammed Ali, 19, a student on scholarship courtesy his talent in basketball, says learning is amazing where the motto is ‘Where Tomorrow Begins.

"I never imagined in my wildest dreams that basketball would land me in an institution with modern facilities like NIS," says Ali.

Other high cost schools and private institutions of higher learning that invest hugely on resources could adopt the technology for interactive teaching.

Education websites say 26 per cent of primary schools in Britain had installed interactive whiteboards in 2004 alone. Learning has developed from using blackboards chalks, dustless chalks, whiteboards and pens to PowerPoint presentations and now IT interactive boards.

NIS Director Radhika Lee says the new technology called IT Interactive Boards is borrowed from top education institutions from the West and Far East.

"We introduced the modern technology used in universities in developed countries to make education interactive," says Mrs Lee.

Benefit

The director says the equipment encourages students to have more interest in sciences, which is perceived to be difficult.

"Interest of students in sciences has remarkably increased since we introduced the technology this term," she says.

The director says the interactive whiteboards have several advantages compared to the traditional blackboards, flipcharts and PowerPoint presentations.

"Interactive whiteboards allow teachers to keep notes as electronic files for later distribution either on paper or electronic formats," says Lee.

She explains that the technology enables teachers record their lessons as digital video files and post them for review by students.

"It is also effective for students who benefit from repetition of lessons, absentees, slow learners and revision before examinations," she says.

The director says an integrated audience response system enables teachers carry on quizzes during lessons and record feedback of learners on the whiteboard. She argues that the new technology helps students learn how to surf scientific information from the Internet by watching their teachers.