[Advisory] IWBs - a Yorkshire perception

[Tony Parkin]

 I agree whole-heartedly with Bob - though I suspect this will not be last time the IWB subject occurs in these fora, and it has been an example of Naace at its best...

Just a couple of  brief observations then

1. Bob's main point is key - it was not a "Becta initiative" (they were only obeying orders!) but a Departmental push from a strong and influential Minister. Does this represent an unstoppable force or is there anything we could/should do differently (or is that what democracy is all about)?

2. It would helpful if there was a 'memory pool' ready to dip into in future to help on such occasions. As part of the Great IWB Rollout the Department also funded some associated research - including the excellent LISA project which I remember from Islington. Also known colloquially as the "£10,000 whiteboard project", the LISA project undertook thorough research into the implementation and associated logistics that should occur alongside the install of a whiteboard (including not only issues such projector purchase, security, safe and approriate location of additional power sockets but also the staff development programme to make sure the return on investment was optimised). Hence they arrived at the sum of £10K/ board. The research was disseminated on DVD - including from the (then) DfES stand at BETT. However it was amazing the speed, when the implications were appreciated, with which this was 'disappeared'. Almost as effectively as the excellent Angela Macfarlane research publication on Interactive Learning Systems (remember them?) had been a few years earlier.

A key role for Naace could be offering the collective memory that constantly reminds the community of what has happened on previous occasions. Of course this does make you a potential source of irritation rather than perceived as support by eager politicians and their appeasers - limiting chances of winning lucrative contracts. But it could save a lot of wasted time and effort if it makes a few wiser heads pause and reflect before the next Great Leap Forward?

Meanwhile - now we have got all these IWBs - let's just get on with working out either how to make them ALL valued and used effectively in classrooms  - even if that means, as at one school I visited recently, just funding their removal and relocation at nearby primary schools that were dying to get their hands on them and use them!

Tony
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Tony Parkin
Head of ICT Development
Specialist Schools & Academies Trust
17th Floor, Millbank Tower
21-24 Millbank
London SW1P 4QP

Email:tony.parkin@ssatrust.org.uk
Tel: +44 20 7802 2306
Mob:+44 07739 436073
Skype: parkintony
MSN: a.c.parkin@hotmail.co.uk<mailto:a.c.parkin@hotmail.co.uk>
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________________________________
From: advisory-admin@talk.naace.org [advisory-admin@talk.naace.org] On Behalf Of BobharrisonSET@aol.com [BobharrisonSET@aol.com]
Sent: 14 November 2009 12:11
To: mike@new-media-learning.org; Margaret.Allen@prometheanworld.com; advisory@talk.naace.org; secondary@talk.naace.org
Subject: Re: [Advisory] IWBs - An Australian perspective

Thanks Mike and Margaret for a wonderful summary of the history of IWB's introduction to education in England.

I think we can now reflect on this experience,move the discussion on and ask ourselves "What can we learn from this and what would we do differently if another "Charles Clarke moment" should ever arise?

Best Wishes,

Bob Harrison,
Education Adviser, Toshiba Information Systems(UK) Ltd
Consultant ,BECTA and National College for School Leadership
Support for Education and Training
16 Meadowgate,
URMSTON,
Manchester
M419LB
01617498987
07957856117
bobharrisonset@aol.com
www.setuk.co.uk<http://www.setuk.co.uk/>
www.twitter.com/bobharrison<http://www.twitter.com/bobharrison>

" While this study has looked closely at the impact of ICT on how pupils learn and how this might be enhanced....it has not addressed the impact of what they learn or where learning takes place and whether the schools of the future will be the physical entities we have today" The Impact of ICT in schools-a landscape review-Becta 2007

"Using technology to improve education is not rocket science...it is much,much harder than that" Diana Laurillard, Opening Up Education 2009

"An intensified activity in this area will lead educational institutions to realize that they are embedded in a globalised and constantly evolving knowledge society, and that, as a consequence, they will have to redefine their role within society and within the learning process."
Joint Research Centre
Institute for Prospective Technological Studies 2009

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