Three more pieces of video footage to help illustrate to you the ways we have been using the SMART Table in my classroom. In this post I also explore some of the topics arising from what is displayed. 

Victorian Jigsaw – Media Application – SMART Table from Tom Barrett on Vimeo.

This is a simple little activity I created based upon our Street Child, Victorians unit. I used SMART Notebook and the line tool to lay a square grid over an image. I then copied parts using Notebook screen capture and the guidelines to help. I then pasted these into the Media application. Simple jigsaw. Unfortunately the default setting in the Media application is to have magnification or zoom and ideally for the jigsaw idea I wanted none. This is not currently possible, however I set it to the lowest I could.

It was amazing to watch this pair of children take such care over the placement and size/rotation of each part. They showed great skill and engagement with the activity, all the more interesting as there were no instructions nor have they had any sort of training in manipulating the images.

 

Musical Instruments – SMART Table from Tom Barrett on Vimeo.

In this video a small group of children are using the Hot Spots application to identify the names of different musical instruments. The application allows the user to move word labels (you see in the first part for the video) and also pictures. Once one set of hot spots have been completed it moves onto the next set if available – once finished it returns to the main screen.

In my experience four children is the maximum for junior children to work together. Ideally it would be less because you have to divide the space, the screen real estate and the number of questions by your users. Too many people around it and engagement dwindles.

These are simple activities but they take a long time to create – unfortunately the time the learners are engaged is reduced because of the multi user scenario. Four children working on a task takes less time to complete then just one child. The payoff for the teacher in this example is small. I have to generate lots of activities and examples to engage all of the learners for a significant amount of time. Currently the SMART Table Toolkit does not allow me to quickly create high quality content in Hot Spots.

Perhaps this is another unforeseen situation arising from multi user learning activities, that it is not sufficient to generate the same amount of content for a single user and then just expect it to be divided up by the children at the table. Content creation needs to be streamlined so that you can quickly make a large range, with depth, that will engage each learner adequately.

 

Addition Application – SMART Table from Tom Barrett on Vimeo.

I like how this application encourages children to work together. Even though the maths is simple, they have to rely on each other to be successful.

Interestingly what tends to happen is one person from the group takes the lead and directs others. Not something they are told to do, but some just take charge and solve the question quickly and instruct others what to do.

Such a group dynamic makes users passive or active, so it is possible that children don’t engage with the maths directly but engage with the person who tells them what to do. I have seen this application being used by lots of groups of different children from my class (ages 9 or 10) and a leader always emerges. In those instances when the group does not have a leader then two scenarios tend to play out:

  1. Children look at the problem, solve it themselves and each take the lead to solve it, this conflict then leads to confusion with the input of the answer. Individuals place their fingers on the table at the same time and then without really saying much expect others to adapt to what they have inputted.
  2. The group talk about the solution and then between them they each contribute something towards the answer. I believe that this scenario is clearly the best to engage all learners and comes with experience from using the application. Those who have used the activity before tend to add one or two fingers when the answer may well be small enough to answer on their own – thus drawing in other members of the group to complete the solution. 
     
Over the rest of this term I will be exploring in more depth how the group dynamics of learners are effected by working with this multi touch, multi user interface. It appears to be a fairly unique area as there has not been much experience of such technologies in the classroom.
We have been using the table for about four weeks now and I think this post touches on some really important aspects that have become clear:
  • Group dynamics when using the table need to be carefully considered, not just as the activity takes place but when generating content as well. Are all the learners engaged?
  • There seems to be no learning curve to some applications of multi touch. There is a powerful intuitive element that allows children to engage with the learning without any barriers. The technology has transparency.
  • The novelty wears off quickly. It is what you do with the medium that counts. Content generation will be a crucial aspect over the next year or so. A catalyst to the maturity and sustainability of multi touch devices in the classroom will be how quickly teachers can make high quality content. 

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