Johannesburg, 05 May 2011
A Microsoft pilot project is testing the educational benefits of integrating interactive Xbox 360 Kinect gaming consoles into disadvantaged primary school classrooms.
According to the software giant, the study is being run at Lakeside Park Primary in the remote district of Vryheid in rural KwaZulu-Natal.
Microsoft hopes to prove that gaming technology can help stimulate language literacy and numeracy development in schools.
As part of the project, Microsoft partner Mustek installed a Windows Multipoint Server solution, which allows five users to access a computer via one hard drive at the Vryheid school.
Microsoft says this expands the limited number of computers available and increases networking and storage through the Live@Edu online facility.
Microsoft's Live@Edu team is funding the pilot, which is working with non-government organisation SchoolNet SA, to develop teacher training materials and conduct training.
According to Microsoft, eight teachers were trained and their classrooms equipped with the interactive Xbox and Kinect gaming platforms and security.
SchoolNet's Peter de Lisle, who is running the project, says coaching teachers in local rural schools poses a challenge because many learners' home language is not English, but rather one of the 10 other official languages.
“But in many schools, English is the language of learning from as early as Grade One. The huge challenge is to create learning experiences which help to bridge this gap, rather than exacerbate it.”
De Lisle explains that with Kinect, learners can play sport, edutainment and instructive games using body movements and voice.
“A 2010 study by the Molteno Institute for Language and Literacy found that legitimising learners' experiences by allowing them space to participate in the process of knowledge construction doesn't diminish a teacher's role,” says De Lisle.
“It actually affirms them as facilitators of the learning process, while kids learn better through active participation. Our aim with the Kinect is to create experiences which skilled teachers can then use to promote language use.”
Karen Kirsten, Lakeside Park Primary deputy principal, points out: “In inspiring the learners to interact with their classmates through the creative gaming and learning exercises, they seem to engage with the games so intimately that it seems to overcome their early inhibitions inadvertently, and so [they] can learn more readily.”
According to a Department of Basic Education (DOBE) statement, outcomes-based education will succeed if teachers can make the paradigm shift from authoritarian knowledge transmission to learner-centred education.
Phil Mnisi, director of the Curriculum Innovation and e-Learning Unit at the DOBE, states: “Meaningful outcomes of this pilot could only add dimension to our existing game plan for 21st century education solutions, and hence we welcome the endeavour.”
According to Microsoft, the pilot project ties in closely with local Microsoft's Partners in Learning education programmes, which offer schools, teachers and learners the tools and know-how to improve their learning and teaching outcomes.
“In the near future, Microsoft plans to install its Kodu developer software on the Xbox 360 Kinect solution to lay the foundation for software development from within this school.
By these efforts, we are supporting the DOBE in their aim to uplift our youth and ensure they are developing relevant skills,” says Kabelo Makwane, public sector director at Microsoft SA.
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