The CSIR and St Alban's College, an independent boys' school in Pretoria, have pioneered what they describe as Africa's first virtual collaborative interactive classroom.
It is built around an interactive whiteboard from Smart Technologies, a private broadband wireless network from Motorola using its Canopy product, a projector, a Webcam, speakers and Microsoft NetMeeting conferencing software. The technology allows a teacher and his students to see, hear and interact with each other.
"It is not an expensive solution, when compared to the price of ignorance," says Ron Beyers, who conceived of the idea while a teacher at St Alban's College.
Smart's technology is already in more than 250 000 classrooms worldwide, including more than 43 000 in Mexico, where it is in use in government schools, he says.
He now heads the Young Engineers of SA project, at the CSIR's Meraka Institute, and is passionate about rolling-out maths and science classes to those interested. His ambition is to establish a nationwide network. "We need whatever technology is available to reach the Einsteins who are being lost. We've got to start chasing champions by reaching out to them with technology."
Beyers's approach is different to that used by William Smith on television, for example, in that students can do more than simply watch the teacher - they can actively participate in lessons. Beyers launched the project in 2003, initially linking his St Alban's science lab to a classroom at Gatang High School, some 15km away in Mamelodi. "Although the visual and audio connections are vital," says Beyers, "the real value lies in the ability to write on the whiteboard and have the information transmitted virtually instantaneously to the other classroom."
For instance, the teacher can begin a drawing and then ask a learner from the virtual class to complete it. Or, he can write a formula and ask a learner to substitute the variables and record the answer on their own whiteboard.
The teacher can see everything the child does in near real-time, and students can see what he is doing. "The whiteboard is literally the interface between the learners and the teacher," Beyers explains.
Smart's interactive whiteboard is a large touch-sensitive screen that works with a computer and a data projector. Interactive whiteboards engage students by providing immediate access to a wide range of digital materials and a common focus for the entire class. Using a finger or a pen on the screen, teachers and students can access and control any computer application, file or multimedia platform, including the Internet, CD-ROMs and DVDs.
The total system consisting of the whiteboard, PC and projector, costs about R35 000, he says.
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