Living Schools Lab

My final Link Observation Visit planned at this stage of the project was to Simono Dacho School in Klaipeda. This is a “Basic School” providing education for approx. 1000 students aged 7-15 years from 1^st grade to 8^th grade. The school has 86 teachers. The school is 155 years old, it has four floors, but the final floor was added on just eight years ago.   In the latter part of the school, the classrooms are much smaller; some are used for languages and others for student pastoral support. Throughout the school, there are a range of technologies; there are 21 IWB in various classrooms.  There are two computer labs in school and these are used for a range of subjects. 

• What opportunities do you give for peer assessment in your lessons?
• How do you use technology for peer assessment?
• What technologies do your students use for presentations?
• How do share your student presentations? 

• How do you encourage student participation in your lessons?
• How do you encourage students to interact with their peers during the lesson?

• How does technology allow the teacher to be spontaneous within lessons?
• What is the teacher’s role when the students are making presentations?
•  Do you give your students criteria for presentations?
• How can you use technology to increase learning opportunities?

• Do you recognise your school within the descriptions of the advanced schools?
• How can you align your technological change in school with the required pedagogical changes?
• Has your school joined the Living Schools Lab network?
• What can you share within your Regional Hub?
• When did you make time to observe how other teachers in your school use technology?

Having now visited schools in all twelve countries involved in the first wave of the Living Schools Lab project, it is clear to see that LSL “Advanced” schools are at different stages, but there are common features. There is certainly much to be learnt from observing the practice in real classrooms and I am extremely grateful to all of the LSL teachers who have opened their doors to the world. Developing practice in the use of technology is ongoing. It demands time, money and considerable effort, but if it leads to worthwhile change within learning and teaching, this needs to be mainstreamed.

Varpelis translates as “bell” and here was the first school visit in Kaunas Varpelis Primary School, Lithuania.   It is the shape of a capital H with two floors, but the connecting corridor is only along the bottom floor. There are approximately 393 students across the school. The school day starts at 8.30am until 1.15pm. All the classrooms have at least one PC and projector, but there are some classrooms with interactive whiteboards.

• Do you have a small classroom?
• How have you changed the learning spaces around your school to embrace new technologies?
•   What would you do to a particular space if you had the opportunity? Have you shared your ideas and tried to make them a reality?
•  How often do you ask the students to redesign learning spaces?
• Have you got any spaces in your school that could be used differently?

• How often do you display students’ learning?
•  How often do you display the student’s work immediately as part of the lesson to enable the students to ask questions of each other and further their learning?

• How often do you specifically ask your students for feedback during the lesson?
• What technologies work well when trying to gather student feedback
•  Do all staff across your school collate feedback in a similar way at the end of the lesson?
•  How and when do you respond to student feedback?
• What opportunities are students given to provide feedback on whole school change?

In the second lesson I observe, the students have been using Glogster to create posters about famous Lithuanian people with LSL teacher Ovidija Budnikiene. This lesson takes place in the computer lab where there are 14 PCs around the room and a SMARTboard at the front of the classroom. The teacher has put all the presentations onto the SMARTboard using a series of hyperlinks from within one Notebook file. This is good because the students can access them all easily from one place. It also means that the students can see the completed work as a “publication.” (rather than an exercise in a book!)

•  How often do you use technology to “publish” the students’ work?
•  How can you showcase your students’ work to raise the profile of the work of the school?

• What programs or web-based applications do you use for the students to create their own games?
• Have you asked your older students to create a game for the younger students?
•  How often do you use a technology based activity as part of the student’s homework?

VS Gutenberg an der Raabklamm has just 66 students, but with two floors and a bright and spacious building, it doesn’t feel small. With just 14-18 students per class, and only 5 teachers (including the headteacher), this school has had a specific focus developing the use of interactive technologies and on personalising the learning content for the individual students.

• Could you move technologies in your school to ensure that everyone has “distributed access” on a regular basis rather than access through a restricted timetable?

• How do you keep a record of what the students have completed?
• Do your students keep their own record of their learning activities?
• How often do you inform the parents about how the students are completing their work?

•  How long does it take you to plan for the whole week?
•  Do you prepare individual lessons or a number of activities with learning outcomes?
• How often do you plan to use the technology?

• Do your students have an e-portfolio?
•  How is the e-portfolio connected to the student’s assessment data?

Tourismusschulen, Bad Hofgastein, Salzburg has approximately 320 students aged 14-19 years. Whilst this school is different to many “mainstream” schools, it is a private school, but it must be emphasised that the teachers are employed by the Ministry of Education. The school belongs to the Chamber of Commerce. There are three main courses that the students can choose at the school including, Skiing, Tourism and Hospitality Management. However, the students also study other aspects of the curriculum too.

• Do you work with a local business?
• Do any of your courses give the students the opportunity to work in a real work setting?
• What other ways can you work with a business in school?
• Have you shared the use of technology with a local business?

• Do you have a virtual learning environment in your school?
•  How many of the teachers use the VLE?
•  How can you improve the use of your VLE?
•  How do you encourage the parents to access the VLE?

• If you work in a business and read this, I have seen some good examples of equipment being refurbished and reused by schools – this may be one way in which you can help your school?
• Are there opportunities for businesses to support the sponsorship of equipment in schools further?

Scoil na gCeithre Máistrí is an all Irish school in Athlone, Ireland. There are approximately 299 students aged 5-12 years from all over Ireland. The school was founded in 1990, but was rebuilt in 2008 and the number of classes has been growing year upon year. At the time of the new build the school was given an ICT grant and this is pivotal to the use of technology across the school.

• Do you have a group of teachers who work together to look at the use of technology within learning and teaching?
•  How do you document the “professional dialogue” in school so that other teachers can access the information? (Some of our LSL schools keep a blog, a wiki or even just a noticeboard of teaching topics under discussion across the school. – Let your colleagues know what you are learning about and “bookmark” your progress!)
•  What are your staff investigating? How is this shared across the whole school?

•  How often do you give your students a timed activity?
• Do your students know how long the task should take?

•  Have you got a student news team in your school?
• Do your students present the school news each week?
• Whilst most schools have a newsletter; have you thought about providing your own digital news channel?

• How do you distribute your technology in school?

• Would the PCs from your computer lab be used more if they were in the classrooms?

Coláiste Bríde Presentation Secondary school is an all-girls school just 20 minutes by car from Dublin City Centre in Clondalkin.   On entering the school what immediately strikes me are the high quality signs and displays of motivating messages about learning for the 960 students.   In the main entrance clearly on display for all to see is the school focus for 2012 – 2015. It soon becomes apparent that this level of outward facing knowledge is clearly conveyed for staff, students, parents and the community of the school, but equally it enables me as a visitor to quickly get a sense of what the school is trying to achieve.

• What’s your school focus for the next 3 years?
•  How do you communicate this to everyone?

• How will your learning spaces change?
• What can your students and staff expect as standard?

•  Do you have “subject specialists” in your school that could “connect” classrooms?
• What are the most effective ways to connect two classrooms?
• Can you share expertise with another school on a regular basis?

• At the end of your lesson, what evidence do the students have to demonstrate their learning?
• How do the students demonstrate their understanding within the lesson?
• Have you tried using technology to capture the student examples? E.g. ask the students to create a short revision video. Try Educreations which allows you to video your writing or drawing.
• What subject specialist software is available in your school? Can students access this at home too?
• How do the students access the homework task? How do the students submit their work?

• Have you got a link with a school in another country? E-Twinning is always a very good place to start.

The second visit in Portugal is ESCOLA BÁSICA PARQUE DAS NAÇÕES School. Built in 2010, the school stemmed from the Expo 1998 and is very much part of the changing landscape and growing population of new families in the area. However, it was originally intended that the school would cater for students up to the age of 14, but at the moment the second part of the planned new build has not even been started due to lack of funding. Fortunately, this does not affect the students as the building that has been finished so far is just for students up to the age of 11.

Sandra de Silva joined the LSL project in September 2013 and she is clearly focussed on how to demonstrate effective use of technology in her classroom. The students of her class are 9-10 year olds. Each student has their own Magellan computer. Although they potentially have access to this 24/7, currently they only bring it to school 2 days a week for 90 minutes literacy and 90 minutes ICT. It is intriguing that some countries are desperate for students to get their hands on an individual device yet in this class the students have them but still only use them at certain times. (But after today’s lesson, I think that might change!)

• Do your students have their own email address?
• What e-books are available in your school?
• Can you recommend any good links for e-books? #lsl_eu

• What would happen if the students worked in small groups and did investigations or different tasks in rotating groups?
• Do the students need an individual device or should we make more time for dialogue in the classroom by encouraging them to share resources?
• If students have their own device – do we expect them to use it in every lesson?
• Should devices be allowed to go home?

• What do you do in the plenary of your lesson? #lsl_eu
• How can you use technology in the plenary?
• How can the students lead the plenary activity?

• Do you collaborate with other local schools in your area?
• Have you thought about working with other schools on a joint project? (Do contact us – we are looking for teachers who would like to collaborate!)

Eça de Queirós has been identified as the Advanced Secondary School in Portugal for the LSL Project. Set in an area surrounded by high rise apartments and largely lower
socio-economic status; this school is a haven for the 1047 students and local community it serves. We begin with a tour of the school and meet one of the teachers who gives me an olive branch as a welcome to the school – the school is set in an area called “Olivais” and there are some olive trees nearby. Students enter/exit the school using a card GIAE online. This is particularly useful as the campus is open for long hours of the day and for adult learning. Students can also register their attendance in the lesson too.  Whilst most of the school is contained within one large building, the gym is in a separate building at the side. Inside the main building, the school also has a shop where students can buy all their stationery and necessities for their projects. 

• Who is responsible for the technical support in your school?
• How do you provide this?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of managed services?
• Are there any alternative solutions for technical support? #lsl_eu

• How do you communicate with your students beyond the lesson time?
• How do you promote opportunities for continuous learning?
• Have you used Facebook with your students?
• How do you use Facebook with your students?
• What are the advantages of using Facebook?
• What are the disadvantages?
• What similar tools do you use instead/as well?

• How often do you ask your students to demonstrate?
• Have you tried recording small video clips of some of the students demonstrating how to solve mathematical problems? 

• If you are using a textbook for the lesson – how do you know that your individual students are challenged?

MS Ieper school is ten minutes walk from the main town square of Ieper where the Menin Gate is situated. This is a middle school with approximately 189 students aged 12-14 years, but the campus has large grounds that are shared with a total of 600 students across four main schools with different headteachers. There are also other schools in the nearby vicinity.

• What facilities are open to the public in your school?
• Can you work with a local business to share equipment and resources?

• Do you know what happens at one of the schools near to yours?
• Have you ever been to observe a teacher and share ideas?
• How do the students use technology in the younger years and what skills have they already got?
• Can you share equipment with the school next door? Or even swap classrooms?

• How often do you discuss e-safety with your students?
• Who takes responsibility for e-safety in school?
• Do you deliver e-safety as a specific lesson or is it integrated into other subjects?
• How do you keep parents informed?

• How do you demonstrate new equipment with your students for the first time?
• What opportunities do you give older students to create the lesson content for younger students?
• How many carousel activities work best within your lesson time?

My journey begins with a train from Brussels Central Station to Leuven. De Klare Bron and
De Grasmus is a federation of two schools led by one headteacher, Begga Willems.

• How often do you divide your students for ICT activities?
• What are the differences for the students who use the technology first and those who complete the paper based activities?
• In this class, the students took the roles of Director, Film Producer and Builder – what roles have you given your students? #lsl_eu
• How can you use technology to deliver other mathematical concepts?
• When you divide your class, how do you feedback to the other teacher you are working alongside?