How rural schools use interactive technologies to expand curriculum

Education has become a massive and competitive industry. It’s led to any number of horrific clichés and barely a month passes when I don’t see a new technology touted as the ‘game changer’. You can’t blame the companies for trying, and many of the advancements do have impressive classroom applications – see iPads, laptops, online games, interactive maths games even Encarta, if you remember that.
    
Like most big shifts in any industry, a number of different factors need to align before the technology becomes truly influential. There was no point in having an iPad, for example, 
if there weren’t decent applications installed or if cost was prohibitively high and would result in schools cutting back elsewhere.
    
Video conferencing is one technology that was seemingly on the horizon, about to radically change the way we educate students. If things went to plan, you wouldn’t be reading this, I’d be appearing as a 3D hologram delivering a presentation. Alas, that’s not the case.
 
However, the communication tools we do have are pretty incredible and interactive technologies are having a huge impact on the way we deliver education in our rural schools.
 
Rural challenges
County Offaly VEC (Vocational Education Committee) is the local education authority for Offaly County in Ireland. Located in the Irish Midlands, an hour from Dublin, we’re the largest provider of adult education in the county and responsible for five secondary schools.
    
Our schools are spread across a large geographical area. With the distance between schools and small classroom size, we face many of the same challenges that affect rural schools all over the world when it comes to the provision and breadth of curricular choices.

For example, in Ireland it is a recognised advantage if secondary school students who are seeking physics and computing degrees at university take applied mathematics in their senior year. Though the subject, a mix of physics and advanced mathematics, is not part of the core curriculum, it does put students at a distinct advantage if it is their chosen academic path in college. Unfortunately, the subject only interests a small number of students so many schools cannot afford to provide such classes. This is just one example of how school leaders are forced into tough decisions every year about how, and what, subjects will be made available in each school. These decisions obviously have a significant impact on all of our students as they move on to further education.
    
I saw this challenge as a great opportunity. There was an excellent case for certain subjects, like applied maths, but we obviously didn’t have the resources to provide them at every school to a small number of students.
 
Along with the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, another area we were passionate about improving was how languages were taught and the various ways we could increase the exposure our students have to other cultures.
 
Ducks in a row
We knew if we could address these specific subjects it could be beneficial to students in their last crucial year before university. So there was a compelling education case for an interactive technology that could help spread a lesson over more than one classroom and connect Offaly students with schools, globally.
    
Ideas around video conferencing had been simmering away in the back of my mind as a way we might be able to address these points. Though there were a number of other barriers that had to be crossed before we could implement the technology I had in mind. Some of these challenges were in our control, such as convincing parents, the school board and other stakeholders that the project was worthwhile.

But other hurdles were out of our control, such as the well-publicised difficulties rural areas have with connectivity. Obviously, the type of meaningful online interaction we were aiming for relies heavily on high-speed internet.
     
Fortunately, County Offaly was one of the earliest recipients of the Irish government’s National Broadband scheme, aiming to deliver 100MB broadband to all secondary schools.
 
Beyond the walls and beyond the seas
Now that we had high-speed internet connections, all we needed was a technology solution to bring specialised teachers into the classroom.

Almost exactly a year ago, Offaly VEC introduced LifeSize Team 220 HD video conferencing units with twin cameras into every school in the county. The project, which we called ConnectEd, incorporates two initiatives.
     
The first strand, Beyond the Walls, takes advantage of the fact that specialised subjects became economically viable when taught via video.

A specialist teacher in one school can broadcast a lesson, such as applied mathematics, to five other schools in real-time. This means students can still ask questions and interact like they would in a normal classroom.
     
So, we could offer our students a much wider variety of subjects, which gives them a vital advantage before they head off to university.

Expanding options
Science and technology subjects are important for our future, not only economically but also societally. Which is why County Offaly VEC is so passionate about expanding the options. Previously, students would only have the choice of doing one science option at senior level.
     
The second initiative, Across the Globe, links our LifeSize HD video conferencing systems in local schools with partner locations across the world. For example, Árd Scoil Chiaráin Naofa in Clara, County Offaly, linked up with Ware County High School in Georgia, US, through the VEC’s relationship with Georgia Tech University.
     
One of the first joint science projects between the schools was based on local geography. Offaly is in a bog area while its partner in Georgia, more than 6,000 kilometres away, was based in a swamp area. The students presented their research on the ecologies of their local areas over LifeSize collaboration technology.
     
The aim was to compare and contrast the differences between the two areas but, interestingly, they found that the ecologies of the bog and the swamp were very similar. The one major difference was that there were no predators living in the Offaly bog, whereas alligators lurked in the Georgia swamp.
     
The science education part of the initiative has been fantastic and interestingly both schools were on a similar academic level. Though, perhaps, the area that most interested the teenage students was getting to interact with children in another country and find out what their experiences of growing up was like.
 
Partnering
Obviously, we’re teachers not engineers, nor are we big enough to have a vast IT team. To make a project like this example work, a school needs to not only have all of the factors mentioned above, but also it’s crucial to find a partner that will supply the very best technology and deliver it on time – within budget and to a high standard.
     
The video conferencing solutions were initially set up with the help of significant sponsorship from benefactors such as the Network & Infrastructure Support (NIS). NIS, in particular, worked with County Offaly VEC, helping support its IT implementation.
     
Gerry Buckley, CEO of NIS explained: “We had done trials with a number of different video conferencing options, comparing factors such as image and sound quality, ease of use and price. LifeSize was the clear favourite.”
 
Where are we now?
Even though the scheme is in its infancy,  we’re already seeing the great results. Previously, our students did not have any access to applied mathematics, now we have those that are interested studying it twice a week. Access to university in Ireland is done through a points system. For students with a talent for science and math, this will enable them to gain more points.
    
This is crucial in helping students to get into their course of choice at university. Additionally, classes in rural Ireland are 
having regular face-to-face interaction with a school in the United States.
 
One Offaly school, Tullamore College, has teamed up with a partner school, Georgius-Agricola-Gymnasium Chemnitz, in Germany. Students have regular face-to-face contact with their German counterparts, enabling both sets of learners to practise their foreign language skills.
     
While the steps we have already taken are significant, Offaly is only at the beginning of its video journey. There are big plans for the future. The next science project between Georgia and Offaly will see the children  design telepresence robots, which the other class will be able to operate remotely.

Planned expansion
There is also a much larger expansion of the network planned, with more partnership schools in Germany and France. The hope is that the video conferencing systems will get used even more often. For instance, adult students will be able to take third-level courses on an outreach basis. There is also the ability to record classes, which means that even if students miss a class they can catch up.
     
Additionally, there is a plan to increase the number of specialised subjects that are available in rural areas and the schools will be holding extra tutoring classes before exams, through the video conferencing solution.
     
We have deep commitment to the promotion of science and languages. While many advantages come with a rural area, there are also many challenges when it comes to the provision of this commitment. Video conferencing has given us a great tool to stimulate an interest in these subjects and give students a fuller, more rounded education.

Further information
www.offalyvec.com