The new age of information communication technologies is also impacting on schools in their physical appearance with the inclusion of new  tools students use to learn. Gone are the days of a teacher standing on front of the class writing on a black board. It is now not uncommon to see students engaged with their ipods listening to podcasts while they follow along with a textbook, huddled around a laptop or exploring a web page with the teacher on an interactive white board (IWB).

IWBs are providing audio and visual mediums to help motivate and engage students. ‘Students can come and interact with the surface (of an IWB) and actually create opportunities to learn’. (Andy Penman, Teamboard Australia) IWBs also offer teachers access to current affairs or relevant web pages that can be book marked for future reference. With the help of IWBs teachers can save classroom slides and links to be refered to in future classes, posted on class web sites or emailed to students. A positive outcome from this new piece of technology is that the teacher becomes more a facilitator of learning where kids learn from each other much more than in a traditional classroom. This kids teach kids approach is being made much easier with these new classroom tools. On an IWB for example teachers can ‘create challenges on the web for kids to collaborate that lead to more social interaction’  and thefore a productive learning experience. (Allan November, pod cast ABC).

Another physical impact in the classroom is the trail of the new one to one laptop program in some schools. This means that each student in a class will lease their own laptop to use, a huge advance from days of computer labs where student had to share a computer between three or four. Through the imlementation of the one to one program at Mana Lakes College, Victoria, ‘students can access work anywhere, any time’ (Helen Otway, assistant principal, Mana Lakes college, podcast, ABC) This program helps students by allowing them endless information access, new technologies and sharing capabilities through school and state wide ultranet. The program is also helping students by allowing equal access to computers and helping to close the digital devide.

Resources;

video –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQBU47NNC5U

image – www.mrgray.id.au 

Funnel, A (presenter) (2010, May 13) The Digital Classroom- Audio podcast. retrieved from; http://www.abc.net.au/rn/futuretense/stories/2010/2885066.htm