A world-leading authority in the use of interactive technology in schools has praised Northern Ireland’s use of technology in education as a model of excellence to be used in other parts of the world particularly in North America. Julia Heighway of the Centre for Interactive Learning and Collaboration based in Indiana, USA, made the comments to over 100 delegates during ‘A good school knows no boundaries’ conference organised by C2k in association with HP which took place recently at the Northern Ireland Science Park.
Heighway, who specialises in use of interactive video-conferencing, and currently works with organisations such as NASA, said: “Schools in Northern Ireland are very fortunate to have one central point, such as C2k, for supporting their technology needs compared to the US which is extremely fragmented. Judging by the success of this model in effectively supporting 1,200 schools in Northern Ireland it provides an excellent template for such an approach to be adopted in the United States and elsewhere in the world.”
C2k is the public sector body tasked on behalf of the five education and library boards with the delivery of education technology services to schools in Northern Ireland. Jimmy Stewart, Director of C2k, who also spoke at the event highlighted that the Department of Education, through its organisation, is to invest, over the next two years, in excess of £50 million to continuing to provide all schools with access to world leading technology resources.
Stewart said: “By providing a consistent and standardised ICT service across all schools in Northern Ireland C2k is providing every child with access to world class learning resources to equip them with the necessary ICT skills for a 21st century economy. Already we have provided 26,000 laptops to schools in Northern Ireland for every teacher and some 66,000 desktop computers are available to school children. Our virtual Classroom service enables all schools to use video conferencing to collaborate locally and internationally and as a result children are developing new collaborative and digital skills.”
Every year in Northern Ireland, £150 is spent per pupil on providing state-of-the-art technology resources to enhance learning. So far over 400,000 schoolchildren have benefited from using technology-rich resources in local schools. Jimmy Stewart added that, whilst C2k was entering its penultimate year in operation before being incorporated into the Education and Skills Authority in 1 January 2010, C2k would continue to operate as “business as usual”.
All schools across Northern Ireland have had access to video conference technology throughout this academic year through the Virtual Classroom service provided by C2k. Ballyclare Secondary School was recently given a prestigious award from the British Council in Tokyo for its innovative use of videoconferencing to establish links and work on joint culture exchange projects with a school in Japan. Hugh Rooney of HP, which partners with C2k in the delivery of video-conferencing in schools, said the technology also opens up new possibilities for learning opportunities for teachers: “Videoconferencing is helping teachers work together to develop joint learning programmes with other teachers in Northern Ireland and throughout the world to exchange information with each other, easily gain access to education experts and improve communication with parents and the community.”
