October 2007 Volume 10 Number 4 - Educational Technology ...

The use of digital communication modes via the Internet became a feature at BSDE in 2000. This enabled email
contact and more significantly provided broadband capacity that supported an interactive whiteboard and Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP). This enabled the teacher and students to talk and interact with each other in ‘real time’.
The use of the Internet for communication set a precedent in itself because many of the students were geographically,
socially and educationally isolated. This meant that the students went from practically no direct contact and
communication with their teacher to ‘real’ time interaction and discussion.
The teacher and student entered the synchronous cyber classroom by logging-on to the Collaborative Cyber
Community platform. The platform supports both asynchronous and synchronous functionalities for teachers to
design and conduct various teaching & learning activities in asynchronous cyber classroom or synchronous cyber
classroom. The student and their home tutor, usually a parent, logged-on to the Collaborative Cyber Community
platform at a pre-arranged time. Allowances were made for time zone differences for students living overseas.
Both teacher and student wore a headset with built-in microphone. The headsets limited extraneous noise and audio
feedback. The interactive whiteboard was used, along with the webcam (where available) for the sharing of digital
information. VoIP enabled audio and discussion. The student used a mouse or a graphic tablet to draw and write on
the synchronous interactive whiteboard. The teacher provided the student with digital and auditory feedback in the
form of written and verbal comments. A webcam (where available) was used by the teacher and student. The
teacher was able to make direct live observations of the student at work.
The interaction between the teacher and student in the initial phase of the trial can best be described as teacherdirected
learning. The teacher prepared multiple whiteboard screens prior to the lesson. The screens featured
activities designed to meet the specific learning needs of the individual learner. This type of activity resembled a
‘worksheet’ similar to the paper activities found in traditional classrooms. The teacher used commercially produced
graphics as picture clues. The student completed the activity and received immediate feedback from the teacher in
the form of a ‘tick’ and written praise for a correct answer. Negative feedback was avoided for incorrect answers.
Rather the student was encouraged to have another attempt at the correct answer. This allowed the student to perform
tightly scripted tasks in a teacher-directed and highly supportive learning environment. An example of this type of
activity is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Worksheet format
The Second Phase: student and teacher ‘real’ collaborative learning
The communication capabilities of the synchronous cyber classrooms were established in the early phase of the trial.
The focus of the trial then changed to the pedagogical issues related to synchronous teaching and learning. This can
be largely attributed to a student named Madeline.
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