When mothers and fathers pay a visit to their children's schools on parents' day, they may notice that much of the way classrooms are set up has not changed dramatically over the years. Students sit in rows facing the teacher and the whiteboard.
This is especially so in local government schools, where it can often be the case that 30-plus students are sitting neatly in lines, being spoken to by the teacher who writes up the lessons on the board. Many of the classrooms have just enough room for students to sit in line, so getting up and about during class to take part in group activities can be difficult.
Recently, however, more schools in Hong Kong have been turning to new ways of making classes far more interactive for students and teachers, and much of this is taking the form of introducing interactive whiteboards (IWB), interactive voting systems and other software and hardware that enable students to play an active role in the classroom.
'Interactive learning is critical in creating classrooms that enrich and engage today's learners,' says Sherman Chu, North Asia regional director for Promethean, a company that specialises in interactive learning technology. 'This is particularly true in educating the younger generation who are more familiar with digital technologies - it is essential that lessons appeal to pupils and capture their imagination.'
Interactive whiteboards form the backbone of an interactive classroom. They are a whiteboard on to which output from a computer can be projected. Students and teachers are able to manipulate content on the screen using their fingers or special pens, so that sounds, colours and text can be moved and used on the board.
The board will also display pictures and video. Students can come to the board and use projected compasses, protractors and rulers to solve problems drawn on the board. At the end of a class, everything that has been written on the board can be printed for students to study.
According to market research by Futuresource Consulting, one in seven classrooms around the world will be equipped with IWBs by 2011.
