Six classes across three primary schools collaborate on Mary MacKillop Inquiry Unit
Video conferencing technology enabled a generation of school children to come together and experience a new way of learning during one of the most significant events for the Catholic community in Australia.
School children and adults alike across the globe were caught up in the excitement surrounding the canonisation of Mary MacKillop on October 17 last year at St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. There was heightened interest in Mary MacKillop’s country of birth, with the formal recognition of Australia’s first saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
In the Diocese of Wollongong, south of Sydney, for one teacher the event sparked the idea of broadening the learning experience for primary school children through the use of new generation technology.
Mark Woolley, Education Officer: Learning Technologies, Curriculum and Pedagogy Team for the Catholic Education Office in the Diocese of Wollongong saw the opportunity to use social media and video conferencing technology to bring children and teachers together to share the experience of learning about the life and teachings of Mary MacKillop in a more contemporary and authentic way.
Thirteen Year Eleven students from across the Diocese of Wollongong were selected by their schools to attend the canonisation. It was thought that this experience could also be shared by other schools in the diocese through the use of technology.
"I had suggested to the students that they use iPhones to upload video to YouTube and tweet on Twitter so that others could follow and share their experience. I then mentioned the idea to our IT service provider CEnet and the project grew from there." said Mark Woolley.
Working collaboratively
While bandwidth issues were thought to be a hindrance to the idea, Woolley says it turned out to be less of a problem than initially thought as most primary schools within the Catholic education system in Australia have access to an ADSL level of Internet connection.
It all began to take shape through an initial meeting using video conferencing equipment, where those interested decided on taking the approach of an individual class inquiry unit about Mary MacKillop with learnings which would be shared.
“All three participating schools focused on the modern face of Mary with the units culminating in how the students could be most like Mary in their actions,” Woolley stated.
St Michael’s Catholic School Thirroul was one of three primary schools to be involved and could see the benefits of connecting with other primary schools. The Year Six teacher, Mrs Michelle Shearman believed the experience would enable her students to share with other students and for the teachers involved to work collaboratively.
“My school is small with 216 students in total and only one Year Six class. We have 29 Year Six students. This can be somewhat limiting and the video conferencing experience enabled my students’ learning to go beyond the four walls of the classroom,” Shearman explained.
Shearman went into the initial video hook up with a clear idea in her mind as to how she wanted the unit on Mary MacKillop to unfold for her students, but after the conference was able to broaden and deepen the direction that she wanted the unit to take.
After the first video conference, teachers from the three participating primary schools went away and ‘fleshed out’ their own units, which were then published via a blog and website.
St Michael’s Catholic Primary School Thirroul was joined by St. Paul's Catholic Parish Primary School in Camden, and St Joseph's School The Strand in Townsville.
Dealing with the technology
There were a couple of factors to consider in view of the effectiveness of the video conferencing sessions. Shearman stated that “you need good visibility and sound for the students to stay engaged.” She later went on to state that this was not a huge problem at her school and Camden as they were equipped with a video conferencing unit. “The Catholic Education Office was very supportive of the use of the technology. They brought the unit out to the school and were very helpful. They supported me and taught me how to use it.”
Shearman also said that there were some minor technical issues during the video hook ups with Townsville as St Joseph’s was limited by the use of a built-in camera on a computer, which did not provide great vision at times, however the technology was adequate, although “it would be ideal for each school to have their own video conferencing equipment.”
The Mary MacKillop Inquiry Unit
“The video conferencing sessions were quite structured; I wasn’t sure it would have worked otherwise,” Woolley explained.
As Chair of the sessions, Woolley would send out an agenda the week prior to a video conference so teachers and students could prepare. On the day, the classes would dial in and then a couple of students from each school would take turns talking about what they had learnt. “There might be five pairs of students talking for about five minutes, sharing what they had found and created.”
The teachers also used an online collaborative tool called ‘PiratePad’ to communicate with each other during the semester, which was especially useful for planning the questions that the Year Six students asked the Year Eleven pilgrims during the final video conference. It ensured that there was no overlap between schools in the questions that were asked.
Shearman said that during the last video conference the students’ confidence had grown in terms of using the technology to communicate and that they had built a significant rapport with each other.
The teachers believed that the inclusion of video conference technology in the unit enhanced it greatly. “The kids were excited to share and learn with and from their peers. I think it also helps if you have teachers who are on the same page, in terms of their pedagogy,” said Shearman.
Benefits
“I was not 100 percent sure if the video conference would add to the experience,” Woolley confessed. “I think the teachers enjoyed the pressure of having the kids present. Video conferencing is a way of publishing; it gets students out of their comfort zone and provides motivation to learn.”
Woolley added the technology did not require a massive change in pedagogy as the teachers chose the approach undertaken in the unit.
Shearman said from a teacher perspective, the use of this sort of technology “reminds you of the wonderful teaching tools that are available to enrich student learning”.
“I asked the students if they would do it again and what they would change, and they said they loved learning about what the other schools were doing and talking to other schools about things that they were about to do,” Shearman said.
“They wished the video conference was over 12 months instead of just one semester to enable the connection with the other schools to be maintained. They especially enjoyed the video conference with the Year 11 pilgrims as it gave them the opportunity to experience a taste of what the pilgrims had experienced in Rome.”
While Shearman had not asked her colleagues their thoughts on using video conferencing technology in their teaching, she was confident most would be happy to give it a go.
In terms of other topics or Key Learning Areas that would benefit from the use of the technology, Shearman believes Science & Technology, film or novel studies, Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE) and Creative and Practical Arts are areas which would be enhanced through the use of video conferencing, whether it be within a class-to-class structure or an expert-to-class structure.
Video conferencing technology enabled a generation of school children to come together and experience a new way of learning during one of the most significant events for the Catholic community in Australia.
School children and adults alike across the globe were caught up in the excitement surrounding the canonisation of Mary MacKillop on October 17 last year at St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. There was heightened interest in Mary MacKillop’s country of birth, with the formal recognition of Australia’s first saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
In the Diocese of Wollongong, south of Sydney, for one teacher the event sparked the idea of broadening the learning experience for primary school children through the use of new generation technology.
Mark Woolley, Education Officer: Learning Technologies, Curriculum and Pedagogy Team for the Catholic Education Office in the Diocese of Wollongong saw the opportunity to use social media and video conferencing technology to bring children and teachers together to share the experience of learning about the life and teachings of Mary MacKillop in a more contemporary and authentic way.
Thirteen Year Eleven students from across the Diocese of Wollongong were selected by their schools to attend the canonisation. It was thought that this experience could also be shared by other schools in the diocese through the use of technology.
"I had suggested to the students that they use iPhones to upload video to YouTube and tweet on Twitter so that others could follow and share their experience. I then mentioned the idea to our IT service provider CEnet and the project grew from there." said Mark Woolley.
Working collaboratively
While bandwidth issues were thought to be a hindrance to the idea, Woolley says it turned out to be less of a problem than initially thought as most primary schools within the Catholic education system in Australia have access to an ADSL level of Internet connection.
It all began to take shape through an initial meeting using video conferencing equipment, where those interested decided on taking the approach of an individual class inquiry unit about Mary MacKillop with learnings which would be shared.
“All three participating schools focused on the modern face of Mary with the units culminating in how the students could be most like Mary in their actions,” Woolley stated.
St Michael’s Catholic School Thirroul was one of three primary schools to be involved and could see the benefits of connecting with other primary schools. The Year Six teacher, Mrs Michelle Shearman believed the experience would enable her students to share with other students and for the teachers involved to work collaboratively.
“My school is small with 216 students in total and only one Year Six class. We have 29 Year Six students. This can be somewhat limiting and the video conferencing experience enabled my students’ learning to go beyond the four walls of the classroom,” Shearman explained.
Shearman went into the initial video hook up with a clear idea in her mind as to how she wanted the unit on Mary MacKillop to unfold for her students, but after the conference was able to broaden and deepen the direction that she wanted the unit to take.
After the first video conference, teachers from the three participating primary schools went away and ‘fleshed out’ their own units, which were then published via a blog and website.
St Michael’s Catholic Primary School Thirroul was joined by St. Paul's Catholic Parish Primary School in Camden, and St Joseph's School The Strand in Townsville.
Dealing with the technology
There were a couple of factors to consider in view of the effectiveness of the video conferencing sessions. Shearman stated that “you need good visibility and sound for the students to stay engaged.” She later went on to state that this was not a huge problem at her school and Camden as they were equipped with a video conferencing unit. “The Catholic Education Office was very supportive of the use of the technology. They brought the unit out to the school and were very helpful. They supported me and taught me how to use it.”
Shearman also said that there were some minor technical issues during the video hook ups with Townsville as St Joseph’s was limited by the use of a built-in camera on a computer, which did not provide great vision at times, however the technology was adequate, although “it would be ideal for each school to have their own video conferencing equipment.”
The Mary MacKillop Inquiry Unit
“The video conferencing sessions were quite structured; I wasn’t sure it would have worked otherwise,” Woolley explained.
As Chair of the sessions, Woolley would send out an agenda the week prior to a video conference so teachers and students could prepare. On the day, the classes would dial in and then a couple of students from each school would take turns talking about what they had learnt. “There might be five pairs of students talking for about five minutes, sharing what they had found and created.”
The teachers also used an online collaborative tool called ‘PiratePad’ to communicate with each other during the semester, which was especially useful for planning the questions that the Year Six students asked the Year Eleven pilgrims during the final video conference. It ensured that there was no overlap between schools in the questions that were asked.
Shearman said that during the last video conference the students’ confidence had grown in terms of using the technology to communicate and that they had built a significant rapport with each other.
The teachers believed that the inclusion of video conference technology in the unit enhanced it greatly. “The kids were excited to share and learn with and from their peers. I think it also helps if you have teachers who are on the same page, in terms of their pedagogy,” said Shearman.
Benefits
“I was not 100 percent sure if the video conference would add to the experience,” Woolley confessed. “I think the teachers enjoyed the pressure of having the kids present. Video conferencing is a way of publishing; it gets students out of their comfort zone and provides motivation to learn.”
Woolley added the technology did not require a massive change in pedagogy as the teachers chose the approach undertaken in the unit.
Shearman said from a teacher perspective, the use of this sort of technology “reminds you of the wonderful teaching tools that are available to enrich student learning”.
“I asked the students if they would do it again and what they would change, and they said they loved learning about what the other schools were doing and talking to other schools about things that they were about to do,” Shearman said.
“They wished the video conference was over 12 months instead of just one semester to enable the connection with the other schools to be maintained. They especially enjoyed the video conference with the Year 11 pilgrims as it gave them the opportunity to experience a taste of what the pilgrims had experienced in Rome.”
While Shearman had not asked her colleagues their thoughts on using video conferencing technology in their teaching, she was confident most would be happy to give it a go.
In terms of other topics or Key Learning Areas that would benefit from the use of the technology, Shearman believes Science & Technology, film or novel studies, Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE) and Creative and Practical Arts are areas which would be enhanced through the use of video conferencing, whether it be within a class-to-class structure or an expert-to-class structure.
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