Source : http://www.papatoetoe-south.school.nz/

The first example chosen is Papatoetoe South School which is a decile 2 year 1-6 contributing primary school. A successful funding application submitted to the Auckland Airport Community Trust (AACT) in 2005 and 2006 led to the installation of SMARTboard technology in all mainstream classrooms. Another application submitted to the AACT in 2007 sought to extend the opportunities offered by the SMARTboard technology to the Physically Impaired Inclusive Centre. The School Principal, Mark Barratt favours an inclusive team approach so that SMARTboards are recognised to their full potential. 

With the AACT 2007 grant, the school purchased a SMARTboard SB660 model 64 inches with a USB audio system, Sanyo PLC XU47 2991mm projector and AMIS Amplifier (Voyle, 2008). The installation of this technology in the Physically Impaired Inclusive Centre helped the children with special needs since SMARTboard engages children through touch, visual, auditory and thinking skills. The school has 27 SMARTboards altogether, one for every classroom.

According to Mary Robertson (personal conversation, 30th October), Papatoetoe South School uses SMARTboards in various ways and some of them are highlighted below:

• Room 9 uses their smartboard every day in a way similar to every other room. We do our phonics programme and the most popular one is Starfall. Most classes also use the calendar page to help the children use the days of the week.
• Our class has the PM CD roms that our children use for Reading activities....particularly for the children who have fine motor skills difficulties, they can all use the smartboard to either read a book or do follow up skills such as sentence building and word or letter study.
• We do our poems of the week from you tube and use it like a video screen to back up our children as they say the poem (many of my children are non verbal or have speech difficulties and this supports them by setting the model. 
• We use programmes such as Kid Pix, Clicker and Clicker Art for the children to use as an extended model on the SMARTboard. 
• When we do Maths or Reading the children will use the board for internet based games that support their reading. Click here  to view the most useful type of activities.       
• As our children's skills develop, we also use the smartboard to practise writing using the smartboard pens.

The school has its own intranet which is constantly revised and that includes a wide spectrum of school information, educational materials and educational software accessed via internet. Mainstream classes use SMARTboards for most subjects allowing the students to participate in ‘hands-on’ learning activities.  According to Voyle’s (2008) description of the use of SMARTboards in one of the mainstream classrooms, “a year 5  teacher using a Readers Digest ‘learning’ DVD with the SMART Board. . . the teacher incorporated extra components to turn it into a lesson aimed at developing skills in identifying key words and note  taking.  Once the SMART Board teaching session ended, the DVD was transferred to a laptop computer so that the children could access the information for themselves” (p. 24). The technology enables students to create models, graphic organizers, and pictorial designs to show their understanding of the content.

Source : Case study Papatoetoe South School, Manukau City,http://seeshareshape.com.au/dl/Case%20Studies/Student%20Voice%20Case%20Study_New%20Zealand.pdf

Special needs students in the Physically Impaired Inclusive Centre have a fun and excited learning experience using SMARTboard features that are easily adapted for their specific learning needs. As Voyle (2008, p. 27) explains, “one child, who was reluctant to even touch the SMART Board, took the hand of another child and placed it on the board, keeping his own hand on top, thus maintaining indirect control”. SMART-aided learning activities focused on touch-controlled screen enhances social bonds and mutual support among class members.  SMARTboard is an important learning tool in the classroom that helps improve teacher-student communication and interaction. Having this technology in the classroom, teachers are able to unpack concepts more easily and make cross-curriculum links via internet (Voyle, 2008). 

Source : Case study Papatoetoe South School, Manukau City http://seeshareshape.com.au/dl/Case%20Studies/Student%20Voice%20Case%20Study_New%20Zealand.pdf

Example 1 Critique