Engaging every student is the goal of every social teacher, and Vivi is engineered to do exactly that. Our 10 Superusers, who often started out as “technophobic”, share how they think Vivi has helped increase student engagement in their classrooms.
Rebecca Power – Emmanuel College
“Definitely. The fact they know I’m moving around the room means they’re more focused and more able to ask questions. At the front of the room, they don’t always feel like they can ask you or are reluctant to do so in front of the rest of the class. But if I’m walking around, they feel safer to be able to ask questions and engage.”
Karen Gunasekara – St Augustine’s College, Brookvale
“Student engagement is really about opportunity. Being able to work in real time is authentic and meaningful. Without Vivi, I might ask a student to read out the start of a narrative and other students will feedback about the craft of the writing. This suits the auditory learner. With Vivi, they get that plus it suits the visual learners, and it allows for discussion and feedback on not only the craft of the writing but also things like punctuation, spelling, because it’s there in front of them.”
Wendy Irwin – Thomas Hassall Anglican College
“Being able to have a couple of videos running so there’s no lag time scrolling from one to the next. It’s ready to go. You can always pause and have a discussion, I’m already part of the class and watching them, telling them what to find. It’s just seamless.”
Annabelle Wood – Thomas Hassall Anglican College
“Decrease in lag time is the main thing. No cords. You just pop in the link or present your screen and within three seconds, it’s on the board. Not having to go and find things. As soon as the kids lose your attention they go off on their own adventure.”
Erin Johnson – Thomas Hassall Anglican College
“I’ve been able to use it to show videos of the class themselves doing their work and singing/dancing. The kids love it and it’s really easy to do this with Vivi. There are so many things a teacher needs to know – but Vivi is so quick to learn it doesn’t need to go into the too-hard basket.”
Thomas Schaab – Ambrose Treacy College
“It makes it easier to use the computer and with a little practice, using technology can make a big difference on engagement. There’s a lot of AV resources out there in my area – religion and humanities – there’s a great TED Ed library the number of animations on any topic are really good for creating engagement. There are some great things out there for mindfulness in places like YouTube and Smiling Minds. It means you don’t need to lead the students in a meditation session, which can be a little awkward, instead you can put it on the screen and give them a more visual cue. Vivi helps you to use technology to engage more.”
Julia Oreo – Radford
“I think it has. It’s made projecting and visuals much more accessible. It’s taken the hassle out of videos. It’s more seamless and doesn’t disrupt the lesson to put a video on. It’s easy to do and integrate. I’ve really enjoyed using Vivi. For example, if we’re studying the Tempest, it’s really great to show them a scene from a video or stage production. Used in combination with other tools it can really enhance learning.”
Michele Higgins – Waverley Christian College
“They can share what they’ve got – it’s not just standing up and talking, it could be sharing a video, a piece of work they’ve done or drawing. If they’ve collaborated something they can share it.”
Dylan Koning – Mount St Michael’s College
“Definitely. Students get a kick out of showing their work on the board. Students were begging me to share their work during a colouring competition. Engagement is definitely a factor, as long as you use it its full potential and get students showing their screens.”
Julie Patchen – Elkhorn Public Schools
“I’m a firm believer that they have. When I ask them to log in, they are ready to go. Sometimes in music we get a little shy because we have to perform all the time. But technology allows us to create without being the performer. You could do lots of things behind the scenes. It helps us have a conversation with older students that you can still be in the music business without performing. Sometimes students really shine when they can create without judgement.”
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