Yesterday's OpenCoffee Limerick moved to Gaelscoil O'Doghair in Newcastlewest and turned out to be a marathon session, with three people still immersed in conversation when I finally left at 7.30pm (it started at 11am). It was great to see a number of new faces and the venue certainly gave a fresh injection of energy to proceedings.
I think all of us agreed that the kids attending this multi- award winning primary school are surely among the luckiest in Ireland. Under the tutelage of Daithi O'Murchu the teachers and students at Gaelscoil O'Doghair positively embrace the Internet and technology with a refreshingly open and realistic attitude -- "Broadband Access and Digital Communications will be used to further our Gaelscoil’s educational goals and objectives, but pupils may find ways, accidentally or intentionally, to access undesirable materials as well. We believe that the benefits to pupils from access to the Internet, in the form of information resources and opportunities for collaboration, exceed any disadvantages".
Here's a video I captured of Daithi demonstrating one of their interactive touch Smart whiteboards, which is shown to it's full advantage while navigating the school's new 360 degree virtual tour -
___________________
-- Bernie Goldbach looks at alternative touchscreen technologies.
Wow. That is so totally amazing, for any school.
Posted by: Paul Sweeney | August 08, 2008 at 02:35 PM
Yeah, we stood around in spellbound silence while that demo was going on Paul. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon taking turns playing with it ;-)
Posted by: James Corbett | August 08, 2008 at 04:40 PM
We were not playing with it James, we were exploring the possibilities, thats my story, and I'm sticking to it. :-)
Posted by: jbkenn | August 09, 2008 at 07:31 AM
Sure you were John, sure you were.... ;-p
Posted by: James Corbett | August 09, 2008 at 09:39 AM