Button-pushing students

Hours of mindless copying down of notes are becoming a thing of the past for students at Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland.

Chalk, dusters and blackboards are largely relics of last century and inter-active whiteboards are being introduced to schools, enabling students to download the day's notes at the push of a button.

Rob McCrae, information, communications and technology director at Diocesan, said the school had installed 11 of the high-tech whiteboards in subjects such as maths, science, English, geography and history.

The boards are tactile so students can move around images, write on it and press "buttons" on the screen to solve problems or check answers.

When a screen exercise is completed the whiteboard page can be downloaded to their laptops.

"That way students get exactly what's on the board rather than copying it down incorrectly - it's a huge advantage."

Mr McCrae said the system ensured the students took away the most salient points, not what they thought was important. It was also a huge time-saver.

Early data indicated the system was already improving achievement outcomes.