An online project developed by the BASE Library Service which was supported by C2k and run in LearningNI (LNI) proved so successful when it was piloted in two post primary schools that it is to be made available to other schools thoughout Northern Ireland.

During the four week pilot Year 8 pupils from De la Salle College, a boys’  school in Belfast and Year 9 pupils from Wallace High School, a co-ed school in Lisburn, worked together online. Pupils were put into five teams comprising a mix of members from each of the schools and, although they never actually met face to face, each team had to complete a series of tasks and then present their findings online to the other groups. 

Their tasks centred on the critically acclaimed ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by Dublin writer John Boyne. The book tells the story of Bruno, a nine-year-old boy living through the Holocaust. Bruno was moved from his family’s comfortable home in Berlin to an isolated house adjoining a concentration camp where he befriends Shmuel- ‘the boy in the stripped pyjamas’ - who lives on the other side of the wire fence.

The LearningNI course is directly linked to “The One Book Project” which aims to get as many people as possible, throughout Northern Ireland, to read the same book. ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ was chosen because of its broad appeal to all age groups. Kathy Dunseath Education Librarian BASE Education Library Service who is co-ordinating The One Book Project says it is ideal for opening up discussion on a variety of themes between pupils from the two schools.

 “This particular LearningNI project had a number of objectives: to support the One Book Project and encourage pupils to discuss themes in the book; and to facilitate online interaction between pupils of different ages, locations and community backgrounds – who otherwise might not have had a chance to ‘meet’ - and get them to think and talk about the book and the issues it raises.”

Each team had to complete a number of tasks. In the first week they were asked to consider two different propaganda leaflets - one produced in the US, the other in Germany - and discuss how they were used to influence public opinion.

“As only one assignment was required from each team, it was important that everyone in the team agreed the content and layout which involved a lot of negotiation, teamwork and collaborative learning,” explains Kathy. 

“Teachers and pupils had access to LearningNI’s online courseroom where they were able to take part in discussion groups with the other school and work together online from home or from school in LearningNI Workspaces.

“Delivering the course through the different tasks helped support and promote the schools’ literacy strategies, as well as provide teachers with practical material to help develop cross curricular themes.”

Kathy says that another important element of the course was that it enhanced the pupils’ ICT  and communication skills. “In week 1 the teams were given a number of tasks which related to the assignment they would get to do in Week 2-4. These tasks ranged from looking at propaganda posters to finding train timetables.

“During weeks 2 – 4 teams worked on one assignment each. There were five groups all working on different tasks, ranging from designing a German newspaper to planning an itinerary for a return to Auschwitz. At the end of week 4 each team had to present their assignment using their ICT skills. Each end product was completely different.

LearningNI is the online learning environment developed by C2k in partnership with HP, for teachers, pupils and all educational support staff across Northern Ireland. It is a safe, secure, password-protected learning environment.

As Eleanore Thomas of LearningNI explains ‘it was developed by teachers in Northern Ireland for teachers, pupils and educational support staff in Northern Ireland. It offers a wide range of online resources that will support teachers as they implement the Revised Curriculum. It also offers teachers and other educational staff the ability to create online collaborative areas: courses; discussions and websites. Schools can use these tools to work online with other schools and educational support agencies both from inside or outside Northern Ireland. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas online project is a good example of this.

“The pilot programme worked really well and opened up a lot of opportunities for discussion. There were over 230 messages posted on the book discussion forum and there was some lovely friendly interaction between the pupils,” she said.

Feedback from both staff and pupils showed that the pilot programme between the two schools certainly seemed to tick all the right boxes.

Matt McAteer, a teacher at De La Salle College said he was very impressed with the resources available and the structure of the tasks.  “We had some real success stories. Boys whose scores in Nfer tests show significant weaknesses and who have the potential to go off task easily in the classroom, were totally involved and engaged in the project. We also noticed that collaboration between the boys worked well with genuine efforts to structure tasks across the group.”

Wallace High School teacher, Elizabeth McClenaghan commented that her pupils were totally absorbed in the tasks. “During the project, all around me Powerpoints were being carefully amended.  All the pupils were totally very engaged in their work which was lovely to see."