Summary CaseStudy

Multimedia instruction 
The Principal at St. Peter’s N.S. commented that interactive technologies are simply an added 
resource ‘bringing the classroom to life’. What she finds most interesting is the success of the 
interactive Irish curriculum resource Bua na Cainte, which has proved hugely popular with children 
and teaching staff alike. It offers bespoke media content and interactive games via a website and for 
the most part is included using what can be described as whole class multimedia instruction 
techniques.
In interview, a teacher commented that she had noticed her student teacher 
needed to create more interactive content and not to rely on Powerpoint so 
much. The approach was too prescriptive and static to keep the children’s 
attention. She noted the expectation among children to have interactivity 
included in their education and that compared to when she started in 
teaching, more than seven years ago, children’s attention span is shorter, 
she felt teachers need to be ‘all-singing and all-dancing’. 
A number of teachers noted that the use of interactive technology in the 
classroom is generally well-received by students but also poses a learning 
curve for teachers. This was described in interviews with teachers at St. 
Peter’s N.S. Two teachers described the process of changing from IWB to 
ISB, they described the process of upscaling and learning how to use the 
new equipment during the tasks of teaching. Many described how they had 
themselves, or seen their teaching assistants ask the children for advice on 
how to do something with the devices. It was remarked here and in the 
online survey that children often remember or intuit how to accomplish tasks 
with interactive technology. This is attributed to a high degree of mode 
competency, where many children are already familiar with mobile, tablet and 
games console technology, regularly engage with YouTube, games, apps 
and other online content outside of their school environment. 
While all teachers agree IB technology in particular is a beneficial aid to them in classroom 
management and tuition, a number question the educational value of individual learning on iPad or 
laptop devices. Many games Apps on the iPad are so feature rich, it is difficult for teachers to have the 
time (or patience) to assess the educational content.
Fig. 6 Screenshot from Geared 
2! iPad App published by Brian 
Mitchell http://geared.co/

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One of the Apps noted in an observation session, ‘Geared’ is a gamified problem-solving App which 
requires players to compute speed, direction, size, motion and time sequencing in order to place cogs 
into a moving mesh of cogs. The researcher determined the game had a high degree of connection to 
real world learning and scientific concepts in physics, but noted however that without enough time to 
consider the added value of the App, teachers were inclined to dismiss the educational value or the 
problem-solving benefits of the game and what it was about. This is also reflected in findings by 
Rocha et al (2015).
These qualitative descriptions point towards evidence of the existence of a sort of fluency in 
multimedia instruction that can enhance multimedia learning. 
Fig. 4 Contrasts use of interactive technology outside St. Peter’s N.S. with total
Fig. 5 Contrasts use of whole class vs. individual interactive technology 

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