Bringing Mathematics to the Net Generation - Virtual Learning at Primary Level
Social networking is an integral part of children’s lives today. A pilot project on the use of a VLE at primary level was ran in partnership with The Education Centre, Tralee. The centre hosted the maths module Digimaths on their MOODLE learning management system. The growth of virtual learning environments (VLE) and learning management systems (LMS) in the European and British educational sector is a trend which is continuing to grow. There are indications that education in Ireland will follow a similar trend. MOODLE VLE was of interest as it is open source software and therefore affordable to Irish schools.
The Digimaths product was developed based on the Irish primary school mathematics’ curriculum. The research investigated whether a curriculum aligned multimedia application in a MOODLE VLE encouraged students to improve their scores in the standardized tests, in particular the primary school SIGMA-T test. Participants’ attitude and self-efficacy in relation to maths were also included in the study.
The success of this pilot has lead to two further projects
Brenda Walsh has worked both at primary and secondary level in Ireland and South Africa. She is currently a primary teacher working in Listowel, Co. Kerry. While in South Africa she spent a number of years working in the IT corporate sector in a variety of roles; - programmer, system analyst, business analyst and project manager. On her return to Ireland she re-entered the education sector. With a background in technology, Brenda was interested in combining her skills in both areas and she is currently completing her MSc in Educational Technologies at the Institute of Technology, Tralee. She currently is a part-time online tutor for the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE). Her research looked at the impact an online learning environment has on maths attainment at primary level.