St Vincent’s Secondary School is a Catholic girls’ secondary school managed by the Religious Sisters of Charity and catering for more than 300 students. Located on the northern side of Cork City - an area of multi social deprivation - a large number of students have unemployed parents, presenting challenges to progress before the students even arrive at the school.

1. St Vincent’s Secondary School, Cork
Background and Challenges
St Vincent’s Secondary School is a Catholic girls’ secondary school managed by the Religious
Sisters of Charity and catering for more than 300 students. Located on the northern side of
Cork City - an area of multi social deprivation - a large number of students have unemployed
parents, presenting challenges to progress before the students even arrive at the school.
The development of a caring environment that caters for the needs of every student is a significant
part of the school’s mission statement, as Sinéad Connelly, home economics co-ordinator and teacher
explains: “Here at St Vincent’s we strive for academic excellence while recognizing the need constantly
to develop a curriculum where compassion and co-operation are given a high value. Because some of
our children face huge challenges before they arrive at the school, we are often faced with two
extremes; those students with low ability, and others of high ability. Recognising this, we offer extra
classes for those weaker academically, and put on classes to support and nurture those more able,
independent learners to try and encourage them to go on to college. As a school, we are constantly
seeking the best means of working effectively in the light of the changing needs of the students. As
staff therefore, we want to do all that we can to motivate all our students, and have found that giving
them a chance to get more involved in their learning can make a huge impact. ”
Solution and Benefits
Sinéad first heard about the Mobi View™ mobile interactive whiteboard from eInstruction from fellow
educators on Twitter: “After this, I did some further research on the internet, reading accounts of other
teachers using the device from around the world. What I read about other’s experiences led me to
believe that the Mobi View could really be a transformational tool to help strengthen the learning
process.”
Sinéad has been using the Mobi View at St Vincent’s with two of her sets; a second year home
economics class with students of an average age of 14, and a SPHE (social, personal and health
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2. education) with students 16 years old. She explains: “I chose these sets specifically, with a younger
and an older age bracket, as I did not want to pigeon hole the technology into just the junior section of
the school. I believe that students of every age could benefit from it as it is a non-curriculum specific
resource.”
Here, Sinéad details a typical lesson in which she would use the Mobi View: “A lesson on weighing and
measuring would typically be a student’s first home economics lesson. Using the device, the lesson
worked brilliantly – it went far better with the level of interactivity the Mobi provided than I have ever
seen it before and I have been teaching 19 years! The students were dying to get their hands on the
Mobi View because they could see me walking around the room, touching the stylus on the pad and
turning the pages, where usually with the whiteboard I would have to be up at the top of the classroom
and this intrigued them.”
Sinéad continues: “An activity within this lesson would be an image of a weighing scale or jug, and
they had to fill where they thought 100ml would be. I demonstrated this first, and amazingly they all
waited patiently for their turn; trying to get teenagers to do this normally can be a challenge! They
were very excited with the prospect of using the technology and I hadn’t seen that before. Normally I
would demonstrate any activity on the board or give them a worksheet, but they just want to get their
hands straight on the actual water and jug – this time was different. This lesson was one of the first I
ran using the Mobi View, and since then, the students have campaigned for me to use it every time!”
The approach so far with the senior class for SPHE has been more discussion based: “I recently ran a
body image lesson, and used the Mobi View to help facilitate discussion. I acted effectively as a minute
taker, being able to use the stylus to write down each student’s contributions immediately, which were
then displayed on the whiteboard. This meant that everyone had a fair chance to get their voice heard,
acting as a leveller to encourage all students to take part. The feedback from students afterwards
showed that they were very pleased to see their ideas on the board, and felt much more like they had
made a contribution to their learning process.”
The portability of the Mobi View has helped to transform the way in which Sinéad can approach, run
and manage her lessons, providing a greater chance to really monitor the progress of her students.
She explains: “The Mobi View has proven to be a great management tool for me as the teacher, mainly
because it offers me much greater flexibility in my lesson. In home economics for instance each child is
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3. at a different work station, so being able to walk around to see what they are doing and still continue
to run the lesson is brilliant! If I am at the back of the room for example and need to put something on
the board I can do it there and then without walking back to the front. The device being very
responsive also means I can do this quickly, without breaking the lesson flow. With the ability to move
I can see more, which gives me as the teacher more interactivity with the students to strengthen their
learning.”
A key benefit of the Mobi View for teaching staff Sinéad feels is its compatibility and ease of use: “I
already had on file a number of Powerpoint lessons made up and ready to go, and I was able to
incorporate these with ease. I had initially thought this would be a challenge as the format might not
be compatible or it may take a long time, but it didn’t. This was a pleasant surprise as I have other
software that can easily leave you muddled by needing to drag items in, but the Mobi View Workspace
software removed this hurdle, allowing me to quickly and easily plan my lessons.”
For the students, the Mobi View has proved to be a good tool for helping the harder-to-reach children
the school has on roll. For instance, staff can work one on one with students to make them feel
involved in their own learning and removing any danger of being ostracised by others. Sinéad explains:
“If for example I have a recipe on YouTube, I am able to go to the student that might be that little bit
weaker, and can work with her while still posting items on the board for everyone to benefit from. This
would make her feel more recognised as an individual, improving her overall engagement with the
material being presented.”
With a constant focus in education being on targeting core skills, teachers must continually work to
tackle potential issues, as Sinéad discusses: “Working at secondary level with older students, it is easy
to assume that when they reach 16 years old that they can read and write to an adequate standard,
but sometimes students can slip the net. I have discovered since using the Mobi View that I get
numerous comments like “oh, is that how you spell that?” as we write up their ideas. I think that the
Mobi View could really help with literacy and numeracy – key skills that can often present a barrier to
the learning journey if not tackled effectively.”
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4. Future plans
The success of the Mobi View in lessons at St Vincent’s has led to a desire to explore its use more
widely across the curriculum, as Sinéad explains: “Our principal in particular, as a former maths and IT
teacher believes that the device could really help engage students in these subjects and will be
exploring its use next term. As part of this, I am going to demonstrate the Mobi View to other staff to
show just how it works and its potential. The students themselves have already voiced their support
for the Mobi View, and have pledged to petition the principal to equip the school with more!”
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