OneNote
OneNote is a versatile free-form notepad and information organisation app (Microsoft.com, 2024). It is a fantastic tool for teachers, as it can be used both to structure lessons and deliver them interactively.
OneNote pairs particularly well with mathematics, which requires various notation all much easier drawn than typed. Used together with Vivi, OneNote enables work to be modelled live and preserved for students to review.
OneNote is flexible, and can be effectively employed to address every focus area of standard 3:
- Each page may be headed with explicit learning intentions and success criteria, defining an appropriate level of challenge for the class (3.1),
- Lesson sequences can be grouped in notebooks and sections, with connections between pages (3.2),
- A lesson’s page may be segmented and annotated to indicate which learning strategy is to be used by the class, or to prompt the teacher to use an instructional strategy (3.3),
- Multi-media resources can be embedded in the page as interactive content frames (3.4),
- Various non-verbal means of communication are enabled: written instructions, diagrams, and other representations can all be depicted on the board (3.5),
- A OneNote page can be annotated in real time or in retrospect to evaluate the teaching program and improve it for future use (3.6),
- Parents can access their child’s school notebook with their own account, viewing the taught content, the assigned work, and their child’s progress (3.7).
Vivi
Vivi is a wireless screen-share app well suited to a mathematics classroom, where problems can be projected and worked in real time.
Vivi boasts many additional features to implement engaging lessons, including a countdown timer, a collaborative digital whiteboard, student split-screen, and more. As such, it aids in accomplishing focus areas 3.3 and 3.5, since it enables and aids various teaching strategies, and increases the number of available means for effective communication.
Vivi Features Infographic
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The use of Vivi in schools has one serious ethical liability: when a teacher shares their screen, they are exhibiting their device to the whole class. If they are not sufficiently organised or diligent, they may unintentionally display confidential or otherwise unsuitable material.
This commonly occurs when teachers’ email notifications appear, but it can occur via a teacher displaying the roll while it is marked (containing diagnoses or alerts), or accidentally sharing documents of a personal nature. Usually, the worst consequence is distraction, but the potential risk is extraordinary. Many students have a diagnosis of which they are unaware; exposing this diagnosis in class would be extremely damaging (Murray, 2006). Some emails contain information that, if read by students, would constitute a serious privacy breach.
Nonetheless, I believe Vivi is worth using. Its value outweighs the risks, provided their likelihood is mitigated.