From the back of the classroom I understand my students much better ! Secondary school teachers experiment incorporating ICT into their teaching

The SUMUME project “Enseignement avec SUpports MultiMEdias” (teaching with multi-media support) is the product of a collaboration between the canton of Neuchâtel (the Department of Public Instruction and Cultural Affairs), a business enterprise (BIP Info SA) and a university department (the Institute of Psychology of the University of Neuchâtel). It involved the production by practicing teachers of three sequences of teaching with multi-media support – in French, mathematics, and history- geography. <br><br>The involved teachers developed tools suited to their particular needs and the didactic of their subjects. It rapidly became apparent that the educational software had the effect of transforming their modes of teaching in interesting ways. In particular it created the opportunity to take on another role: they became conceivers of the instruments of learning, organisers, coaches and advisors, all the while remaining engaged in the transmission of knowledge but with the benefit of a more personalised supervision of their pupils. And they found their viewpoint changed: it was no longer by facing the class but from the back of it that they understood their students better !