The development of multi-touch tables, an emerging technology for classroom learning, offers valuable opportunities to explore how its features can be designed to support effective collaboration in schools. In this study, small groups of 10-to 11-year-old children undertook a history task where they had to connect various pieces of information about a mining accident to reach a consensus about who had been responsible. Their interaction using traditional resources was compared with their interaction when using a multi-touch table. Analysis suggests that the design and capabilities of the multi-touch technology offers some key features that supported the collaboration and interaction of the participants, particularly in the early stages of the task. Some of these features appear to provide new opportunities for collaboration and interaction, which were different from the interactions observed in the paper-based groups. These features of the multi-touch surface therefore appear to support effective interaction between the pupils. IntroductionLarge multi-touch surfaces offer opportunities to explore how they can support collaboration and learning. The technology enables several people to control and interact with the information on the same screen, simultaneously (Shen et al, 2009). This opportunity for joint control, rather than the single point of control provided by a mouse or single touch screen, is clearly suited to collaboration around the table surface (see Higgins, Mercier, Burd & Hatch, 2011). It provides new opportunities to explore how learners collaborate during educational tasks in a digital environment. In this paper, we explore differences in interactions between groups working on a multi-touch table and groups working on a paper-based version of the same task. This was intentionally an attempt to "computerise a hitherto pencil-and-paper activity" (Noss, Healy & Hoyles, 1997) and an explicit stage in our programme of research. We particularly wanted to explore how the multi-touch compared with similar paper-based activities as a starting point to develop more pedagogically effective activities with more complex resources and interactions. However, as a new educational technology, understanding how learners use the multi-touch environment was limited, so it was important to establish a baseline with activities comparable with those in traditional classrooms. This is to enable successful integration of these technologies

Mobile phone technology in Tanzania has grown rapidly but there is insufficient data on its application in schools. This paper aims to show how students in the first and third year (F1 and F3) teachers in two rural secondary schools perceived its use. F1 and F3 students completed a questionnaire. Teachers and students in F1 and F3 discussed the uses and misuses of mobile phones in separate focus groups. Although they served similar areas the two schools differed in students' use -and awareness of misuse -of mobile phones. Most students had access to a mobile phone, but were not permitted to bring them to school. Few teachers could see a positive use for the technology in the curriculum. There is an urgent need for pedagogical resources to support the introduction of mobile technology into classrooms but equally it is crucial that any such introduction is through a process of engagement with the concerns of students, teachers and the wider community with frank discussion about both the dangers and the potential benefits of using mobile phones in learning.

While research indicates that technology can be useful for supporting learning and collaboration, there is still relatively little uptake or widespread implementation of these technologies in classrooms. In this paper, we explore one aspect of the development of a multi-touch classroom, looking at two different designs of the classroom environment to explore how classroom layout may influence group interaction and learning. Three classes of students working in groups of four were taught in the traditional forward-facing room condition, while three classes worked in a centered room condition. Our results indicate that while the outcomes on tasks were similar across conditions, groups engaged in more talk (but not more off-task talk) in a centered room layout, than in a traditional forward-facing room. These results suggest that the use of technology in the classroom may be influenced by the location of the technology, both in terms of the learning outcomes and the interaction behaviors of students. The findings highlight the importance of considering the learning environment when designing technology to support learning, and ensuring that integration of technology into formal learning environments is done with attention to how the technology may disrupt, or contribute to, the classroom interaction practices.

Transition to secondary school is a problem internationally. Tanzanian students face an additional challenge as the medium of instruction changes from Kiswahili to English. An 18-item questionnaire (N = 383) and focus groups (primary standard 7, secondary forms 1 and 3, and primary and secondary teachers) were used in this study. Most students started secondary school with high expectations. These were qualified by experiences of bullying and punishment. Teachers recognised students losing hope as an explanation for truancy. However, they lacked both the training to teach English and knowledge of alternatives to punishment. Peer mentoring potentially addresses these challenges during transition.

This paper presents a technical case study and the associated research software/hardware underpinning an educational research trial in which large touchscreen interfaces were used to facilitate collaborative interactions between primary school students at separate locations. As part of the trial, an application for supporting a collaborative classroom activity was created which allowed students at either location to transfer resources to the students at the other via a 'flick' gesture. The trial required several novel innovations to the existing SynergyNet software framework to enable it to support synchronous remote collaboration. The innovations enabled the first successful classroom collaboration activities between two separate locations within the United Kingdom using large touchscreen interfaces. This paper details the challenges encountered in implementing these innovations and their solutions.