Building a unified technology solution for one of Australia’s leading grammar schools

“It was time for a renewal,” said Dr. Peter Britton, Principal and Chief Executive Officer at IGGS, describing a disjointed patent of IT equipment around the school. “We were seeking to identify a provider that could help take us along the journey, to unite it all and work with us come up with a solution that could meet our needs.”

Previously, the school was using nearly decade old interactive classroom projector technology in its classrooms. The projectors were not height adjustable for smaller children and often ended up sitting unused. On top of that, the products were at end-of-life and changing the bulbs already did little to improve image quality. The school wanted a solution that would both increase teacher and student engagement while offering longevity.

“We (both students and the teacher) love the BenQ board in our room. The children can see their work really easily, and regardless of whether we are projecting student work up to the board using a BenQ document camera, or if students are using the internet, it just works.”-Andrea Ferrando, teacher at IGGS

Kathleen Liddel, who also teaches in the junior school, agrees. “I really like features Floating Toolbar that runs on the board. It allows me to pause content whenever I want and underline keywords for the kids to really make sure that they are understanding what I'm talking about.”

Some teachers at IGGS are so happy with the IFP that they leave it on all day, using the BenQ InstaQShare app to cast content to the screen. Students also make ample use of the app from their laptops, which teachers say is especially helpful for shyer students to share their work. The IFP takes collaboration even farther from there, with students making changes or additions to their classmates work at the same time via the EZ Write function, which was a major selling point for IGGS.

Since implementing the IFPs, teachers are seeing a roughly 50% growth in student engagement in the course material, with students utilizing the myriad of features to assist with their learning and demonstrating their understanding.

For its business classrooms in the higher school, IGGS needed a more presentation-based solution since the focus was more on clearly presenting information than interactive learning. Two issues to overcome were the ceiling height, which varied from other buildings on the campus, and the issue of light coming in from the windows that occupied most of the walls, which necessitated using a thick curtain to make the room dark enough to see the images. The business teachers also wanted a projector solution without a long start up cycle so that they could begin the lesson immediately.

“Being laser projectors, we don’t have to keep replacing bulbs or filters. We don’t have to keep calibrating the projectors. We quite literally simply put the projector in the classroom leave them alone.” - Sian Jones, IT Support at IGGS

In order to overcome the issues, IGGS installed the BenQ short throw laser projectors in classrooms in their business faculty, which was especially popular among staff for the easy installation and high brightness. Teachers were also extremely pleased by the instant on, the instant off feature – which saves them approximately 5 minutes per class - and their ability to project clear images in broad daylight.

“Aside from how crisp the image is, from an IT maintenance and budget point of view, the BenQ projectors are fantastic,” says Sian Jones, IT Support at IGGS. “Being laser projectors, we don’t have to keep replacing bulbs or filters. We don’t have to keep calibrating the projectors. We quite literally simply put the projector in the classroom leave them alone.”

Britton also commended the BenQ IFP technology for its role in helping IGGS to connect with people in overseas countries such as China. The school has also opted for an interactive panel solution in its conference rooms to enhance discussion and collaboration on academic issues.

“One of the things that panel has done for executive meetings and other departmental meetings at the school is provide us with the opportunity to move seamlessly between presenters, to have multiple people write on the screen at once, which has allowed us to facilitate a wide range of different strategies that we have used to achieve an end.”

Britton added that IGGS has a range of other projects involving other technologies that they are currently discussing with BenQ. “This partnership has really opened doors for us in terms of opportunities to enhance learning at Ipswich Girls Grammar School.”