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Riverview High School integrates the Nureva Span system

collaboration learning

Expansive, digital workspace deepens collaborative learning

Nureva Inc., a collaboration-solutions company, announced the integration of its Span system into Riverview High School’s innovative, high-tech science lab in Riverview, New Brunswick, Canada.

The Span system transforms one of the lab’s walls into a 20′ 2″ (6.15 m) interactive surface, giving groups of Riverview students ample space for student-led collaborative learning, such as developing passion projects or working together on entrepreneurial initiatives. From their laptops, students contribute notes, sketches and images to a shared, 40′ (12.19 m) digital canvas. Then at the wall, they work together to classify, discuss and refine this canvas content. All inputs are automatically saved in real time, so the canvas is always up to date, whether students contribute before, during or after a class.

The Span system creates a collaborative-learning environment unlike any seen before. More students can work together in a digital workspace to fully visualize all aspects of a problem, project or unit of study. Seeing more information at once, including the real-time contributions of their peers, enables students to deepen their understanding while developing their creative, critical-thinking and communication skills. At Riverview, students’ ability to use laptops or iPads to anonymously contribute to the group canvas has also led to noticeable gains in confidence, particularly among quieter individuals. And although the system is installed in the school’s science lab, students and teachers have already embraced its use in other subject areas, including history explorations focused on World War I and an English Language Learners (ELL) exchange program that incorporates remote collaboration with fourth-grade students in the United Kingdom.

“Since getting the Span system there has been a noticeable shift in the scope of problems that students are working on and the way they’re working together to solve them,” says Ian Fogarty, Riverview High School’s science teacher. “It’s really something to see my quieter students come out of their shell, while the louder, more confident students have become calmer and wait their turn as everyone’s contributions are considered.”

“We love hearing educators’ stories about the engaging and creative ways they’re using the Span system in their classrooms,” says Nancy Knowlton, Nureva’s CEO. “The experience at Riverview demonstrates the powerful combination of student devices and input in a collaborative workspace to drive deeper engagement and learning.”