As a buoyant school with over 500 children ranging from Reception to Year 8, we are always open to trying new supportive tools to help us engage children in lessons.

So when we were asked to become a pilot school for a new interactive lesson delivery platform, Unio, I was intrigued to see how it could work. Unlike my students, I am not a digital native, so when it comes to introducing new edtech to the classroom, it’s imperative that it’s easy to use. With Unio, in just a few intuitive clicks I was able to upload my existing content, such as powerpoints, and begin teaching!

Unio works by broadcasting content onto student’s screens, where they can individually annotate and follow along with the lesson while I monitor their progress from my own screen, freeing myself from front of class teaching and giving me greater flexibility.

Each child can follow my lesson at their own pace, annotating the slides as they go, while I am able to monitor exactly what each student is up to from my own screen with large, easily visible icons. I can see who is on task and who is not, and with the interactive quiz feature I can get a really clear insight into student learning. The results appear right on my screen in real-time, and I can see exactly how each individual student is answering.

I can use it at any point during a lesson to gauge understanding of a topic, addressing issues as they happen, rather than waiting to react after the lesson. My class can even communicate one-to-one with the teacher through the system, without disturbing the flow of the lesson.

There’s no need for photocopying and printouts - worksheets, assessments and lesson slides are all in one place, saving a great deal of time for teachers. Plus, being able to evidence learning through the assessment tools and digital workbooks, saved to the cloud, will be a great feature to have at our fingertips when being moderated.

With a couple of clicks, I can broadcast a student’s screen to the whole class (which certainly keeps them on their toes!) - a great feature when trying to demonstrate what makes good work. The children can identify the positive qualities of that work, replicate it moving forward and take greater responsibility for their learning.

But it’s not just me who loved it - the children did too. The feedback I had from my class was that it was a far more personalised way of learning, with Unio making the learning process feel more collaborative, rather than it just being ‘the teacher’s lesson’.

Making sure all children feel they have individual input, attention and immediate feedback can be very challenging for teachers. Using Unio can help the teacher to feel connected to all students, ensuring that each individual has had that special piece of teacher feedback during each lesson, not only making for a more connected classroom, but a more supportive and nurturing one too.

Visit www.uniobyharness.com or contact [email protected] / 0203 488 0758 for more information.