With every question, the arms of the year six class at St Marks primary school in North London, are strained skyward, fingers wriggling. Maths never used to be like this.
The school, off the Holloway Road, is among the first in Britain to ditch the blackboard and introduce the white board - an internet enabled piece of kit that looks like a giant computer screen and appears to have hit the spot as far as this group of 10-year-olds is concerned.
On the schedule today is numeracy, more specifically the relationship between fractions, decimals and percentages. One exercise uses a line on the board marked from 0.1 at one end to 1.0 at the other. Beneath are a jumbled series of fractions or percentages which the children successively drag across the board to put in the right place under the line, using a marker "pen".
Another exercise has the children "dipping" the marker in various coloured inks on the sidebar and joining together the fractions/ decimals/percentages that equal each other. On the classroom door, a homemade poster using pasted-on circles with segments cut out to illustrate fractions is curling up at the edges and looking distinctly forlorn.
The white board has a familiar Windows appearance with a drop-down menu, and it can go straight online to access any websites, including prepared lessons from the manufacturer RM. It is also linked to a series of PCs in the classroom allowing the pupils to continue the exercises on their own.
Clive Wisby, the school's deputy head and the class teacher, has had the technology installed for around nine months and has noticed a significant change. "It has increased their motivation levels. The kids interact more and discuss things more," he says. "It is particularly good for low attainers who need the graphic representations that they are now getting. The technology also gives the lesson more pace."
Wisby's comments are borne out by research which has demonstrated the link between better performance in classrooms and investment in new technologies. The British Educational Communications Technology Agency (Becta) recently found that 54% of schools with good levels of technology rated above the national average in English and 58% in maths.
But the white board used by St Marks is still only scratching the surface of the potential for change being wrought on education by web-based technologies. The potential use of the internet for learning also has profound implications outside the classroom. In the adult education market, distance learning has been transformed by the internet.
The advantages of using the net in the classroom add up to far more than the ability to access text books online. Applications in web-based technology, particularly the provision of diagnostic tools for pupil and teacher to provide constant assessment, are over and above what could be achieved through traditional teaching methods.
In the US and some parts of the UK, schools have already started using handheld wireless devices to answer questions, much like the audience in Who Wants to be a Millionaire?", enabling a teacher to instantly analyse whether what they have been saying has sunk in. Each of the students inputs their answer to a question. This not only tells the teacher whether the material needs further explaining but also singles out students having difficulty with a subject. If used properly, the devices could mean fewer children get left behind.
"The average primary school teacher gets about two minutes one-to-one contact with each child every day and it can be very difficult to work out in that time who has got problems and why," says RM's chief product evangelist Russell Prue. But the gadgets (officially called ATOL keypads) are not cheap - a batch of 30 costs around £5,000.
The political will to improve educational standards on both sides of the Atlantic has led governments to commit significant amounts of cash to getting schools online.
Last year, another £1bn was earmarked for investment in new technology for schools as part of the National Grid for Learning in Britain. The government's stated aim is a computer for every five pupils, compared with one for every nine in 1998. In the US, the number has fallen from 16 students per computer in 1992 to four last year.
The investment bank Merrill Lynch estimates the global e-learning market is currently worth $3.5bn but will grow to $25bn by 2003. In the US there are 15 stock market listed e-learning companies offering everything from corporate tuition for executives to interactive history lessons for kids. Only one - the University of Phoenix - is currently profitable. It delivers degrees over the web.
Nevertheless, Colin Hughes, the publisher of the Guardian-backed education portal, Learn.co.uk, says education has a bright future online. "Along with sex and sport, education is one area with a guaranteed future on the internet," he says. "Education is fundamentally about access to resource and communicating and those are two of the net's biggest strengths.
"Combine that with the predictable growth of computing in schools and it makes online education one of the few areas that investors are prepared to put money into during this time of dot.com misery."
The internet is also allowing students to customise their learning, developing at their own pace. In the US, it has proven particularly useful in multi-cultural classrooms where lessons can be delivered in different languages.
Marjorie Scardino is chief executive of Pearson, which is developing a wide range of internet-based educational products. She says: "Until now the teacher has stood there facing 30 kids and they have all been taught in the same way. With the internet, they can be reached on their own terms, in their own way and in their own time."
Less attractive to some pupils will be the idea of extending the school day and being under the more watchful eye of parents. Products coming onto the market - one from Pearson's NCS4School - include software linking schools and homes, allowing parents to look at attendance records, test results, homework assignments and the curriculum. Tests can also be marked online. The next time a parent asks their child what they did at school that day and the reply "nothing" comes back, they will be able to check.
Getting children to take part in interactive homework lessons may involve some solutions, Prue says. "We can now deliver our products over Sega's Dreamcast system. Two-thirds of 14-year-olds have games machines at home but only a third have PCs."
Spark Island is another interactive online education channel aimed at three to 12-year-olds, their parents and teachers. For a £200 annual fee, schools can access a range of age-related and curriculum-based learning resources across English, maths and science, as well as lesson plans, articles, news and links to other sites. Parents who pay £49 a year can access a series of articles covering everything from curriculum concerns and how to choose a school, to relationship and health matters, as well as a buying guide for books, tapes, software, toys and games.
Two million school pupils regularly use RM's portal Internet for Learning at school, while Living Library - an online research tool containing tailored information on every aspect of the UK curriculum from Roman settlements to earthquakes - is in 35% of primary schools.
Other products in development include the Ebrary, an online library from Pearson, which owns the education business of Simon & Schuster, alongside fellow publishers, Random House and McGraw-Hill. Users will search and view books for free, but to print or download costs 15 to 25 cents a page.
The BBC already offers a series of web-based education services including BBC Schools Online. But the corporation is, controversially, planning a substantial increase in investment to £135m to cover every subject in the curriculum. The proposed scheme is being piloted in 50 primary schools but is classed as a new service and as such needs to gain approval from culture secretary Chris Smith.
The BBC plans are for individual computers and the interactive whiteboard. Like other programmes already available, the digital curriculum would give teachers the facility to customise material for individual pupils and keep track of their progress.
The corporation would make it available for use at home and in local centres in the community, as well as the classroom. The service would be delivered primarily through the internet, but it would also be adapted for interactive digital television.
For the BBC, like many others in the same space, broadband is the goal, allowing the corporation to incoporporate video from its substantial library. Pearson has also begun trials of a broadband product using its extensive back library of video from its television arm.
The ability of internet-based technologies to make a deep impact will however depend on three factors: funding, teachers and parents.
St Marks bought its white board with backing from the North Islington Education Action Zone - one of 25 in the country which are joint funded by business and local education authorties.
Most schools don't just rely on initiatives like the EAZs or the government's National Grid money in order to fund their Information and Communications Technologies resources. Most also set aside money from their standard school budgets to fund ICT purchases which, with the internet, are increasingly no longer one-offs. The advent of the 'net, including content subscriptions, means planning ahead for ongoing costs.
Wisby reports that teachers at St Marks are generally enthusiastic about the equipment - not least because lessons can be prepared at home on the laptop. Industry estimates suggest 50-65% of teachers will be new in the next five years, either straight from university or the private sector, where they will be comfortable with internet use.
The role of parents is more debatable. Whether the availability of tools to play a bigger role in their children's school life will encourage more participation or create a wider social as well as digital divide, will need to be monitored.
Pupil eyes up education market with teaching resource
Tom Hadfield, at just 18, may appear a little young to be building a website that aims become "the number one teaching resource for parents and teachers" but few doubt his credentials.
The A level student from Brighton in Sussex was the creative force behind Soccernet, a popular football website backed by Associated Newspapers and then sold to Disney for £40m - all before he had received his GCSE results.
Now, with the help of his former journalist father Greg, Tom is running Schoolsnet, a website that they hope will become an indispensable educational tool for teachers and pupils alike. Resources include a guide to every school in the UK, an online library with more than 20,000 titles, schools sport news and some interactive lessons and revision packages. Revenue comes from advertising, sponsorship and sales of items such as books and stationery.
It's a potentially large market but one that several bigger players are eyeing. Experts say it is a huge undertaking to address all the necessary areas of education comprehensively.
Many of Schoolsnet's potential rivals have more resources and stronger strategic partners. The BBC, with a long history of providing educational programming, is expected to become the market's most important player. Meanwhile, Channel 4, which has proved adept at building niche websites, has several sites including Homeworkhigh.co.uk and 4learning.com. Cash-rich Granada Media is also spending heavily on various projects, although rivals say that it lacks brand awareness in schools.
Learn.co.uk, a Guardian Newspapers Limited backed venture, entered the market last May planning "to cover every dot and comma of the National Curriculum". It hopes to license content to bigger portals or sell subscription packages.
The expectation that not everyone in the market will succeed has been underlined by the closure of Learnfree.co.uk, a site affiliated to News International's Times Educational Supplement.
Greg Hadfield acknowledges that Schoolsnet has a battle on its hands. "We're seeing a settling out of the players but I'm confident we will be one of the ones that survives," he says.
Schoolsnet attracts around 212,000 visitors a month. Of these, 40% are teachers, 40% are parents, and the rest are pupils.
"More than half of our adult users have bought online and we are working on converting more visitors into buyers," he said.
Schoolsnet, which last April raised cash from newspaper group Newsquest and an IT firm based on a valuation of £40m, expects to break even in 12-18 months' time. However, it does not disclose current revenues or cash burn. Analysts believe that the company needs to bring in a strong strategic partner to ensure its long-term survival. (JC)
PC evangelist sets sights on kit for kids
Professor Henry Beker is a man on a mission. The founder of internet security specialist Baltimore Technologies wants to give every child in the UK access to a computer at school.
It's a project that is likely to cost in the region of an eye-watering £8bn. The e-Learning Foundation, the charity he founded in 1999 to improve technology access in school, is not picky about whether the device is a laptop, a desktop or a palmtop computer - it just wants them in pupils' hands.
"With skills shortages now rated by British industry leaders as their single most important concern - ahead of even competition and regulation - the time is right for this bold new initiative," says Beker.
The initiative runs in parallel with the National Grid for Learning's programme of getting every school in the UK online by 2002 and improving the IT literacy of the next generation of workers.
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have endorsed Beker's efforts. David Blunkett's education and employment department has made £500,000 available to the project this year with the express aim of helping low-income families and children from disadvantaged areas.
But most of the funding will have to come from the private sector. Microsoft has led the way by committing £1m over two years. Meanwhile, other companies large and small are being courted for donations.
Parents will be asked to contribute £5 per week to help cover the cost of laptops.
Beker's background includes degrees in mathematics and electronic engineering and a PhD in mathematics. He founded Baltimore, which for a brief period last year was one of Britain's 100 most valuable stock market listed companies. (JC)
