SCHOOL

Located in Los Angeles County, California, the Bellflower Unified School District (BUSD) serves the city of Bellflower as well as portions of Cerritos and Lakewood. The district provides education to over 9,000 students at 11 elementary schools, 3 high schools, and 1 independent study academy.

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“ClassSwift provides a fun way to engage students and gain quick feedback on their results. This data informs our instruction and enables us to better identify areas for more practice or reteaching. When we know how students are doing, we can quickly adapt our instruction decisions and change up what we teach to address the immediate needs of the students.”

— Dorah Fauben, French Teacher at Mayfair Middle/High School

CHALLENGE

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  • Increase engagement and accountability in language learning classrooms

Longtime language teachers and close collaborators at Mayfair Middle/High School, French teacher Dorah Fauben and Mandarin teacher Cheri Luo are dedicated to continually upping their game. This includes staying current with the latest and most useful edtech.

“In our department meetings we share the new tools and methods that each of us is trying,” said Fauben. “We’re continually exploring ways to keep things from being boring in the classroom. We’re constantly learning as teachers.”

Among these new tools were ViewSonic ViewBoard interactive displays, which became the district’s newest teaching and learning technology in August, 2023.

“Dorah and I have attended a lot of webinars on how to maximize our use of the new ViewSonic interactive displays,” said Luo. “I love teaching with the ViewBoard and it stays fresh because ViewSonic is always updating the ways we can do new things with it.”

In December, 2022, Luo was invited to join a group of teachers visiting Taiwan. The highlight of her visit, said Luo, was the ViewSonic headquarters. During a demo of the ViewBoard display, Luo noticed the Google Classroom icon on the screen, and asked what the company could do to help boost classroom engagement.

“They told us, we’re working on it, be patient; a new interactive tool will be coming soon,” said Luo.

The ClassSwift toolbar appears over Luo’s instructional content, ready for her to push questions to her class and receive real-time responses.

SOLUTION

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  • ViewSonic ClassSwift™ Software

Midway through the 2023-24 school year, Luo heard about new ViewSonic software called ClassSwift, and realized that it was the new tool the team at the Taiwan headquarters had hinted at.

Created to boost participation as well as to provide instructors with data insights that would allow them to adapt lessons to students’ knowledge levels, ClassSwift was described as “a quick and engaging way to interact with your class.”

It sounded like the tool Fauben and Luo didn’t know they had always wanted.

“When Cheri told us about ClassSwift in our staff meeting, she knew I would be eager to jump right into it,” said Fauben. “We were excited to try out the many ways ClassSwift could enhance learning and bring added engagement and insightful data into our classrooms.”

Over the summer break, the duo learned everything they could about ClassSwift. The features they looked forward to using included:

  • Engagement tools like annotation and content gamification with quizzes, timers, and buzzers
  • Quick comprehension checks, with instant feedback on student responses
  • AI assist to help build interactive content from their existing lessons
  • The ability to group students by need and deliver customize content

RESULTS

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  • Increased student engagement using gamification, annotation and AI-smashing tools

  • Increased accountability, with real-time visibility to student participation

  • Efficient review and reteaching, with immediate data insights

  • Time savings, with students simultaneously creating audio clips

The team began using ClassSwift at the start of the 2024-25 school year. After a few months of use, they find the app a valuable addition to their teaching toolkit and are pleased to advise ViewSonic on software enhancements.

Students access ClassSwift via QR code or a Google Classroom link, engaging with activities on their Chromebooks or smartphones. Fauben and Luo share synced content on their ViewBoard interactive displays. They then utilize their own materials or employ an “AI-Smash”—using two or more AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to create, edit, refine, and finalize content—within ClassSwift to develop diverse quizzes and annotatable content. Fauben specifically uses this “AI-Smashed” content or textbook material with ClassSwift’s Quiz Gen to build relevant assessment questions directly within the platform.

“We’ve really liked it so far,” said Fauben. “ClassSwift provides a fun way to engage students and gain quick feedback on their results. This data informs our instruction, allowing us to better identify areas needing more practice or reteaching. Knowing how students are doing helps us quickly adapt our teaching decisions and adjust what we teach to meet their immediate needs.”

Luo noted that for her, the accountability provided by ClassSwift is the most helpful component.

“We want students to participate within a lesson, but it can be hard to tell if they are actually participating,” said Luo. “With ClassSwift, we can see right away who is participating and who isn’t.”

Another feature Luo likes is the annotation tools provided in ClassSwift, which provide a quick way to show whether students understand the material. She also likes giving quick quizzes through ClassSwift.

“I use the quizzes as practice, not to score for a grade,” Luo said. “I like that I can create multiple question formats, and the real-time results enable me to quickly find out how well students know vocabulary words, for example.”

Seconding the use of ClassSwift to hold students accountable, Fauben said that her students have responded enthusiastically to the gamification the platform provides.

ClassSwift on the ViewSonic ViewBoard, capturing student participation and responses in real time.

“With ClassSwift, my lessons still have the academic aspect, but they’re also fun,” said Fauben. “Using the timer, buzzer and gamification capabilities creates an engaging level of competition; students want to be first to choose the right answer, which definitely makes them more attentive. It’s still learning, but in a more relaxed way.”

Time savings is another key feature provided by ClassSwift, said Luo.

“I can have the whole class participating in an activity like recording an audio clip – which is really important for language learning – rather than having them meet with me individually.” said Luo. “When I can have the students do this all at once, I have more class time to devote to other things and we’re able to move through lessons much more quickly.”

Using the recording feature of ClassSwift is a regular part of her lesson plan now, said Luo, adding that the sound quality is very good, and students like it much better than speaking in front of one another, or showing their faces in a video. Students likewise appreciate the anonymity provided by the other ClassSwift features, which give teachers visibility to their results, but not their classmates.

As with most new teaching tools, some students immediately took to ClassSwift, while others are fans of paper-and-pencil assignments.

“This is how it is whenever I introduce something new,” said Fauben. “I tell them, the world is moving and we have to keep up.”

Ultimately, both teachers experienced a positive impact on student engagement when using ClassSwift. They look forward to growing along with this impactful new teaching tool as ViewSonic continues to update the software.


DORAH FAUBEN
FRENCH TEACHER

CHERI LUO
MANDARIN TEACHER