How School of Total Education empowers students and saves teachers time with Atomi

The School of Total Education is an independent Queensland school, dedicated to cultivating well-rounded individuals through a holistic approach to education. They focus on small class sizes and encourage students’ curiosity, enabling them to explore their talents beyond traditional foundations.

Recognising the need to implement a digital solution to support teaching and learning across all subjects, the school trialled Atomi with Year 11 and 12, before expanding to all secondary students. 

We spoke to Phillip Goodsell, Senior Co-ordinator and Teacher, who shared how Atomi has saved teachers time on differentiated content creation and helped foster a culture of independent learning for their students. 

Saving time on resource creation 

Prior to partnering with Atomi, the school's teaching methodologies relied primarily on traditional methods, with limited adoption of other online platforms. This meant that teachers were going through the time-consuming process of sourcing and creating learning materials. Philip shared: 

Many of our teachers told us that they were using most of their time to find resources for their students' academic learning. This meant that they didn’t have enough time to plan and effectively implement the other (holistic) areas of education that we pride ourselves on.

The school also found that students were increasingly requesting additional resources to support their exam preparation:

In the year before we started implementing Atomi for seniors, we had 5 students undergoing external exams, and teachers spent a total of 500 hours collating revision material for students.

To address these challenges, School of Total Education introduced Atomi and received an enthusiastic response, particularly in maths and science subjects.

 All year 7-12 maths and science classes now use atomi for at least 25% of the questions that they do. 

Supporting seniors with revision

This shift has been particularly impactful for senior students ahead of their exams, who can easily track their progress across QCE subjects and create custom revision sessions. 

Students can now easily track their own revision and prepare for exams without needing teachers to spend large amounts of time collating work for them.

Transforming teaching and learning

The integration of Atomi has significantly transformed the learning landscape at School of Total Education. By providing students with access to a wealth of resources and practice questions, Atomi has fostered a culture of independent learning. As Phillip observed:

Our students have become much more self-directed learners. Before using Atomi, our students would only hand in drafts at the last second, sometimes submitting at 2:59pm. My year 9 maths class yesterday all handed me drafts 2 days early.

This shift has been accompanied by a noticeable increase in student engagement and proactivity, with teachers reporting instances of students seeking additional challenges.

Creating a personalised learning experience

One of the most valued aspects of Atomi is its ability to create customised tasks for students at different levels. Phillip shared his favourite thing about Atomi: 

That I can create a task for students who are working at, below or above the standard without any hassle at all.

This feature has been instrumental in ensuring that all students are challenged and supported appropriately. It has also meant that teachers have more time to focus on more holistic areas of learning that School of Total Education pride themselves on: 

Some students are using the videos rather than asking for assistance, which has meant that our teachers have more time in the classroom to focus on the character and emotional needs of the students.

By streamlining resource management and empowering students to become autonomous learners, Atomi has played a crucial role in enhancing the overall educational experience at Schools of Education. Philip shared: 

Dive in, Atomi has created a great blend of videos/challenges that keeps students interested while also optimising their academic learning.

We’d like to thank Philip for his time and look forward to seeing the School of Total Education and its students continue to thrive.

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