Gove: Technology is changing the way we teach, learn and assess

At this year’s Bett, Education Secretary Michael Gove gave a thought provoking speech on how technology is revolutionising the way education is delivered. He started by reflecting on how technology has changed the world. He stated: “Most of us carry more advanced technology in the smartphone in our pocket than Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin used to reach the Moon.” But one thing he said hadn’t changed was the model of school education – a teacher talking to a group of pupils. “A Victorian schoolteacher could enter a 21st century classroom and feel completely at home,” Gove said.

“Whiteboards may have eliminated chalk dust, chairs may have migrated from rows to groups, but a teacher still stands in front of the class, talking, testing and questioning.”

But this model won’t always stay this way, Gove went on to say, thanks to the advancements of technology.

Helping us learn
So what can technology do for learning? Gove said that firstly, it has the potential to disseminate learning much more

widely than ever before. Subjects, classes and concepts that were previously limited to a privileged few are now freely available to anyone with an internet connection.

As an example, Gove referenced 02 learn – a free online library of lesson videos developed and uploaded by teachers. It has already delivered around 25,000 hours of teaching via 1000 lessons from every type of school and college, right across the country. These include science lessons from The Bishop Wand Church of England Comprehensive School and music lessons from Eton.

iTunes U was another example of transformational learning that Gove referred to, where lectures from the world’s top universities are available at the touch of a button, as well as the Khan Academy which has more than 3.5 million students viewing its educational videos every month. It has been so successful that Google has donated $2 million for its materials to be translated into 10 languages.

What’s more the Royal Shakespeare Company is working with the University of Warwick on an online professional development learning platform to transform the teaching of Shakespeare in schools. Launching soon, the ‘rehearsal room’ teaching resources will give teachers all over the world access to the insights and working practices of internationally-renowned actors, artists and directors, as well as specialist academics and teachers. The programme will even offer the chance to study for a Post Graduate qualification in the Teaching of Shakespeare.

How we teach

Gove went on to say that technology is revolutionising the way we teach. He said: “Games and interactive software can help pupils acquire complicated skills and rigorous knowledge in an engaging and enjoyable way. Adaptive software has the ability to recognise and respond to different abilities, personalising teaching for every pupil. With the expert help of a teacher, students can progress at different rates through lessons calibrated to stretch them just the right amount.”

Britain games industry is also being explored as a way to deliver learning in imaginative ways. For example games developed by Marcus Du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford, are introducing children to advanced, complicated maths problems – and are producing great results.

Gove went on to explain how a trip to Kingsford School in Newham opened his eyes. The Department for Education is working with the Li Ka Shing Foundation and the highly respected Stanford Research Institute on a pilot scheme that uses computer programmes to teach maths interactively – for example, showing a race between two people on screen and inviting pupils to plot their time and distance on a graph, then adjust it for variables. Stanford already says it is one of the most successful educational projects they have seen and I am looking forward to seeing the results.

How we assess
Technology also brings unprecedented opportunities for assessment, Gove said. Teachers can now assess the progress of pupils in a much more sophisticated way, as well as share assessments with pupils and parents.

“Each pupil’s strengths and weaknesses can be closely monitored without stigmatising those who are struggling or embarrassing those are streaking ahead,” Gove said. “Teachers can adjust lesson plans to target areas where pupils are weakest, and identify gaps in knowledge quickly and reliably.”

Sophisticated assessment like this is already being used in schools around the country. Gove used Brailes Primary School as an example. As a small rural school on the border of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, the school uses online tools enabling teachers to use pre-assembled tests, or design tests of their own. One of the teachers, Deborah Smith, has praised the system, saying: “It has enabled me to differentiate my teaching to meet the needs of different groups. The assessments are quick and simple to prepare, leaving more time for planning and teaching.”

In Chichester School for Boys, electronic voting pads provide students with instant feedback during classes. Teachers get real-time feedback on how well their material is being understood – even on a question by question basis.

Gove went on to say that some ICT teaching in schools is already excellent – as reported in the most recent Ofsted report on ICT education and last year’s Naace report, ‘The Importance of Technology’. And this excellence should be shared amongst other schools to drive up standards. The government is already working with the Open University on Vital, a programme encouraging teachers to share ICT expertise between schools. High-performing academy chains will also play a huge role in spreading existing best practice and innovation between schools.

IT Curriculum

Gove went on to discuss problems with the current ICT curriculum. He said: “Schools, teachers and industry leaders have all told us that the current curriculum is too off-putting, too demotivating, too dull. Submissions to the National Curriculum Review Call for Evidence from organisations including the British Computer Society, Computing at School, eSkills UK, Naace and the Royal Society, all called the current National Curriculum for ICT unsatisfactory. They’re worried that it doesn’t stretch pupils enough or allow enough opportunities for innovation and experimentation – and they’re telling me the curriculum has to change radically.”

He went on to reveal that some respondents in a 2009 research study by e-Skills said that ICT GCSE was “so harmful, boring and/or irrelevant it should simply be scrapped.”

Gove then went on to announce that the Department for Education is opening a consultation on withdrawing the existing National Curriculum Programme of Study for ICT from September this year. He stressed that ICT will remain compulsory at all key stages, and will still be taught at every stage of the curriculum. No English schools will be forced to follow the existing Programme of Study any more, instead they will be free to use the amazing resources that already exist on the web. Universities, businesses and others will have the opportunity to devise new courses and exams.

Steps already taken to reform the curriculum are taking place, he said. For example, facebook has teamed up with UK-based organisation Apps for Good to offer young people the chance to learn how to design, code and build social applications for use on social networks, via a unique new training course which they aim to make freely available online this year to potential users all over the world.

And other specialist groups have published or are about to publish detailed ICT curricula and programmes of study, including Computing At School (led by the British Computer Society and the Institute of IT), Behind the Screens (led by eSkills UK), Naace and others, with considerable support from industry leaders.

Gove said: “Instead of children bored out of their minds being taught how to use Word and Excel by bored teachers, we could have 11 year-olds able to write simple 2D computer animations using an MIT tool called Scratch.

“By 16, they could have an understanding of formal logic previously covered only in University courses and be writing their own Apps for smartphones.”