Technology for next generation learners

Having worked with schools across the UK, there are clearly two distinct camps when it comes to the use of consumer-technology in the classroom; those who use it and those who don’t.

For those who use technology the benefits seem endless, but for those who don’t, the arguments they present are numerous too.

I am hoping to share insight from schools from across the UK, both private and state run, in affluent and disadvantaged areas, where consumer-technology has found a valuable place within the classroom and the wider learning environment.

Recent statistics from a survey of secondary students in a Basingstoke school showed that a staggering 50 per cent of their students owned an iPod Touch and 35 per cent owned an iPod Nano. Whilst I recognise that these are not national statistics, they do reflect what we are finding from school to school. 

Young people are familiar with this technology and have made it part of their everyday life, so can it really be ignored?

For businesses like my own, recognising that students need content for these devices has been pivotal. It has led to a range of high-quality material now being available for schools and individuals. However, as I work with more and more schools who are embracing this technology, I now realise that the benefits of using it are far greater than we first imagined when we created the GCSEPod.

Mobile technology is helping to introduce a level of creativity and independent learning into the classroom like never before. Far from dumbing down the education process, the use of this technology is helping to create a generation of independent thinkers.

This generation utilises technology and information available to them to enhance their own learning experience, by seeking out information that is appropriate to them and their individual learning needs, where the real issue is one of accessibility and signposting to what is needed at any given time.

From art students taking photographs of their work at various stages of development, to students in science lessons filming experiments, the use of this technology is extremely versatile. 

The beauty of this technology is that it can draw on so many different forms of information; from a range of quality commercially produced content to teacher produced or pupil created material. It allows students to take control of their own learning through effective resourcing and the ability to collaborate effectively with others.

Schools that have embraced consumer technology have not done so lightly. Whilst there may be a few advocates in the schools, there has inevitably been cynicism and doubt from other members of staff and often parents. 

Schools I have worked with who have successfully welcomed technology have done so with the support of both their teaching staff and of parents and students.

The truth is, in some cases, the students will know more about the technology and its capabilities than the teacher will. This understandably leaves some teachers feeling nervous and lacking in control, which is a huge hurdle to overcome.

Getting everyone on board
Dominic Tester, assistant head teacher at Costello Technology College in Basingstoke and freelance education ICT consultant is well aware of this situation. Having decided not only to allow consumer technology into the classroom, but also to encourage its widespread use by installing a wi-fi cloud in the school via a managed wireless solution so that students can access the internet on their handheld devices, the school had to ensure that all its staff were on board and could support the school’s innovative approach. He explained: “Some of our members of staff needed time and support to understand the capabilities of the technologies but more importantly to have the confidence to recognise that they needn’t know the intricacies of the devices but need only be concerned with the final learning outcomes.

Tester also refers to the cost effectiveness of such technologies. He added: “Schools are under increasing budgetary constraints so it’s our job to make what we have to hand work harder for us.”

Whilst ownership of iPods and smart phones continues to increase amongst year 10 and year 11 students, schools encouraging their use as an educational tool are still mindful of the need for inclusivity and the need to provide access to those students without their own devices. Some schools are going so far as to providing all their GCSE students with their own personal devices. Whereas others, a much greater percentage, have introduced curriculum loaded content iPods into their school libraries for students to loan as they would books.

Getting results
We have been working with a school in Kidderminster, which provides its students with access to iPods loaded with GCSEPod revision and learning podcasts, and have been delighted that the school has received praise from the media, parents and students for its innovative approach to learning.
Now at the end of its second academic year of offering students iPods as a learning resource as part of an overarching commitment to innovation in education, the school has silenced its critics with phenomenal GCSE exam results. 

Last year the school had a record number of students attaining five or more A*-C grades, jumping by a staggering 18 per cent – from 59 per cent to 77 per cent. Whilst iPods alone most certainly can’t be held entirely responsible for this success, the school’s deputy affirms that the school’s innovative use of consumer technology – as part of an overall strategy to offer different solutions for different groups of students to address their particular barrier to learning – had indeed played a significant part.

Some students have a natural ability to be able to scan pages of text and extract key information and facts, but for others, the podcasts do this for them, making revision an easier, more enjoyable and more effective process. 

On my travels around the UK, one year 11 student in Bolton told me that the podcasts were fantastic and had really helped her to understand things from her science and maths lessons, even helping her to move up a set. She claimed she learns better by listening as opposed to reading and said the podcasts were like having a teacher on hand to explain things to you over and over.

Our own research indicates that teenagers are far more likely to listen to something that they have downloaded on to a handheld device such as their iPhone or iPod than they are from the internet or on a computer, so schools who enable their students to use their handhelds to both create their own content and download content via the school’s own VLE are in our opinion on to a sure thing. 

As the number of schools adopting this approach continues to grow, it would seem we are not alone in our thinking and those in the ‘don’t camp’ may well find that they ‘do’ soon.