Innovative learning project wins national award for Wolverhampton City Council and Espresso
26th October 2005
More information on Espresso Mobile Learning is at www.espresso.co.uk/mobile
The mobile learning devices have been used by Year 5, 6 and 7 children in three schools and have helped some of the children achieve remarkable advances in attainment, as measured by their SAT results.
The partnership is coordinated by Wolverhampton City Council, led Dave Whyley, Headteacher ICT Consultant for Wolverhampton LA. The Learning2Go partnership is the largest collaborative mobile learning project for pupils in the UK. The project, coordinated by Wolverhampton City Council, provides a pedagogical lead and shows how successfully collaborative mobile learning devices can be used to give students access to ‘anywhere, anytime’ learning. Learning2Go is developing new ways of delivering exciting and motivating lessons and learning resources.
The children have benefited greatly from the use of the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices, and many have become expert in discovering new applications, and often mentor each other on operating the computers. During phase two of the project, launched in the second half of the autumn term, more than 1000 pupils in over 20 schools will be given Fujitsu Siemens Pocket Loox 720 PDAs, using Microsoft Windows Mobile software. Classrooms are equipped with SMART Board interactive whiteboards together with SMART’s LinQ software which enables each PDA device in turn to control and display content on the whiteboard. Pupils are given access to Espresso’s content library, including Learning Path material, tailor-made to run on mobile devices.
A report by David Perry entitled ‘I was pants at IT’, providing an independent evaluation of the first 18-month long phase of the trial in two primary schools, shows an exceptional improvement in levels of literacy, with for example, 19% more boys than expected achieving level four and above in literacy at KS2. The report reinforces the DfES’s view that:
Wolverhampton LA is using teachers from phase one of the project to help embed the use of PDAs in phase two schools. Hands-on support and National Strategies advisers are also working to support the project.
Several other LAs around the country are running their own trials based on Learning2Go.
For further information, see the website: http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/press_out.cfm?id=4939
Contacts:
| Organisation | Name | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolverhampton LA | Dave Whyley | 01902 555297 | dwhyley@wolverhampton.biblio.net |
| Espresso Education | Heidi Delaloye | 020 8237 1209 | hdelaloye@espresso.co.uk |
The full list of winners in the Wolverhampton Learning2Go collaborative project are:
Collaboration
David Whyley, Jill Purcell, Andi Bourne, Wolverhampton LA; Patrick Flynn, Stow Heath Junior School; Sue Morris, St Albans Primary School; Lewis Bronze, Espresso Education - Wolverhampton LA
From the BECTA website:
ICT in Practice Awards 2006: Collaboration criteria
The Collaboration Award is open to all staff in early years settings, schools, local authorities, the post-16 sector and other learning centres who can demonstrate significant levels of co-operation and collaboration in the delivery of the curriculum through the medium of e-Learning. This award has its focus in cross-school and/or cross-phase learning and teaching.
Candidates who enter this category should be prepared to demonstrate clearly that all partners have benefited from the collaboration and that the collaboration has used the strengths, expertise and experience of all the participants.
The collaboration may be either:
- using ICT to support collaboration in any area of education
- collaborating to support the use of ICT within any area of education.
The nominated individual or team should demonstrate some or all of the following. That they:
- Have an informed vision of the benefits of the ICT collaboration
- Understand the relationship between the ICT collaboration and raising educational standards
- Measure the impact of their ICT collaboration
- Are able to demonstrate that collaboration has maintained high quality standards
About Espresso Education
Espresso Education, the UK’s leading digital curriculum service, is a cross-curricular library of high quality, video-rich teaching resources that stimulates learning and supports teachers. Espresso combines full-screen videos, multi-media activities, learning paths & reviews, cached websites and printable resources into engaging modules, directly aligned to curriculum objectives. The weekly news service features exclusive 'News Bites' video reports and interactive Telegraph news articles, drawing on topical events to bring learning to life. Espresso updates its modules and news service weekly, giving schools access to the freshest, most relevant resources available in schools today. Unique in design and delivery, Espresso resources can be easily differentiated to support personalised learning.
