A Classroom Evaluation of Espresso for Schools
This study was completed by the University of Surrey at Roehampton/The Learning Circuit in January 2000.
- How learning is improved when pupils use Espresso for Schools
- Improvement for pupils
- Some comments on Espresso from teachers and pupils interviewed in the evaluation
How learning is improved when pupils use Espresso for Schools
Five schools using Espresso were compared to five schools using other ICT provision. Each tackled the same literacy module for year six - Journalistic Writing skills - in a similar manner, over the same period of time. Children wrote articles, before and after teaching, on journalistic skills and types; while background information was collected on the school and the local community; SAT scores; and current teacher assessment of literacy for each pupil.
Improvement for pupils
Points were given to each of the pupils for improvements in eight writing tasks in journalistic skills. If a child made a substantial gain in five out of eight tasks then she would gain a score of five. In the schools using Espresso a clear majority of pupils increased the quality of their work within the middle scores.
| Points gained | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Pupils (Espresso) | 20 | 14 | 11 |
| No. of Pupils (Other IT) | 16 | 6 | 5 |
The greatest gains were made by children in the use of the graphics and text features of the system in order to recreate presentation of the news, using language styles of journalism and changing their prose style to mimic press coverage.
Some comments on Espresso from teachers and pupils interviewed in the evaluation
Ease of use
"It is explained in a way I can easily understand."
"It's easier somehow when it's all there together for you."
"It can download information much quicker than any that come from the internet."
"It gets easier and easier to use - like riding a bike."
Quality of output for use in teaching and learning
"Materials can be selected, rewound, and fast-forwarded, giving pupils control and enabling them to go over things again if they have not been understood."
"It fires the children's enthusiasm and motivates children a lot."
"It offers good support for teachers - it creates time because it encourages independent learning."
"It has great potential when used with less able pupils."
"We haven't really had to photocopy anything. The resources are good and we have taken a lot from the Espresso worksheets"
The contemporary nature of the materials available
"The interactive nature of the games and activities is excellent."
"It's up-to-date news - there's a big variety."
"The materials are real, exciting and colourful."
"Espresso is good, because it does introduce children to lots of different things that they wouldn't get just from within a classroom and text books and things like that."
"It was very active - very!"
Value for money
"The multimedia nature of the package is excellent and very relevant to pupils - it is so easily updatable."
"There is access to a huge amount of content - it is a much better deal than a multimedia CD ROM."
"Children relate well to the videos - TV and video is part of their world."
