Joseph Priestley College

Year 2: mBuild 2008/2009

Building on our m-learning experiences gained in working with learners both in college and the workplace, the project is an expansion of our use of m-learning to include community initiatives, learning on construction sites, and working with LLDD learners. Joseph Priestley will also cascade their m-learning experiences by sharing good practice in effective use of handheld technologies with their new partner college. This will be achieved through using mobile learning to personalise the learners’ experience and build skills for life and work; our aim is to enable learners of all ages and abilities to progress towards their learning goals.

Project Aim

The project will build on our strong base of using m-learning primarily within the 16-19 age group and in the workplace, by working with the Community, Enterprise and Initiatives Team at Joseph Priestley and the OSAT & Train 2 Gain Division at Leeds College of Building. Consequently the use of m-learning would expand, focusing on engaging and retaining 14-19 year olds and building vocational, literacy and numeracy skills for learners of all ages and ethnicities in the workplace and the community. Staff with particular vocational expertise will be given training and equipment to develop learning materials suitable for mobile devices.

Project Objectives

Using m-learning to extend participation in education, learning and training
As a consortium with a wide range of community programmes, initiatives and business partners, we can use mobile technology such as PDAs and mobile phones to bring personalised learning to a range of learners not normally able to access college-based programmes.

To raise achievement
M-learning broadens our range of teaching and learning resources and allows us to offer on-screen initial assessments in any venue to help us identify individual learners’ needs. We can also keep in touch with our learners by SMS text to support them at any time. One objective is to improve the success rates of hard-to-reach learners in exams by providing revision and practice tests on handheld devices.

To be an inclusive consortium that promotes equality and diversity
We can provide learners with a wider range of accessible and portable resources to enable them to take more ownership of their learning at a pace that suits them. Ipsative assessment has been shown to be a non-threatening way of checking progress. Barriers for hard-to-reach learners can be broken down through appropriate learning materials, assessment and use of their own devices where possible.

To increase engagement with employers
Ensuring that our learners on Train to Gain (employer engagement) and other work-based learning programmes have access to the latest technology, and can deal with the rapid rate of development and change, will help them develop in their work roles and build new skills. This also applies to other work-based training programmes. Learning takes place in many environments in both structured and unstructured forms and, as learning paths become more individualised and diverse, mobile learning provides many ways to support this.

To raise quality of education and training and user satisfaction
The increasingly individual nature of learning involves creating a specially tailored learning path for each of our learners. New bespoke learning resources will be developed to meet the needs of the different groups of learners that are designed and purpose-built to run on the new m-devices. Having a handheld device (or being able to use their own equipment to access learning) builds a sense of ownership and makes high quality learning materials available to access in any location.