Beaumont College

Year 3 Micro Project- MOVE - MObile Video Evidence

We seek to build upon existing work done on mobile learning and web services within Beaumont College. Beaumont is running the Trinity College London accredited 'Arts Award'. We aim to combine the use of digital video cameras with a web based e-portfolio system to enable our learners to build a video evidence base for their e-portfolios. We will enable stakeholders such as families, friends etc to access the e-portfolio securely from the internet. We aim to push the 'mobile learning' agenda both in terms of hand held devices and internet services that will be synergistically embedded into the college curriculum.

Aims:

• Issue all 'Arts Award' vocational studies learners with a solid state video recorder for evidence gathering purposes. This can be kept by the learner at all times and taken to all sessions.
• Provide enhanced video download, editing and storage facilities to process the video that is taken.
• Provide an accessible web based online e-portfolio system that can be accessed by learners and stakeholders such as parents via a secure login.
• Support learners skills for life development by embedding all of this activity into all appropriate sessions and enhance independence and decision making skills of all learners in the project.

Objectives:

• Learner ICT Skills development -mobile media technology. Ensure all learners enrolled on the Trinity College London accredited Arts Award are familiar with the cameras operation and are supported to use these mobile learning tools in appropriate sessions.
• Learner ICT skills development - editing software. All learners are to be supported to use the enhanced download and editing facilities provided by this project. This will involve reinforcing and developing ICT skills. The college has extensive experience in supporting learners with digital video in creative media studies sessions and these skills can be developed for evidence recording purposes. We plan to draw on the skills base present in our media team and skills for life team to facilitate this holistic change in how evidence is recorded.
• Learner ICT skills development - e-portfolio software. Enabling learners to access our newly implemented e-portfolio system will be a core objective of this project. This is where the video taken using the mobile technology will be showcased. Each learner should build up a representative sample of video clips from their subject areas that demonstrates the progress they are making. These will be filed along with other supporting materials in subject area sections within each e-portfolio.
• Engage Stakeholders. All required learner stakeholders will be offered the opportunity to access the e-portfolios as populated by the learners themselves using the solid state cameras to evidence their progress. We hope this will lead to enhanced stakeholder engagement and will demonstrate the college's commitment to openness within the learning process. This will be done only with the full knowledge and choice of the learners themselves and all material posted on the individuals e-portfolio pages will be there at their selection only.
• Enhance evidence collection. The requirements of the Trinity College London Arts Award allow for the submission of portfolios. The use of e-portfolios combined with solid state video cameras in this way will enhance the product each learner can produce for their project portfolio. This is especially true of learners with Special Educational Needs who may not be able to submit written accounts due to physical or cognitive disabilities, the use of video instead of written submissions to illustrate skills development in this way is an enabling use of technology, we feel this is an innovate use of video.
• Encourage Learner Collaboration. The use of digital technologies encourages collaboration between learners, it is an objective of this project to encourage group working and learner collaboration, such as learners filming each other's subject based activity for use on individual e-portfolios.
• Seek to share skills with other colleges. It is an objective to seek out other colleges that have made good use of some of the project elements such as video for evidence purposes, e-portfolios, making web services available securely or the use of small solid state cameras and to both learn from them and share our practice. We will seek to use our existing links with the JISC regional support centre of the North West to facilitate this process.

Contribution to Local and Regional priorities:

The Beaumont College Strategic Plan section 3 - To become an exemplar provider of ICT states that one of our 'next generation systems' will be "an e-portfolio system in place for all arts award learners".
The Curriculum Quality Improvement Plan states that video should be used for evidence purposes. We aim to enable other colleges to share the services we develop so that our learners and theirs can collaborate and communicate securely and easily. We intend to do this by establishing an infrastructure to handle media rich web based technologies that can be accessed securely from outside the college.