Molenet - Central Sussex College

Year 3 Micro Project- VideoLearn - Using video to enable recording of skills-based procedures to enthuse and engage learners and help prepare them for practical employment 2009/2010

The VideoLearn project will enable staff to record practical skills-based procedures, to reinforce learning and minimise wasteful use of resources, and to record video evidence of learner performance and achievement. Video clips will be hosted on a central server and/or posted on the VLE, as appropriate, to facilitate distribution across the college network, and will be accessible in various formats for learners to download to their own portable media devices at any time. Learners will also be able to record video evidence of their own performance and achievement, in the workplace or in college, to contribute to their personal portfolios.

Aims:

To facilitate the increased use of video across the curriculum to record practical procedures and techniques to reinforce learning and stimulate performance and achievement. In particular, the emphasis will be to create visually-stimulating mobile learning resources which can be streamed across the college network, uploaded to the college's VLEs and the MoLeTV website and downloaded at any time onto learners' own portable media devices. Learners' use of their own devices will enhance their engagement and provide sustainability, whilst use of digital media will contribute to the college's continuous strategic aims to improve teaching and learning to become an outstanding college.

Objectives:

1) to purchase a number of suitable, low-cost, easy-to-use video camcorders
2) to purchase a high-specification video server
3) to configure the video server to enable streaming of high-quality video across the network
4) to equip each curriculum subject area with at least one video camcorder
5) to provide suitable training for key members of teaching staff to enable them to cascade the necessary skills to learners and other colleagues
6) to create a bank of visually-engaging mobile learning resources for each curriculum area
7) to make video resources accessible in suitable formats: internally via the college's video server and VLEs, and externally via the MoLeTV and MoLeShare websites
8) to facilitate collection of evidence of performance and achievement for learners' portfolios
9) to improve learner engagement by incorporating use of learners' own mobile devices
10) to increase use of mobile learning technologies across the curriculum, with particular focus on Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeship programmes

Contribution to Local and Regional priorities

Central Sussex College is one of the largest Workbased Learning (WBL) providers in the South East and as such, the proposed project will have a major focus on increasing the use of mobile learning technologies in WBL and apprenticeship programmes. It will therefore contribute to the following national and regional priorities which are defined in the college strategic plan:

National Priority: to Improve the Skills of Workers who are delivering Public Services.
Regional Priorities: Five key industry sectors of:
1) Wholesale & Retail
2) Manufacturing/Engineering
3) Business Services
4) Construction
5) Health & Social Care