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East Berkshire College

Year 1: Mobile learning at East Berkshire College 2007/2008

 

 

 

 

The aim of the project was to develop the use of PDA’s on specialised diplomas in Engineering, WBL and NVQ E-portfolio use to deliver high quality interactive teaching resources and access to learning.  This aimed to develop personalised learning by giving learners the tools and skills to access resources, complete assessments and monitor their own progress. The project helped strengthen collaborative arrangements with Schools by sharing teaching resources available and providing access to monitoring and tracking of learner progress as well as relations with employers and parents by making ILP’s available online.

Learners used mobile devices to contribute to, access, personalise their own learning and interact with teaching staff such as getkeyskills.com to develop numeracy and literacy skills.  Learners used PDA’s with integrated cameras and Dictaphones to capture evidence for their e-portfolios.  Teachers were able to provide evaluation and online feedback.  Learners found the recording of work based evidence easier and the electronic portfolio can be built in locations such as in a garage or on a construction site.  ILPs personalised to meet the specific needs of apprentices are available to them anywhere.  Parents and employers can also be given access to ILPs enabling them to interview early if sufficient progress is not being made. Assessors are able to assess portfolios and provide formative feedback in a much timelier manner and provide employers of apprentices a greater role to play.

College Background

East Berkshire College offers a wide range of vocational, academic and general interest courses, in subjects from forensic science to childcare to plumbing. 

There are two main campuses, in Langley and Windsor, and courses are also held in community venues across the region, including Maidenhead and Slough.  The £10-million Windsor campus opened in 2006 and the College is also planning a multi-million pound redevelopment of the Langley campus.

Ofsted has commended the College’s leadership and teaching and our academic results are constantly improving. In 2007 A-level pass rates were 95% and there was a 94% pass rate on National Diplomas and Certificates.  An increasing number of students are applying for and getting into Britain’s best universities.Over 40 studentsgot places in Britain’s top 50 universities in 2007 (as described by the Times University Guide) – triple the number that were accepted in 2006.

The college’s retail and merchandising display team has been named the best in the country for the seventh time by the British Retail Display Society. At the Society’s awards the gold, silver and bronze medals for students taking National Diploma in Retail Display all went to East Berkshire College graduates. The Football Education Development Opportunity programme has won a Football Association National Charter Standard award, the most prestigious award in grassroots football, and the college’s motor vehicle provision has achieved Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) status.

East Berkshire College has 12,000 students and nearly 800 staff, including both full- and part-time staff and students. Almost 5000 of the students come from Slough. Around 1000 students live in each of the towns of Windsor, Maidenhead and in the Uxbridge–Hayes–West Drayton area. A few hundred learners come from each of the following areas: Southall, Reading, High Wycombe, South Buckinghamshire, Bracknell and Ascot.

Project aims

• Develop the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) on specialised Diplomas in engineering and work-based learning to deliver high-quality interactive teaching resources and access to learning.
• Strengthen collaborative arrangements with schools by sharing teaching resources available and providing access to monitoring and tracking of learner progress.
• Develop personalised learning by giving learners the tools and skills to access resources, complete assessments and monitor their own progress.
• Strengthen relations with employers and parents by making individual learning plans (ILPs) available online.
• Develop NVQ E-portfolio use.

Key objectives

• Obtain 160 PDA/mobile phone units with unlimited web data download for learners to use and retain as their own while they are on the programme.
• % participation in learner online ILP development and individual target-setting.
• Use of get keyskills.com and studyauto.com to deliver individualised programme delivery and monitoring in 2008/09 within specialised Diploma in engineering and work- based learners
• Use mobile PDAs for Apprentices to create and develop NVQ portfolios and gather evidence using cameras and video media with the PDA.
• Create an outward-facing web access point for existing electronic ILPs accessible to teachers, learners, parents and employers for learners on WBL and specialised Diploma programmes. This will be attached to a VLE network so that learners can develop their own ‘blog’ and set their own progress targets which are available to all stakeholders.
• Give web-based access to all the learners in the project with unlimited capacity for independent learning and access without limitation via 3G.
• Measurably enhance the learning experience and empower learners to take control and responsibility for their own learning.

Benefits for participants

Benefits for learners, across all learner groups

Learners gained:

• increased personalisation of learning
• ncreased success
• the ability to learn and create evidence in any location
• success for disadvantaged learners
• increased use of technology to support learning.

Benefits for staff

Staff gained:

• increased use of ICT in the classroom
• increased ability to monitor learner progress
• learners who have taken more ownership of their own learning
• increased sharing of good practice.

Benefits for the lead college

The lead college gained the ability to take a step towards technology that would not previously have been possible.

Benefits for institutions taking part (partners and colleges)

Partners gained:

• more learners engaged in learning
• personalisation of learning
• the ability to monitor learner progress in a shared capacity using online tracking of learner progress.