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Kingston College

Year 2: Kingston Access to Podcast Technology for Interactive Virtual Assessment and Teacher Education (KAPTIVATE) 2008/2009

 

 

The KAPTIVATE project will support and enhance learning, assessment and teacher training through the use of handheld wireless multimedia devices integrated with network-enabled video capture facilities. Our central aim is to engage learners in the processes of producing, delivering and accessing podcast resources. These materials will be used for personalised learning, reflective practice and formative assessment. By concentrating on the interactive and learner-driven dimension of media resource creation the project will build on and extend considerable experience gained by Kingston College in mobile technology for learning. The curriculum focus will be on teacher education, creative arts and media, and ESOL.

Project Aim

The KAPTIVATE Project aims to promote learner engagement, participation, collaboration and success. We plan to achieve this through the embedding of video capture, podcast resources, media serving and mobile multimedia devices into learning, assessment and training. We are seeking to transform the experience of learners in three key curriculum areas: teacher training, creative arts and media and ESOL through easy-to-use technology that supports access to and contribution of mobile learning content. Our focus is on learner participation in the assembly of audio and video podcast resources through the use of mobile recording, interactive web resources and network camera technology.

Project Objectives

The KAPTIVATE Project seeks to harness the benefits of mobile handheld technology for learning, assessment and training. In support of this overarching aim the project incorporates the following objectives:

• Implement an intuitive and easy-to-use technological solution for creating, distributing and accessing mobile-based multimedia content;
• Engage learners in the processes of podcast and video podcast production;
• Utilise handheld multimedia devices in peer teaching and formative assessment;
• Exploit mobile technology and content as a core component in the training and formation of new teachers.

The technological foundation for the project will involve introduction of a simple and intuitive solution for teachers to capture and integrate multimedia content to enhance the learning experience of their students. This will involve introduction of classroom-based cameras, automated capture and encoding routines, podcast hosting and media streaming server-side technology and hand held multimedia devices. For capture purposes we plan to use a combination of fixed network cameras with external wireless microphones, microphone adapters for the mobile devices and tablet PCs with whiteboard recording software. VideoLAN and Apple OS-X server technology will be used for encoding, hosting, streaming and subscription management of podcast content. The Apple iPod Touch will be adopted as the handheld multimedia device. This equipment is easy-to-use, accessible, robust and versatile and we believe it represents a suitable mobile platform for a large range of learning and teaching activities.

Learners will be engaged through ‘pod-blog’ facilities in the appropriate VLE course as well as an SMS service, using technologies already implemented, in order to request podcast content on specific topics and to respond to assessment tasks incorporated within tutor-created podcast material. They will also be involved in creation of their own peer-teaching podcast content on designated topics using microphone adapters for the iPod Touch. Blogs and wikis will be used to review podcast material and encourage student participation in the creation of group-based multimedia content for learning and assessment.

The use of podcast material for assessment will include peer-assessment of individual and group-based learning content, focusing on particular themes in the areas of teacher education, creative arts or ESOL (e.g. elements of classroom practice, media design or communication skills). It will also involve formative assessment of learner progress through assessment tasks built into and around tutor-created podcast materials and assessment of skills demonstrated in student-created podcast resources.

Trainee teachers will be able to access and review video content demonstrating a variety of approaches to classroom management, teaching and assessment through use of the video capture, podcast subscription and mobile device resource, which the project will introduce. The mobile recording facilities will also be used to enable trainees to contribute content to the online reflective journal required by the Institute for Learning as part of the process of demonstrating professional formation. Another key application for learners on teacher education programmes will be self evaluation through the reviewing of video captured of their own practice on handheld devices. This will provide the focus for feedback sessions with tutors or mentors.

Year 1: Kingston Access to Mobile Personalisation with Ultra-mobile Services (KAMPUS) 2007/2008

 

 

KAMPUS set out to promote the following aspects of learning through the use of ultra-portable devices in laboratory, studio, workshop and classroom environments:

• student participation
• access to personalised learning content
• formative assessment

Both partners were seeking to break the mould of traditional IT-enabled tuition pinned to IT labs and to introduce more versatile learning environments, student-centred teaching approaches and enhanced facilities for collaboration and group work. It was anticipated that this would increase student participation in selected classes. Multimedia resources, practical guides and relevant study material were made accessible to students in practical, laboratory and workshop environments at times and in formats to suit learners. These were integrated closely with practical tasks.

A key element in the College’s recent learning and teaching strategy is raising the quality of learning and success rates through increased use of assessment for learning. Research was undertaken on the integration of ‘little-and-often’ in-class formative assessment activities to provide instant feedback on understanding and direct further study, enabled by the use of mobile devices.

The main research questions concerned the impact on student participation, tutors’ use of e-learning materials and formative assessments in classes. Tutors found that using ultra-mobile personal computers (UMPCs) on a wireless network in classes, students could progress at their own speed, choose to watch video, listen to audio or read text, redo assessments and access material using different learning styles.

College and Project Background

The KAMPUS project set out to enhance the quality of learning and teaching in the vocational and practical curriculum at Kingston College (KC) and the neighbouring Adult Education Service (AES) provided by the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

Kingston College

Located in southwest London, close to the River Thames, Kingston College provides the environment for 3500 full-time and 3500 part-time students to study for a range of academic, vocational, adult and professional qualifications. It also includes around 1500 HE students. There are five faculties delivering courses to post-16 students supported by seven divisions, including the information and learning technology (ILT) division, which provides a central facility for IT support, information management, web development and e-learning innovation and was responsible for management of the KAMPUS project.

The College is set in one main building of 11 floors with two main lifts to serve the whole building. The learning resource centre (LRC) on floor 5 provides two main self-study areas with 50 open access computers in the main resource centre available to students all day and most evenings, and 20 more in the business resources centre. In addition, tutors can book dedicated ‘computer labs’ for classes. There are class sets of laptops that either belong to faculties or the LRC that teachers can book for use with their classes. Laptop trolleys are difficult to move between floors and the physical shape of the College means that practitioners may have access to a laptop trolley several floors away from the classroom where they need to use it. The lack of a wireless network also meant that access to the College intranet, VLE and the internet was limited to the dedicated computing spaces and class sets of laptops had to be used in a room with enough network outlets for all students.

The College mission statement is as follows:

Kingston College aims to provide high-quality and best- value education and training, post-16.

The ILT strategy reflects this mission statement by committing to exploiting new technology to provide more flexible, personalised and differentiated experiences for its students. It also outlines plans to build on pioneering work carried out in the college on new and emerging technologies. The college has piloted wikis, blogs and podcasts now in several curriculum areas and has developed routines for generating and responding SMS messages from its curriculum management tool, KCOD. The KAMPUS project provided an opportunity to build on and accelerate these developments.

Adult Education Service

Kingston Adult Education Service provides education and training for the adult community within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in south-west London. The service offers a wide portfolio of provision at two main sites within the borough (the North Kingston Centre and the King Charles Centre). Courses include programmes in training for work, childcare and early years education; complementary therapies; computing; art, design, craft and ceramics; English as a foreign language; sport, leisure, exercise and health; languages; music and performing art and humanities.

Staff in the North Kingston Centre deliver lectures in two small Nissan huts in the car park, with minimal facilities and no access to technology. Security would be an issue if there were any amount of technology in either hut and the health and safety implications of computers and/or data projecting equipment in these kinds of temporary huts are obvious, with the fluctuating temperatures and wiring difficulties apparent in such accommodation. In the King Charles Centre, the rooms used are in a main building but there are only two dedicated computer rooms which follow the same profile as the computer labs in the College, in that they are traditional computer teaching spaces mainly used for computer classes or software-only teaching such as accounting software. Complementary therapy staff are based on both sites, so needed a mobile resource to be able to share effectively between sites.

Project rationale

Both physical contexts left scope for a solution to bring technology into the working space of teachers and learners. In the College, hairdressing salons are cluttered environments where it is a challenge to maintain good health and safety standards in the tidying of cut hair from the floor, moving of hairdryer cords, students’ and clients’ handbags and all the paraphernalia of hairdressing. In the motor vehicle workshops, students wearing overalls with greasy fingers work on cars in a noisy and dirty environment, open to the outside through large warehouse type doors and with similar health and safety battles with tools, electrical diagnostic equipment, fuel and oil. The childcare classes taking place in the College are not in such cluttered environments as the other two, although there were occasionally puppet-making classes or similar creative pursuits for materials to use with classes of young children, and there are sinks and cooking hobs in some of the base rooms, but the classes would not comfortably sit in a traditionally equipped computer environment, such as the afore-mentioned computer labs.

Project aims

• Improve the quality of teaching within the vocational and practical curriculum
• Improve the quality of learning within the vocational and practical curriculum.

Key objectives

• Promote access to personalised learning content
• Enable participation of students in the learning experience through tools to capture portfolio evidence
• Foster collaboration between students as an intrinsic element in the learning process
• Promote greater use of assessment for learning within workshop, studio and laboratory sessions.

Benefits

Benefits for learners

Learners gained:

• increased access to learning experiences
• greater control over time, location, format and pace of learning
• the ability to review and repeat learning activities to suit
• increased scope for communication and collaboration
• rapid access to relevant multimedia learning content to promote skill development.

Benefits for staff    

Staff gained:

• greater flexibility in planning and delivering lessons
• scope for integrating a wide range of activities
• introduction of technology into existing learning environments promoting greater engagement and participation
• efficient deployment of learning resources in a way that integrates closely with conventional approaches.

Benefits for the lead college

The lead college gained:

• efficient and cost-effective integration of technology into learning spaces
• huge increases in flexibility of learning environments
• scope for redeploying conventional IT labs
• productivity enhancements for staff
• marketing and recruitment opportunities.

Benefits for partners

The introduction of flexible technology has opened up possibilities for new modes of curriculum delivery, knowledge transfer, sharing of expertise and training opportunities.

Lessons learned

Teaching and learning lessons

UMPCs are most effectively deployed when learning activities focus on interactivity, collaboration, assessment and access to web-based multimedia content such as video resources. They do not provide an effective alternative to desktop or conventional laptop machines for authoring long documents or for extended personal productivity. 

Technical lessons

Wireless network connectivity needs to be configured to allow devices to connect without onerous security settings being set up on individual devices.

Learning and teaching

Students responded extremely well to individual materials that they could control and choose to re-run, stop and start to their own requirements. Mature students needed more support with mobile or any other kind of technology. The existence of mobile technology alone was not enough to stimulate all tutors to create materials for their students, but they did become much more comfortable using ready-made objects from the internet or created by support staff for them.

Curriculum planning and delivery

Traditional roles of ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ have been challenged by the use of mobile technology in classes and there is less application for the teacher-centred model of teaching than ever before. The ‘action research cyclical model’ is an excellent tool for realising change in education but more use should be made of video observation, peer observation and learner feedback.

Continuing professional development

The above points have implications for the delivery of both in-service and pre-service training for teachers of all disciplines. Models of how to deliver ‘mobile learning events’ such as the classes piloted in KAMPUS need to be constructed, shared and referred to at every stage of the process of learning to teach.