Tower Hamlets College

Year 2: Establishing mobile learning as a sustainable student entitlement to improve Literacy levels across East London 2008/2009

Tower Hamlets and Newham colleges serve areas of acute deprivation. Our self-assessment processes, feedback from HMI visits, and new national priority targets for Skills for Life point to an urgent need to improve literacy at Entry 3 and Level 1 across all age ranges. We expect to establish that mobile learning via handheld devices is an effective and sustainable solution to this issue with future device costs covered by demonstrable improvement in retention and achievement. The project will evidence the need for a strategic entitlement to mobile learning for these learners in order to further facilitate differentiated and independent learning.

Project Aims

The project aims to:

• Achieve significant and measurable improvements in E3 and L1 Literacy through the deployment of hand-held devices;
• Establish a culture of entitlement to differentiated, independent and collaborative learning outside the classroom;
• Enable this learning at home, on the move, in college social areas and in the classroom;
• Provide engaging and targeted ‘homework’ including interaction with teachers and fellow students;
• Monitor and document the effectiveness and use of the devices deployed by the project and student and staff owned devices;
• Establish that the cost of these MLD’s can be sustained and justified through improvements in retention and achievement.

Project Objectives

• Purchase and deploy a range of hand-held devices with 3G and wireless functionality to compliment the MLD’s and other technologies already in use;
• Extend the wireless infrastructure to build on improvements last year and specifically to enable use of staff and student owned devices;
• Develop a range of blended learning opportunities for students at E3 and L1 to enable and enhance their learning outside of the classroom using hand-held devices;
• Extend the existing use of m-learning in SfL/ESOL with a range of additional m-learning devices and applications, including the collation and creation of effective material at E3 and L1;
• Continue to integrate m-learning in the delivery of employability on programmes for NEETs as well as the ESOL employability delivery for adults, including extending the current and very successful use of m-learning devices;
• Engage staff delivering courses which have a lower rate of retention to engage in blended learning activities that will promote learner engagement and retention;
• Deliver training and support to staff and learners in the use of mobile technologies and pedagogies – including borough staff and learners involved in the specialist diplomas;
• Deliver training and support to staff and learners in the development of m-learning resources and repurposing of existing materials;
• Together with the LSN team evaluate and disseminate the impact of the m-learning activities and develop the further and sustainable use of m-learning in other curriculum areas;
• In addition to the requirements of the project, host and deliver dissemination and training for local partners and other London Colleges;
• Extend the access and use of the college VLE (Moodle) via mobile devices with courses and resources specifically aimed at E3 and L1 Literacy;
• Extend the existing use of txt messaging specifically for E3 and L1 students;
• Continue to add to the college and subject specific transferable models for the most effective and sustainable use of m-learning .

Year 1: Adding ‘m’ to the mix 2007/2008

The ‘Adding ‘m’ to the mix’ project’s main aim was to introduce the most up-to-date mobile learning devices in as many areas of teaching and learning as possible to see what they could add to an existing rich mix of blended information and learning technologies (ILT) in all college curriculum areas.

The main focus was on teaching and learning in three specific target areas: Skills for Life (SfL), the new ICT diploma and Employability/young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). These were chosen as a representative sample of departments in terms of their use of ILT. SfL had already been involved in mobile learning projects with the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy investigation into ICT and basic skills, using PC Tablets. The aim was to procure devices that would build on existing provision and extend this into other areas.

Sustainability was a key factor in deciding which mobile learning devices would be bought and used. Devices had to be as multi-functional as possible and able to be used over a prolonged period of time.

The research questions were designed to be used across the three targeted areas but time constraints and internal college pressures meant that they eventually focused SflL and learners on courses for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) in particular.

College and Project Background

Tower Hamlets is the heart of the East End of London. The names of its neighbourhoods – such as Whitechapel and the Isle of Dogs – have been made famous in history and in fiction. It is a multifaceted area, vibrant and full of contrasts, where tradition lives alongside the avant-garde, and deprivation alongside breathtaking growth. For all the highly visible changes like Docklands regeneration, Canary Wharf, and the influx of wealthy residents and businesses to the area, it can be argued that life has not changed much for most borough residents. Tower Hamlets still has one of the highest deprivation factors of any borough in England.

Tower Hamlets College (THC) employs approximately 850 teaching and service support staff providing learning to over 9000 sixth form and adult students at four main locations across the borough and various community venues. The College has strong links into business with a successful Employer Services Division, providing a range of training facilities to local employers and residents alike. In 2006 the Government chose THC to be London’s flagship centre for The National Skills Academy for Financial Services, which led to an additional state-of-the-art location being opened in East India Dock Road. THC Sixth Form College is in the UK’s top 10 FE colleges and is placed third in the London league tables. THC’s last Ofsted inspection was categorised as ‘outstanding’ with student achievements being above the national average.

Tower Hamlets College has an established history of successful e-learning developments and action-based projects managed and supported by staff within the interactive learning and quality team. In-house developments have included a wide range of ILT projects carried out by ILT leaders, followed by ILQ projects typically more specialised in nature and variable in size.

Over a number of years the college has invested heavily in infrastructure, including a level of secure wireless coverage across all main sites. The college had also previously used personal digital assistants (PDAs) for mobile registers, made some use of laptops for community outreach and Tablet PCs in ESOL, but had yet to exploit the teaching and learning benefits of the more portable m-learning technologies. Before the MoLeNET project the college were in the process of procuring a college-wide text messaging service and already had strategy targets to pilot the use of existing and new m-learning technologies to enhance curriculum delivery.

Project aims 

• To complement the use of e-learning with appropriate m-learning technologies and pedagogies and in particular to engage learners, improve retention and achievement and improve the support for personalised learning.
• To develop sustainable models for embedding blended use of m-learning across the curriculum with an initial and measurable focus on Skills for Life, Employability, IT Diploma and a small group of learners with severe learning difficulties and disabilities (SLDD).

Key objectives

• Develop a range of blended learning opportunities for adult Skills for Life learners that enhance their learning in classroom-based activities and provide opportunities for personalised learning outside the classroom
• Extend the existing use of Tablet PCs in ESOL courses with a range of additional m-learning devices and applications, including the re-purposing of existing resources such as the London Online materials
• Complement the existing use of laptops in community outreach with a range of more portable m-learning devices and applications
• Integrate m-learning into the delivery of employability on programmes for NEETs as well as the ESOL employability delivery for adults, including extending the current and very successful use of audio/visual (AV) technologies to m-learning devices
• Support the development of the new IT Diploma by providing mobile technology for linking with partner schools delivering the Diploma and engaging in shared learning activities
• Engage staff delivering courses that have a lower rate of retention to engage in blended learning activities to promote learner engagement and retention
• Deliver training and support to staff and learners in the use of mobile technologies and pedagogies – including borough staff and learners involved in the specialist Diplomas
• Deliver training and support to staff and learners in the development of m-learning resources and repurposing of existing materials – including borough staff and learners involved in the specialist Diplomas
• Together with the LSN team evaluate and disseminate the impact of the m-learning activities and develop the further and sustainable use of m-learning in other curriculum areas
• In addition to the requirements of the project, host and deliver dissemination and training for local partners and other London colleges
• Extend the access and use of existing systems and resources such as the college virtual learning environment (VLE) (Moodle) to a range of mobile devices
• Extend the existing use of text messaging for teaching and learning
• Complement the existing use of interactive whiteboards and resources with m-learning technologies
• Develop a range of college and subject specific transferable models for the most effective and sustainable use of m-learning.

Benefits for participants

Benefits for learners

Across all learner groups, learners gained:

• increased access/use of technology in non-IT classrooms.
• increased  out-of-college learning.
• improved differentiation
• wider use of different forms of media – use and creation
• improved personalisation.

Benefits for staff

Staff gained:

• increased access/use of technology in non-IT classrooms
• increased options to enable out-of-college learning
• wider options for differentiation
• easier options to use different forms of media
• wider range of options to aid personalisation.

Benefits for the lead college

The lead college gained:

• improvement in teaching and learning through use of m-learning
• improvement in use of e-learning as a result of use of m-learning
• improved retention and achievement.

Benefits for institutions taking part (partners and colleges)

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is issuing eee PCs to all IT Diploma students.

Lessons learned

Overall, even with the delays and technical issues, the project has seen very good progress and paved the way for much wider and more effective use next term. The opportunities for using the range of technologies inside and outside the classroom and extending the use of existing e-learning technologies has engaged staff and learners new to using any form of e-learning as well as those more experienced in using technology. The portability and flexibility of the devices selected, as expected, have led to a range of examples of effective practice which will help continue and cascade these improvements further.

The ease of use and functionality, not just novelty, of the devices selected, has certainly engaged staff and learners, improved coursework and achievement and led to much greater use of various technologies inside and outside the classroom. The availability, flexibility and use of these technologies has also led to improvement in the use of other learning technologies including interactive whiteboards and the college VLE and, in particular, seen significant growth in the use of technology in non-IT classrooms.

The project has demonstrably increased the use of e-learning, differentiation and personalisation in normal classrooms as well as for ‘out of class’ learning.

Using mobile devices helped the delivery of differentiated teaching and reduced some of the physical constraints in using a large variety of appropriate materials in class. Lack of preparation time was cited as an inhibitor.

Students enjoyed the variety and stimulation that mobile learning devices brought to their learning activities and definitely found them motivating.

Out0of 0college learning is highly valued by both staff and students in ESOL. The use of mobile learning devices greatly enhanced this experience and there are great hopes for the development of resources aimed at particular visits.

If mobile learning devices are to be properly integrated into curriculum planning and delivery some models of best usage are needed. Having a training programme for each department using the mobile learning devices would be a major step forward.

More time needs to be allocated for staff training in both how to use the devices and good practice. Staff would like to learn how to author for the various mobile PC devices. There needs to be a plan to integrate ILT in general and mobile learning devices in particular more with continuing professional development in ESOL.

It was difficult to get research going across the college. More emphasis needs to be given to national projects such as this one in terms of time needed and support networks across the college.