Molenet - City College Plymouth

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Year 3 Micro Project- MoLePlym 2009/2010

City College Plymouth will pilot innovative learning methods with two groups of learners: Preparation for Life and Work Programmes (NEET) programmes, specifically Prince’s Trust, Entry to Employment and Jump Start, which are foundation level personal development courses specially designed for disengaged young people; 14-19 Diploma in Business, Administration and Finance. It will demonstrate through practical application how mobile technologies can make a real difference to the engagement, retention and achievement of individual learners from a range of backgrounds and abilities. Best practice will be disseminated throughout the College and the wider community through reports and case studies.

Aims:

• To demonstrate through practical application how mobile technologies can make a real difference to the engagement, retention and achievement of individual students undertaking Preparation for Life and Work programmes (NEET) and the14-19 Diploma in Business, Administration and Finance
• To contribute to improved learner success rates through new and enhanced ways of learning
• To contribute to Every Child Matters and the promotion of the learner voice
• To train staff on the use of mobile technologies in their professional practice
• To disseminate findings both within the College and to the wider FE community

Objectives:

The project will research how the application and use of mobile technologies impact on the experiences of two groups of learners:

i) 60 learners on Preparation for Life and Work programmes specifically Prince’s Trust, Entry to Employment and Jump Start, which are foundation level personal development courses specially designed for disengaged young people (NEET)

ii) 35 learners taking the 14-19 Diploma in Business, Administration and Finance, who will be the first cohort on this Diploma line of learning in Plymouth

The technologies utilised will vary according to the group and the task being undertaken.

Key objectives:
• Motivate and engage learners
• Inspire self-esteem and self-confidence
• Provide interesting and appropriate learning methods and resources to inspire and challenge learners to enable to extend their knowledge, skills and understanding
• Encourage the learner voice
• Provide support for learners when off-site (residential, study visits, placements) eg through eguides loaded onto mobile devices, and through remote access to the College’s VLE
• Enable learners to update a journal or blog on their e-portfolios remotely contributing to timely completion of assignments and more speedy tutor feedback resulting in enhanced success rates
• Provide a range of equipment for use in training sessions (eg mini notebooks, Dictaphones) to record the experiences of learners, particularly those with low communication, numeracy and literacy skills
• Facilitate collection, collation and assessment of evidence for coursework, assignments, key skills and portfolios eg video recording a final movie for their e-portfolio
• Facilitate formative assessment, peer and self-assessment, reflection and feedback
• Facilitate communication between learners and staff encouraging prompt and regular attendance, reminding students of commitments
• Encourage students to keep in touch with their peers eg whilst on placement resulting in an increased sense of a ‘community of learning’ and promoting a team ethos
• Facilitate communication between learners and external support agencies eg Connexions, Probation, Social Services, Ethnic Minority Achievement Service contributing to retention, achievement and onward progression
• Facilitate progression through e-portfolios which provide video evidence of learners’ skills enabling them to progress to future study or employment
• Enhance employability skills
• Provide individualised support for learners enabling them to succeed

• Facilitate personalisation and differentiation
• Support relevant aspects of the College’s Single Equality Scheme action plan

• Contribute to the College’s sustainability policy by reducing the use of paper based materials and resources and the purchase of eco friendly equipment
• Facilitate the continued use of mobile learning technologies by developing the use of learners’ own devices providing appropriate support to learners who may not have access to such equipment.
• Enable staff to experiment with a range of mobile technologies and integrate their use into their professional practice
• Evaluate learners' differing responses, experiences and outcomes to inform future mobile learning strategies
• Disseminate the results of the project to internal and external audiences

Contribution to Local and Regional priorities

College
• Empower learners outside constraints of fixed attendance modes, by creating access to podcast materials and byte-sized chunks of e-learning content, anytime, anywhere – ILT Strategy 2008
• Evaluating innovative approaches to learning and teaching - Strategic Plan 2008/09-2010/2011
• Address poor retention and key skills achievement - Improvement Plan 2008/09-2010/11
• Greater use of ICT in curriculum delivery – PIAP, October 2008
• Excellence as Standard strategy 2009

Local
• More intensive approach to developing flexible e-learning opportunities – Plymouth Local Economic Strategy 2006-2011
Regional
• Promote innovation through improved levels of ICT take-up – South West Regional Economic Strategy 2006-2015