Exeter College

Year 2: FLIP IT - Moving Industry Into The Classroom and the Classroom into Industry 2008/2009

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A project that seeks to transform the learning experience of work based learners. Creating a community of empowered professionals, achievers and lifelong learners. The Partnership will provide, mobile, collaborative, personalised learning opportunities. Enabling flexible access through mobile digital inclusion to widen the participation of learners in rural communities or non-technology based vocational areas. The Project aims to ‘Move Industry Into The Classroom and the Classroom into Industry’.

Project Aims

To extend and enhance the Partnership’s personalised learning agenda to meet the needs of learners in the workbased learning community.
To engage rural sections of the community by using mobile technologies to overcome learning barriers.
To embrace innovation in developing pedagogy which exploits technological opportunities for collaborative learning and support.
To promote an inclusive culture for continuous assessment, tutorial support and feedback that enhances learner success and personal achievement.
To create a sustainable model for teaching and learning based on the use of mobile technologies.
To develop digital literacy in non-digital vocational sectors.

Project Objectives

The Partnership’s Strategy is based around a three-pronged paradigm of Quality, Innovation and Agility; The objectives of this project would fall under one of the three headings as follows:

Quality

Promote and encourage a culture of critical evaluation that begins from the onset and actively engages with all stakeholders from ‘demand to delivery’
We feel strongly that evaluation is continuous and opportunities need to be facilitated where learners, providers and employers can be involved in shaping the future of the project with active engagement and feedback. The project will stimulate and encourage innovation from those working within education and industry and will encourage sharing of good practice within the collaborative partnership by enriching the knowledge gained across a variety of vocational sectors. Critiques of learners own work will promote critical thinkers, their ability to problem solve and encourage reflective practice.
Integrate skills for life and promote lifelong learning
We believe that functional skills are the key foundation to success and also the platform for further learning. The project would embed ICT, Literacy and Numeracy throughout.
Establish a range of effective assessment tools
We believe assessment should be readily available and user friendly. Mobile technology would allow all to have an equal opportunity to achieve via remote access.

Innovation

Use mobile technology to break down the barriers of traditional types of learning and widen participation in rural areas of the community. Engaging with learners employing a variety of digital methods.
It is recognised that a key driver for adopting e-learning in the workplace is accessibility (Overton et al, 2007). Aligned to the DfES E-Learning Strategy this project will develop opportunities for those from geographically-excluded groups to access and benefit from education and widen opportunities for employer engagement and participation.
Ensure the learning support is personalised, effective and maximised using mobile learning technology.
It has widely been acknowledged that information, advice and guidance is most powerful when it’s live, up to date and accurate. Mobile technology allows this to happen in remote and non-traditional learning environments. We acknowledge personalised learning doesn’t mean learning in isolation; this project aims to ensure remote learners are engaged with a community of individuals and feel supported by peers in similar situations.

Agility

Provide flexible opportunities for teaching and learning that are fit for purpose, demand led and seamlessly fit with the business environment
Best practice guides (Implementing Train to Gain, 2007 & WBL Online Toolkit 2007) widely recognise that “m” and e-learning is most successful when actively embedded into work routines, particularly for those with limited workforce capacity (small to medium enterprises). This project will provide those organisations with developing m & e-maturity an opportunity to engage in new types of training/learning opportunities.