Weston College

Year 1: Wider Weston 2007/2008

The aims of this Phase 1 project were split into two complementary parts. Firstly to develop the existing strong use of mobile technology within the partnership, increasing the envelope, by utilising high end mobile devices. Secondly by enabling staff and students to fully utilise all mobile devices by extending the excellent static infrastructure (from basic to high end mobile phone).

Both of the above aims were led by a vision of developing practice and the creation of pedagogic models to embed mobile technology in everyday teaching and learning to meet the needs and expectations of today's learner.

The initial premise for the project was that education is not recording enough of the learning experiences that students have outside the formal setting. Also the method of delivery does not meet the style of the users who are used to multi-streams of information and using the web of knowledge to develop an answer.

When looking into why the above was not happening, we concluded, with the help of a pupil group, that it was mainly that the tools were not there. Further research suggests that the end units are there in many forms (mobiles, PDA’s, PSP, etc) but the partners did not have the infrastructure or resources to utilise these devices for education.

The implications of not doing it are that we miss engaging our learners now and in the future. We may also lose the opportunity to tailor learning and its delivery to the lifestyle of our learners. All this should make everyday teaching timely, relevant and personal.