26th May 2010, Goodenough College

'An inspirational day.'

'I have fully enjoyed the presentations. I was particularly pleased to see learners talking about the impact technology's having on their learning'

'I will definately be encouraging the use of videos to aid my learners develop practical skills as well as audio recordings for more theory based sessions.'

'Ash's inspirational presentation will encourage me to explore ILT more.'

'Excellent session with some fantastic ideas to share.'.

'Impressive use of moodle to engage learners at city of westminster. I like the break out spaces for non traditional teaching.'

'Choice4All showing great stuff created by learners using office.'

Graciano Soares opened the event with reference to the 2007 JISC CAMEL report that concluded that “the appropriate use of technology is leading to significant improvements in learning and teaching across the sector and that this is translating into improved satisfaction, retention and achievement.[…]”.

Delegates from across the region came together to see how other colleagues could evidence the impact that technology is having in their learners and in their institutions.

As several delegates pointed out, this was an extremely inspiring day. So much so, that Nathan Cobb, from Uxbridge College recorded it on his blog: http://nathancobb.co.uk/2010/05/26/engaging-learners-evidencing-impact-reflections/.

Qualitative and quantitative evidence of the impact of the use of technology in A-Level Psychology

Ash gave a most inspiring presentation on the impact of his use of technology in A-Level Psychology at BSix. Perhaps the most significant piece of evidence was the experience of a group of 12 learners who achieved grades Bs and As having followed his structured VLE course for self-study and having had the tutorial support available to learners.

"Those were learners whose desired course was oversubscribed and they agreed to study independently”.

Other areas of impact that Ash mentioned included:

• Consistently high achievement and retention rates in his courses
• Greater feeling of 1-1 relationship with students, through electronic communication
• New ways of reflecting on learning through audio recorded using portable microphones
• Increased learner-developed content
• Increased learner satisfaction
• Increased retention and achievement

Impact of cloud computing at Lewisham College

Andy Wicks and Debbie Haddow from Lewisham College presented their findings of the pilot project sponsored by LSIS to investigate the potential of Google Docs and MS Edu to provide learners with email. The evidence of the impact of cloud computing was based on:

the Learner:

• Less printing as revision and editing is encouraged online
• Online reviewing of documents going hand-in-hand with formative assessment
• Much wider access to learner’s own content

the Lecturer

• Improved organization of files and folders
• Courses materials always available for learners
• Learners found working at 3am from home
• Monitoring and spotting of learners’ delaying start on course work well before it becomes a problem

the Organisation

• More creativity by tutors in their way of planning lessons
• Need for technical set up
• No budgetary considerations
• Financial gains to be made.

Learning with Disability

Rosemarie Beynon, from the Work-Based Learning Provider Choices4All showcased artifacts created by their own learners after they were given access to a number of different pieces of technologies.

Her presentation was an important one to contrast the different levels of development identified in providers from other sub-sectors that have been on their journey to e-maturity for much longer than many WBL providers.

In addition, as Rosemarie pointed out,

"Choices4All learner cohort are all students with learning difficulties, physical disabilities and include learners with specific disabilities – e.g. autistic, hearing impairments".

This makes the simple use of office-based software a great leap.

Artifacts presented by Rosemarie included slides created by learners to evidence their grasping of key concepts in their learning and the production of t-shirts that were then put up for sale.

Link to Rosemary's intrudoctory presentation

Link to Choices4All case study

Technology and the impact on retention and achievement in the School of IT

• Radical reductions in printing and stationery costs
• Providing mobile access through net books trolleys in areas with poor infrastructure
• Overseas support of a learner who had to go back home temporarily
• 100% use of the virtual learning environment within the school, leading to higher quality materials design
• Growing recognition of the schools work due to effective use of technology

Key evidence

"A student who was on the Philippines for a family emergency was able to keep up with everything that was going on in the college and slip back straight into her course when she returned."

iPods in Hair & Beauty

Who best to evidence the impact that technology is having on learners but the learners themselves?

Eireann Brooks, Hair and Beauty Programme Leader at Kingston College, brought two of her students, Mehmet Unal and Sophie Evans, to share the impact that the selective use of iPods and video editing is having in their learning and teaching.

During their presentation, they involved delegates in a microteaching session, that took volunteers from knowing nothing about heardressing to performing a technique. The process involved providing volunteers with a video to watch and a monnekin to perform the technique. All the process was being filmed and the volunteers should receive a video of their own performance just like learners at Kingston College do.

Commenting on their use of technology at the college a learner said,

"Technology is the best thing that’s happened to us in this course… and I have studied Hair and Beauty in another college before."

Another piece of evidence they showed related to a 15-year-old student currently studying on the first year of a two year Hair & Beauty Diploma.

"We used video footage as supplementary evidence to demonstrate that she has competent planning, learning and thinking skills. This type of learner often struggles with written work. However, I'm sure you will agree she has very good communication skills. Video evidence is a fantastic way to show progression. She will be able to look back on all the footage taken of her in the first year and then be able to compare/reflect on how much she has improved by the end of the course."