|
|
||
|
|||
|
|||
 |
Home > Employers |
||||||
|
|
e-learning: the dynamic education vehicle of our timeLearners only flourish if education successfully adapts to the needs and demands of the age. e-Learning is the dynamic education vehicle of our time so all managers must think carefully about its implications. But the adult learner at the workplace is not the only customer of e-learning to focus on when conducting needs analysis. Importantly, our children, the employees of the future, can contribute much to e-learning strategy development today by being consulted in the process. This is because children know better than anyone what is engaging, and what is not, in this digital media age. They provide good sounding boards for adults. This year some 600,000 children will start school in the UK. The majority of them now have access to computers and the Internet. They will leave their mark on the 21st century. The quality of the school, curriculum and learning they experience is crucial to their development and our prosperity. If we are to provide an excellent education for all learners, our education system must be responsive to the changing demands of life and work. Increasingly this will involve e-learning. A common challenge for teacher and business managers today then, is to identify excellence in e-learning courses and qualifications for their respective charges. This is not easy in an emerging marketplace. Whilst there is broad consensus about the underlying aims, purposes and values of lifelong education, there is plenty of debate about the best way to organise learning to achieve our goals. What we can say is that we all know the future is going to be different from our own learning past. The implementation of national, Information Communication Technology policies in our education system has led to an explosion in the availability of e-learning content. The experience of the education sector can therefore provide a valuable source of information and advice for managers considering e-learning for their staff, or indeed themselves. Organisations such as the British Education Suppliers Association (BESA), or the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA), are good places to begin searching for advice on e-learning. In the last four years the Government has provided £400m to drive the uptake of ICT learning resources in schools. This takes the form of e-Learning Credits that schools can apply for to purchase educational software. In schools there has also been a massive investment in infrastructure with broadband access for pupils being a key feature. The technology that has proved to have had the most impact in schools is desktop/lap top computers. Enabling employees to use company lap tops or access learning materials at their desk, or at home, via company intranets are key elements in successful e-learning strategies. However, hardware must be up-to-date. Figures from the education sector show that the number of ineffective computers for teaching the curriculum has risen from 416,000 in 2003 to 433,000 in 2004. So we must not only ensure that the speed and capacity of computers used for e-learning is sufficient for multi-media but simple things such as the provision of sound cards and headphones are not overlooked. For many schools the use of ICT and introduction of e-learning represented something of a cultural change. Teachers and learners needed support and many will continue to do so. So too will managers and learners at work. Thus before introducing e-learning courses into the workplace it is a good idea to update staff on what is meant by e-learning, its benefits, when to use it and when not and to use it. An effective way to approach this is to highlight what is happening in schools and universities today. Many employees are parents. Some of them may be anxious that they might be getting left behind in the use of ICT; they may lack software application skills themselves. They need to know that home-school learning will become a reality over the next five years as teachers increasingly post learning activities, provide support and receive completed tasks online. Already we are seeing new types of e-learning courses that do this. They are contextualized for school, home or office learner. For example, the new BTEC Awards in ICT (online) courses now available for self-paced learning in primary and secondary schools are also offered via the Internet to parents at home, using different exercises, and also to office administrators in the workplace. They provide instant reports on learner progress to teachers and parents online. The office learning environment is beginning to operate in a similar way to schools as companies in Europe consider their wider social responsibilities and use learning portals for staff and their communities. Let’s not think of schools and the workplace as opposite environments, but rather as both sharing the vision of becoming community centres of knowledge and learning; using the internet for information gathering and research; using portals and e-portfolios for collecting and exchanging information. In three years time a school child could submit their e-portfolio to an employer. E-portfolios are one of the most exciting developments in e-learning. Already we see them being introduced in national school-based qualifications, by universities and indeed by nations, such as the Welsh citizen e-portfolio. There are different types of e-portfolio already being used. These range from a showcase collection of achievement to the more dynamic, interactive systems that facilitate a dialogue between learner and tutor, learners and peers; that explain objectives, produce study plans and provide feedback and assessment. The I990’s vision of ‘education, education, education’ saw the exponential growth of ICT in learning in schools and the workplace. My vision for the first decade of the 21st century is that effective e-learning will create such a movement for change that our school and professional exams will quickly embrace e-assessment. In turn this will dictate rapid reform of what is taught and how it is taught. In the UK we can not continue with the paradox of a Government championing ICT, yet still requiring its sixteen year olds to sit paper based examinations in Computing at GCSE level! Nationally the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is working hard on a radical overhaul of assessment, but employers, managers, teachers and parents can do much to speed up the process of effective change locally. They can benchmark e-learning courses and online qualifications they and their children are offered against the following criteria:
Gerry Barnard Is the UK meeting the international demand for ICT skills?'Thanks for giving me a family life back' . I can remember Brian Steen, Head of ICT at a Canford School saying this to me as if it was yesterday. It meant that our education/business collaboration was truly a success. 'Coming from a top job in industry with IBM' he continued, 'I've been used to having technology at my fingertips in order to help me do my job effectively'. 'When I came into teaching I soon discovered schools just didn't have the software tools I took for granted before. I can't see how teachers could possibly have made accurate and consistent assessment decisions in ICT beforehand. I think we've been kidding ourselves'.
That was pretty strong stuff, even more so coming from someone who had had recent experience of working outside of the classroom. It's the type of comment I know many head teachers and politicians I've met pick up on. So I wonder how much the DfES might privately concur with his views? ICT Assessment The National ICT Strategy expects that pupils should have IT skills to equip them for life and work in the 21 st century. Up until now, determining what level of skill a pupil has reached has relied on an ICT teacher's judgement and some inadequate qualifications. This might prove to be a costly mistake for the UK economy. Without the support of e-assessment tools in the classroom and with the little curriculum time afforded to specific ICT lessons, it is not surprising that there is now some questioning of the reliability of teacher judgements in this matter. Question; what has made our teacher in Dorset so much happier today? Answer; a collaboration between HMC schools, an e-learning company and an Awarding Body that has resulted in a modern online course, a whole school resource and an international qualification. This three-in-one innovation has been designed by teachers especially to help teachers, pupils and parents. It has transformed ICT learning and assessment in many top schools and is now being exported around the world as a benchmark quality programme from the UK. So what inspired the Head of Department in Dorset I wondered? 'Now I don't have to spend hours trying to mark pupil's basic IT skills in the evening' he explained. 'Have you ever tried looking at a spreadsheet and tried to quickly spot if a pupil has used Excel properly or not? Just you try it . Now multiply the time it took you by twenty. Then you'll see why my wife was beginning to think coming into teaching had not been such a good idea after all.'
Perhaps it's not so surprising that this Head of ICT believes that up until now we've been kidding ourselves about standards in ICT. The recent national research into pupils ICT skills in the UK carried out by QCA revealed that teachers have been making judgements about pupil's ICT attainment that were two levels above the pupil's actual capability. If the UK's knowledge economy is going to depend on the skills of our young people we had better make sure that their ICT skills are at least as good as their counterparts in India and China. My observation is that currently they are not. Naturally most Heads and Governors are to be congratulated on their investment in Information Communication Technology. Many countries admire what they see in the UK. As Lord Adonis proudly and justifiably reminds us, the UK Govt has invested £2.5 billion in ICT in schools since 1998. Recently I've met two Education Ministers from overseas who hold the British advances in ICT education in the highest regard. So the glass is certainly half full. The Challenge But before we all fall over ourselves in too self-congratulatory mood we should also reflect that our glass is half empty too. Fortunately, the Independent sector was the first to realise this and do something about it. As I recall Libby Purvis saying to all assembled at the 2005 HMC Annual Conference, 'you lot at St B******s should be the development tank for British education, use your expertise and experience to create excellence'. So why did we need to do something about ICT of all subjects? A closer analysis of Her Majesty's Inspectorate report on ICT in Schools I hope will clearly reveal why. In 2005 they reported that:
A random search of reports on Independent Schools carried out by the Independent Schools Inspectorate revealed these typical comments:
Fortunately for Independent Schools, Graham Able, Master of Dulwich College and at the time Chairman of HMC had realised that we could no longer rely on the available qualifications and IT courses to meet current and future needs. Graham was prepared to do something about ensuring that pupils actually leave school equipped with the ICT skills they actually need to cope effectively at university and in employment. He was concerned that courses such as ECDL and CLAIT did not ensure that pupils could actually apply ICT skills across the curriculum - and as for GCSE and Key Skills - the qualification system seemed no longer capable of meeting the demands of the top UK schools. So I'm glad to say that when this leading headmaster approached my company to assist, we were able to come up with the goods. Now ICT co-ordinators and head teachers from some of Britain's finest schools have access to first class online interactive tutorials in ICT, a modern e-assessment tool and a Marking and Reporting engine that for the first time enables IT skills to be consistently assessed. Our e-assessment tool is now used in the Institute of Administrative Management's suite of ICT qualifications, suitable for delivery in the classroom, home or workplace. We were able to produce such a product because of the excellent contribution of teachers from HMC schools. In particular I must mention Dr Andrew Storey and his colleagues at Dulwich College, who, after wide consultation, wrote the innovative online course that has been so highly praised around the world. Andrew I'm delighted to say was awarded a BECTA ICT leadership prize in 2006 in recognition of his contribution to the Londonlearning programme. So why has our education/business collaboration been so successful? Well there are four criteria I'll put forward:
So vision, innovation, consultation, determination and team work have been the recipe for producing a highly successful ICT education & training programme. Originally designed for the independent sector the programme is now being picked up by the maintained sector and other organisations such as the Royal Marines. Let me now describe the key elements of our blended learning programme for you. Intelligent Marking Engine The intelligent marking engine is not designed to operate in isolation. Rather it is a key part of the online modules that include clear learning objectives, interactive mini-tutorials and formative feedback. The marking engine technology enables learners to assess their progress and receive feedback on their performance without having to rely on a teacher.
Impact on learning The positive impact of using e-assessment for ICT is clear. Pupils learn at their own pace, they compare the personalised feedback they receive and help each other in the learning process. They seem to enjoy competing with the technology to satisfy the assessment tasks and move forward confidently when an IT skill is achieved. Pupils record their progress using skill statements that are mapped against the National Occupational Standards for IT Users. Every tutorial has clear learning outcomes. Pupils like the targets set by the exercises and often compete to complete each exercise before their classmates. When positive feedback is received this proves highly motivating; when advice on how to remedy mistakes is generated this also has a positive effect. Pupils accept the validity of the computer's judgement and appreciate the prompt feedback. James, a pupil at Westminster School remarked that usually he felt reluctant to tell his teacher that he did not know how to do something. He doesn't feel embarrassed when using the marking engine to help him to learn. He enjoys this independence. Another finding is that many pupils overestimate their ICT capability. Even sixth formers trying out an exercise have been surprised by how much they still needed to learn. Once a learner masters the skill they are amazed by how much time they are able to save themselves when tackling tasks for other subjects, whether this involves homework or classroom assignments. Alan, a Year 10 pupil at Bloxham School told me, 'Learning to use Microsoft software correctly like this has saved me hours and hours. It's much better than what we did before. Thank you.'
Guidance on using the marking engine is contained in the Learner Support Materials that accompany the course. Learners not only learn specific ICT skills but go on to identify the skills they have used across the curriculum. The evidence they submit in an electronic portfolio demonstrates that they can actually apply their ICT skills, not simply pass a skills test.
Impact on teaching The impact on teaching is in three main areas. Firstly in ICT lessons where teachers are now more confident that every pupil is making progress in a lesson and they have the evidence to prove this through the reporting engine database. Consequently they are able to devote their energies to support weaker pupils identified by the reporting engine, whilst the most gifted can move on to more advanced tasks.
Secondly, teachers across the curriculum are able to use the mini-tutorials in their own lessons, either projecting them on an interactive whiteboard or simply referring pupils to the mini-tutorials on the school intranet. Subject teachers have greater ownership of ICT and can develop their own ICT skills, when and where necessary, with the help of the mini-tutorials. Thirdly, the reporting engine database also generates study plans for pupils that can be used by ICT co-ordinators with other Heads of Departments when mapping cross-curricular opportunities for pupils to apply their ICT skills. Reliability The feedback is consistent to all learners. The marking engine is assessing the learner's actual competence in the application. Our feedback provides helpful comments when work is incorrect, points out what needs to be done and praises when tasks are completed correctly.
Engagement and motivation Our research has shown that pupils are engaged by this form of e-learning. The fact that the learner has to ask their subject teacher to sign off a piece of work where ICT skills have been deployed has helped sharpen the focus on use of ICT. Adrian Hall at Fettes College reports that subject staff are engaging in more professional dialogue about learning with ICT. This is a direct result of the emphasis placed on the learner to be the driving force for engagement of subject teachers with ICT. Previous top-down approaches to engaging staff had not proved as successful. Learners can progress seamlessly from preparatory school to university entrance, Level 1 to Level 3. Schools have all the courseware on their Intranet. Learning is not held back by chronological age. Encouragingly Graham Able reports that sixth formers at Dulwich, having seen younger pupils working on their Level 2 course in the library, have seen the value of acquiring the ability to use software correctly and have voluntarily enrolled on the course. We look forward to the occasion in the not too distant future when a Year 8 pupil achieves the Level 3 award. Innovation Pupils have encouraged their families to also enrol on the course; "My mum could do with learning that for her job". Online assessment has meant that parents too can progress at their own pace and ask their offspring for help when needed. We believe this is a wonderful use of technology. The Future? So what of the future? Simply through word of mouth more and more Independent schools in the UK are implementing our Courseware. Pupils in three continents are now following the best in Britain by moving their curriculum forward with Londonlearning, in line with modern technology. For example the first Chinese Private School and University in Beijing, Huijia, will now offer our ICT programme from Primary School to University entrance. This is as a direct result of the visit of Chinese head teachers to London for the 2 nd Sino-International Education Forum hosted by Dulwich College and Eton College. After visiting a number of schools they identified our combination of ICT skills, online tuition in English language and international transferable qualifications as essential requirements for top Chinese students. HMC/GSA; Backing Britain! During the coming year representatives from a number of education ministries will be coming to visit schools using our programme. They want us to help them develop their own e-learning and teacher training programmes. David Woodgate, CEO of IAM welcomes this international collaboration and is particularly pleased with the recognition overseas universities are giving the qualifications. He also looks forward to awarding the first certificates to students completing the Level 3 Advanced Certificate courses in the UK. I am sure everyone will look forward to more and more pupils from Independent Schools going to University equipped with the ICT skills they really need and not having to take additional ICT courses when they get there. The CBI should be pretty pleased too. Gerry Barnard is Managing Director of Londonlearning Ltd., he has led successful international innovation projects on learning object technologies. |
|
||||
 |
|||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
