MANAGING ICT Bringing


learning to life online


O Gav Thompson


Founder of O2 Learn As we all know, the world is becoming more and more digitised, with the seemingly never-ending growth of websites like Facebook, Twitter and Google dominating all of our lives. But no-one is more engrossed in it than so-called “digital natives”. And yet, too often we try to engage with young


people in a one dimensional way that does not reflect how they consume information. We need to try and adapt the way we communicate with them, in a way that they will understand and appreciate. The same logic applies to the classroom. So what if we could harness this enthusiasm for all things digital to turn young people onto learning? As head of brand innovation at O2, I had the


opportunity this year to put theory into practice and build O2 Learn as part of our wider “Think Big” strategy that seeks to inspire young people and those that help young people to make a positive change in the community. O2 Learn is an e-learning hub that asks teachers to


upload videos of their showcase lessons and then offers the opportunity for pupils to watch and rate them. By starting where they are and engaging with them through the media they naturally use every day, we hope we have enhanced learning in a way that is genuinely popular and useful. Any secondary school student at any school throughout the country is able to see and experience


10


2 LEARN invites secondary school teachers to upload their showcase lessons, creating an online resource that can be used by students nationwide revising for exams or wanting to catch up on missed lessons.


Every fortnight until July 2011, the most watched


and best-rated lessons stand to win £2,000 for the teacher and £2,000 for his or her school from a prize fund of over £300,000. In addition, O2 Learn will bring together an expert


panel including members of teaching unions and inspirational headteachers, to shortlist eight of the 18 fortnightly winners to go through to a grand final in the autumn. Then, with the help of the public, they will decide on the winning three UK teachers. The winner of the O2 Learn award will receive


£50,000 and a further £100,000 for their school. The runner up will win £20,000 and £40,000 for their school, and a third prize will also be awarded of £10,000 for the teacher and £20,000 for their school. The scheme is being supported by the Training


and Development Agency for Schools, the National Union of Teachers, TeachFirst, the Teaching Awards, Parentline Plus and Teaching Leaders. Similarly the Scottish and Welsh ministers for education have both endorsed the project and David Blunkett MP, a past education minister, has even posted a video lesson on the site himself.


O2 Learn is video-sharing website for secondary school teachers and students. It aims to celebrate UK teaching talent and create an ever-growing resource of video lessons. We hear from its founder and two teachers about the use of video in the classroom


some of the best teachers in the country in action. This is not to replace their conventional schooling, but to be an addition, a top-up, that can only help in their learning and enthusiasm for subjects. The point is engaging students in an interactive


way in the places they already spend their time – the ability to revise or learn from a laptop or a phone in small, bite-size chunks, the offer of more choice and versatility, rather than one-book-fits-all lessons. It is about creating a space for “edutainment”; making learning a more integral part of the places young people go to for entertainment. The first signs are encouraging and it only takes a


short browse through the site to see how enthusiastically both teachers and pupils are getting involved with creative, ingenious lessons that, as a trained teacher, fill me with pride. From the “human beatbox”, where students learn to read music through beatboxing, to the “heart song” jingle that teaches students the components of the human heart, schools are using the format to great effect. The lesson for us seems to be this: by embracing


the latest technological innovations we have the opportunity to engage millions of students, to harness their enthusiasm and ensure access to the best teaching for all.


Nick Froggatt


Maths teacher, Wardle High School, Rochdale As a seasoned teacher with 20 years of experience, I have always taken a keen interest in using technology to support higher standards of teaching. This interest is widely shared in my school. We


recognise that the way children learn and consume information is changing. We are in the top 10 per cent nationally for maths results. To maintain our high standards, we have to change and continually adapt to ensure our teaching is relevant to the way our students learn, making sure they are engaged and enthused. The rapid development in handheld technology,


such as iPhones and Flipcams, opens up a vast new world of learning opportunities. O2 Learn has to be applauded for recognising this potential. It mirrors my own view that through using the internet, issues around the disparity in access to education can be overcome, with every student and teacher able to dip into huge resource banks that support learning. I can only see the quality improving in time and


online learning becoming an integral part of daily routines for both students and teachers. Such e-learning hubs offer so much variety, allowing students to find specific sources that suit their individual learning needs. This has to be a good thing. As the second winner of the O2 Learn fortnightly


awards, I am proud of representing a staff that have embraced the concept and are exploring ways of embedding clips within our new virtual learning environment. Modern technology has the potential to improve


teaching quality too, through bringing teachers together in a collaborative community. By sharing best practice lessons, it pushes teachers of all disciplines and levels of experience to raise their standards and try something different. Take my winning lesson as an example. I had the


idea to teach students about ratios through using a mug to measure out ingredients and make a cake. It was more reminiscent of an episode of Blue Peter than an everyday lesson, but I felt comfortable being a bit more risky online – the community would soon tell me if it was not appropriate. That is not to say the lesson was not steeped in the


principles of great teaching – it was engaging, clear and reinforced the key learning objectives. This is something that technology can never replace. The response has been fantastic. My video was the


first to be viewed over 1,000 times on O2 Learn and the school has won £4,000 to invest in teaching projects as a result of the lesson winning the second fortnightly prize. But even more pleasing has been the fabulous


response from my students. Many who visited the site to view my lesson have now explored other clips and shared their experiences at school. While in its early days, O2 Learn is already attracting a lot of enthusiasm among the students. I am a firm believer that if you can engage students


and empower them with the confidence to take control of their own learning, then they all have the potential to succeed. Online, tailored learning is the logical next step.


Ilona Schofield


Science teacher, Tideway School, East Sussex Video is a great tool for bringing teaching into the 21st century. The use of video is now an integral part of every


lesson I teach. We live in an age where young people are used to learning through their computer screen and are incredibly savvy in their use of technology. Bringing these elements into the classroom is a great


way of better engaging students with their learning and is not something that should be kept outside the classroom. I am an NQT with less than two years’ experience.


On starting to teach in a school with its fair share of difficult students, I was concerned with how to enthuse them and make learning relevant to them. I immediately found that video was an ideal


solution. It is something that virtually all of the kids are comfortable with (probably more comfortable than a lot of the teachers), and plays into the hands of different learning styles. Writing and comprehension does not come naturally to all students. Many have found it far easier to express themselves through video. I try to make use of this familiarity and try and put


video recorders in the hands of students and let them take responsibility for their own learning. They come up with the best material when they are given the freedom to be creative in a medium they know well. That does not mean using state-of-the-art equipment. It could be a Flipcam or a phone or anything with a video recorder built into it. The quality of the picture is not the important thing; it is the quality of the content that counts. At the end of every lesson I bring the class together


for a video plenary in which the students record themselves demonstrating what they have learnt. This has been fantastic for reinforcing the key learning points from my lessons and building the students’ confidence. It is also a great resource for them when it comes to revision. And the response from students? Well it has been


great. Children are now excited to be in my class and look forward to the lessons. Exploring new ways of teaching is very much


part of the culture among the staff at Tideway. As a specialist technology school we have pushed the use of the virtual learning environment (VLE) as a way of sharing resources between students, but also between the teachers. All of my videos are uploaded to the VLE and


other teachers have followed suit by uploading their own videos. Some of us are even experimenting with “Iris” – a video camera within one of the classrooms that can be incorporated into lessons to capture the most valuable parts. I know I am lucky to be at a school with such a


progressive approach towards teaching with technology at the heart. Many teachers are not so lucky, but as my experience shows, video can be a great way of getting the best from teacher and pupil.


SecEd Further information


Nick’s winning video Is called Ratio Mug Cake and Ilona has uploaded more than 10 video lessons to O2 Learn under the name Miss Dioxide. View these videos and others at www.o2learn.co.uk


SecEd • January 13 2011


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