MANAGING ICT The ICT challenge


How can leading edge ICT resources be used as a


genuine learning tool and to raise standards? Bob Cox reports from Hampshire on an ICT project that is leading the way


O


N A recent visit to a Hampshire school to run a cross-curricular project, I came across some fresh ways of using leading edge ICT as a tool for high level learning, not just for one school, but for the whole area.


I had been asked by the South East Regional


Partnership gifted and talented network to run a project called “‘Return to ‘66” at a school called Bohunt. Students learn about 1966 and compile news pages and magazines of the day from a 1966 perspective. The conventional approach uses computer suites or laptops with internet connection. I soon realised that at Bohunt the project could have broader dimensions to it. The assistant head, Phil Avery, ushered me in to the


school’s new “Challenge” room and I began to take in just how many new learning opportunities might be possible. It was very much a facilitation room rather than a classroom, an environment perfectly adapted for challenge, questions and active approaches rather than passive task completion. For example, no sooner had the students been


grouped up, than they were devising huge concept maps, not in books but all around the walls which acted as gigantic whiteboards. Mr Avery told me that “ideas paint” enabled the walls to be used in such a way. Activity through the day took the form of students debating approaches around a table, moving over to the walls, making improvements to the day’s plans and returning to laptops and informal meetings. This turned planning into an incremental activity


which needed revisiting as new problems had to be solved, rather than a static “map” of the day, sometimes scarcely referred to again. Kinaesthetic learning styles were much more evident than usual, with no opportunity for individuals to opt out socially. In some ways, the tables the students used best


reflected the flexibility of the room’s potential for learning. They could be jigsawed together or moved apart to go from larger to smaller groups. As students decided their briefs I saw them move away into paired partnerships but then move to the huge walls again, as their learning needs dictated. As the students began to compile drafts using


a Mac Notebook and iPod, they got to the stage where it was helpful to expand a page of text on the interactive projector/whiteboard called an Isis VerTable with e-beam projector! Here, the students pored over


than relying on set “answers” and engagement was continuous, both with each other and with Mr Avery. Quite simply, if they did not use the Mac Notebook,


the Ipod, the interactive table, the internet, the walls, each other and the teacher to good effect they would not be able to present the weather on time! So, there was a healthy search for learning and knowledge centred on sound objectives and success criteria and in the context of an ambitious and well planned scheme. In this learning environment there was a more open response to questions like “what are you finding confusing?”. Teachers often remark upon the difficulties of


getting students to confront problems, ask questions and reach beyond comfort zones. The language and terminology I heard the students using tended to revolve around strategies for identifying and solving problems. Mr Avery helped and inspired, but the answers had to come from the students. Their level of knowledge about weather was deepening noticeably as they found information and asked Mr Avery questions, a good example of deeper learning processes supporting subject knowledge rather than the two being in separate boxes. My second visit showed me how much potential


the resources have in an ongoing way and Bohunt has plans to open up a science enquiry room and to keep developing the skills of the students who led the news day by participating in the annual BBC project on the same topic. At present, it seems departments make bids to use the room and have to show that the planned work has the necessary scope and challenge, another good example of the importance Bohunt has put on learning methodology with leading edge ICT a key tool in delivering high standards.


SecEd


Active learning space: Bohunt School’s ‘Challenge’ room sees students working together, employing a wide range of skills, and using active approaches to complete tasks


the text, deliberating on further improvements, using interactive pens and making changes as they all leaned over the blown-up version of the page. This is where the learning was most enhanced by the


use of ICT. The students engaged more with each other, more with the words they had written and more with the set learning objectives than is the norm. They seemed as much inspired by the need for better learning as they were simply by the modern nature of the room and the privilege of using it. They talked about grammatical errors, felt the need to alter and change presentation and had their eye and mind on matters of improvement and quality. Since a key success criteria was writing as if it were 1966, the blown-up text and interactive pens helped them to spot lapses and rephrase accordingly. The same table can be converted to function vertically as a whiteboard for presentations as well as horizontally for the scrutiny of drafts. So, during the project day, the ICT helped to


facilitate a whole range of learning opportunities and mini-plenaries were easy to manage, with students sitting on steps or around the jigsawed tables. They could stand up to illustrate a point on their planning wall or present progress with their page using the Isis VerTable. They worked non-stop and most of the questions came from them rather than me as learning challenges were uncovered. The use of the room at Bohunt was impressive not


just for what was there but for how it was being used. Different Hampshire schools took part on the day and this deepened the experience for all concerned, immediately flagging up the facilitation room as an area resource. Even more impressive was the follow-up to the day with an exciting News in a Day event where the students who participated in the first day led their own initiative, thus developing leadership and team skills in real and challenging contexts. Other schools involved included Eggars, Amery Hill and Mill Chase. As the students came from different schools, it was


particularly impressive how well they worked together. They came from different years in key stage 3 and were seeking new learning challenges, though clearly the room could boost learning for all pupils in a whole range of contexts. So, is such a facilitation room any kind of guarantee


of raised standards? I think that it is more complicated than that. Some very experienced and talented teachers had put a lot of careful thought into the management of the room and the rationale underlying its use. The ICT resources provide exciting tools to deliver well planned and challenging schemes of work or projects which schools like Bohunt devise. Without the carefully crafted learning opportunities, without the relationships between students and teachers, and without the strategy and vision for long-term development any ICT use could become merely casual. The ethos of ambition, challenge and risk-taking was enabling the ICT to become an effective tool. For example, when I returned to Bohunt a few


months later, I found Mr Avery in the middle of a fascinating year 8 project in geography. They were


SecEd • April 7 2011


working towards forecasting the local weather on a given day, ready to post on the virtual learning environment or design as a podcast. The students invented a barrage of intelligent questions rather


• Bob Cox is an independent learning consultant. Visit www.searchingforexcellence.co.uk


Further information


For more information on the Challenge room, contact Phil Avery on pavery@bohunt.hants.sch.uk or visit www.bohunt.hants.sch.uk


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