MANAGING ICT Sharing best practice


The National Learning Platforms Conference took


place recently.SecEd asked assistant headWendy Baxter for her report


M Quick wins


We bought our learning platform in 2010 and so are still at the early stages of embedding it across the entire school community. I attended the conference with an open mind and a view to taking away some useful ideas that I could easily implement, as well as to meet other schools and speak with them about how they have approached learning platforms in their own schools. the organisers were keen to get delegates talking to


each other. Like most, I can sometimes find it difficult to network with others at such a large event – so, they came up with a great idea of creating “trump cards” that included a pack of five cards that were all the same. there were a set of 10 to collect, each with an


inspirational idea about how schools are using their learning platforms. each card was rated against five impact measures – saving time, saving or making money, improving behaviour, increasing use, and improving learning. the idea was that you would swap and collect the


full set of 10, so you at least went away from the day with 10 easy-to-implement ideas.


The workshops


During the day, each workshop was pitched at different levels depending on where you were in your learning platform journey. We heard from schools that are using their learning platform to really make a big impact in their schools, but it wasn’t about how much funding the school had, rather their ideas.


Engagement


the first workshop I attended was geared around the very essence of learning platforms – better engagement with students, teachers, parents, leaders, and the wider school community. the session was run by De La Salle School in St helens and the Dukeries College in nottingham. they discussed how technology is not the only solution to engaging students and the community but it does play a big part. It is a catalyst for more engagement – you can use technology to develop an idea even if technology is not used to deliver it. I agree with the sentiment that children are dragged


into a seductive world of creativity – you cannot expect kids to come to school and get engaged by a teacher and a text book when they have been playing multiplayer games with people all over the world on their games consoles all weekend. We saw examples of departmental websites that


students had created. these were non-designers who simply developed their skills by having a play around with embedding videos and images – what a great way to engage students while freeing up teachers’ time! What the Dukeries School also found was that, as the students developed the websites, they understood more about how the course was structured, and they found their grades improved.


Teaching time


More than ever, budgets are scrutinised in detail, so I was keen to see the next round of workshops where I listened to Bishop Walsh School near Birmingham and Cramlington Learning Village in northumberland. Bishop Walsh talked about how you can make learning more exciting and save time with multimedia


SecEd • September 15 2011


ore than 800 school leaders from across the UK and further afield attended the annual national Learning Platforms Conference in Birmingham earlier this year. the free event aimed to


inspire schools to transform education. recognising that every school is different and on


its own journey to achieve its long-term vision of how ICt can enable and facilitate learning, the conference featured a range of workshops. Speakers from a variety of schools also offered


solid, practical advice on how they have embedded their learning platform to support teaching and learning within their school.


A platform for learning: Delegates at the National Learning Platforms Conference and one of the quick idea trump cards that were handed out during the event (above, right)


resources rather than trying to explain a difficult concept in person. Cramlington is a very technology-rich school, but


they demonstrated ideas and tools that any school can take away. I loved some of the useful tools they have developed within their learning platform – their “random name generator” was brilliant; a simple and powerful tool for learning which is used to ask differentiated questions to students. What really excited me about this workshop is that


Cramlington had loads of great tips, all of which they were willing to share with other schools through our learning platform provider’s new School Improvement Framework.


Sharing resources


once the protected domain of each individual teacher, teaching resources are now something that we share and collaborate on. this is making a step change in the richness and variety of materials that are available. I was looking forward to hearing whataCS International


‘ You cannot expect


kids to come to school and get engaged by a teacher and a text book when they have been playing multiplayer games with people all over the world on their games consoles all weekend


School in Surrey, tiffin Boys School in London, and halifax high in West Yorkshire had to share. aCS shared its implementation process with us


and spoke about the importance of involving the entire school community and using champions to drive the learning platform in the school – a great idea that I took back with me. next came students from halifax high. this


’


presentation was by far my highlight. I had heard some great things all day about how schools were using their learning platform to engage students. But now, I could actually see it in practice. the very fact that they had three students stand up in front of more than 100 people and talk about how they are using their learning platform was a testament in itself.


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I actually learnt the most from this session. they


spoke about how the learning platform is led by the students – they even teach the teachers how to use it! I got a real sense of empowerment from these students. they spoke about how they are sharing their work


with other students by creating “ourtube” on their learning platform. they make videos, post them on


the platform and then let their friends and teachers comment and give feedback on their work – a great way to generate a student voice.


SecEd


• Wendy Baxter is an assistant headteacher at St Mary’s College in Hull.


Further information


the national Learning Platforms Conference is organised by the provider Frog. St Mary’s College and the other named schools in this article use the Frog learning platform. You can watch videos of all of the workshops and access the presentations at www.frogtrade.com/conference.next year’s conference takes place in Birmingham on June 19 and you can pre- register online.


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