News
2014 in focus: Technology truly hits the classroom
Comment by Mark Byrne, Head of Public Sector at Toshiba A
AQA launches 2014 Unlocking Potential programme
T
he names of the 22 young people who have been successfully nominated to take part in a unique mentoring programme have been announced by education charity and leading provider of qualifications, AQA. Now in its third year, the Unlocking Potential programme run jointly by AQA and the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust, supports young people who are facing challenging personal circumstances by pairing them with elite Olympic class athletes for an eight-month mentoring programme. Teachers from across the country were last year invited to nominate individual students aged between 14 and 19 who they felt would most benefit from the scheme to help develop their confidence and provide an additional outlet for supporting their creativity.
The 2014 programme was launched at an event on 6 March in London, bringing together the young people with their athlete mentors for the first time.
Over 100 entries were received and the panel for the final judging included ASCL President Ian Bauckham and Richard Hollywood, Principal of Mid Cheshire College.
Two-time England boxing champion, Hannah Beharry, Olympian & Double Commonwealth swimming champion Ross Davenport and European skateboarding champion, Neil Danns, are amongst the athletes who are mentoring this year’s programme.
Andrew Hall, chief executive of AQA, said: “It was really difficult to decide on the final participants for this year’s programme. We are especially thankful to the teachers that took the time to identify those extra special young people who need a helping hand and will benefit from skilled mentoring support outside the classroom.
“These committed athlete mentors know exactly what it takes to overcome adversity and succeed at top levels in sport and life, and will help these young people who have already displayed inner strength and courage to feel inspired to realise their potential.”
Participants on the programme work in groups and on a one to one basis with athletes to plan and deliver a project of their choice that will deliver benefits for their local community.
Former participants have put on a charity fashion show, made a personal video project about life in foster care and organised a charity dodgeball tournament to raise funds for a guide dog whilst raising over £7,000 for charity.
The scheme which is funded by education charity AQA, the leading provider of GCSEs and A-levels, has also been praised by teachers for raising the motivation, confidence levels and achievements of participants. Dame Kelly Holmes said: “I’m really excited about this year’s Unlocking Potential programme, which we run in partnership with AQA. Last year we had such amazing transformations in the young people who took part. I strongly believe that it can take just one person to change the course of a young person’s life – just like my PE teacher, who identified my talent for running when I was a girl and believed in me. The unique thing about this programme is that young people have one-to-one mentoring with an inspiring athlete over eight months, and together they work on a project which has an impact on their school and whole community. “To each of the 22 young people involved in Unlocking Potential I would say: just grab the opportunity with both hands as this is once-in-a-lifetime. I’m looking forward to meeting the young people and hearing all about their journeys and wish them the best of luck.”
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www.education-today.co.uk
s of September 2014, the ICT curriculum will have undergone a great shift from teaching children the basics of how to use technology, to how to create it. As ICT is phased out and replaced with ‘Computing’, tomorrow’s generation of school children will be taught how to code – and as technology in the curriculum moves forward, so too will technology in the classroom.
Continuous change
The use of technology in day-to-day lessons is becoming increasingly organic, thanks to the broad adoption of mobile devices such as tablets, Ultrabooks and hybrids. The days of attending a desk based IT suite once or twice a week are long gone. Mobile devices, for example, are swiftly becoming part and parcel of the everyday classroom experience, for pupils and teachers alike. One-to-one schemes are making this possible, and the concept of all students having their own device for lessons and homework is now much more plausible. Initiatives led by the likes of Toshiba and Freedom Learning are also helping to support this process, providing one simple platform for schools, suppliers and parents to purchase and insure mobile devices. These programmes are making innovative new technologies more accessible than ever before, paving the way for digital learning to become an integral part of the day-to-day education process.
More mobile, more agile?
Technology in the classroom can be used to educate, inform and engage in a myriad of ways. The flexibility and time-saving benefits of a truly mobile experience can have a positive effect on teachers and students alike. For example, remotely accessible learning resources allow pupils and staff to stay connected and access essential learning resources, whether at school or at home. Mobile pupils could access their current projects from home, while teachers can provide additional learning aids remotely for pupils to view and support their ongoing work.
An increasing breadth of choice is also encouraging more dynamic lessons. Students are being given much greater scope to be creative in the classroom, freeing them up to think beyond the confines of traditional word processing or presentation formats. Broader resources such as video and web are also helping to evolve ways both pupils and teachers engage. For instance, a teacher could project a pupil’s work on an interactive whiteboard by zooming into the piece of work with a webcam. Ways of sharing work and encouraging creativity in, and beyond, the classroom have never been more compelling.
Creativity in safe confines
While this surge of devices and resources in the classroom can create a more dynamic, engaging environment for pupils, it will also need to be closely controlled to avoid this technology paving the way to distractions, rather than learning aids. Social networks and online games can be all too easily accessible if the appropriate permissions are not put in place. This is where the use of authorisation formats will be crucial and we can expect to see this kind of technology embraced on a much broader scale in schools this year, as it allows staff to manage what students are able to access based on location or time of day.
Embracing authorisation technology is also a wise move from a security perspective, as it can ensure that staff are only able to access sensitive data on a secure device. It will balance the ability to access resources remotely with maintaining safe and secure operations at all times. This approach will become increasingly relevant as schools look to the cloud to access data and learning resources.
Tech is the future
With the continued evolution of technology, schools need more guidance and support than ever before in order to marry the requirements of their IT infrastructure to the needs of their staff and pupils. This is why Toshiba has introduced its own ‘tech meets’, designed specifically to help with the decision making process. It’s an exciting time for schools, and 2014 has clear potential for some powerful changes, with the right support.
April 2014
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