W: edtechnology.co.uk | T: @Educ_Technology


media materials. For example, high school history classes can be added to by directing students towards relevant video clips and audio extracts, while teachers can also easily point students to relevant background reading material. Unlike previous technology implementations, which required teachers to direct students to one central screen at the front of the class, Moodle allows this information to be consumed and absorbed by students at their own rate.


A step change in HE By promoting the use of technology at primary and secondary school levels, students will be prepared for the technological revolution currently sweeping HE. Everyone will likely be familiar with MOOCs, the massive open online courses that are helping to revolutionise individual HE learning – sometimes taking place a distance from where the courses are actually put together. But MOOCs are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the ways in which technology is aff ecting education at an HE level. “One thing I fi nd very exciting is the idea of


mobility: that students bring with them devices that allow them to connect with learning resources from all around the world,” says Professor Mark Stubbs, part of the Learning and Research Information Systems group at Manchester Metropolitan University. “Technology is something that students are used to using in their personal and social lives, and we’re now in a position where that technology is able to have a major impact on their educational experience also.” Online tutorials, virtual classrooms, and even


data analytics tools that can help quantify exactly how well a student is doing as part of their course, are all playing their part in this new digital paradigm. Combined, these tools can result in a more personalised, bespoke learning experience


that can help improve success and retention. Stubbs also points to the importance of “blended learning” which combines the digital and actual worlds in a philosophy not dissimilar to that of WizeFloor. He recently worked with University of London


Computer Centre sales and marketing manager Frank Steiner to deliver Moodle and mobile Apps for 36,000 students in order to support MMU’s EQAL Programme to Enhance the Quality of Assessment for Learning, which marks a step change improvement in student satisfaction by refreshing the entire undergraduate curriculum. “Students today expect to a have a certain amount of information available to them when they need it,” Stubbs says. “When is their work due in? What is their timetable? When will work be returned? What mark will they receive for it? All of this can now be made seamless and personalised; available on whichever device students have access to, so that it doesn’t get in the way of the rest of the learning experience. It’s a foundation, and on top of that you can keep on building with other exciting technology applications. It’s a benchmark moment.” While the requirements of HE diff er greatly from


the requirements of primary and secondary education in terms of content, the overall mission statements are therefore not all that diff erent; empowering students by encouraging personalised and bespoke learning, helping to quantify learning using trace data and metadata, and opening up access to new materials that would never have been possible to include as part of an old model classroom, all while ensuring that this enhances, rather than detracts from, the benefi ts of face-to-face learning. Technology is changing education as we know it.


And thanks to the work of pioneering individuals and companies working within the fi eld, it’s showing no signs of slowing down. ET


ABOVE: The WizeFloor BELOW: Cameron Wade, Managing Director of WizeFloor


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