PCs and Practice: The area was like a circuit course for the children to rotate and change activities when they liked. Technology therefore, was being used to provide a variety of learning opportunities within a multisensory learning environment. The diversity appeared to sustain interest among the class one pupils and the choice of activities allowed the children to practice the areas most needed (eg letter identification/ tracing /sounding). Interactive Board: use of a pointer to select colours and trace a large letter so as to familiarize themselves with the shape of the letter for ‘U’ writing. They can alter the width of the line to challenge their accuracy and animation and song (‘u-u-u-umbrella’) was also used. Remote control car: once the child has successfully sounded a wooden letter, they match it to the written letter by driving it there in a remote control car. RM Tablets: playing on an Internet game, if a target letter appears (eg one learnt that lesson) the student touches the letter with the pointer and a well-done message appears (underwater scene) (Primary, Key Stage 1) The potential for technology to motivate and maintain interest was recognised at a second primary school: "The teachers all felt that much of the children’s work was better when a smartboard was used for teaching. They reported higher motivation and levels of interest. They gave examples of individual children such as L, who usually needed extension activities to stretch him, easily done on a computer. Using a computer gave the opportunity of presenting one idea in a wide variety of ways, this way the teachers were able to ensure practice without the children feeling that they were doing the same thing every time." (Primary, Key Stage 1) However, other schools use the technology in a more communal way as in this next example: "The school uses software called wall’ which is used outside of lessons ‘question to support understanding. For example, in a project on religion a question wall was set up on which pupils can pose questions, answer other peoples’ questions, share resources etc. Teachers monitor it and also pose additional questions." (Secondary, school wide) Virtual Learning Environments A detailed analysis of the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) within the sample schools will be addressed in the upcoming Impact 2008 report. The main finding from the data here is that although VLE development is in its infancy, this technology is seen as central to the personalising of learning. Indeed some
PCs and Practice: The area was like a circuit course for the children to rotate and change activities when they liked. Technology therefore, was being used to provide a variety of learning opportunities within a multisensory learning environment. The diversity appeared to sustain interest among the class one pupils and the choice of activities allowed the children to practice the areas most needed (eg letter identification/ tracing /sounding). Interactive Board: use of a pointer to select colours and trace a large letter ‘U’ so as to familiarize themselves with the shape of the letter for writing. They can alter the width of the line to challenge their accuracy and animation and song (‘u-u-u-umbrella’) was also used. Remote control car: once the child has successfully sounded a wooden letter, they match it to the written letter by driving it there in a remote control car. RM Tablets: playing on an Internet game, if a target letter appears (eg one learnt that lesson) the student touches the letter with the pointer and a well-done message appears (underwater scene) (Primary, Key Stage 1) The potential for technology to motivate and maintain interest was recognised at a second primary school: "The teachers all felt that much of the children’s work was better when a smartboard was used for teaching. They reported higher motivation and levels of interest. They gave examples of individual children such as L, who usually needed extension activities to stretch him, easily done on a computer. Using a computer gave the opportunity of presenting one idea in a wide variety of ways, this way the teachers were able to ensure practice without the children feeling that they were doing the same thing every time." (Primary, Key Stage 1) However, other schools use the technology in a more communal way as in this next example: "The school uses software called ‘question wall’ which is used outside of lessons to support understanding. For example, in a project on religion a question wall was set up on which pupils can pose questions, answer other peoples’ questions, share resources etc. Teachers monitor it and also pose additional questions." (Secondary, school wide) Virtual Learning Environments A detailed analysis of the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) within the sample schools will be addressed in the upcoming Impact 2008 report. The main finding from the data here is that although VLE development is in its infancy, this technology is seen as central to the personalising of learning. Indeed some
becta_2008_personalisedlearningtheoretical_report.docx