T-Learning Annual School Survey 2010 - Results!

So, the results of T-Learning's annual survey have come in! All schools within our community have been given the opportunity to complete our survey so that we can learn more about trends in usage as well as potential ideas for development.

We received inputs across Primary & Secondary Schools as well as Hospital based education centres who all use Taecanet Springboard to deliver personalised learning resources to pupils from home as well as in school.

A few of the outcomes are noted below, which have been submitted by teachers:

71% of pupils enjoy using Taecanet Springboard.

100% of Primary School teachers agree that Taecanet Springboard has a positive effect on pupil attainment.

64% of teachers think that it is easy to allocate work using Taecanet Springboard and to monitor student progress.

In addition to a number of other uses, 93% of teachers use Taecanet Springboard to deliver homework.

All of these outcomes are very positive and reinforce what we have heard over the years in terms of pupils enjoying and benefiting from the resources. Ease of use for teachers is also at the heart of what we do, which appears to be recognised in this survery which is also encouraging.

What is a little surprising is the significant number of teachers who use Taecanet Springboard to deliver homework.......a staggering 93%. We have heard from teachers that using the service in this way really helps to tidy up and simplify the whole homework process. No more pleas of 'Sorry Miss, the dog ate my homework!' By virtue of the fact that all of the resources have already been created by other teachers, work can be allocated in seconds, and all of the marking is done automatically makes this online tool very homework friendly. In addition, with access to technology (including broadband) becoming more pervasive, it seems this is a real opportunity for schools to work more efficiently by delivering homework online, which will engage students and help to improve attainment.

Many thanks to all of the teachers who took part in the survey. If you would like any more information on the Taecanet Springboard services, please contact chris.davison@t-learning.net or call 0871 288 4580.

Bridgewater School See Benefits Of Mobile Project

Bridgewater School in Manchester (http://bridgewater.publishpath.com) are taking part in the mobile learning project, supported by T-Learning, 1000Heads & Nokia.

The School were recently trained on how best to use the devices by Nokia expert Phil Campbell and it seems the students are fully up to speed already, capturing valuable content for the project.

Science teacher, Chris Percival, commented;

"We are working on the learning journeys. We have videoed a great debate about nuclear power which was a whole lot of fun. We hope to plan a field trip too!"

It seems that mobile devices are very useful at capturing content in a number of different formats which can be used to enhance education. The real benefit will come when we have been able to share the resources with the other schools involved.

For more information on this project, please contact chris.davison@t-learning.net

Sports College Conference, Telford 2010

T-Learning will be attending the YST Sports Colleges Conference 2010 at the International Centre, Telford on stand 730.

Here, we will be showcasing the output of the collaborative project between T-Learning, YST, and 4 Specialist Sports Colleges. Taecanet Springboard for PE is helping students to improve motivation and results in GCSE PE Theory by providing access to shared learning resources.

Following the roll out of the project in 2008/9, 80% of Sports Colleges who took part in the project reported improvements to their GCSE PE results.

More information on the project can be found at http://www.taecanet.com/yst/index.php, and you can follow the link to the Conference 2010 information.

Mobile Project Gathers Pace!

Students from Furze Platt School in Maidenhead are now officially underway. There are definative plans afoot for content creation, and the students are really engaging with the Nokia N85 handsets, which are being used for the project to create valuable Science resources.

One of the students from Furze Platt commented;

"I'll be making a video of a reaction, probably cutting it and slowing it down in Final Cut. I continue to be amazed by the phone; with it's WinZip compatability, the FM transmitter and the WiFi".

We are so pleased to be working with such motivated individuals, and we look forward to the final results in a few weeks!

Keep up the good work, I say!

Nokia/Ovi Announcement - Free Nav!

Nokia's worldwide unveiling is now over and the major announcement for Nokia/Ovi is that they are now offering free mapping/navigation services through their devices!

This will be a big blow to external sat nav providers and gives further proof of the inevitable convergence of disparate services onto mobile devices. For more info on this, you can visit the official Nokia site at http://events.nokia.com/ovimaps/index.html

For more informal information and opinion on this release, please visit http://www.womworld.com/nokia

This seems a fitting time for T-Learning to be running our mobile elearning project. By enabling students to capture and share valuable learning resources through mobile devices we hope we can add real value to education by utilising technologies, which are prolific throughout the younger population. Mapping and navigation could be a valuable assest here.

Mobile Learning Project Underway!

We have now completed the first training session for the T-Learning mobile learning project, which took place at Furze Platt School in Maidenhead.

This school has been handed six Nokia N85 devices and has created a 'team' of 5 students and one teacher. This team was trained yesterday afternoon by Nokia expert Jay Montano, who travelled all the way from Cardiff to help get this project underway. Many thanks to Jay for his help! Jay's blog can be found at http://www.mynokiablog.com

Over the next month, this school team will be using the devices to create valuable educational resources linked to Key Stage 4 Science. The devices will be used to capture and upload content, which will then be used to create 'learning journeys', which can be shared amongst our community of schools. Three other schools will also be partaking in this project, working on different Scientific areas, and I will post updates on progress in due time.

T-Learning are experts in the creation of online learning communities. This project underlines our focus of providing shared user generated content as a way of helping students to engage with education. By helping to share best practice, we also hope to make life a bit easier for teachers.

Further updates will be available through http://www.womworld.com/nokia . For more information on this project please contact chris.davison@t-learning.net