‘The Experimental Classroom’
Stratford-upon-Avon College
The Willows North
Alcester Road
Stratford-upon-Avon
Warwickshire CV37 9QR
Project Manager: Rachel Wood
Team members: Clare King
Judy Klinkenberg
June 2009
INTRODUCTION:
‘The Experimental Classroom’
Context:
Stratford-upon-Avon is a general F.E. college of around 1,500 full-time students and
a further 2,000 part-time students. Teacher training is well established: first with City
and Guilds, then since 2003 the Post-compulsory Certificate in Education (PCET) in
partnership with the University of Warwick, and more recently the range of new
awards, PTLLS, CTLLS and DTLLS, is offered. Candidates come from within the
College and from other colleges in the area for the DTLLS programme.
Stratford-upon-Avon suggests middle class comfort but in fact our student cohort
comes from a far and wide. Many of our students come from the rural environs and
many others come, by way of the railway service into Stratford-upon-Avon, from the
urban environs of Birmingham. We also enjoy a large cohort of students from
overseas.
Our students are the off-spring of the ‘technological age’ and seem very at home
with ‘podcasts’ and ‘downloads’. In fact, they are far more at home with technology
than the members of the teacher training team! We enjoyed the usual array of
hardware in our classrooms, projectors and desk-top computers, and all could
achieve a decent PowerPoint presentation, but for some time it had been the
concern of the two established, more mature, members of the Teacher Training team
at the College that we lacked the confidence to encourage our trainee teachers to
experiment with ILT in the classroom.
At the time of initiating the project, the teacher training team had just been joined by
a younger member whose background was in Media and who was confident with
ILT, both personally and in the classroom. The project offered an ideal opportunity
for a sharing of knowledge and skills, to build up confidence to cascade this
information to our trainee teachers.
Aims and objectives:
The teacher training team recognised that technology now plays a crucial part in the
learning environment, in particular in the enhancement of the learning environment
for younger learners and enabling for distant learners. Research into delivery styles
to promote learning (as cited in Petty 2004) all agree that the more visual and active
the learning environment, the more likely learning will take place.
However, the team acknowledged that, in common with many mature teachers,
members of the team were struggling to come to terms with changing technologies
themselves, let alone be in a position to embed the technology into everyday
classroom practice. What was needed was the opportunity to become familiar with
new technology, the time to learn new skills and the means of sharing this with
others.
The ‘experimental classroom’ project would allow the team to have the time to put
aside to engage more with the hardware to be found in most classrooms and also to
purchase small pieces of equipment readily available and which would enhance the
routine equipment. The ITT training team could actively experiment with new
resources and so develop the necessary skills to utilise these new technological
tools, particularly with reference to the inclusion of the Internet and graphic
presentation. Then, once confident, the team would be in a position to encourage
others, particularly trainee teachers on programme, to trial new ideas and teaching
methods. Thus the project was intended to benefit the teacher trainers and trainee
teachers alike.
STRATEGIES:
The team had easy access to a suitable venue; a room often used for teacher
training and equipped with a desktop computer, fixed projector and whiteboard;
although, it must be said that the later proved rather temperamental. There were
storage facilities for any additional resources purchased through the project.
On the advice of our new ‘technologically expert’ member of the teacher training
team we selected the small resources we thought best to enhance our knowledge
and skills. We wanted resources which would enhance our use of established
hardware, putting the ‘sex appeal’ back into PowerPoint or improving the level of
engagement with our learners.
Our final selection was influenced by the ‘gadgets’ which or students and
technologically confident colleagues recommended. In one respect this proved a
mistake, as what one individual can use and enjoy does not always have multiple
use, as we found out was the case of the Sony Reader, as explained later.
In the end, we purchased a Busbi camcorder, a very easy to use camcorder the size
of the average pocket camera. We also purchased a Sony Reader, a paperback
size screen which can hold the scripts of books and offers a reader large print size
and a way of carrying many books in one small package. Our final choice was an
iPod.
It was also at this point that we lost our new technologically expert member of the
teacher training team when he left to take up a better post on the other side of the
country! Our nerve failed us and we thought we would have to withdraw from the
project, but we were rallied by an additional member of the team who claimed that
‘We are intelligent people. We can follow the instructions on the packet!’ And we did!
Once the resources arrived, we grouped together and spent time in our classroom
and huddled around tables, experimenting with the resources. We read the
instructions and filmed each other with the Busbi. Most importantly we began
immediately to see how such a tool could enhance our own teaching and those of
our trainees. We were lucky to have contact with an enthusiastic iPod user who
came in to join one of our sessions and gave us advice and further suggestions as to
its use and application.
The Sony Reader was interesting but seemed to have very limited application for the
teacher. However, we shared it with the Supported Learning team and they became
part of our ‘experimental classroom’ when they took the Reader into their classes to
share it with particular students.
Once confident ourselves, we began to plan how we could promote the use of IT
through these new tools. We decided on a two way strategy: to allow others to
experiment as we had and to prepare guidance notes to offer others to save time
reading the instructions.
As already explained, the Reader was shared with another team in the College, and
the iPod was ‘adopted’ by the Humanities team, in particular by the History team who
spent time experimenting with downloading clips and music to show through
projectors or share with students via the College’s V.L.E. system.
Two more Busbi camcorders were purchased and shared with groups of trainee
teachers. One group of DTLLS Year 1 candidates were particularly taken with it.
Several of the group are Construction lecturers and they asked to borrow the Busbi
to use to film practical work. Another DTLLS candidate wanted to use the camcorder
to film learners for assessment purposes. One of the tutors took the camcorder
when observing trainees and was able to film selected highlights during the session.
In this way body language or tone of voice was able to be explained more easily than
in writing, and in a way less likely to offend!
OUTCOMES AND IMPACT:
The initial outcome of the project has been an extension of knowledge and
confidence with technology. Three members of the teacher training team have
extended their knowledge of technology beyond PowerPoint to include an
understanding of ‘podcasting’ and ‘downloads’ , and to make impromptu use of
recorded material. They are beginning to lose that fear of ‘everything going wrong’
and instead having fun thinking of new ways to use small pieces of equipment in
everyday use. The ‘distance travelled’ for each has been slightly different as the
starting points varied and individual interests have influenced development; one
member of the team has ‘travelled further’ than the others, but all have acquired new
skills and ideas. Most importantly, these new ideas have already become embedded
in the delivery of teacher training programmes.
The current learners on the full range of initial teacher training programmes, the
trainee teachers, have also benefitted from the project directly. In particular the new
resources were introduced into the taught sessions, discussed during tutorials and
taken to the classrooms during observations. Since then there has been a renewed
interest in technology. The Busbi has been used to film walls being built to study
technique, the finished wall to record achievement, to film a visit to a real building
site, to film students undertaking massage routines and to film the trainee teachers in
the classroom. The iPod has also been used to access both audio and video files,
especially those on iPlayer. Although the Sony Reader appealed to all the trainees
for their own use on holiday, if not before, little classroom application was found for
it.
The results of the initial experiments, the use in the classroom and the use of the
new resources by the trainees were pulled together and simple, brief guidance
sheets have been produced. These have the value of promoting the use of the
resources with other, future trainee teachers, but also promoting the use of these
and other technologies with colleagues. In this way the project has also supported a
current and important aim of the College, to develop and encourage the general use
of ILT.
In addition, the use of both the iPod and the Busbi camcorders will be included in
short training sessions which are planned to be held during the regular training
sessions in 2009-2010. The room originally chosen as the base for the
‘experimental classroom’ may be used, but in fact, the point will be made that any
well equipped classroom will serve to exploit these resources fully.
LEARNING POINTS:
The initial teacher training team found that actually, once you get to know it,
technology is not scary. It can be annoying and being human you can press the
wrong button but it doesn’t blow up when you do. In fact the Busbi cannot be simpler
to use – literally child’s play as the off-spring of a colleague proved! Most colleges
have an abundance of under used equipment; we should be using it to enhance our
teaching sessions.
We found that it only took a little imagination to think of really fun things to do with
technology. There are so many colourful images, illustrations of quite difficult
concepts which we can access to support our work in the classroom. Just putting a
face to a theorist makes the theory more real and memorable, adding a moving
image from a ‘download’ can make it more memorable still. When allowed
technology can encourage very visual and interactive delivery which, according to
Petty (2004) among others, is very likely to result in effective learning.
Our learners are comfortable with all forms of technology; indeed it would take the
proverbial operation to part most from their mobile phone or their ‘nano’. As
teachers we are fighting a losing battle, so as the saying goes; ‘if you can’t beat
them, then join them’ and we can make use of their technology to share resources
and information other than gossip. Instead of being a nuisance in the classroom, the
technology carried around by all our learners can become an asset to a teacher.
Of the three new pieces of equipment we purchased, the best buy by far was the
Busbi! It is simple to use and immediately has dozens of applications. It is small
and so very portable. Being small and without any flashing lights, its use can be very
discreet; learners and trainee teachers alike forget it’s there. There is an hour of film
time, which is convenient and encourages you to download to a computer the
sections you want to keep: an operation that is easy to do. It is relatively cheap and
the batteries last well. We are planning to purchase a further ten Busbi recorders for
use in classrooms. Clearly this aspect of the project will continue to grow and
influence teaching around the College.
By comparison the iPod is clever but has more limited application, and takes some
getting used to. It demands very subtle hand/eye coordination for one thing! Yet we
now have one for use and a guidance sheet to accompany it.
Purchasing the Sony Reader was our one big mistake; it was expensive and as it
turned out not useful in an educational setting. Nonetheless, it will remain in use in
the Supported Learning area and will no doubt be of use to encourage individual
readers.
SYNOPSIS:
The focus of this project was on encouraging ILT use in teaching and learning. The
aim was to develop the skills of the initial teacher trainers with ILT and to enhance
their expertise with introduction to the latest ‘gadgets’. The team would in turn
spread the gospel to the trainee teachers and encourage increased use of ILT in
their sessions and generally positive attitudes towards ILT. If the current level of
enthusiasm being shown towards the inclusion of PowerPoint and filming with Busbi
camcorders are any indication, the project has been successful.
KEY WORDS:
ILT, apprehension, experimentation, enthusiasm, visual stimulus