Configuring digital resources to support diverse community needs

Configuring digital resources to support diverse community needs

The Challenge

Deploying e-learning to support

Key and Basic Skills

…what works best and why?

Issues with Key and Basic Skills

• Huge and varied needs• Strong need to contextualize and make

relevant for students• Requires combination of stand-alone

coaching and integrated delivery• Critical role of support from schools, colleges

and community centres

Issues with e-learning• Courseware often monolithic • Difficult to manipulate and integrate• Mixing the best elements of one publisher with

another is not usually possible• Difficult to adapt and integrate into local teaching

and learning strategies

Field trialling a new approach• Classification and storage of content in small-

sized, re-usable “learning objects” • All publisher content compatible• Mixing and matching best-quality and most

relevant content from multiple sources…including in-house materials

• Playable on any system• Individualized, contextualized courseware

Intended benefits

• Access to wide source of appropriate materials • Re-use and flexible assembly of materials versus

constant re-invention• More relevance for students and their communities• Encourages culture of collaboration and sharing• Enables teachers and support staff to support

more personalised learning

The Project

• Users - schools/colleges/community centres in South England

• Publishers from commercial and public sector• Digital repository/content management • Key Skills Support Programme (LSDA)• DfES (Adult and Basic Skills Strategy Unit),

BECTa, QCA• Demos & Ithaca

Why Kaleidoscope?

• Pool of common resources

• Can be personalised to fit the individual and his/her community

• “Spinning” on the kaleidoscope to locate appropriate resources puts controls in hands of users

Fit with other projects

• Curriculum On-Line

• JISC (JORUM+)

• National Learning Network

• Learning and Teach Scotland

• College On-line

• UfI

• Others (incl. abroad)

South East England Virtual Education Action Zone

• Unique• ‘Headteacher-led’ bid• Geographically spread• 19 schools Essex and Bromley• 10 Primary - 9 Secondary• Not primarily low socio-economic• New approach to improve student outcomes

FE and On-line Centres• FE colleges

• 6th Form colleges

• UK On-line centres

• Supported by FERL and Community Programmes teams at BECTa

• Seeking to enhance ability to meet particular learning needs using ICT

Issues for users

• Technical

• Motivation to teach Key and Basic Skills

• Training

• Organisational issues

• Project Management

How it works

Content Suppliers

Content Repository

SEEVEAZ Students

In-house content

Project portal & control station

FE Stude

ntsUK On-

line Centres

( via intranet or virtual learning environment)

Selection & assembly

Evaluation objectives

• How is Kaleidoscope supporting the teaching and learning of key and basic skills?

• How is the way the Kaleidoscope is being used affecting teachers, mentors and the way they work?

• How can the tools, resources and methodology be improved?

• What forms of organisational support facilitate the process?

Research Methodology

Methodology

Infrastructure

Culture change

Questionnaires

In-depth interviews with students and teachers

Observation days and group sessions

Findings

• Engagement

• Professional learning

• Time

• Management

• The wider context

Challenges

• How to measure change over time including an appreciation of each community’s starting point?

• How to understand the impact of other variables?

• How to foster good relationships with the communities?

Progress

• Infrastructure in place

• Materials from a variety of sources (including practitioners) assembled and catalogued

• Lesson planning for next term underway

• Evaluation capturing drivers, inhibitors and overall process of adoption

Contact

www.k-scope.org.uk

For username and password contact rodpaley@ithaca.org

Tim Rudd, BECTa

Matthew Horne, Demos

Rod Paley, Ithaca Associates