t’s no secret that education is changing. Discover how schools are harnessing the power of games based learning and real-time reporting to facilitate dynamic change and raise attainment for the new breed of 21st century learners.
Teach Talk: 21st century learning - harnessing the power of games
1. 21st century learning- harnessing the power of
games
Oasis Academy Mayfield
Simon Poole-Anderson, VLE & Digital Media
Greenwood Academy
Laurence Cole, Greenwood Academy
Archbishop Ilsley Catholic School & Sixth Form
Glen Alexander, Head Teacher
Teach Talk
2.
3. 21st century learning - Harnessing the power of games
Key Concepts
① Marc Prensky defines young people as ‘digital natives’ but it’s his ‘digital immigrants’ that make the
decisions and shape the learning environment in schools today.
② Digital natives are massively engaged by and motivated to use interactive online games. This enduring and
evidenced behavior can be harnessed by educators for 24/7 learning.
③ I Am Learning’s game based system incorporates wider social preferences for interactive engagement and
instant gratification. These compelling factors are then focused on education to raise attainment and
promote independent learning.
Simon Poole-Anderson
VLE & Digital Media
Oasis Academy Mayfield
Southampton
4.
5. ‘…deep, radical and urgent (digital)
transformation is required in higher
education as much as it is in school
systems. Our fear is that, perhaps as a
result of complacency, caution or
anxiety… the pace of change is too slow
and the nature of change too
incremental.’
An Avalanche is
Coming, UKIPPR, March, 2013.
6. Learning Technologies (such as VLEs) have
increasingly featured in Ofsted reports ‘in
line with (our) increased emphasis on
improvements’ and ‘references on the
effective use of VLEs have been rising…up
from about 20% pre 2009 to around 40%
having comment in 2012’
Ofsted, January, 2013.
7.
8. Engagement - Motivation - Confidence
Interactivity
Engagement
MotivationProficiency
Confidence
Digital Natives & New Media
13. ① Marc Prensky defines young people as ‘digital natives’ but it’s his ‘digital
immigrants’ that make the decisions and shape the learning environment in schools
today.
② Digital natives are massively engaged by and motivated to use interactive online
games. This enduring and evidenced behavior can be harnessed by educators for
24/7 learning.
③ I Am Learning’s game based system incorporates wider social preferences for
interactive engagement and instant gratification. These compelling factors are
then focused on education to raise attainment and promote independent learning.
Interactivity
Engagement
MotivationProficiency
Confidence
16. TeachFirst 2011
NQT – Teacher of ICT last year
Appointed E-Learning Co-ordinator in
Autumn Term
Asked to look at the way the school uses
E-Learning, particularly with regards to
assessment
Given possible pieces of software to look
at and a budget to play with
Background
18. SLT
“These teachers
just do not assess
regularly
enough, or set
nearly enough
homework! What
are we going to do
when OFSTED
arrive?!”
19. Teachers
“There is already
enough marking and
paperwork without
carrying out more
assessment and
setting more
homework…but I do
still want reasons to
be able to praise the
pupils”
39. Statistics
• Students have done 3250:46:37 hours of
revision
• School is 10th highest using school in the
UK
• 709 students (99%) use I am learning
outside of school hours
Day offWill be nice to speak for 10-15 minutes without 30 14-year-olds speaking over me
Going to talk to you about a case study of a school which is using technology to nurture learning in the 21st century and how we are doing it
Record pupil talking to attach to this slide
1. More useful, relevant homeworkStudents needed to improve independent learning skillsLots of students not progressing at required rateSLT and parents needed to see teachers were making every effort to push students
2. Something which would not increase workload for teachersTeachers were already being put on enough with paperworkTechnology needed to be used to the teachers’ advantage, rather than just to log everything
3. More regular formative assessmentEssential to know where your students are atDiagnostic assessment needed so that students know how to improveNeed to prove that progress is being made (SLT, OFSTED)
4. Pupils to enjoy learningPupils were not doing homework as they did not enjoy it and they did not see the benefit in itNo love of learning in the school
Needed to find something which would satisfy all 4 needs and also keep all 3 groups happy
We did a few things to address this in terms of our use of technology, but perhaps the most ground-breaking, interesting and effective measure was to introduce “I Am Learning”.What is I Am Learning? According to the company themselves, it is a “games-based revision and assessment system which engages learners, making them want to learn both in and outside of school”
Setrelevant exercise to what you have been studying. You can also choose to use unofficial exercises which have been created by other schools using the “community” section of the site. This is great as there are loads of ready-made exercises which you can choose from, thereby minimising the teacher workload.
What the student sees at the end – completely self marking as well as ready-made, thereby minimising teacher workload. Can revisit any questions they got wrong or skipped (they can also do this as they go through using the retry button if they get a question wrong) – can also view their progress in an easy red/amber/green chart on the left.. Makes progress clear. Formative assessment as it shows them the correct answers to the questions they got wrong.
What the teacher can see – Assessment – can see an overview but can then also click on individual studentsNo need to collect homework in, easy to see who has not completed it, who has put in the most time, if they didn’t do very well, was it because they did not spend enough time on it? Easy RAG scheme. Easy to give praise to students who have put in a lot of effort or shown a good understanding of the topic.Good to see progress, evident that they have set homework, more data to back them up and to keep SLT happy for when OFSTED arrive
Most commonly incorrectly answered questions – helps you see what parts of the topic have been taught better than others
When you click on an individual student – proving progress, evidence of formative assessment
When you click on an individual attempt – see which parts of the topic that student is struggling with, how much effort they have put into the assignment.
All of the students have their own log in to I Am Learning. When they log in this is what they see. Pupil interface – one of the most important things about the product.
Statistics are available on your home screen
Technology needs to be used to our advantage in assessment and proving progress, but most of all we need to use technology to instil a love of learning within the pupils, and only then will we truly have “nurtured learning in the 21st century”.