Duration of Project – Spring Term 2010
Pupil Details -Year 9 and 10, boys and girls
Subject/Curriculum area - Science
Equipment used: (include software) Mobile learning device Type – Acer Aspire One Netbook 10”
Connectivity: wireless
Other: Flip Cameras, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Photostory 3, PowerPoint, Word and subject specific websites in Science

Introduction and Context
Background
Aims and Objectives of the Droylsden project
Learning Goal
Outline and Details of the project
Key Findings
Detailed account of the project

Introduction
Getting into a routine
Experimenting with music as an aid to concentration
The pupils’ experience
The teachers’ experience
Using the devices to enhance the lessons - examples
Conclusions
Comments from pupils
Comments from the teacher
Movie

Introduction and Context

As part of the Building Schools for the Future Programme (BSF), Tameside Local Authority (LA) aims to offer a mobile learning device to every pupil in Secondary School.  The LA believes that:

• This will contribute to raising educational standards by extending learning opportunities for all pupils.
• this will provide opportunities for personalised educational provision to pupils
• It will contribute to the raising of standards of literacy and numeracy, encourage collaborative learning and motivate learners.
• The technology needed to support these goals should be central to both teaching and learning, contextually relevant, accessible, portable and capable of providing ubiquitous computing.
• By providing mobile learning mobile learning devices that can be taken home pupils will be motivated to become more independent learners.
• In order to achieve these objectives, there will be a requirement for schools to review pedagogy with a particular emphasis on cross-curricular uses of technology and the development of innovative models of teaching and learning.

To begin the process of change, Tameside’s eLearning Team invested in a class set of mobile learning devices and invited schools to bid for them.  Bids were chosen that provided opportunities to experiment with new ways of teaching and learning and four schools were invited to participate in the project.

For each case study, members of Tameside LA’s eLearning team visited the schools to interview staff, pupils and where available, parents, to observe the mobile learning devices being used and to record findings.

This case study describes the third of four projects that took place in 2009-10, this one being at Droylsden Academy.

Background

Science lessons at Droylsden are usually taught in classrooms where pupils have limited ICT facilities.  In each classroom, the teacher has access to a computer, laptop and Interactive Whiteboard (IWB).  Occasionally the pupils use ICT in the school’s designated ICT suites which have to be planned for and pre-booked and are not always free or available as often as desired.

Aims and Objectives of the Droylsden Academy project

• To enable pupils to present their work in a variety of ways using multimedia and including videos of their experiments.
• To allow pupils to submit their assignments online.
• To allow pupils to participate in self and peer assessment; offering suggestions for improvements on practical and written work.
• To use email to facilitate collaboration and improve communication between teacher and also between pupils
• To allow pupils to include multimedia elements in their coursework including voice recording, animations and/or video content.
• To help to promote independent and personalised learning.

Learning Goal

To encourage independence and produce coursework for the OCR 21^st Century Science project which includes multimedia content.

Outline and Details of the project

Over a period of one term, pupils worked towards the learning goals using the mobile learning devices as follows:

• Exchanging emails with pupils and teacher for assessment purposes
• Responding to email requests from the teacher for submissions of work
• Reflecting on peer, self and teacher assessment and making changes to their work accordingly
• Presentation of work in different ways, using a range of software including Word, PowerPoint, Photostory, Moviemaker and adding sound and images
• Improving presentation of work
• Improving accuracy of work by using spelling and grammar-checkers
• Filming of experiments
• Recording and timing experiments
• Analysing results from experiments
• Accessing resources online and via Email
• Making individual choices about what to do, how and when to do it
• Being creative and independent in their choices of which software to use and which resources to access
• Gaining online access to other pupils and the teacher outside the normal lesson period by use of email to share and access lessons and homework and to provide feedback between teacher and pupil on each others’ work
• Listening to music whilst they worked (to find out if this is an aid or hindrance to concentration).

Key Findings

• Pupils benefitted from the increased independence that having the mobile learning device provided.  They had the freedom to make choices about when and where to use them, how to present their work, and were able to access a wider range of material than they previously would have had access to in the lessons.  They also found that they could get answers to questions from the internet rather than rely on the teacher, and as a result did not have to wait for help, but were able to find out for themselves, thus aiding independence.
• Pupils could choose to study further, beyond the objectives of the lesson, if their interest was stimulated by what the teacher had provided or what they found on the internet, thus helping to deepen their knowledge.  They found that having access to the internet for research had contributed to a greater understanding of the subject as the information they could find often went beyond what was available on the hard copies of printed text provided by the teachers, and could sometimes be beyond the scope of the lesson objectives, thus enriching the learning experience.
• Pupils had more opportunities to carry out research.  They had access to the internet and to sources they had found independently, which they shared with each other, as well as to the useful websites recommended by the teacher.
• Pupils had access to a wider range of and better quality resources and their findings were improved by access to more original and up-to-date material including text, images and movies.  They also had more time to spend on developing their output as they could continue what they started in class outside lessons and at home.
• Increase in opportunities for collaboration as pupils were able to use Email to communicate with each other about their work in school and at home and share resources and ideas with each other outside lessons.  During the lessons, they also commented on each other’s work, shared resource sources, tips and techniques and helped each other to further develop capability in ICT.
• The teacher had greater access to a range of research material, including text, diagrams, maps, images and movies and could save time by getting pupils to access it themselves rather than demonstrating it from the front of the classroom.  Pupils could also refer to this material more than once, it being available to them in their electronic folders, on-line or in their email accounts, so if they wanted to check or revise their work, it was available for them to do so without recourse to the teacher’s.
• Pupils were able to use the in-built camera to record experiments and then watch them repeatedly and as often as they chose to, reinforcing learning points, comparing results of experiments with each other and thus deepening their understanding.
• The teacher had a readily accessible record of his communications with the pupils having used email to send, receive and enter into a dialogue with pupils about their work, thus increasing efficiency.
• Pupils found that they spent longer than usual on perfecting their work - adding images, hyperlinks, and formatting text - because they had access to a range of software and the internet in order to do this.
• Pupils were limited by their individual ICT capability, and whereas opportunities were provided to use a range of multimedia to present their work, some preferred to stick to PowerPoint.

Detailed account of the project

Introduction

The mobile learning devices were delivered to the school and issued to the Year 9 and 10 pupils who were taking the OCR 21^st Century Science Project.  Parents were informed about the project and told that the pupils would be bringing the mobile learning devices home to increase learning opportunities for a fixed time period.  So, although the pupils did not actually own the devices, they did have ownership for a period of one term and could potentially use them at any time and from anywhere.

The teachers designed the lessons structured around the use of the mobile learning devices and included opportunities for research, independent learning, team work and collaboration and the use of multimedia applications.

The devices were not used in any other curriculum area apart from Science.

Getting into a routine

As pupils were only using the devices for a short period of time and not in any other curriculum areas, the Science teachers had made a great deal of effort to plan the lessons around the devices in order to get the best use out of them so it was important to have one-to-one access. So, pupils were advised to remember to charge and bring in their devices for Science during the project period, and after initial familiarisation quickly got into the habit of doing this, logging on and getting on with the set tasks.  However, there were several occasions when pupils forgot to bring in their devices or didn’t remember to charge them, which disrupted the flow of the lessons and made participation difficult.  If, as occasionally happened, a pupil forgot their device, or didn’t charge it, they were paired with another pupil and shared the device during the lesson; however, this did hamper progress for the students involved.

Some pupils commented that they “were a pain to carry around” so teachers had taken to storing them in a cupboard for them and although this meant that they were always available when required, they were sometimes not sufficiently charged. Some pupils didn’t like having to carry the mobile learning devices around with them in the bags provided because they felt they could be a target for theft when travelling between home and school.  Some found a way around this by carrying it “hidden in their own school bag”.  Most pupils said they were light and easy to carry around, and “not a problem” and that they really appreciated having the device.  Most took them home every night and used and charged them and many expressed the desire to have a device all the time in all lessons, as they could see how they could use them in other curriculum areas to improve presentations and become more efficient at sharing and writing.

Experimenting with music as an aid to concentration

Pupils soon adapted to the procedure of getting out the devices, logging on and starting and engaging with their work and those observed generally stayed on task and didn’t allow themselves to become distracted.  On occasions, and as an experiment during this project, the teacher allowed pupils to choose whether or not to listen to music through headsets whilst they worked, and sometimes this was observed to distract some pupils from their work.  Pupils could be off-task during the lesson whilst they made choices relating to what they were listening to, and when they shared these choices with others, swapping headsets to listen to each others’ music.

The teacher only permitted the pupils to listen to music whilst engaged in their individual project work and insisted on them switching off their music and taking off their headphones when he was addressing the class, during group work and experiments. When asked, the pupils said that in general the music aided their concentration and the teacher agreed that this appeared to be the case when pupils were engaged in their own individual work on the device.

The pupils’ experience

Pupils reported that when the teacher was busy speaking to another pupil, instead of waiting for their turn to ask for help, they could find the answers they needed through the device, such as spellings, meanings and particular facts and information. As pupils became more independent at finding such answers out for themselves, the teacher could focus attention more fruitfully, facilitating discussions around the learning principles.

The pupils were able to utilise skills learnt in ICT and demonstrate capability in the use of a range of media, and most seemed to enjoy this challenge.  Instead of the usual hand-written texts, hand-drawn diagrams and maps, pupils were able to improve the quality of their work and many of them combined sound, video, images and internet links into automated multimedia presentations. However, the differing levels of pupil ICT capability meant that some pupils lacked the ability to use the wide range of multimedia applications on offer and instead preferred to use what was familiar to them, such as Word and/or PowerPoint.

Pupils said that sometimes when using the device they became too involved in perfecting their work and spent longer than usual on it, and didn’t finish on time as a result.  When this happened, they did not seem to mind because they knew that they could return to their work later and use the device to help them to complete the work at home, which most of them did independently. All of the pupils were able to continue their work outside of the lesson if they chose to, and some made PowerPoint’s and/or Photostories and recordings at home to incorporate into their coursework.

Using the mobile learning devices enabled pupils to not only work independently but at their own pace, and at a time and location of their choosing.

All pupils commented on how much they liked using the mobile learning devices instead of handwriting, as it saved time, looked better and they could spell-check their work as they went along, improving their overall presentation.  Pupils also said that they liked being able to format their work in a particular style, add images and hyperlinks and generally improve its presentation.

They found having access to the internet for research had contributed to a greater understanding of the subject, as they had found extra time and got engaged with the subject matter available on the internet, which was more comprehensive than the text book or handout they were used to.  Also, using the internet made the research easier, quicker, more in-depth and was more up-to-date. One pupil said that she “didn’t have to wait for library books to become available because she could find answers more quickly and easily on-line”.

Many of the pupils said that they had appreciated getting their work before the lesson in emails and had got into the habit of checking their emails to find out what they had to do and if need be some of them had done some preparatory work.  They also appreciated the type of work they received from the teacher, finding the multimedia files more engaging “than the usual handouts”.  They said that as they were able to refer to them before, during and after lessons they found them more useful as they could access them for learning at their own pace.

Pupils also enjoyed personalising the devices for their own use, and used them for messaging and for homework tasks from other curriculum areas and for general “experimentation” and “doing fun things” such as playing music, games and taking movies of themselves using the in-built camera.  All of which, although outside normal lesson objectives and while not to be encouraged during the lessons, contributed to the development of ICT capability and encouraged creativity.

Many of the pupils involved in this project had computer access at home, and said that taking the mobile learning device home did not contribute significantly to increased home use or more parental involvement.

However, because they had been using the devices more often in Science lessons than usual, this access to ICT had made a big difference to the amount and type of work they produced, because they could choose which software to use and tended to put in more effort than they would have done without access to ICT.

Quite a few of the pupils seemed to become attached to their own personal device, had personalised it with music and photographs, and taken pride in having it, getting familiar with its features and what it offered them and were sad to give them up.  Many of them asked if they could keep them for longer and were reluctant to give up the device at the end of the project.

All pupils said they had enjoyed using the device and found it had increased their ability to work independently and more creatively than usual, as they had been able to present their work using software of their choice, and incorporate sound, images and movies.  Most said that their written work had been improved by using the Netbook, and they had taken more pride in individualising their work and their presentations for the teacher and for their coursework.  And, as one pupil put it, they made learning “more fun”.

The teachers’ experience

The project was relatively small-scale and condensed into a short time period, and because of this, the devices were probably used more often than would normally have been necessary, simply to try and get the most out of them while they were available.  This was not seen as a problem and was met with enthusiasm by the teacher who had planned the use of ICT well and in advance, in order to make the most of the technology while it was available to support independent learning and provide a range of learning opportunities.  For example, work was emailed to pupils in advance of the lessons, so they could work at their own pace.  Email was also used to collaborate with pupils, review their work and return it to them more efficiently.  A variety of software was used, including PowerPoint and multimedia presentations with audio files and links to the internet and other resources which was shared with pupils.

The teacher observed that pupils “seemed to put more effort into their work on the computer than they would normally”, and while the reasons for this are not conclusive, he put it down to the fact that in general, they enjoy using computers, and the facilities they offer to improve work, such as formatting, images, sounds and hyperlinks.

Using the devices to enhance the lessons - examples

During one lesson, pupils set up an experiment to test the rate of reaction of temperature on hydrochloric acid, which they repeated 3 times to get an average.  They recorded their findings in a table and spreadsheet which the teacher had sent to them by email and compared results with each other.   They used the calculator on the Netbook in addition to the spreadsheet to take and record timings and work out averages, and also used the in-built camera to record their experiments so that they could watch again if necessary and deepen their understanding of the process.

In another lesson, the pupils were asked to carry out peer-assessments of each other’s work and used email to exchange their work and their comments under guidance from the teacher, who provided some direction and input.  They were then given time to improve their own work using PowerPoint, adding appropriate images, text, sound as necessary before final submission via email to the teacher.  This worked very well, with pupils exchanging and sharing work and feedback quickly and efficiently via the Netbooks and the network.  By using technology in this way, the process of collaboration and peer-assessment was more efficient and the teacher had a comprehensive record of work in progress, completed work and the collaborations and communications between himself and the pupils.

Conclusions

The aims of the project were met in that pupils in Science had increased access to and the flexibility to choose to make use of ICT, where they thought it appropriate and to vary the way they presented their work using a range of multimedia.  In doing so they became more creative and independent and were able to produce work of a higher quality than usual.   They produced multi-media presentations to a high standard and gained a deeper knowledge of the subject matter in a shorter period of time than usual, having anytime-anywhere access to knowledge other than that imparted solely by the teacher during lesson times, and so did not need to wait to ask or to refer to the teacher as often during lessons, as other sources were available on the internet.  They could also collaborate with each other, sharing ideas and resources and helping each other to develop ICT skills and subject knowledge.

The teacher was able to save time by not having to set up projection equipment at the front of the classroom, and by easily and quickly referring to a wider range of resources to demonstrate the subject matter including movies, websites and research documents.

The teacher was careful to make the subject and lesson objectives drive the learning and not the ICT, and used the ICT to enhance the lesson making lessons more creative, engaging, accessible and fun.  He took time to plan and develop the appropriate pedagogy that embraced the use of ICT and as a result, he could use a range of teaching and learning styles that allowed collaboration, increased pupil independence and gave room for individual creativity.

Comments from pupils

“Don’t like writing, but like using a computer”

“My work looks much tidier”

“I could use different programs to make my presentation better”

“I like the spell checker”

“Makes research much easier”

“Quicker to type than write”

“Could finish work off at home”

“I would like to have one so I don’t have to write all the time”

“Used it to revise and listen to music”

“I could take it anywhere with me”

“I used it every day for my homework”

“Just better, quicker and easier!”

“Small and handy and made school work more fun”

“Even when at home I could still share my work with others”

Comments from the teacher

“The Netbooks were easy to use and proved to be a motivating tool”

“Students took ownership of them and were proud to use them”

“An excellent tool which allows flexibility of teaching styles, student independence and room for creativity”

“It was easier to provide access to resources”

“Some students chose not to take them home as they did not like carrying them around”

“Some students took them out of their cases and preferred to use their own bags instead”

“Unfortunately, students could access social networking sites in school”

Movie

See movie, recorded over the Spring Term at Droylsden Academy.