| Description of good practice: |
In order to improve the learning experience of its learners and help those who are frequently away from college on placement, Stockport College decided to trial a mobile learning programme to improve interaction with its tutors and peers.
Context:
Stockport College is a further and higher learning college in the North West of England with a large number of learners following vocational and academic courses. For the mobile learning trial, it selected the 500 learners studying hairdressing at Stockport and nearby Trafford College, as these learners spend a large amount of time away from the college.
Method used for promoting inclusive practice:
Stockport chose to trial the programme on hairdressing learners, as they spend a great deal of time away from college, learning through off-site placements. The devices have therefore helped to increase their interaction with tutors.
For example, once the learners have uploaded images of their latest work, the tutors can feed back quickly with their comments and suggestions. This improved responsiveness means that learners are likely to learn more quickly and receive more individual feedback on their work.
Learners can also use the devices to blog on their experiences and thoughts, offering the tutors an increased insight into how they are progressing with the course, and which additional topics they need to cover. At the core of this project is the increased communication between learners and their peers and lecturers. It has made an essential difference to the students’ learning experience and their results.
Focus of inclusive practice:
A key aim of the project was to improve the learning experience and quality of learners’ work by capitalising on the appeal mobile technology holds for young people. The college and its tutors hoped that by offering this added dimension to their learning experience, the learners would be more inspired and more creative in their work and its presentation. The tutors were keen for learners to carry out a variety of tasks on the devices including taking pictures of their work and uploading them to a shared portal, as well as answering questions and completing written tasks, including blogs about their progress.
Level of success:
Both learners and tutors have responded enthusiastically to the program. The auto focus function on the camera is ideally suited to learners’ work, as they are often required to upload images of the hairstyles they have created onto the web portal for tutors to critique. Many have been so pleased with the phones that they have chosen to add the voice and
text functions, financing these themselves. Hairdressing students are not immediately
associated with technology, but they adapted to it easily and the devices have proven highly
valuable to their work, particularly for those learners who respond well to visual learning tasks, as opposed to written work. |
