Innovative Technology to Support Transformation of Learning and Teaching in Leicester
Released on: April 9, 2008, 6:16 am
Press Release Author: Livewire PR
Industry: Education
Press Release Summary: Leicester is set to become a world class online learning city, creating an environment of learning anytime, anywhere as part of its ongoing city-wide regeneration.
Press Release Body: Leicester is set to become a world class online learning city, creating an environment of learning anytime, anywhere as part of its ongoing city-wide regeneration. Working with Northgate Education, Leicester City Council will see a massive £27 million invested in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) bringing Leicester secondary schools to the forefront of education.
Under the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF) Leicester City secondary schools will benefit from over £235 million investment making them some of the most advanced schools in the country. Leicester is among the first UK authorities to be part of the Government's BSF programme which is a new approach to investing in schools to create the best possible setting for young people to learn in and meet their educational needs.
The project will see all 16 secondary schools in Leicester rebuilt or re-modelled and upgraded to provide flexible and attractive learning environments that better support learning. As part of the Building Schools for the Future scheme, each secondary aged child in Leicester will be educated in a 21st Century environment. As just one part of the project, each school will be equipped with the very latest innovative learning and teaching tools, such as an online learning environment to make learning more engaging and exciting.
Leicester will be ahead of other authorities by providing each child with a Managed Learning Environment (MLE) called N-able from ICT specialist Northgate Education. A Managed Learning Environment provides students with their own personalised learning area with the support and assistance they need to maximise their independent learning and to progress in line with their own individual learning plan. Implementation of N-able will be tailored to the requirements of each individual school and will incorporate the Fronter Virtual Learning Environment and resources currently used in the city primary schools. Accessible via the internet from any location, N-able will give each learner their own personal online space to work on assignments, store their work and access emails enabling them to communicate with teachers and fellow students.
The first schools to benefit from N-able will be Beaumont Leys Secondary School, Fullhurst Community College, Judgemeadow Community College and Evington and Soar Valley College. Each of the schools will be fully equipped with high speed broadband giving learners access to a variety of engaging online learning resources to help support their education. To help control paper wastage, each school will have a centrally managed printing solution which reduces the amount of printers and paper used by the schools to help maintain a more 'green' school environment. Teachers will be supplied with a digital tool to enable them to continually assess learners work and offer as much or as little guidance as students might need. N-able will also allow schools to incorporate administration systems such as registration, student assessment and cashless catering to reduce administration and reporting time and allow teachers to once again focus on teaching.
Combining academic information and school administration systems, over the course of the project N-able can provide parents with secure access to information about their child such as their attendance, their homework assignments and their assessments. Leicester parents will be able to keep up to date with their child's achievements online and really get involved in their child's education improving communication between parents, school and students.
Cllr Vi Dempster, Cabinet Member for Child and Young People's Services commented: "By creating stronger links between home and school, the managed learning platform encourages young learners to view their education as more than just what goes on in a classroom. N-able allows children to really take ownership and control of their own learning and promotes lifelong learning which is at the heart of what we are trying to achieve."
The implementation of a managed learning environment will enable learners and teachers to share and store work and resources that can be securely accessed anywhere and anytime. N-able is part of a wider ICT managed service provided for the schools by Northgate Education. Once completed schools will have access to helpdesk and a school based technician to ensure any computer problems are fixed swiftly to minimise disruption to education. The schools will also benefit from Smart Card technology. Used by students to register for their morning and afternoon classes, Smart Cards allow the school to monitor pupil's attendance and reduce truancy. Smart Card technology will also be implemented to provide cashless catering with the facility for parents to top up the cards on-line - which means children no longer have to bring money to school as well as school library access.
David Hyland, Building Schools for the Future Director, Northgate Education, commented: "We are extremely proud to be involved in Leicester's Building Schools for the Future project to transform learning and teaching across the city's schools. By installing innovative technology Leicester secondary schools are going way beyond Government requirements to ensure that students have the best possible education resources available. It's fantastic to work with a forward thinking authority such as Leicester to create schools at the forefront of learning. We are delighted to be involved in this project and feel the benefits to young learners will make Leicester a best practice model for BSF projects in other areas."
The BSF project will ensure that Leicester schools will have high quality facilities and integrated information and communication technology way ahead of other areas to help deliver personalised learning tailored to the needs, interests and aptitudes of every secondary aged child in the city.
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