Are You Asking Enough of Your Digital Strategy?

Three years ago Greenwood Academies Trust decided to undertake a comprehensive digital transformation for its schools. Now that it is fully operational, they are reaping more benefits than expected. Deputy CEO Graham Feek outlines their strategy and offers suggestions for successful implementation.

For educators, it has always been our duty to prepare our pupils for their next steps – what that means and what that looks like has evolved over the years. We had the industrial revolution, the post-modern era, and now we’re living in a technologically based society that seemingly transforms everything in the blink of an eye, from how we communicate to how we travel to how we learn.

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      string(5636) "Technology is changing the wayyoung people communicatewith each other. Here, we look atreal-life examples of how textingcan be used positively in aneducational environment.The obsession with socialnetworking sites such as Facebook,MySpace or Twitter might makeyou think that the humble textmessage has fallen out of favour.Texts of late have been linked tounrelenting bullying campaignsand the dire consequences of“sexting” (sending images of asexual content to other mobilephones – friends or otherwise).However, the statistics showthat UK mobile phone userssent 7.7 billion text messages inDecember 2008, and the chancesare that the majority of thesemessages were arranging tomeet friends by the fountainsin Trafalgar Square, or possiblyvoting for the cute one on the XFactor.Approximately 60% of theworld’s population now owns, orhas access to, a mobile phone, with4.1 billion mobile phone contractsrunning annually according to a2009 United Nations survey. Asmobile technology continues todevelop in sophistication, manyorganisations are seeing thepotential of using mobile phonesto communicate and engage withtheir audiences.There have long been reportsof schools banning mobile phonesfrom the classroom, blaming theirconstant beeping and generalpresence as a source of distraction.However, many schools, collegesand universities have recognisedthe opportunity presented bya technology that has becomesecond nature. Text messages arebeing used to provide services,engage with pupils, and be used asa learning tool.AdmissionsA particularly stressful andanxious time, possibly more sofor parents, is actually gettingchildren into their school ofchoice. There may be a bundleof reasons why one school ispreferred over another, suchas special needs requirements,location, or a decreased riskof bullying. ACE (The AdvisoryCentre for Education), which isthe free, independent educationadvice service, launched a textmessage service last year. Duringthe admissions period, parentswere able to text the word“ADMISSIONS” to a dedicatednumber to receive free adviceon what to do should they wishUsing text to engagewith pupilsFEATURESFEATURES FEATURESto appeal against the schooltheir child has been offered, orto get help on any part of theadmissions process. The servicesupports the call centre whichoften deals with over 1,500 callsabout admissions and appeals.According to the team at ACE, thetext service was able to providefast, easily accessible informationand support to a higher volumeof individuals than its call centrescould have coped with in the sameamount of time.School announcementsReaching a vast audience quicklyand using a medium which is, onthe whole, always within reachhas great appeal. Once the pupilis at school or at university, thereare many variables which couldimpact schedules. This year, thecountry was taken by surprise bysevere snowfall, which knockedout public transport servicesand forced many educationalinstitutions to close. A few yearsback the parents – and hopefulchildren – would listen to the localradio station to see whether theirschool had been affected andwould be closed. Alternatively, theschool office would be swampedby phone calls, each asking thesame question. Many schools havenow added text messages to theircommunication strategy and candistribute hundreds of messagesto parents and students througha single computer. These can beautomated messages giving up-to-date information and advice aboutunexpected events such as schoolclosures or Swine Flu. Additionally,students at university or collegecan receive information aboutroom changes, or gentle remindersabout looming essay deadlines.Communication channelsYorkshire Coast College, forexample, has installed textingsoftware on the college’s serverto improve communication withits students and also to makethem feel more engaged with thecollege. An innovative tactic hasbeen to track students’ attendanceand send a simple text messageto their mobile phone or laptopif they miss a class. This hasresulted in a 10% improvement inattendance at the college.There have been high profilereports of victims of Facebookhate campaigns, or provocativeimages sent by an enthusiasticgirl to her indiscreet boyfriend viatext message and finding its wayinto hundreds of people’s inboxes.However, schools and universitiesare turning to the same channelsto counteract the problem. Textmessages provide a valuableway to initiate communicationfor children who find themselvesthe victim of bullying. Pupils cantext counsellors with relativeanonymity, taking away anyembarrassment or shyness,   toreport instances of abuse, or seekadvice and support in a “safe”forum. In time, it is likely thatthe trust will have been builtsignificantly enough to developinto physical meeting, in whichthe issue can be tackled with moreeffect.Texting to learnFinally, a wave of colleges isintegrating text messages intocourses as a learning tool. Notevery student is as confident as thenext and asking questions duringa lecture can be intimidating.There is always the fear of lookingstupid that crosses the mind, orworrying that your question hasalready been answered, but youmissed that bit. A university inNottingham enables students totext the lecturer with questionsthroughout the duration of thelesson. The questions can betexted to a dedicated numberand appear automatically on amessage board in real time. Thishas this allowed some studentsto overcome their shynessand reservations about askingquestions, often to the benefit ofeveryone else in the room.Technology is likely tocontinue to transform the"
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Digital Learning

Using text to engage with pupils

11 Feb 2010

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      string(5616) "Technology is changing the way young people communicate with each other. A recent report released by anti-bullying charity, Beatbullying, found that there was widespread use of the humble text message as a tool for bullying. In particular, a third of secondary school children have been sent messages containing sexual content. These sex texts, or ‘sexts’, often contained images of a sexual nature involving both boys and girls – usually of youngsters exposing themselves.With such material so easy to capture by phone, so easy to Bluetooth and so easy to upload to websites or social networking groups, has the innocent text crossed over the line to the dark side? Here, we look at real-life examples of how texting can be used positively in an educational environment.The obsession with social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace or Twitter might make you think that the humble text message has fallen out of favour. Texts of late have been linked to unrelenting bullying campaigns and the dire consequences of “sexting” (sending images of a sexual content to other mobile phones – friends or otherwise).However, the statistics show that UK mobile phone users sent 7.7 billion text messages in December 2008, and the chances are that the majority of these messages were arranging to meet friends by the fountains in Trafalgar Square, or possibly voting for the cute one on the X Factor.Approximately 60% of the world’s population now owns, or has access to, a mobile phone, with 4.1 billion mobile phone contracts running annually according to a 2009 United Nations survey. As mobile technology continues to develop in sophistication, many organisations are seeing the potential of using mobile phones to communicate and engage with their audiences.There have long been reports of schools banning mobile phones from the classroom, blaming their constant beeping and general presence as a source of distraction. However, many schools, colleges and universities have recognised the opportunity presented by a technology that has become second nature. Text messages are being used to provide services, engage with pupils, and be used as a learning tool.AdmissionsA particularly stressful and anxious time, possibly more so for parents, is actually getting children into their school of choice. There may be a bundle of reasons why one school is preferred over another, such as special needs requirements, location, or a decreased risk of bullying. ACE (The Advisory Centre for Education), which is the free, independent education advice service, launched a text message service last year. During the admissions period, parents were able to text the word “ADMISSIONS” to a dedicated number to receive free advice on what to do should they wish to appeal against the school their child has been offered, or to get help on any part of the admissions process. The service supports the call centre which often deals with over 1,500 calls about admissions and appeals. According to the team at ACE, the text service was able to provide fast, easily accessible information and support to a higher volume of individuals than its call centres could have coped with in the same amount of time.School announcementsReaching a vast audience quickly and using a medium which is, on the whole, always within reach has great appeal. Once the pupil is at school or at university, there are many variables which could impact schedules. This year, the country was taken by surprise by severe snowfall, which knocked out public transport services and forced many educational institutions to close. A few years back the parents – and hopeful children – would listen to the local radio station to see whether their school had been affected and would be closed. Alternatively, the school office would be swamped by phone calls, each asking the same question. Many schools have now added text messages to their communication strategy and can distribute hundreds of messages to parents and students through a single computer. These can be automated messages giving up-to-date information and advice about unexpected events such as school closures or Swine Flu. Additionally, students at university or college can receive information about room changes, or gentle reminders about looming essay deadlines.Communication channelsYorkshire Coast College, for example, has installed texting software on the college’s server to improve communication with its students and also to make them feel more engaged with the college. An innovative tactic has been to track students’ attendance and send a simple text message to their mobile phone or laptop if they miss a class. 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Digital Learning

Texting in education

31 Oct 2009

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      string(350) "... technology and its advances into the learning environment. Most equate technology with hardware, which in my opinion, is missing most of the potential of a digital learning environment. Having 30 chromebooks and a 3D printer is not a digital strategy. The strategy only starts to formulate when you look at ..."
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      string(5681) "‘We weren’t aware that alternatives existed. We were happy enough using printed textbooks’, says Julian Baker, the IB Coordinator at Box Hill School, a GCSE and IB/A-level school in Surrey. They were among the first UK schools to fully implement Kognity, the digital publisher of GCSE and IB intelligent textbooks, and, after a couple of years, are now looking at the option of completely phasing out printed textbooks for their IB students. The printed textbook has been at the core of learning for centuries, and one that many schools still hold a traditional view on. However, in the face of evolving content, technology, and pedagogy, challenging these views in UK schools is important to ensure a seamlessly integrated and enhanced learning experience. Box Hill School provides an interesting case study on how challenging the traditional view of textbooks came about in their school, and the impact switching to intelligent textbooks has had. Are textbooks connected to a digital strategy? Julian from Box Hill School isn’t the only person unaware of other options to using printed textbooks. In fact, I’ve met between 300–400 schools around the world, and I can count on one hand the number of schools who have been looking actively to change from the printed textbook. Very few think that there is anything missing from their traditional textbooks until they start to realise what the alternative is, and what the impact could be. As Julian notes, they only started thinking of a different way of doing things once they had seen an alternative. It got staff thinking about how studying can be very book-based and it would be good to also have something more interactive to suit different learning styles. ‘We were relying on what we had always used.’This is a view I fully understand. In all my meetings with schools, very few have an actual strategy for how to incorporate technology and its advances into the learning environment. Most equate technology with hardware, which in my opinion, is missing most of the potential of a digital learning environment. Having 30 chromebooks and a 3D printer is not a digital strategy. The strategy only starts to formulate when you look at the next step—what is the pedagogy this hardware will support? How will this tie in to the work that teachers are already doing? How does this fit in with the curriculum? How can we use this to foster some of the things that schools are accused of stifling, such as creativity? How will this help my teachers teach, and my students learn? I can understand why this gap in strategy has arisen—even for me working within EdTech every day, the landscape is noisy and confusing. There are so many products, solutions and services out there. Many market themselves as doing versions of the same thing. Many are isolated solutions, serving only one part of a learning environment (like an admin tool or quiz app), or generic products not geared to any curriculum. Many do not have proper training for their users, and are not very user-friendly. What annoys me the most is when EdTech products imply they want to ‘revolutionise the classroom’, when they do not understand what intricate ecosystems schools are. My view has always been that some sectors are able to be revolutionised, but some need to be ‘evolutionised’. Education is definitely one where we need to deliberately work to incrementally improve the existing ecosystem, rather than radically disrupting it. And of course there is the question that I’m so happy comes up more and more often—what actually works? However, school management often puts the responsibility of figuring this out on teachers, who are already stressed and not equipped to take on that ownership. Therefore, most hardware ends up being underutilised, teachers are frustrated by technological systems they aren’t trained to use, and we see a generally negative view on technology in the classroom—tech becomes ‘yet another thing’ rather than a core solution to learning challenges. Intelligent textbooks impact resultsIntelligent textbooks are different to traditional, printed textbooks in several ways. On the surface, they are cloud-based textbooks, accessed via a subscription. However, at their core, intelligent textbooks leverage technological advances to establish an engaging learning environment and constant two-way flow of communication between students and teachers. Intelligent textbooks present information to students in a multitude of engaging ways, ranging from text, videos, animations, soundbites, 3D graphics and interactive models. Students are also empowered to continuously monitor their own level of understanding through embedded assessment questions, which are automatically corrected by the software. On the other side, teachers are provided with up-to-date, analysed student data that enables them to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each student, thereby personalising the learning experience for students.Imagining alternativesBack to Box Hill School—one major issue preventing schools from thinking about transitioning to an intelligent textbook is their perception of what that alternative would be. Before, Box Hill School teachers hadn’t tried much else in terms of digital learning apart from CD-ROMs from the book. This then limits the perception of what a substitute to the printed book could be, as a CD-ROM isn’t very inspiring or engaging. This is probably our largest challenge—overcoming the mindset surrounding what alternatives"
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Leadership

Unlocking Potential with Digital Textbooks

23 Jan 2019

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      string(333) "... for the pilot scheme with hands-on support and subsequent testing.The project was overseen by Scottish Futures Trust, which supports the Scottish Government’s Digital Strategy.The installation at Kyle Academy used eight LiFi-enabled LED light bulbs in the ceiling and students were given access to LiFi-XC ..."
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      string(5644) "shown that it is possible to reach 1 Terabit/second in the foreseeable future without expensive beamsteering technology—which would mean, for example, that a 5 GB video could be downloaded in 0.04 seconds.LiFi can be installed anywhere that light bulbs are used. The same light energy used to illuminate a room can be used for communication, using the basic infrastructure to install almost limitless wireless communications capacity.The technology uses light rather than radio waves to wirelessly transmit data, offering unprecedented bandwidth that significantly enhances the connectivity of the classroom.It uses both the visible and non-visible (Infrared) portions of the light spectrum, which operate at much higher frequencies than the radio spectrum. The IR and Visible Light Spectrum ranges between 300 GHz and 770 THz, while the Radio Frequency spectrum ranges from 3 kHz to 300 GHz. This massive range of light spectrum in comparison to radio spectrum is what enables the far greater LiFi bandwidth, which is 2,600 times greater than the bandwidth with radio. The light modulates at extremely high frequencies undetectable to the human eye, allowing the high-speed transmission of data.It is bidirectional, which means that it can send and receive information. Bidirectional communication, or two-way communication, is a fundamental requirement for using the internet. This feature is what allows us to interact with the internet, calling up a website by sending data and streaming a video by receiving data. The system works by installing an LED with a digital signal processor that is connected to a network or server. The LED/luminaire then converts the digital signal into an optical signal that is transmitted to a device with a photoreceptor, and which also has an infrared LED to transmit data back to the luminaire and the network. It works with LED lights and can be used with many off-the-shelf LEDs. As LiFi becomes more widely used, the technology will be embedded in all mobile devices. When it comes to speed, this rapidly maturing technology shows great promise. Older versions of WiFi specify rates of up to 54 Mbps, while newer standards such as 802.11ac can extend these to 1 Gbps. Likewise, the 802.11ad can achieve rates of up to 7 Gbps and it uses very high frequencies in the 60 GHz range. My research group in collaboration with Prof Dawson (University of Strathclyde) have already demonstrated data rates of more than 10 Gbps on a single micro-LED, translating to theoretical rates of up to 30 Gbps on a single light with three colour LEDs.‘LiFi was born in Scotland at a TED Global talk that I presented in 2011. Seven years later, I am absolutely thrilled to see true LiFi deployed for the first time in a school in Scotland. Connectivity has become a basic need to enable prosperity. This world’s first pilot not only offers secure connectivity in a school, but hopefully inspires the next generation to join us in innovating for humanity and prosperity’Professor Harald Haas of University of Edinburgh and co-founder of pureLiFiOne of the World’s first LiFi schoolsAt pureLiFi, we have worked on trials with more than 100 organisations in 23 countries in sectors including telecommunications, engineering, disaster response and defence. In August, Kyle Academy became the first school in the UK to benefit from fully-networked and mobile LiFi.The school hosted a project that showed how LiFi can be used in practice, with pureLiFi and the LiFi Research and Development Centre at the University of Edinburgh providing resources for the pilot scheme with hands-on support and subsequent testing.The project was overseen by Scottish Futures Trust, which supports the Scottish Government’s Digital Strategy.The installation at Kyle Academy used eight LiFi-enabled LED light bulbs in the ceiling and students were given access to LiFi-XC Stations or dongles that plug into their laptops, enabling high-speed connectivity through the lights.The students in the LiFi classroom were able to use LiFi to download videos and course content, while students in neighbouring classrooms were able to use WiFi more reliably because LiFi significantly relieved pressure on existing radio frequency bandwidth.Bright future for wirelessLiFi should not be seen as a replacement for WiFi, but as a complementary and additive technology that can provide wireless communications where WiFi is lacking, weak or unsecure by relieving the strain on the existing system and enhancing speeds, reliability and security.The user experience of both is similar. LiFi can be fully networked across rooms, corridors and buildings, allowing fast and seamless handover between lights as users move around, and it has the ability to work outdoors, even in bright sunlight, as the modulated light can still be detected. LiFi can also be used in the dark by switching to the infrared spectrum. pureLiFi is also working with partners to ensure that there is a seamless handover between LiFi and WiFi.The work done by pureLiFi and successful projects such as the Kyle Academy scheme have shown how the technology can transform the mobile communications experience. There is a bright future for LiFi as it evolves into a mass-market technology and offers a viable option for enabling education establishments to benefit from the significant digital resources already available today.Professor Harald Haas is the Co-founder & Chief Scientific Officer of pureLiFi Ltd and the Director of the LiFi Research and Development Centre at the University of Edinburgh. He"
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Digital Learning

Riding the Light Improving Bandwidth with LiFi

8 Aug 2019

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      string(5600) "types of resources and ideas. I personally think that Frogis the only product I have seen that would enable almost any teacher to quickly get upand running and be able to create resources without having to undertake significantINSET training.The parental reporting side of Frog, I think, is a real strength, as it purports tooffer significantly more flexibility over how SIMS data is presented than SLG does. Asthe data is all accessed via Capita’s own Business Objects (as they are full technicalpartners) we should not have to worry overly about changes to table structures etc. Ifelt that the setup of the parental portal element of Frog had the potential to achievemore than simple reporting but more along the lines of increased dialogue betweenteachers and parents.61Vol 4.3School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comSchool BusinessVLEThere are several other features of Frog that I felt would be useful and engaging forstudents. The Facebook-esque status updates in Frog 3.0 give rise to the potential forstudents to see Frog as the place they go regularly to keep up with friends, especiallywith the ability to create custom groups/events for trips and clubs etc.One of the biggest hurdles to getting engagement with students will alwaysbe giving them a reason to visit the VLE. If the communication is all one way (i.e.we push stuff out to the students) then they are likely to lose traction as soon asthere is a period where nothing is added. By also making it a controlled ‘social’environment we stand a chance of students using it as a social medium as well as alearning medium which has many positive benefits.Also the ability to embed a live website quickly and easily into another pagehas interesting potential for those departments who already subscribe to otherweb-based resources, as we could in theory just embed the page directly into Frogso pupils need never really leave the Frog environment.The bespoke element of Frog I think is a huge benefit of their approach. I havebeen very impressed by the quality of the graphical design work which Frog doesand feel confident that we would end up with a product that not only offers us thefacilities we need but does so using a design that encourages people to use thesite.FireflyFirefly are a much smaller player in the VLE market but have produced a veryinteresting product. Built originally by a pair of school pupils for their own school, theproduct has grown over the last few years to now serve a number of schools up anddown the country.Like Frog, in my opinion its strength lies in its flexibility and ease of use, with theadded bonus of being built on common standards and not requiring a bespoke serverto run on.Whilst not as fully featured as some of the other products considered, it offers aWould you buy a learning platform from these boys?St Paul’s School and Wellington College did.That was 10 years ago. Now, our team hasgrown, we’re trusted by 60 of the top schools inthe UK and Firefly runs intranets and websitestoo.But we haven’t forgotten where we started.Two students frustrated that the web waschanging everything except school life. So wedid something about it.Knowing our busy teachers well, we realisedthey didn’t have time for overly complexsystems or endless training – they just wantedsomething that worked.So we’ve always focused on making thingseasy. Super quick to post a lesson plan, collecthomework or put up the fixture list.Find out more at fireflysolutions.co.ukContact us for a free trail of Firefly, including our new iPad app.http://fireflysolutions.co.uk/?imagminds62Vol 4.3School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comSchool BusinessVLE powerful range of tools, which can be pickedup and used by non-technical staff to buildexciting and powerful teaching and learningresources for their pupilsFor me, whilst a SharePoint/SLG/StudyWiz solution would probably be a moretechnically advanced solution, what we gainthrough having a more technical solutionwe might lose through the intuitive andsimpleness of use. As a comparison I see thisas being similar to the differences between aWindows Mobile based phone and an iPhone– technically there are several things you cando on the Windows Mobile based phone thatyou cannot do on the iPhone. But the iPhoneis so simple to use and so intuitive (my three-year-old can use mine) that users are morethan happy to forgive its shortcomings andwould still rather use an iPhone then thetechnically superior Windows Mobile basedphone. And this comes from someone whohappily replaced his last Windows Mobilebased phone with an iPhone!The key thing to remember is thatlike all things IT, the VLE market place isconstantly changing and adapting. Everyschool is different, with particular needs andoutcomes they want from their VLE, and thereis no magic bullet or perfect platformthat will work for everyone. The keything when undertaking a review ofyour VLE provision or planning yourimplementation is to go through, indetail, a process like the one outlinedabove of identifying what your primaryand secondary objectives are from theproject, and then exploring the fullbreadth of the marketplace, read allthe literature, speak to the reps, butalso contact other schools using theplatforms and speak to the teachers aswell as the technical staff! Make sure youget trials and explore them in detail…For me the key properties I’ve seen insuccessful VLE deployments (and I’ve seenplenty using most of the above products)is a clear and well-articulated reason forwhy the school wants a VLE, and a systemwhich is easy enough for the"
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Leadership

The VLE evaluation

1 Oct 2012