How edtech can relieve exam stress for an entire school community
Karin Bjerde, Head of Strategic Growth at Kognity, comments on how edtech embraces a hands-on and personalised approach to education that eases stress, teacher workload and budget pressures. Students have studied hard over the year. They’ve memorised quotes from plays and poems, learned the tools of critical analysis, practised applying formulae and theories, and mastered the French tenses. However, by May, most become increasingly concerned about their exams and results, and if history is anything to go by, they are not the only ones to feel the stress. Teachers, department heads, senior leaders, support staff, parents, and governors often invest just as much in student outcomes as the students themselves. For years, they have taken students on a dedicated path of learning. They’ve given them the tools and strategies to help them get through the content, and hopefully developed autonomous learners. Year on year, teachers provide feedback, host revision classes, apply interventions, encourage, empathise and support their students, but by the time pupils sit down to put pen to exam paper, staff and parents have to concede their part in the process. Occupying national headlines earlier this year, we heard teachers highlight the profound effect that students’ mental health can have on the entire school community. School staff have grown acutely aware of the ways in which exam pressure can affect their students’ mental health and will often take this pressure on themselves. Dedicated, hard-working teachers lie awake at night worrying whether they have sufficiently supported their students and what more than can possibly do. While teachers may absorb their students’ stress, thanks to digital innovations and education technology, we now have the tools that can make it all a little easier for teachers and students alike. If some of the stressors of exam preparation can be eliminated, or at least alleviated by edtech, the trend of schools investing in evidence-based resources should come as no surprise. Technology now exists to support learning in a way that is engaging and accessible for students, while taking away some of the considerable stress placed on school staff and students. Thankfully, in the contemporary education environment, edtech advances such as intelligent textbooks can be implemented in classrooms and at home to complement and supplement traditional teaching, learning and assessment. Incorporating video, 3D models and embedded formative assessment, these resources are designed to improve learning in a way that is valuable, student-friendly and highly personalised. Not all stress can be eliminated, but if technology can assist in maintaining a healthy, more manageable level, it seems akin to a duty-of-care to embrace the wave of edtech and digital resources. Afterall, it will only be through the adoption of innovative and contemporary approaches that shake up the systemic shortcomings, that significant progress will be made in transforming the mental wellbeing of the entire education community. How can edtech support students and teachers? Digital tracking of knowledge and progress to highlight knowledge gaps to help tailor more in-depth student support. Auto-correcting assignments reduces marking time and eases teachers’ workload. Digital textbooks ensure resources are up-to-date and curriculum aligned, reducing research time for teachers.. Increase student engagement through interactive and engaging tools such as videos and 3D models for a truly immersive learning experience. Cloud-based learning provides a central learning hub for students and teachers. See kognity.com for more options on how to ease exam stress using edtech solutions.
Incorporating autism into lessons via VR technology
Bilikis Banire is a Ph.D student in computer science and engineering at Qatar Foundation member Hamad Bin Khalifa University. She is currently leading Qatar Foundation’s innovative project to non-invasively measure the attention spans of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Q&A on autism research using VR technology 1. Why are attention spans important? What issues arise when teachers fail to recognise signs that children with autism need a break or are frustrated, for example? The ability to pay attention directly influences how an individual acquires skills and when children aren’t able to pay attention it can be a clear sign that they may react negatively to certain tasks. When teachers fail to recognise this, it makes it extremely difficult to identify which learning materials can be productive and increases the likelihood of the child becoming frustrated. This can result in either poor or no assimilation of content and lead to the child refusing to learn in subsequent sessions. Understanding attention spans is central to improving learning experiences for children with ASD. Children with ASD typically have shorter attention spans than other children, and their learning pace can be different. To be successful, teaching methods must recognise and be tailored to these nuanced differences. 2. You’ve been working on a virtual reality-based project to explore attentions spans further. Why virtual reality? The essence of virtual reality is to mimic real-life scenarios and it can be a very useful tool for evaluating responses based on mock environments. The core advantage of the technology is that if we encounter any issues, it has little or no impact on the user compared to a real environment. Virtual reality is also particularly well-suited to those with autism, as they often prefer three-dimensional formats to traditional learning modes. Turning to virtual, perception-driven experiences to develop our attention test allowed us to navigate real world problems in the comfort of an implied setting. 3. Could you outline the virtual reality which will help teachers to understand the needs of pupils with autism? Working with Texas A&M University in Qatar, we developed a mixed reality attention test for children that can be viewed on a 3D or conventional monitor. The children who took part were expected to pay attention to random letters and click the keyboard when a particular letter appears. Their scores were used to evaluate their attention level. While taking the test in our preliminary study, the children were monitored with a webcam so we could analyse their facial expressions in a non-obtrusive way. From this, we identified 4 facial expressions and movements that give a clear indication of the subject paying attention: brow raise, lip suck, lip press, and mouth open. The raw data collected from this is fed into an algorithm used to design a model to predict and monitor attention. Once complete, teachers will be able to use the model to inform their own teaching practices. With the right equipment, they could also use the same method to receive individual results, specific to each student. 4. How will the VR work in day-to-day teaching – is there a camera/monitor needed, for example? Our study can aid in the design of technology and learning programmes for children with ASD. It could also be possible for teachers to conduct the study when beginning to work with a new student with ASD, to learn more about what works best for them. They would need a webcam, eye tracking device and a 3D or conventional screen to run the test, as well as the application software. 5. How can the VR help students to work more independently? The test is designed to increase students’ awareness of their attention spans, as much as the teacher’s awareness. Changes in facial expression and eye-tracking can trigger a warning that alerts students when they are distracted, encouraging them to refocus on the task at hand. This will help them to learn more independently in both the short and long term. 6. What are the next steps for the project? Another common metric of measuring attention is task performance. One of the next steps for our project is to analyse the data we have on facial expressions and see if it correlates directly with task performance. We’ll also be doing more work on the model we’re developing to identify when children with ASD best pay attention based on machine learning algorithms. 7. Is there scope for the VR to be rolled out into the home or workplace, to help adults with autism focus on a task? At the moment, we’re focusing on children with ASD based on a VR simulated classroom. Further studies will consider more specifically how we can help children to focus both at home and in physical classrooms. We also hope to conduct future research into assisting adults with ASD in the workplace. For more information on Qatar Foundation, see qf.org.qa
How edtech creates edgeless learning
Paul Westmore, IT Director at the University of Plymouth, explains how a single sign-on digital learning environment has helped the institution create an edgeless edtech learning experience for its 20,000+ students… Plymouth’s ambitious digital strategy describes our goal of becoming an edgeless university – our vision that students and staff can experience university entirely digitally if they want to. In order to achieve this vision, we decided we had to replace our existing module-focused virtual learning environment (VLE) with something more dynamic and flexible: something that was mobile-first, housing a range of resources and systems all behind a single sign-on. The new digital learning environment (DLE) would become an online hub where students and staff could access all content such as lectures and course materials, submit work, receive results, and interact with each other through one online system. We have a large student body with ever-changing wants and needs. The University of Plymouth is home to more than 20,000 students and almost 3,000 staff. A further 17,000 students are studying for a Plymouth degree at partner institutions in the UK and around the world, making Plymouth the UK’s 15th largest university. As such, we wanted to create a learning environment that was the sum of all the components that go into Plymouth’s student experience. We asked CoSector – University of London to implement and support the hosting of Moodle, a traditional VLE based platform. However, one of the constraints of Moodle is that ordinarily documents cannot be shared with different programmes so CoSector – University of London set up a bespoke solution where the documents are held in a different system, creating one learning asset which is shared between multiple programmes. Year-long edtech rollout pays off During a year-long project, we rolled out the DLE across multiple sites. Today, Plymouth’s DLE brings together a number of systems integrated through Moodle as the hub. The new functions included timetable information, coursework submission, e-assessments, quizzes and ‘minimum module information’ consisting of details of each module, electronic reading lists, past exam papers, forums and wikis – all to help students make more informed decisions about their learning journeys. Single sign-on technology provides easy integration and movement between systems such as Talis Aspire (reading lists), PebblePad (ePortfolio), Panopto (content/lecture capture), Turnitin (originality checking), in addition to a range of excellent tools including formative and summative testing, submission and feedback. A subscription to LinkedIn Learning provides a wealth of online video-based courses for staff and students to enhance their courses or develop their own skills. The uptake and use of the system have been unprecedented. Around 13,500 students access the DLE on a daily basis and 90% of the Mobile with Plymouth App usage is now related to teaching and learning activities. Usage of the DLE continues to grow year on year and in 2018 serviced 6,000 module sites, hosted 1,200 formative quizzes, contained nearly 30,000 embedded learning resources and supported over 8,000 eSubmissions. Students accessed over 25,000 hours of captured lecture content, viewed over 170,000 LinkedIn Learning videos and generated over 350,000 originality reports via Turnitin. Following the integration of the new system, we received a very positive response to the National Student Survey (NSS). Some of the student feedback included; “The DLE is a fantastic and easy to use resource…” and “Resources available in the library and DLE are great, with a good range of books, articles, online seminars, etc.” The centrality of having a single-integrated user experience has been really crucial to the success of the project. The University of Plymouth’s DLE has now become a portal into the teaching and learning community of the University.
Changing attitudes to edtech
Siemens UK Schools and Education Manager, Brenda Yearsley, on changing attitudes to edtech through providing meaningful e-learning tools… Many parents, teachers and carers are worried that smartphone and tablet use is blocking their children’s career prospects…. what if the use of technology is actually a gateway to life-long learning? I would say that the methodology of engagement with young people is as important as the content; the world of work is forever changing and we need to showcase how we use fun, practical technology in industry, whether this is digital twinning, virtual or augmented reality. Augmented reality in education changes the way students and employees learn, enabling the user to be fully immersed and able to interact and enhance their study in a novel and safe environment. The free Ingenious Engineering App is a great way to engage students and help them to learn more about inventions and innovations in engineering. It is a new resource from Siemens Education, whose aim is to bring science, technology, engineering and maths education to life in the classroom and to excite children about the STEM subjects. Edtech resources for ages 12+ Developed to support design and technology for students aged 12+ the resources comprise the App which can be downloaded from the Google Play and App Store, a poster which launches the augmented reality animation and a comprehensive lesson plan and supporting worksheets for Key Stages 2, 3 and 4. The App allows students to explore automation, electrification and digitalisation on individuals, society as well and the environment; there’s a CT scanner to see inside the human body, a rollercoaster, wind turbines and a driverless car. Teachers or students just need a smartphone and the ingenuity poster to bring to life the technological aspect of learning to life; the Siemens’ AR app can be used as stand-alone but can be used just as easily in collaboration with full lesson plans and interactive ‘tools’ for full authenticity, creativity and realism. There is also free design and engineering software, activities, games and challenges for students available too. They can be found here: Student edtech resources Teacher edtech resources
How edtech innovation is improving education
Pauric Surlis, Frameworks Relationship Manager KYOCERA Document Solutions UK, on the Government’s recent £10million investment in edtech. Anyone working in the education sector will be acutely aware of the pressure on teachers to provide high-quality learning, support and care to all students, with an ever-increasing administrative burden making it harder to deliver an engaging learning experience. Whether supporting GCSE pupils with exam preparation or guiding older students through the university application process, education staff need access to the best tools and technologies to minimise the amount of time they spend on administrative tasks. It was encouraging to see recently that the UK government is investing up to £10 million in edtech, as it clearly reflects a recognition of the important role that innovation can play in improving the learning experience for both teachers and students. However, this investment needs to focus on improving the underlying processes to reduce paperwork and enable teachers to devote more of their attention to their students. Easing teacher workload through edtech There is a clear need for the intelligent implementation of technology to reduce the amount of time spent on tedious, time-consuming processes which are adding such a significant workload to teachers, on top of their teaching hours. A 2018 survey from the National Education Union found that increases in teacher workloads are “harming the profession and therefore the education of our children”. In addition, 61% of teachers reported spending over 3 hours a day on tasks that do not involve teaching, including marking coursework, homework or tests, copying and scanning research documents and filling out documentation. Although these processes are necessary, they significantly reduce the time that teachers can spend preparing their lessons and supporting students. A prime example of a time-consuming process overdue for transformation through new technology is the copyright process. Currently, many teachers are required to manually fill out forms whenever they copy or scan copyrighted material that is then sent to the Copyright Licensing Agency, in what is a lengthy and tedious process. However, there are now apps which can digitally transform this process, ensuring that the necessary data goes straight to CLA. This is the kind of innovative technology that needs to be applied to a whole range of administrative processes to free up teachers’ time and help them focus on teaching. The key to the success of these initiatives is to remember that the technologies should not be overly complicated, they need to be intuitive, easy to use and support teachers to do what they do best: give a great learning experience to students. This approach could fundamentally raise standards across the sector and help to equip the UK education system for a brighter digital future. For more information on edtech and document solutions, see KYOCERA Document Solutions UK.
Lessonvu from ONVU Learning – evidence-informed EdTech
From concept to operational in schools, action-based research and evidence-informed practice has been, and always will be, at the heart of the Lessonvu 360-degree video recording and sharing system, DNA and developments. It’s a cliché but Lessonvu in all aspects is truly, “from teachers, with teachers and for teachers”. But that headline is the only thing about Lessonvu that is a cliché, everything in the technology, workflow and use of the Lessonvu system for teacher professional development has been well considered using first hand insight from partner school teachers and other published experts. Andrew Goff, Founding Director of ONVU Learning explains more… EdTech built on teacher user experience The ONVU Learning team behind Lessonvu are constantly haunted by me bringing up the phrase PRISME which stands for Problem, Research, Ideas, Solution, Make and Evaluate: The design cycle. At the bedrock of any good product is this design cycle and we are constantly running through this with Lessonvu looking to enhance and refine all aspects built first hand on teacher user experience. When I was a Design and Technology teacher I used to drum PRISME into my DT students over their project portfolios, and especially the Evaluation section where they used to potentially lose the most marks, and this is how we are now at ONVU Learning; constantly evaluating and considering every aspect so that it supports teachers to achieve their objectives. We won’t get everything right but as our school customers will already witness, we listen, innovate, evaluate and improve Lessonvu to fit teacher and schools needs as fast as possible; exactly what our teacher users are trying to do with their own teaching, in using the Lessonvu system for lesson review, reflection and professional development. Also, we don’t just talk the walk and design and develop Lessonvu, we actually use it ourselves to coach real teachers in real classrooms remotely. Dr. Sean Warren is our own well experienced teacher coach and he uses the Lessonvu system on a daily basis to remotely coach teachers in the UK and now also in India. His work in coaching teachers is based on his and other published academic research and therefore the Lessonvu technology is always under review from him and developments feed back into the development cycle; from niggles that we smooth out to “how abouts” that we look at building into our development sprints. Applying EdTech at the right time Referring to Martin George’s recent article (tes.com) there is one thing about EdTech that I’d like to clear up from the off; “EdTech is not a golden bullet and is only as good as the teachers that apply it as a part of their teaching arsenal at the right time and aligned to students learning needs in front of them.” EdTech can get a bad name and reputation because of misplaced high expectations. I’m a big enthusiast for EdTech I know that over my career as a teacher and as a businessman leading EdTech businesses I’ve maybe got too enthusiastic at times and got carried away with what can be achieved with EdTech. But even with some of the more outlandish aspects that I’ve been involved in have had research layers. Referring back to when I lead PlayStation’s Education Strategy into schools we carried out projects with PlayStation 4s and a software title called Little Big Planet which involved ‘Sack Boy’ navigating gaming levels that the students themselves had created. Research was carried out by Don Passey from Lancaster University and his team and a research paper of the findings published for teachers to build upon. I can understand Sir Kevan Collins’s comments about “wonder and snake oil”. When I was a teacher striving to do the best for my students daily, it was easy to be taken in by marketing headlines that promised help in achieving your aspirations for them. But in defence of the EdTech sector I don’t think that there are many snake oil merchants left – and if there are then I would hope that now-discerning teachers would spot them and quickly rule them outas we would all want. Back to the crux of this debate about the evidence-informed development of EdTech: Lessonvu has been continuously developed with academic research in mind. For example, the Hawthorn Effect; in the context of schools this is when either other teachers or technology is noticeably present in the classroom and changes the environment. The students act differently as there are potentially two or three adults in the room and the teacher leading the lesson does a teaching performance on what they think that the observers want to see in order to “check their boxes,” as opposed to responding and interacting with their class and their learning needs as they normally would. “At the beginning of the Lessonvu journey I remember observing a young maths teacher in Wolverhampton. Normally he would have had some banter with the students about football results as they entered his classroom and through that engaged and checked the students in for learning. However, when being physically observed by senior leaders in the back of the classroom they acted as they thought a “model teacher should” and which resulted in the students quizzically looking at the teacher and wondering where their normal Maths teacher that they loved had gone. What a waste of everyone’s time! Out of the above experience and many others, Lessonvu is as discreet as possible. Students and teachers forget that the cameras are in the ceiling within a day or so and therefore normal teaching and interactions are recorded meaning that teachers can reflect on real teaching and be curious on real moments that if developed could have positive outcomes on teaching and learning. A powerful tool in more ways than one Recently it hit home to me very personally how powerful the Lessonvu system is for teachers and EdTech or other resource manufacturers when I was testing them out in one of our new school customers classrooms. I logged into an anonymous room numbered Lessonvu system to discover that it was a DT lab: To me a fond place with lots of great teaching memories. As a DT teacher you immediately remember the noises that mean one of the students is not holding a piece of material low enough in a vice, or the smells of plastic that has maybe been overheated before it is formed. But for me this was a very
Open University partners with online learning provider SEEK Group in £50m deal
A £50million deal thought to be the largest ever private-sector EdTech investment in Europe will see the Open University partner with international online learning provider SEEK Group. SEEK Group (ASX: SEK) will make the investment to become a joint, 50% owner of The Open University’s FutureLearn social learning platform, it was announced today. The Open University launched FutureLearn, which is based in London, in December 2012 with a dozen UK university partners to test opportunities offered by digital learning and massive open online courses (known as MOOCs). Rapid growth means that FutureLearn now has over nine million learners. The platform offers short online courses right through to postgraduate diplomas and certificates and fully online degrees, all designed around social learning. FutureLearn partners with over a quarter of the world’s top universities, as well as organisations such as Accenture, the British Council, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Raspberry Pi and Health Education England (NHS). Welcoming the announcement, The Open University’s Vice Chancellor Mary Kellett said: “Our new partnership is a fantastic opportunity to change more lives around the globe through flexible lifelong learning. The Open University is rightly known for pioneering new approaches to education and for our academic excellence. Today’s announcement shows this is as true today as when we started fifty years ago. It represents one of the most exciting educational prospects in modern times. “Our partnership with SEEK and the investment in FutureLearn will take our unique mission to make education open for all into new parts of the world. Education improves lives, communities and economies and is a truly global product, with no tariffs on ideas.” The new partnership with SEEK will have contractual arrangements in place to protect the University’s academic independence, teaching methods and curriculum. The SEEK Group is a market leader in the creation and management of online education and employment businesses. SEEK are well-established across Australia, New Zealand, China, South East Asia, Brazil and Mexico. Commenting on the investment, SEEK Co-Founder and CEO Andrew Bassat said: “This investment follows the same logic applied to IDP and Online Education Services ‘OES’ in that we like to invest in disruptive business models that provide world class student education outcomes. “Technology is increasing the accessibility of quality education and can help millions of people up-skill and re-skill to adapt to rapidly changing labour markets. We see FutureLearn as a key enabler for education at scale. “FutureLearn’s reputation is strong and it has attracted leading education providers onto its platform. We are excited to come on as a partner with The Open University.” FutureLearn is involved in UK government-backed initiatives to address skills gaps including The Institute of Coding and the National Centre for Computing Education. It currently has six university partners offering full, online degrees on the platform, and has most recently launched Unlimited, a new business model allowing learners access to most courses for a one-off annual payment. Commenting on the investment FutureLearn CEO Simon Nelson said: “The Open University’s vision and investment, the hard work of our staff and support of our partners, has seen FutureLearn grow rapidly in the past six years. The investment announced today will enable us to unlock FutureLearn’s true potential and extend our global reach and impact. “This investment allows us to focus on developing more great courses and qualifications that both learners and employers will value. This includes building a portfolio of micro-credentials and broadening our range of flexible, fully online degrees and being able to enhance support for our growing number of international partners to empower them to build credible digital strategies, and in doing so, transform access to education.” FutureLearn has been advised by IBIS Capital, a specialist investment and corporate finance advisory group focused on the global media, education and health sectors, and Kemp Little, a leading technology-focused law firm. The Open University was advised by Farrer & Co, the London-based independent law firm. SEEK Group was advised by O’Melveny & Myers, an international law firm.
Google for Education partners up with itslearning
A partnership between itslearning, Europe’s most widely used learning platform, and Google for Education was announced recently, enabling teachers to plan, deliver, communicate and engage. The partnership will also allow educators to formatively assess student learning against academic goals, all within one platform, in any location and from any device. The ability to collaborate at any time, anywhere will help to maximise the benefits of both itslearning and Google’s G Suite products. The integration between G Suite and itslearning will combine users’ favourite Google tools alongside those of itslearning. Benefits include Google Drive integration and file uploading, Google file collaboration, giving feedback in real-time on Google Docs, creating Google document templates, Google Hangouts within Instant Messaging amongst others, all seamlessly within itslearning. Additional integration features will be released throughout 2019. Liz Sproat, at Google for Education, said: “We are looking forward to working with itsLearning who share a similar approach to us in the solutions they provide to schools. Both Google and itsLearning work closely with teachers to create tools to help enrich and streamline the teaching & learning experience in the classroom.” Matthew Jordan at itslearning UK said: “The best features of Google Classroom will be a prominent place in itslearning’s LMS and vice versa. The learning environment is easy to use for both students and teachers, and it makes the learning platform an even stronger educational tool.” The interaction between the itslearning platform and Google’s “G Suite” is intended to benefit teachers and students worldwide. These benefits will also be extended to Fronter customers (which itslearning acquired in 2015) via a free upgrade path to itslearning. For more information on Google for Education, see the website.
Whizz Education – a pioneering education organisation
Whizz Education is a pioneering education organisation committed to improving learning outcomes. Its proprietary personalised virtual tutor, Maths-Whizz, is available in five languages – English, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Kiswahili – and has been adapted to multiple curricula. Educators are supported by Whizz Education teams in London, Seattle, Nairobi and Dubai as well as partners in Russia, Mexico, Thailand and New Zealand, enabling communities around the world to reach their full potential through personalised learning. The team were announced as winners of the ‘Collaboration with a School’ award at the Bett Awards 2019, beating nine other prestigious finalists in their category. This marked Whizz Education’s third BETT Award in recent years and came at a time of unprecedented interest in the organisation’s approach to delivering measurable learning gains. Richard Marett, CEO of Whizz Education, who collected the award alongside Svetlana Tarassova, the firm’s director of global strategic partnerships, said: “We are delighted to be recognised by the judging panel at BETT for the contribution Whizz Education and its international partners have made in working with schools to achieve transformational education impact in some of the most challenging learning environments around the world. Eddie Ralston, project manager international development, added: “Our work in Kenya, and specifically our partnership with Bahati Primary School, who were the focus of this award entry, is immensely rewarding for all involved. “The headteacher and ICT lead at Bahati are wholly supportive and the students should be deservedly proud of their progress in maths since using Maths-Whizz. Bahati is an exemplar case of how an engaged school, iterative program design, evidence and insight coupled with on the ground support can achieve optimum learning gains.” Since 2004, Whizz Education has been entrusted and supported by schools, ministries of education, commercial partners and donor organisations, such as the Department for International Development (DFID), to implement education impact projects worldwide. Whizz Education delivers measurable learning and teaching gains through personalised virtual tutoring, teacher-led digital resources, real-time learning analytics and teacher and government capacity building. For more information about Whizz Education, visit whizzeducation.com Photo: Bett