In this joint post, Catherine Allemano gives a round-up of some developments in Welsh colleges, while Pete Scott reports on the CollegesWales 2013 Awards.
Catherine says,
“It’s always good to learn new things and with technology it’s practically impossible not to learn something new every day. Sharing apps seems to be what many people are interested in at the moment and there’s an added bonus that many of these apps make technology more accessible.
College focus on apps
Catherine talks about a visit made to one college recently,
“A team from Jisc RSC Wales took part in a staff development day at The College Ystrad Mynach where we shared our knowledge of apps being using in learning and teaching on both iPads and Android tablets. As usual at this type of event, we also learned from the day too: a science tutor introduced us to Essential Skeleton, which covers the anatomy of the skeleton in a 3D model , and Science 360, which is an up-to-date mix of stunning photographs with descriptions (reminiscent of National Geographic) and videos of different branches of science.”
Two other events, organised by CollegesWales, have helped to spread the word about accessible apps. The first was the LLDD Conference (on Learners with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities) and the other was the termly Wales Learning Technologies Forum. Catherine highlights some resources from these events:
“On both days Jisc RSC Wales talked about sources of information from Jisc TechDis. These included a link to a website to help understanding of disability called SimDis, and a section on Free and Open Source Software of benefit to learners and staff, both with or without disabilities. We asked for delegates’ examples of accessible apps; the resulting wiki can be found on the Colleges Wales Moodle (log in as a guest, click on Wales’ Learning Technologies Forum, then click on Tools, Technologies and Techniques).”
CollegesWales Digital Learning Award
L to R: Alyson Dacey, Sharon Crossan
Jisc RSC Wales were present at the CollegesWales Annual Conference and Awards on 22 May. Throughout the day Alyson Dacey, Sharon Cook and Catherine Allemano were on hand – with lots of tablets – so that delegates could try out some of the technologies that are currently being used in the post-16 education sector. In addition, we were delighted to sponsor the Digital Learning Award and Pete Scott was there for the presentation to Sarah Williams, ILT Development Manager at Yale College Wrexham.
Pete explains,
“Yale College presented a highly comprehensive submission detailing a wide range of digital activities based on core recurrent funding initiatives. They include full wireless network coverage across both sites and access to an extensive range of mobile devices. Ateb, a bilingual learner portal, sits alongside the college eILP, accessible through an App both inside and outside of college. The submission also highlighted the use of tablet technologies among 800 work-based learners. In Catering, an iPod scheme is in place for students alongside access to a number of iBooks on iTunesU. In addition, Yale is the first college in Europe to replicate use of the MenuPad Beta App in a real working environment.”
Commenting on the college’s achievement, Pete adds,
“Learner success rates in Catering have jumped from 63% to 97% in just 3 years! Construction, Sports, and Engineering departments are now following suit, trialling the flipped classroom approach and focusing on formative assessment. All in all, Yale College are engaged with a wide variety of digital learning activities and are able to back up technological intervention with some very convincing improvements in retention and attainment. Very worthy winners indeed!”
Pete Scott (back row, far left) watches as Sarah Williams receives the Digital Learning award on behalf of Yale College Wrexham
For full details of all the CollegesWales award nominees and winners, see the CollegesWales website. Well done to all and thank you CollegesWales for kind permission to use the photos in this post!
