Kemnal Technology College

Learning Design at Kemnal Technology College

14th April 2004

Christian Markham

Kemnal Technology College.

11-19 All boys comprehensive.

30% free school dinners.

60% of pupils have a reading age below their chronological age.

11th most improved school in the country.

Leading school status.

KS4 results 2001: 36% A*-C

2002: 56% A*-C

2003: 50% A*-C

2004: Target 60% A*-C

KTC History:

e-learning at KTC.

70 interactive white boards. All classrooms with desk top machines. All staff with Laptops computers. Use of a VLE. Use of CMIS. Learning Design using LAMS.

Learning Activity Management System.

LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) is a new approach to e-learning based on sequences of collaborative learning activities.

Inspired by the concept of “Learning Design”, it provides a visual authoring environment for the development of activity sequences.

LAMS has a unique learner run-time environment and a teacher-monitoring environment.

LAMS allows the capturing of the educational process rather than just content.

LAMS at Kemnal Technology College

We have been working with;

James Dalziel (Chief Executive from Web MCQ)

Professor Diana Laurillard (Head, e-learning Strategy Unit, Department for Education and skills)

Specialist Schools Trust

What LAMS is all about at Kemnal Technology College;

LAMS is a tool who’s content can be customised

It is easily adaptable with the ability for re-use

It can promote cognitive skills to improve learning

It is a vehicle to engage all students in a lesson through a medium they understand

Phase 1: Initial Pilot Programme Putting LAMS into

contextOur need for collaborative learning – using LAMS as a tool:

Do teachers control all the learning in the classroom?

Do teachers really allow students to express their opinion?

If a student was allowed to voice their opinion, would they in front of others?

Can students influence the learning process?

Can the use of ICT improve on student’s confidence to communicate?

We asked ourselves the following questions:

Through LAMS we can unlock a student’s potential to maximise their own performance

We can use LAMS as a tool to help students learn rather than just teaching them.

Finally:

Phase 1: Initial pilot programme:

Andy Parry (ICT)

Topic of ‘Adventure activities’

Michelle Draper (Food Technology)

Topic of ‘Who To Invite For Dinner’

Christian Markham (Geography)

Topic of ‘Our Environment’

Graham French (Science)

Topic of ‘Rollerball’

Staff involved:

Range of mixed ability and set classes at Key Stage 3 – Basic feedbackSome work with some 6th formers - Feedback in more detail

Phase 1: Initial pilot programme:

Q In your lessons, when questions are asked to the class, how often do you contribute?

Q Why would you not respond to a question – when you know the answer?

Student's points of view with discussion before using LAMS:

59% will only answer questions if they have to

16% will try and just keep quiet

25% will contribute

43% of students just don’t want to look like a ‘square’

41% would worry that there may be a chance that they are wrong

16% would respond

Q How often are you encouraged to discuss the work as a class?

66% of students agreed to 5-6 times a week

22% feel that they hardly ever get the opportunity

12% thought they frequently discussed work

Phase 1: Initial pilot programme:

67% of students felt they could now be more honest with all their answers

45% of students felt more enthusiastic regarding the work as they helped with choices being made

78% of the students participating in the pilot scheme would be interested in using LAMS with other subjects.

17 % of students felt worried about voicing their opinions

Feedback from our Year 7 students after using LAMS:

They found that LAMS was an easy program to use

Message boxes tell you if you have missed something out

Good use of colour – this reflects on the user as a friendly environment

LAMS is extremely useful to help students to speak out more

Feedback from our sixth formers: Compared to 84 % before using LAMS

Phase 2: Incorporating LAMS into all departments

We are now delivering lams through all departments:

Involving 16 staff

ICT / Maths A Parry / V Hughes / G French

History C Metz

Technology M Draper / C Hasting

Geography C Markham

English C Winder / J Murphy

Science E Estruch / G Gill / G French / M Lewis

MF Languages F Callens

Drama B Lee-Smith

RS P Berry

Within 1 Year, we plan for all departments to incorporate LAMS, with at least 20 staff involved, thus giving us 600 students experiencing LAMS

From September 2003 we have started to incorporate LAMS into other departments:

Students can tap into their existing skills with a medium they already understand

LAMS is a mechanism to engage all students into the lesson

LAMS provides the vehicle for cognitive learning

LAMS enables independent learning by removing the traditional student and teacher relationship

LAMS allows the capturing of the educational process rather than just content.

Potential advantages for incorporating LAMS at

Kemnal Technology College

Ultimately:

Using LAMS to potentially improve on our KS3, KS4, and KS5 results

Our core team are to be accredited as LAMS trainers at Macquarie University

Accredited LAMS ‘Fast Track’ trainers

Kemnal Technology College to be awarded ‘Centre of Excellence’ for delivering and training of the LAMS software

Looking Forward

June & July 2004:

Opportunity for 100 schools – 2 members of staff for 1 day training

12 of the schools are to be identified for fast tracking – 2 members of staff for 2 days additional training

Link

These will become regional centres

Oxford University / Oxford Brooks / Cambridge University – 2 members of staff for 1 day training and 2 days additional Fast Track training

Link 2