Case Studies
There is no better way to learn about new technologies than actually using them or learning from other people's experiences. Select from the case studies listed to see how teachers across the UK are putting mobile technology to best use.
Beatrix Potter Primary School Case Study
How personalised learning has helped both teachers and pupils to extend the learning process beyond the classroom boundaries.
The Story
The handheld devices have been used as part of Year 3’s World War I (WWI) project, which has seen the children taking video and photographs and recording sound as they research WWI soldiers’ graves at the Wandsworth Cemetery on Magdalen Road opposite the school. As well as supporting personalised learning, the handheld devices are also encouraging the children to collaborate, both outside when they’re collecting data and inside when they are back in classroom.
See the full Beatrix Potter Primary School case study.
Capel-le-Ferne Case Study
From Stage to School
How a school PDA pilot to improve Literacy and Number work also came to the aid of a young star in Mary Poppins who needed to keep up with his schoolwork whilst he trod the boards in the West End.
The Story
Capel-le-Ferne a small junior school in Kent sits jauntily atop one of the white cliffs in a small village on the outskirts of Folkestone. Under the guidance of Leading ICT Teacher James Blomfield, the school has pioneered innovative ways to personalise learning and embed ICT in subject teaching - in part through a small PDA trial, which is showing considerable potential. Their journey has led them to create their own “noun raps” to premiere at a BAFTA event and to film “Evacuation dramas in the broom cupboard” in appropriate black and white before transferring them to their PDAs for classroom work as part of a DFES “Creative Use of Video for Learning” pilot. After a short small group trial, supported by Steljes with equipment and technical support, all students in the year five class now have their own PDA and an action research project will chart their progress over the coming year.
See the full Capel-le-Ferne case study.
Catholic University Of Santiago Case Study
Tapping into the resource of each other
How the PDA and some very thoughtful software can make students question and communicate more purposefully in the classroom
The Story
The Screen to team ratio in the key of E Active Learning has been given a high priority in the Wolverhampton science classroom in part thanks to a trial of Eduinnova –software that grew out of a research project at the Catholic University of Santiago in Chile. Steljes UK saw the early potential of the software and worked with the University of Bristol to bring the resource to the classroom in the UK.
See the full Catholic University of Santiago case study.
eBook Case Study
May I beam you my latest novel?
How students make and share their own illustrated eBooks and the dramatic benefits this has for writing and achievement in literacy especially for boys.
The Story
Many commentators talk of the powerful motivational opportunities we can tap into when we provide a “real audience” for children’s work. Yet the reality is that few of us really have the chance to get our words, pictures and voices out there on the page or in the ether and before the consideration of our peers. Things are starting to change however for some students who are using the PDA, the eBook and the podcast to get their voices heard.
See the full eBook case study.
Stow Heath Junior School Case Study
A pocket-sized catalyst for Active Learning
How the use of PDAs has helped teachers extend the learning potential of field trips and educational visits and sharpened the quality of student interaction and participation in the classroom.
The Story
The potential of the PDA in the field and the classroom – In spring 2006 sixty pupils from Stow Heath Junior School Wolverhampton were planning a field trip to Tenby in South Wales. The class already had PDAs as part of the ground-breaking Local Authority Learning2Go trial and were confident users of the devices. Following a research proposal from Steljes the teachers decided to trial the use of the devices as a replacement for the clipboard and pen to see what difference it made to the range and the depth of their study and understanding when PDAs we taken on location.
See the full Stow Heath Junior School case study.
