e-Learning Day Success
08-Dec-2006

The e-learning awareness day, hosted by ICDC, was a great success judging from the feedback from the 100 attendees from schools, colleges, LEAs and other organisations.  Many left the day with new ideas and methods of incorporating new technologies in their approach to teaching.   The tone for the event was set by the Chair of ICDC, Professor Phil Redmond, who spoke about how new technologies can be utilised in engaging children and supporting their learning as well as acting as a creative tool. 
 
Anne Diack and Gavin Dykes from the government's Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Innovation Unit presented a picture of how new technologies can be used to enhance the work of teachers and the learning of students.  They pointed to initiatives such as Teachers TV to demonstrate how technology can facilitate learning and communication within the teaching profession.  Echoing the emphasis on creativity Anne stated the importance of project work using new technologies as a tool to convey ideas and demonstrate learning.

L-R: Gavin Dykes & Anne Diack (DfES Innovation Unit)

View View Anne Diack Presentation

View View Gavin Dykes Presentation
 
Professor Redmond said "The use of new technologies in schools has to meet and in many ways surpass the usage of interactive media in the home.  All too often children have to power down when they get to school and are not benefiting through the restrictive use of ICT within the classroom.  Of course there are issues of security but there are technologies that can help ensure that the risks are minimised and the potential for creativity and learning are maximised." 
 
The afternoon programme provided a platform for some of the e-learning companies based in ICDC's incubator, Digitalinc, to show how technologies can support teaching and learning in a secure environment.  Ian Sellman from Inteliguard demonstrated a system for ensuring that children browsing the internet are not exposed to sex or gambling related web sites.  Ian's system has already been widely adopted in the UK is the only one developed specifically for schools in the UK. 
 
Ian Nairn (Taecanet) and Chris Beer (Splinter) presented content that is being used in schools by teachers across the curriculum.  Ian demonstrated a virtual classroom system for linking schools and students across the world, performing a live link up with Canada.  Chris showed the potential for multimedia in articulating local histories and addressing social problems.  The final speaker, Martin Dobson (easy-web-page) spoke about how up to 6 million people in the UK alone are excluded from fully utilising the internet due to difficulties in reading and writing. Martin showed how he was working with adults with learning difficulties to enable them to derive maximum benefit from the internet.  Martin is currently working with the BBC to address these issues. 
 
View View Inteliguard Presentation

View View Splinter Presentation

View View Taecanet Presentation*

*Please note: During the event, Taecanet's virtual classroom demonstration was 'live' and therefore not recorded. However, you can watch two recorded sessions at https://www.taecanet.com/vclass (you will need Java to view these sessions).

The attendees were also given the opportunity to visit a number of exhibitors on the day working the e-learning sector.  Other companies such as TakeWare, Learnbuild and Ensemble.TV were present to demonstrate their technologies.  The day was an important step for some of the delegates in trying to make sense of technologies and how they can be used in schools. 
 
Professor Redmond commented: "ICDC stands at the intersection between academia and industry.  ICDC's specialisms in interactive media and learning mean that it is a fantastic resource for teachers who want to keep up to date with new technologies and importantly the practical opportunities they can provide in the classroom.   The challenges that we face in today's world are global and our children need to compete in a global market place.  The use of technologies in itself is useless without the teachers to inform and contextualise knowledge but neglecting these technologies will only give the lead to other progressive countries and we cannot afford to let that happen."
 

L-R: Professor Phil Redmond (Chair, ICDC) & Tony Hughes (Assistant Director, ICDC)

Over seeing the event, Tony Hughes (ICDC) said that "It's important that the emphasis is placed on the learning methods and how technology can facilitate them as opposed to being technology led.  Most children today have a mobile phone, games console, PC and enhanced TV - they are surrounded by but not overwhelmed by these technologies.  They are proven tools for engagement and can be effectively utilised in education to support all and not just the privileged few.  ICDC and the companies we support are actively engaged in finding new ways to use these technologies to help teacher's do what they are best placed to do, teach."

For further details on ICDC or Digitalinc please contact Tony Hughes t.hughes@ljmu.ac.uk.

For further on the Department for Education and Skills Innovation Unit please visit https://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/innovation-unit

For further details on easy-web-page please visit https://www.easy-web-page.co.uk/

For further details on Ensemble.TV please visit https://www.ensemble.tv/

For further details on Inteliguard please visit https://www.inteliguard.net/

For further details on Learnbuild please visit https://www.learnbuild.co.uk/

For further details on Splinter please visit https://www.splinter.co.uk/

For further details on Taecanet please visit https://www.taecanet.com/

For further details on TakeWare please visit https://www.takeware.co.uk/