PICTA@Lewes

Yesterday I was invited to attend the BECTA conference on Personalising Learning.

The aim was to look at how technology can support and advance the personalisation of learning, which should not be confused with individual learning or one-to-one.

BECTA break up personalised learning into 7 key elements:
1. The Learning and Teaching Dynamic
2. Assessment
3. Flexible curriculum
4. Learning Environment
5. Support Networks
6. Personalised content
7. Responsive infrastructure.

BECTA had invited 76 agencies, colleges, schools and businesses including such diversity as the Scottish Qualifications Authority, Department for Education and Skills, NIACE, BBC Jam, Pearson Education, Schoolzone to name but a few. We were divided up into 14 tables of 8 people (including a scribe and data imputer from BECTA for each table).

The day was broken up in to 4 sections dealing with:
‘Assessments’ lead by a key speech from Niel McLean Executive Director of BECTA.
‘The Learning and Teaching Dynamic’ lead by Tim Rudd of Futurelab
‘Support Networks’ lead by Dr Joe Armitage of LB of Hounslow
and
‘Personalised Content’ lead by Geoff Rebbeck of Thanet College.

After each key speech we were allowed to work in our own groups to bullet point areas of discussion and answer the questions asked. The results of the brain-storming were dissected and debated further by the entire group with the intention of formalising a ‘plan of action’ to be developed by BECTA.

There were some radical ideas prescribed including
•scraping of the current educational curriculum in favour of a more flexible option using a portfolio of courses instead of fixed curricula
•developing transfer of empowerment from teachers to students to develop and lead their own education
•developing closer working relations between local employers and FE colleges
•further develop 24/7 schooling, using Campion School Northamptonshire as best practice
•development of a resource moodle run by students for students
•championing best practice as a personal development requirement
•developing voting technologies as a means of assessment
•national recognition of best practice and sharing of resources.

The room was buzzing with ideas but not without a few condescending voices that feel education is moving to far away from its original purpose. But overall there was a feeling that what we were developing was a system of education fit for the new millennium, which was not driven but built around a backbone of technology.
The future of education looks very bright.

We are more and more looking towards e-learning to fulfil a need in the prison service; to offer a wider, more comprehensive choice of learning to inmates. We are already ensuring that prisoners are of a minimum level 1 in Literacy and Numeracy, but with prison numbers increasing and recidivism not showing any improvement we are now looking at the wider option of gearing training for work through more vocational qualifications.

The problem with offering a wider choice of qualifications is that it stretches an already overworked education department and is a bureaucratic nightmare. A way around this is to develop courses outside the classroom and involving areas of work within the prison.

We are looking at developing vocational qualifications in our workshops that will be administered by existing Instructional Officers and Officer Instructors.

Using e-learning (self learning) we would change the function of a tutor away from class delivery towards facilitation. This has an effect on how classes are run and can allow a more roll-on roll-off approach to classes instead of a more regimented system.

This being said, the traditional examinations in the current educational provision would cause a problem where they are booked in advance and paper based.

We have gotten around this by having a pool of exams available as and when students feel they want to sit them. This has the added benefit of taking a lot of the pressure off the student where deadlines are involved.

I personally don’t want to go down the line where all education in prisons is undertaken entirely through e-learning processes. This would result in the educational realization of factory farming. What is needed is Blended learning.

Blended learning is the combination of multiple approaches to learning. For example:- self-paced, collaborative or inquiry-based study.
Blended learning can be accomplished through the use of 'blended' virtual and physical resources. Examples include combinations of technology-based materials, face-to-face sessions and print materials.

We utilise a number of the e-learning options available in the classroom, to ensure that the student doesn’t get bored, lose interest or enthusiasm, but also because none of the e-learning options are adequate to the task as stand-alone systems and a mix is essential to multi-sensory learning and to providing for different personal learning styles. I myself need to interface with my students daily, otherwise they drift off course and I firmly believe that the active participation of a face-to-face tutor is generally essential to the successful learning process.

In an average day a student can be reading on-line tutorials, undertaking mock chapter tests, using simulation software, working with real hard/software, using engineering workbooks and journals, having tutor led show-and-tell sessions, and using Qwizdom electronic voting systems.

Continual stimulation and interactivity builds a better student and better results. It also utilises the tutor so that his/her day isn’t mundane and worthless. All round, you develop a better working environment and a learning centre fit for the 21st century.

Electronic Voting Systems

The systems used in e-learning are along the lines of Qwizdom. Students each have a handset and when presented with questions on a projected screen enter the corresponding letter or number to answer. The results are stored and can be used to show concurrent or final scores for each student as the ‘quiz’ session class proceeds. It can be used to generate more interest in a lesson by adding the element of competition.

Anybody who has watched ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ would have seen electronic voting systems in operation when they ‘ask the audience’.
As an educational tool we use them in a similar way but can record the answers of each student and generate statistics on speed and accuracy of their answers. Used along with an interactive whiteboard and projector you can lighten a learning session by using tests in a more fun way.
You can also involve an element of competitiveness into the procedures as a form of motivation. The only downsides are the initial cost and time taken to generate tests.
You can download pre-designed tests but often these are more directed to secondary students than adults.

Learning Management Software/Systems (LMS)

LMS is a software package, usually on a large scale (that scale is decreasing rapidly) that enables the management and delivery of learning content and resources to students. Most LMSs are web-based to facilitate "anytime, anywhere" access to learning content and administration.
At a minimum, the LMS usually allows for student registration, the delivery and tracking of e-learning courses and content, and testing, and may also allow for the management of instructor-led training classes. In the most comprehensive of LMSs, one may find tools such as competency management, skills-gap analysis, succession planning, certifications, virtual live classes and resource allocation (venues, rooms, textbooks, instructors, etc.). Most systems allow for learner self-service, facilitating self-enrolment, and access to courses.
PICTA is registered to administer examinations and certifications through interaction with Learning Management programs. The registration, delivery, marking and certification of CISCO qualifications requires us to go on-line to the United States and use their secure student management system. The ECDL however requires server based software, updated through the use of license control generated by Thirdforce. When we require exams we submit by email a license ticket for a set number of exams and the license number is returned to us for activation of said exams. At the end of each month we copy a database file from the server and e-mail it to Thirdforce which gives them records of registrations and exams for that month.
We also operate an electronic Individual Learning Plan, where students’ details, registrations, activities and exam results are kept.

Computer Aided Assessment or e-assessment

This is an on-line means of delivering examinations or assessments. An e-testing system comprises two components:
(1) an assessment engine; and
(2) an item bank.
An assessment engine comprises the hardware and software required to create and deliver a test. Most e-testing engines run on standard hardware so the key characteristic is the software's functionality. There is a wide range of software packages. The software does not include the questions themselves; these are provided by an item bank. Once created, the engine uses the item bank to generate a test.
PICTA uses Computer Aided Assessments through a company called Thirdforce (previously known as Electric Paper). Using their assessment engine we deliver the ECDL qualification. The item bank has sufficient questions to generate 4 different tests for each module. CISCO also uses Computer Aided Assessments for all their on-line courses.
PICTA operates a number of computer aided assessments. The simplest is a self regulated system of learning, where the student reads core curriculum on a computer and then answers ‘chapter’ questions at the end.
The ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) system we employ from Thirdforce allows the student access to modular exams whenever they feel they are ready. On completion of said exam they are greeted with an instant pass/fail mark on their screens. These exams are controlled via an administrator/tutor and are server based so no internet access is required.
Alternately we have the CISCO qualifications which are undertaken by prisoners in a controlled ‘exam booth’ environment which is linked via the internet to a secure server in America. The computer attached to the internet can only access this particular website and cannot be used for general ‘surfing’.
We are looking to extend this facility to allow prisoners access to secure City and Guild, OCR, OCN and other qualification sites to allow students the ability to take exams on line and have instant feedback.

Wiki or Social Software

This is a type of Web site that allows the visitors to add, remove, and otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration. Wikipedia is the most well known of these, being the first on-line encyclopaedia that can be added to by users.
Wiki’s or social Software are becoming very popular, and can have a major influence on personal learning. Wikipedia, the leading Wiki, is available in over 250 languages. It contains a wealth of knowledge on a par with the Encyclopaedia Britannica, but has its flaws. Questions have been asked by academics about entries that are deemed ‘half truths’ or ‘corrupted’. There have also been incidences of ‘sabotage and hacking’. Nonetheless, as a quick reference, used in conjunction with other sources of information, it can prove very useful to the on-line student.

The downside for the prisoner is once again accessibility. Due to the inordinate number of hyperlinks involved in wikis it would prove very difficult to maintain secure access to a site like Wikipedia in a prison.

Webcam and Instant Messaging

These ‘chat’ systems are an extension of e-mail. A tutor can set up a class on a particular time and date and have students all over the world join in, in what is called real-time mode. Companies have used this facility for quite a while now to reduce the cost of running meetings and this familiarity is now a major reason for its use in distance-learning.

Distance-learning via webcam and instant messaging is widely used in rural areas. Australia has used schooling in this way for a long time where access to a tutor in far flung areas is impractical.
CISCO operates systems like this to deliver to the 160 countries under their tutelage to great effect.
The problem with this in the prison service is primarily that the interaction would have to be only one way as the unrestricted ‘broadcasting’ of prisoners would be a security nightmare. Each of the PICTA prisons now have Interactive Whiteboards and projectors that could be used as a means of delivery of training via Webcam. We ourselves have looked at this option when we had a student wanting to undertake a qualification that my prison could not supply but another PICTA prison could.

E-mail

E-mail is by far the widest used means of e-learning. As with Discussion Boards and Blogs, information can be shared and disseminated to individuals or groups over a wide area. A tutor can run training via e-mail to a ‘class’ spread all over the world, so it is freely and regularly used in distance-learning, for the dissemination of information and interchange of course work.
The Government aim to have Internet Access in all public libraries, so access to a roving e-mail account like MSN is becoming relatively easy and cheap. Many mobile phones have access to e-mail facilities including MSN so students can arrange to receive e-mails directly.

E-mail in prisons, however, is a problem. Prison Security are against free access to e-mails (in fact they have reservations about the use of the internet in any form) and any e-mail, like the regular letter mail, would need to be screened. The upsurge in mail to be monitored would put massively increased pressure on an already stretched system, if free access was granted. The ‘Forum on Prisoner Education’ charity, said that the use of e-mail would be essential to prepare inmates for life after release. The response from The Home Office is that they are planning to give some prisoners access to e-mails and limited use of the internet. A pilot project, which is still on the drawing board, may be implemented first at Wandsworth prison in south London.

It is interesting that there are several very good e-mail screening software packages (some already in use in the Home Office) that can sift e-mail correspondence a lot faster and more proficiently than current methods. I have to consider that the cost of such software might be off-set by the reduced man hours required to sift letters by hand, and also the cost to the prison service each year for postage for prisoner mail.

Collaborative Software

Also known as GroupWare, this refers to programs that help people work collectively whilst geographically remote from each other. Programs that enable real time collaboration are called synchronous GroupWare.
GroupWare services can include the sharing of calendars, collective writing, e-mail handling, shared database access, electronic meetings with each person able to see and display information to others, and other activities. GroupWare is an integral component of a field of study known as Computer-Supported Co-operative Work or CSCW
This is becoming more common now amongst secondary schools where they develop links with foreign students and schools on joint projects.
Being able to share opinions and understanding around the world strengthens understanding of different races and cultures and also shows students the width of the divide that often occurs.
This can have problems with timing classes to ensure students in both places are available and also requires some expensive equipment to ensure the link and shared Groupware (soft/hardware).

Podcasts
Podcasts as an educational means, are becoming very popular with the i-pod user, for convenience and extreme privacy. Being able to download learning materials to a portable audio player are becoming the more ‘fashionable’ way to learn as it can be undertaken anywhere, on the train, out walking, running etc. Best suited for languages or replays of college lectures, this is a very personal means of learning.

This form of learning is best suited for learning theory, but has no practical application for the learner to interact with.