All our Year 4 children have a laptop to use for their learning both at home and at school. This leap forward in the use of technology was made possible by a grant from the eLearning Foundation and also the monthly donations made by parents; most parents have committed to donate £15 per month for the three years that the children will remain at St John’s. Their class teacher, Gemma McConaghy, has had to completely review her teaching methods and has had to become quite adept at problem solving as technical issues have arisen in the classroom. Children too have had to learn how to switch between wireless networks at home and at school and parents have supported each other in getting their laptops online at home. We have held two sessions for parents so far, outlining our vision with them (y4-launch-final), enlisting their support and sharing knowledge about how to make the most of this resource. The real value in each child having their own device to use everyday, both at home and in school, is that it makes learning seamless. Learning is now something which can happen “any time any place” and is a lifelong activity. Children are already more engaged with their learning and are always enthusiastic about using their laptops. Here you can see the children researching about planets, creating mind maps and Power Point presentations.
The children also use the laptops to access our virtual learning environment, which they have piloted this year. They access their work from home and can send messages to their teacher and their classmates. The class page is a central reference point for their learning and they respond to homework activities and websites posted up by the class teacher. They use a range of tools as they build up their own personal ePortfolio. The children have also been learning to touch-type so they can increase their writing speed. They have accessed Education City and other sites to reinforce literacy and numeracy concepts developed in their lessons. They have been using the laptops and the virtual learning environment for eight months and have now incorporated the technology into their day-to-day learning. As the technology becomes more transparent, i.e. they are not thinking about the machine but instead on the actual learning intention, the impact on their achievement and progress will increase.
We now intend to approach our next Year 4 class and attempt to get parental support to run the project again. It is unlikely we will be able to access funding from the eLearning Foundation, so will need to acquire funding from other sources to combine with parental donations. If we achieve our aim, by September 09, St John’s will have its top three classes all using personal laptops at home and at school. Every child will be able to benefit from this marvellous opportunity. Our learners will leave us and move on to their secondary schools with enhanced skills in using technology. They will have developed their self-motivation as independent learners and improved their rates of progress in English, Maths and other subject areas across the curriculum. They will have developed the skills necessary to thrive in the “information age.”
