Category Archives: East Lothian

East Lothian, Impact on learning, Learner, Trusting learners

Preston Lodge HS: Learners leading learning

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Are you on Twitter?
Preston Lodge HS: Are you on Twitter?

At Preston Lodge HS in East Lothian  you will see a progressive yet considered approach to ensuring that the digital world is used to best effect to ensure better outcomes for learners. This can be seen in the way that the school is developing a learning culture with independent  learning at its heart. Calum Stewart (depute head) explained to us that there had been a focus on developing their learning to learn programme in order to help nurture learning attributes such as learner resilience, resourcefulness, responsibility, reasoning and reflection. He explained that such approaches were designed to help all learners and educators reflect on the idea that learning was not just about knowing content but equally about learning how to learn.

This focus on learning to learn has been embraced by many of the learners at the school and none more so than the head boy Jamie Halvorson. We were keen to chat with him about how he and his peers had begun to use Twitter to help build a pupil learning community but we found out that he had left the building and was heading home. The DHT sent him a Direct Message (DM) on Twitter and asked if he wouldn’t mind returning to speak with us. The message was received and Jamie duly returned in order to meet with us!

Preston Lodge HS: Pupils using Twitter to support learning Jamie Halvorson (Head Boy) discusses the potential of Twitter as a learning tool

Jamie explained to us that he thought Twitter was  a very powerful tool to help support the learning culture in a school and so he and his peers decided to come up with a mechanism by which learners throughout Scotland and beyond could share their perspectives on their experience of school. He wanted the pupil voice to be heard and for it to give formative feedback to school about what was working, what was good, how things could be improved and how learning could be widened and shared, but fundamentally he wanted to ensure that such a mechanism could help ensure that:

…all pupils benefit from the system (school) as much as possible.

Inspired by the #pedagoofriday hashtag used by many teachers in Twitter he decided to begin a #pupilfriday hashtag. This means that learners who have Twitter accounts can Tweet a comment about school on a Friday and include the #pupilfriday hashtag. This allows all the comments to be pulled together so that anyone who wanted to follow this thread of discussion could easily to do that by filtering for this phrase in Twitter.

Jamie told us that the response by pupils had been immense and that there had been no evidence of abuse of the hashtag. He was also delighted to see that other schools in Scotland were contributing to the growth and life of this particular digital learning community.

It was clear that the school’s focus on developing a thriving and contemporary learning culture had an effect on Jamie because he stated that he and his peers wanted to use these tools and exploit them in order to change the way we learn. He said that school had to be more about learning and not about getting an A in your exam. He felt that once this was achieved there was nothing beyond that – that you don’t develop your learning anymore. He agreed that the continued updating of the Neil Takes on Science site that he and his peers jointly created was an example of how they have continued to learn beyond success in exams.

School needs to be about more than just getting an A in your exam.

Social media and their potential to support and enrich learning are tools that schools across Scotland are exploring. There are undoubted issues and challenges for us to consider in relation to how misuse and abuse of such well-intentioned channels can possibly derail the vision that schools may have for the development of a digital learning culture, but what we can learn from Preston Lodge HS is that a cohesive, committed and considered strategy that embeds digital tools at the heart of learning can help nurture and grow a thriving learning culture inside and outside of school.

Chromebook, East Lothian, Impact on learning, Sharing devices, Teacher, Trusting learners

Preston Lodge HS: Learning the skills for learning

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Preston Lodge HS: Instant access to the internet and web tools

Preston Lodge HS has worked hard to implement a series of initiatives that are focused on the development and growth of a rich learning culture in the school. Calum Stewart (depute head) explained to us that there had been a focus on developing their learning to learn programme in order to help nurture learning attributes such as learner resilience, resourcefulness, responsibility, reasoning and reflection. He explained that such approaches were designed to help all learners and educators reflect on the idea that learning was not just about knowing content but equally about learning how to learn. With the advent of pupil-led learning spaces at the school, such as Neil takes on Science, Mr Stewart remarked that he was not sure what the main driver was that had led to this; whether it was the devices that were enabling access to the web and dynamic web tools, whether it was the learning culture they were looking to nurture and grow or whether the changing nature of their courses were becoming more appealing to learners. Nonetheless, he was sure that he was seeing positive change in attitudes to learning in the school and thought that all these factors were helping to effect change.

Preston Lodge HS: Learning to learn Interview with Calum Stewart (DHT)

Mr Stewart was keen to stress that the culture in relation to the use of devices was one that was not looking to fixate on a particular device. The learning culture that was being grown would thrive no matter what device was being used and the possibility of having an open network to enable a BYOD (bring your own device) option for his learners was one that he very much looks forward to.

Finally, Mr Stewart commented on the need for learning to be open to change and particularly so when digital technology is misused by learners. Although there had not been any incidents of note in relation to this he believed that if there were the school should not react in a way that might lead to the closing off or shutting down of new ideas and methodologies. He stressed that managing perceived and actual risks with effective planning and carefully considered responses to any challenges that arise is the best approach to help us take learning forward.

Chromebook, East Lothian, Impact on learning, Teacher

Preston Lodge HS: Developing a digital learning culture and its impact on learners

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Chrokebooks in Action at Preston Lodge HS
Preston Lodge HS: Learning not device centric

One of the class teachers at Preston Lodge HS who has been working with the Chromebook pilot is Feargal Kelly (biology). We took time out of his busy schedule to discuss with him what he thought he was seeing in terms of the impact on learning and teaching in his classroom as a result of his involvement with the Chromebook pilot. He talked about how having access to a web-enabled device that connected to the internet very quickly has changed things for him. Initially Mr Kelly used the device to help the learners in his class plan for their own learning but he felt that this approach was becoming too device centric, so now he has developed an approach that encourages the learners to dip in and out of using  the device when it is required.

Preston Lodge HS: Feargal Kelly interview 1 Mr Kelly gives an overview of the Chromebook pilot

Mr Kelly discusses how an open network enabled him to develop a culture of appropriate use and behaviour when accessing collaborative tools. He gave us some examples of minor misuse and he talked about the ways in which he addressed these and held conversations with his learners about appropriateness. He believes that these learning conversations happened because nothing was blocked on the open network that they were using. The issue of blocking sites and access to effective learning tools is detrimental to the development of successful learner  and responsible citizen aspects of Curriculum for Excellence and that if we are really in the business of educating young people then we should be having conversations to educate them.

Preston Lodge HS: Feargal Kelly interview 2 Mr Kelly discusses learning conversations that can happen with open access to the web.

Mr Kelly also discussed how the learners he works with have embraced the freedom to write for the web – a freedom that appears to have been enabled by the Chromebooks, the open network and the learning culture and climate that he has established with his learners. He gave the example of the Neil takes on Science work created by some of his learners and how Biology was no longer just learning facts or passing an exam, but how it had become a much wider learning experience, one that they owned and were intrinsically motivated by. It was also felt by those learners that they knew their science better as a result of creating the Neil takes on Science site because they had to think how best to convey their learning so that others could learn from the materials they authored and published.

Preston Lodge HS: Feargal Kelly interview 3 Mr Kelly discusses the learning culture that has developed in his classroom

East Lothian, Google Chrome OS, Pilot overview

East Lothian Council: Chromebook pilot overview

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Preston Lodge HS: Chromebooks embedded in learning
Preston Lodge HS: Chromebooks embedded in learning

Preston Lodge High School strives to develop skills for learning, life and work. Twenty Chromebooks, on an unfiltered network, were introduced to the science department at Preston Lodge High School in December 2011. An unfiltered network was installed as it was not possible to use a device which was not on a Windows operating system on the school’s existing wireless network.

The Chromebook looks like a notebook but works instantly, going straight to the internet for everything, creating a ‘window’ in. Practitioners shared instances of waiting 25 minutes, or longer, for laptops to load up, after which learners were still not logged in. This frustration and ‘dead time’ coupled with limited reliability meant that technology was not embedded in learning. The Chromebooks are ensuring reliable access to technology and this has increased confidence. They are shared devices which automatically update and improve. They have an unusually long battery life of eight hours continuous use, made possile by absence of a traditional motorised disk drive. They can be closed and opened during classes without causing undue delays restarting. This also helps save battery life. The devices are in continuous use, and do not need to be ‘topped up’ with charge during the day. This has allowed a simple trolley to be used, without power supplies. Practitioners noted that the devices had improved considerably during the 11 months in which they had been in the school.

Chromebooks are available for use as and when required in the science department. This reliable availability has enabled practitioners to plan to use Google Apps for Education and general Internet tools for purposeful learning. Practitioners have learned through experience that learning activities should not be ‘Chromebook centric’, learners do not always respond well to being directed to use the devices but instead prefer the opportunity to access them as and when required.

Preston Lodge HS: Chromebook overview David Gilmour of East Lothian Council gives an overview of the Chromebook pilot

Through eduBuzz.org, East Lothian’s on-line learning community, every learner has an eduBuzz Google Apps account and increasing numbers are familiar with logging into Google Apps. This made the introduction of the Chromebook a sensible and quite seamless process as learners log in using their edubuzz.org Google Apps account, their instance of the Chrome browser appears, their Google Apps and Chrome Web Apps appear, and workflow continues.

Chromebook, East Lothian, Impact on learning, Learner, Trusting learners

Preston Lodge HS: The learner perspective

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Preston Lodge HS: The Learner's Perspective
Preston Lodge HS: The learner's perspective

Hugely motivated and empowered by the learning, teaching and assessment approaches used at Preston Lodge HS Higher biology learners have collaborated to create a website ‘Neil takes on science‘ to support others in attaining this qualification. They then purchased a domain and created additional content during the summer holidays. They felt that creating videos about biology concepts was a great way to learn and to help others learn. East Lothian has allowed access to YouTube for practitioners and learners since November 2008. S5/S6 learners use YouTube to access learning content, publish content and post events. It is a fundamental tool and they felt that there would be a ‘massive’ barrier to learning if it was blocked. They rely on online resources during study leave and made reference to Khan Academy and accessing their teachers’ PowerPoint presentations online.

Learners spoke sensibly about the choices and decisions they face as individuals. They respect the view that with ‘great power comes great responsibility’. They compared behaving irresponsibly online with swearing in class. You could swear in class but you don’t, it isn’t appropriate. Individuals have to make a choice not to behave inappropriately or access to devices and tools is removed. Practitioners commented that ‘we are in the business of educating people to use web resources responsibly and it shouldn’t be the case that resources are blocked or filtered so that we don’t have to’.

With support and experience learners are using tools effectively and responsibly for successful learning but also to make a very effective contribution to their learning communities and beyond. There have been instances of inappropriate use of tools and resources but these occasions have been used as learning opportunities and are rarely repeated.

Tools from the Chrome Web Store are also used to add fun to lessons and the webcam toy has been used to great effect with customised login icons appearing for each learner on devices they have used.

Listen to our interviews with the team behind Neil takes on Science:

The Neil Takes on Science team discuss how the idea for their site started to grow and how the Chromebook and the learning infrastructure they experienced helped them enhance their learning by writing for the web. They also discuss the importance of YouTube to their learning.

Preston Lodge HS: Neil Takes on Science team no.1 Interview 1 with the Neil Takes on Science team

The Neil Takes on Science team discuss other ways in which digital learning is happening at Preston Lodge HS. They also talk about the nature of learning and how the process of building their site has not only helped them get to know the subject material but, more importantly, develop as learners.

Preston Lodge HS: Neil Takes on Science team no.2 Interview 2 with the Neil Takes on Science team