The Android and iPad pilots in Edinburgh City are all put in place with the express intention that their impact would lead to enhanced learning and better outcomes for learners. Derek Curran’s (headteacher) ambitions for the device pilot in his school are no different from Edinburgh City’s and although his pilot was still in its early stages he was keen to share his thoughts and observations to date about just what impact he wanted to see and what he thought was happening.

Although he was content with the progress that was being made at such an early stage of the pilot, Mr Curran thought that there might have been more evidence of staff using a range of media beyond text to support their teaching than was the case; however, he was sure that this would come as the pilot progressed and the staff increased their confidence and competence in the use of the device. He felt that gradual improvements and lessons learned by his staff would have a cumulative effect that would lead to a gathering momentum of developing expertise and understanding of just how learning can be enhanced with the use of digital tools.

Forrester HS: Impact on learning and teaching Interview with Mr Curran (HT) about impact on learning of the Android pilot

We went on to discuss with Mr Curran what he felt the device pilot would bring to his school in terms of helping to create opportunities for  collaborative learning to occur in his school. He believed that social learning tools such as blogs and wikis can have an enriching impact on learning both in and out of school and that there was evidence of his pupils already engaging with these contexts for learning. He anticipates that as access to the devices and the online tools that they offer become more embedded in the life of teaching and learning across the school  he will see enhanced collaborative, working with learners moderating their learning via shared wikis, for instance.

Forrester HS: Enhanced learning Mr Curran (HT) discusses the potential that digital technology has to enhance learning

Mr Curran also talked about the unexpected wins that can be gained from pilots such as the one his school was trialling. His discussions with the school librarian brought up the fact that Edinburgh City library had a huge range of ebooks available to library members. He saw this as a perfect opportunity to get all pupils involved in the pilot to join the city library and have access to the range of texts that are freely available via this service.

Forrester HS: Unexpected wins Mr Curran (HT) discusses the unexpected wins that such a pilot can bring to the life of learning of a school