Member Article

How technology can transform a student’s learning

Technology plays a critical role in the life of students and given the right tools and guidance can help motivate and inspire them to achieve great success.

Vickie Bacon, a teacher and leading Apple Distinguished Educator who is passionate about enabling her learners to achieve their best, produces daily blog posts demonstrating the positive impact certain apps can have on a student’s learning. Here are a few snippets from Vickie’s blog that show the real value of technology when integrated into the classroom:

“As a teacher we always put our practice under the microscope and dissect it. This micro management can prevent the students from expressing themselves. Independence of thought as well as independent choice of how to present understanding is the ultimate goal.”

Vickie reflects on the powerful impact of technology in learning:

“As a personal reflection, I sat and watched the celebration screens around the school. As I watched, I was bowled over by the variety and scope of the work that the digital citizens in our school can communicate and share. Their work is exceptional in parts and wonderfully wacky and individual in others. But somehow it works. Learning has been transformed, and through TrilbyTV has managed to reach and ‘infect’ others with the excited buzz that digital learning continues to bring. “

The power of digital leaders in schools:

“Collaborative, informed and responsible learners are the ultimate aim of any digital strategy that I support. The students should have exposure to the skills that will support them as informed digital citizens. Digital natives that work confidently, flexibly and on reflection try to improve and refine their skills. Appointing digital leaders in the school goes some way to achieving this lofty aim. However, at my present school, all the children get the opportunity to be digital leaders, mentor and tutor to allow others to benefit from their digital skills. This enhances their self confidence and motivates them as they reap the reward of feeling valued for their skill set.”

How Technology can transform a student’s learning experience:

“One child joined the class with limited ability to read and almost non existent writing skills - decoding is unknown to him and at 10 years old he’s finding school an alien environment. But today his success was obvious as his work was spoken into the iPad and after discussion he was able to convert his ideas into a beginning, middle and end of a worthwhile story. The task took 40 minutes which is the longest that he has stayed focused and willing to participate. At the end of the day he remarked, “ it can’t be home time yet normally the day drags and lasts for so long…” This is a celebratory moment, further reinforced by the star of the week certificate for good work and that he can see his work on the screens around the school having uploaded his video to TrilbyTV - the icing on the cake.”

The power of sharing learning:

“TrilbyTV was introduced in the library and the screen was instantly rich with examples of

excellent ways in which the students & teachers communicate their learning. From the QR codes on the displays containing links to the video diaries of the geography field work trip, generated by the public link in the app, to a collection of still images punctuated by captions and comments. The screens echoed to the delightful sound tracks which signalled the ePub books made in Book Creator exported directly to photos as a movie file. This enabled the students to directly upload to the screens as easily as 1,2,3…with huge smiles on their faces. Their teacher could also instantly recognise the appropriate use of connectives, nouns and accurate SPAG!“

Vickie concludes by showing how her school has been completely transformed with integrated technology:

“The screens around the school displayed the positive images of our school community learning together using TrilbyTV as well as added to the school’s website via an embedded code that the clever widgets incorporated in TrilbyTV allows. Technology is now experienced by all the stakeholders within the school “

Vickie’s blog posts demonstrate just how powerful technology can be in an educational environment and the huge difference it can make to a students’ learning.

There are some fantastic educational tools available that can transform teaching and enhance the learning environment and TrilbyTV is certainly one of them. With its focus on student voice, teacher sharing and celebrating success, it is fast becoming the number one digital signage platform for education and being utilised successfully by several schools across the UK.

For more details see www.trilbytv.co.uk or call 0121 333 6860.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Zebra Colour .