by Karl CushingClassrooms packed with technology, online courses
and anywhere access herald a new era in learning.
One of the Government's 30 new City Learning Centres is leading the
way in the teaching of IT skills and use of technology in the
classroom.
"What we have built here is a school of the future," says John
Fletcher, director of the Whiston and Prescot City Learning Centre
in Knowsley, Merseyside. "The aim is to change the way teachers
teach and pupils learn. Everything we do is to raise attainment
levels."
The centre runs on a 1Gbyte network and is linked to 167 other
sites in the area by a 34Mbit connection. The 16 schools involved
in the project all have 10Mbit links. And each of the 167 sites has
its own file server, which pupils can log onto to access their work
- although in six months' time the project will switch to an LDap
(Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) system so that pupils will
be able to access their files from anywhere.
The project is expected to start using broadband in September,
following trials using 1.5Mbit video streams.
"We can deliver broadband material anywhere in the borough," says
Fletcher. "If we produce a lesson, we can deliver that lesson to
more than 5,000 PCs in 167 sites."
All lessons will be automatically archived by the server for future
use as a resource.
Content is purchased from companies such as Granada Learning and
indexed for easy access. Teachers incorporate this material into
lesson plans that can be stored on the Web.
The centre has even put an entire course online - the GNVQ in ICT.
Pupils can take a CD home containing the curriculum and in future
this information will be funnelled straight to their homes using
broadband.
"Some pupils are already voting with their feet," says Fletcher.
"Some go to youth clubs and log on to the PCs there."
Although the centre does not encourage this, Fletcher says that
some education is better than nothing at all. It is open from 8am
to 9pm and weekend mornings
"Power is changing over from the teacher to the learner," he says.
"Pupils can now decide what they want to learn and when they want
to learn it."
Fletcher admits some teachers are quite fearful of these
developments. But others are taking to the new technology.
Classrooms have desks with PCs, DVD players and digital video
recorders. Blackboards are also giving way to Powerpoint
presentations. "The days of 30 pupils crowding around a TV are long
gone," says Fletcher.
The local education authority in Knowsley raised £14m to fund the
project, but the scheme is not just aimed at schoolchildren. As
Fletcher explains, it concentrates on those people that are
currently being left out of the technology revolution such as the
unemployed. He says that the potential IT-skilled labour pool is
already attracting companies to the area.