Web articles
Interviews with key people, examples of innovative educational practice, and the creative application of new technologies.
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Learning platforms - supporting personalised learning?
August 2010Jim Fanning of Tideway School looks at whether the use of a learning platform in the classroom supports approaches to personalised learning.
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An ICT curriculum for Africa
July 2010Information technology skills are essential in the modern world. In the UK, schools are well-equipped with interactive whiteboards, PCs and online learning resources, and children learn ICT skills from a young age. In Africa, however, it’s a very different story. Kim Thomas reports on an initiative to provide African schools with a 21st century ICT curriculum.
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Welcome to 'the zone of optimal challenge'
June 2010Buckinghamshire diploma students have been wired into computer games expertise from across the globe. Merlin John was a happy lurker in their sessions.
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“Every single lesson without fail” - How iPhones are helping students learn
June 2010Gumley House Convent School was the focus of press attention last December when it handed out iPhones to students as an aid to learning. Now that the trial is at the half-way stage, Kim Thomas spoke to Simon Elledge, Manager of Brentford City Learning Centre, to find out how it’s going.
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Technology inspiring and transforming learning
May 2010John Galloway meets practitioners using innovative technologies to transform learning spaces and inspire interactive learning in London.
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The Vital role games play in learning
May 2010A former primary school teacher, Steve Bunce has worked for several years helping teachers to incorporate games into their classroom work. He talks to Kim Thomas about why games are so important in learning.
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“Humming with life”: the FE college of the future
April 2010Global technology company Cisco is well-known for its sponsorship of networking academies, which train 800,000 students a year in ICT skills. But it also has a wider vision of how technology can transform learning. Here Cisco’s Richard Halkett talks to Kim Thomas about the changes he expects to see in the FE sector in the next few years.
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Learning platforms - regime change
March 2010Despite the carefully managed introduction of a new learning platform in 2008 and a whole range of cross-curricular pilot projects, in many respects use of the platform in Tideway School remains something of a minority sport. Assistant Headteacher Jim Fanning reports on the staff consultations into use of the learning platform.
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You have to have a wow factor
March 2010Hindley High School in Wigan has launched full steam ahead into the BSF process. Headteacher Jane Lees spoke to Kim Thomas about the challenges of agreeing a design for the school that would still meet the educational needs of students in 50 years’ time.
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An ugly word with attractive prospects for schools ICT – ‘interoperability’
February 2010Schools have been plagued by incompatible systems, but is harmony within reach? Merlin John visits the South West Grid for Learning Trust to find out.
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It’s geography – but not as you know it
February 2010Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are now a compulsory part of the secondary school geography curriculum. Although some teachers will be using GIS for the first time, others are old hands. Bob Lang, a geography teacher at Five Ways School in Birmingham, tells Kim Thomas how GIS can transform geography teaching.
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Twitter: not just for celebrities
January 2010Twitter has 44 million users worldwide – Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross among them. But you’d be wrong to dismiss Twitter as a tool for disseminating celebrity trivia. Dr Alan Cann of Leicester University tells Kim Thomas about a study that demonstrated Twitter’s value in helping students build networks and share information.
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Making History: Embedding the use of a learning platform in classroom teaching
December 2009Tideway School has been involved in a range of small-scale research projects investigating the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in the classroom. Jim Fanning, Assistant Headteacher, reports on their recent work in embedding the platform in classroom teaching.
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A plane in the playground: the value of creativity in schools
December 2009Pat Chapman, director of schools for Creativity, Culture and Education spoke at Futurelab’s Seen and Heard conference in October and discussed with Kim Thomas why it’s so important to bring creativity into the classroom.
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Go with the flow – how 3D and haptics are moving into the classroom
December 2009One of the problems with computers for design is that they can disrupt the cognitive flow. That’s what motivated Ann Marie Shillito to democratise the technology. She spoke to Merlin John about 3D and haptic technologies.
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'A perfect storm' and the strategy for its aftermath
November 2009Approaching 10 years beyond the year 2000, there is much talk about 21st century learning. But what is it, what does it look like and where is it? Delegates to a one-day Innovation in Education conference in London were given the most powerful glimpse so far when policy strategist Michael Stevenson, now vice president of Global Education for US communication giant Cisco, set out Education 3.0. Merlin John reports.
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A total work of art
November 2009imitating the dog, an innovative theatre company that mixes cinema and stagecraft to produce an exciting theatrical experience, conducted a workshop at Futurelab’s Seen and Heard conference in October. Beforehand, company members Andrew Quick, Simon Wainwright and Adam Nash spoke to Kim Thomas about their work.
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There be dragons – the innovation driving learning in Scotland
October 2009Laurie O’Donnell was a particularly happy visitor to the Scottish Learning Festival 09 because he no longer carries responsibility for it. He talked to Merlin John about the role of innovation in Scotland.
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“A social worker took the kids away”: the power of games to help children learn
October 2009For many parents, computer games are a cause of anxiety. They worry that spending too much time in front of a screen will dull their children’s brains and inhibit the development of social skills. Kim Thomas spoke with Professor David Williamson Shaffer about how computer games can help learners acquire valuable real-life skills and knowledge.
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Wrapped up in the underlay of learning at the RUGroom
September 2009The power of well-designed learning spaces should not be underestimated. Cleveratom’s Matthew Eaves talks to Merlin John about his learning journey as a consultant for the award-winning RUGroom at City College, Norwich.
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Dyslexia, dyspraxia and the dinosaurs
September 2009Jane Scaysbrook has more than 30 years’ experience as a teacher, and now works as an assessor for students with conditions such as dyslexia and dyspraxia. She tells Kim Thomas that, although technology can transform the educational achievements of such students, some schools are still reluctant to provide help.
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Closing the gap between the cutting edge and the classroom
August 2009Becta hopes to accelerate the adoption of ICT for learning and innovation, and a key forum will be the Emerging Technologies for Learning pages on its website. Merlin John talks to two of its architects.
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We all live partially online all the time
August 2009Steven Warburton is an ICT and e-learning manager at King’s College, London. He is also a Fellow of the Centre for Distance Education at the University of London, and is involved in a number of research projects in areas such as social networking and digital identity. He spoke to Kim Thomas about the role new technologies can play in learning.
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Famous for five minutes - but thoughtful for far longer
July 2009Merlin John visits Manchester to find out how teachers and learners are using digital video to reflect on their practice.
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A school for the 21st century
July 2009When Pudsey Grangefield secondary school in Leeds was selected to take part in the Building Schools for the Future programme, it was an opportunity not just to have a brand new set of buildings but to rethink the school’s strategies of teaching and learning. One school year on, Kim Thomas asks headteacher Ken Cornforth how it’s all gone.
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Building Schools for the Future: Implications for Design and Technology
June 2009John Chidgey looks at the implications of Building Schools for the Future (BSF) in Design and Technology departments in terms of learning and curriculum.
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Just a few lessons short of a BETT Learning Festival
June 2009Merlin John asks whether you can harmonise an international ICT conference with a world class trade show for a mother of all learning festivals?
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Internet access for all: how the home access programme brings us one step closer
June 2009Children whose parents can’t afford a home PC and Internet access face a huge disadvantage when it comes to researching homework and accessing learning materials. Becta is addressing the problem through an ambitious government-funded programme that will provide grants for home PCs to children eligible for free school meals. As the pilot comes to a close, plans are underway for a national roll-out. Kim Thomas reports.
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Storybooks, puzzles and laptops: how do children learn?
May 2009Digital technologies are all around us. But how do parents set about introducing them to their children? And how do children react to these technologies? Sarah Eagle has been researching these questions for her PhD, and talked to Kim Thomas about her findings so far.
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The revolution will be Tweeted
May 2009An East London primary school uses handheld gaming devices to demolish the myth that innovative teaching is not possible in the current education culture. And Ofsted proves the point, writes Merlin John.
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“You ain’t seen nothing yet…” Scotland’s ICT renaissance
April 2009Scotland is enjoying unparalleled success in embedding ICT in learning and teaching. Learning and Teaching Scotland’s outgoing Director of Learning and Technology, Laurie O’Donnell, explains why to Merlin John.
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From poetry to PE: how PSPs help students learn
April 2009Received wisdom says that video games are creating a generation of children who are passive and disengaged. But as some secondary schools are starting to discover, the opposite may be true: gaming units such as the Portable PlayStation are proving a versatile tool for engaging children in learning. Kim Thomas reports.
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All on board for an IKEA of learning spaces?
March 2009Learning spaces are moving up the education agenda, and a serendipitous opportunity to visualise and model them has already made waves with BSF schools and local authorities. Merlin John reports.
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Students get a Second Life
March 2009Second Life, the 3D virtual world, may have a reputation as a place for idle chit-chat and illicit liaisons with strangers, but it’s very much more than that. Professor Gilly Salmon, of Leicester University, told Kim Thomas about how Second Life is helping students learn.
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The attention seekers
February 2009Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has traditionally been treated with powerful drugs. But a new technology, which monitors children’s brain activity as they play specially-designed computer games, may provide a gentler way of improving concentration. Kim Thomas talked to Zara Skidmore from Games for Life.
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Adventures in real life – the onward march of TrueTube
February 2009In the shadow of London Bridge, an award-winning online service for young people is planning innovative interventions to reach its audience. Merlin John talks to TrueTube editor-in-chief Erik van der Schaft.
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The management of chaos: flexible learning in an inflexible system
February 2009What does classroom learning look like when pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning, progressing at their own pace and being assessed at a time and place that best suits them? Jim Fanning (Assistant Headteacher at Tideway School) reports on progress with his school’s use of learning platforms.
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Round-up from BETT 2009
January 2009Merlin John reports back from BETT 2009, with a round-up of some of the more interesting projects and tools on show at this event.
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The rich heritage of democratic education
January 2009Professor Michael Fielding of the Institute of Education delivered a thought-provoking keynote speech at Futurelab’s Challenging Learner Voice conference last October. Between sessions, he talked to Kim Thomas about what we can learn from the tradition of democratic education in the UK.
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In pursuit of innovation – the power of global networking
December 2008Here comes the judge. Merlin John, fresh from adjudicating at Microsoft’s 2008 Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum, is impressed by a global network created within just four years.
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Living on the Edge
December 2008Edge is an educational foundation working to raise the status of vocational learning. Four years ago, it set up the Edge Learner Forum, which aims to involve young people in the Edge campaign. Simon Binns, who helps run the Forum, and Huda Al Bander, an active member, spoke to Kim Thomas about the Forum’s projects.
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Lighting the touch paper to learning – where to put the match
November 2008Policy adviser Charles Leadbeater, fresh from his work on 'What's Next? 21 Ideas for 21st Century Learning', talks to Merlin John.
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“There are no more broken noses”
November 2008Since winning Futurelab’s Innovate to Educate award two years ago with her design for an interactive playground, Clara Gaggero has graduated from the Royal College of Art and gone on to design further educational spaces. She talked to Kim Thomas about her designs and the importance of consulting the users.
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Tearing down the prison walls
November 2008David Gribble is one of the leading voices in the movement for democratic education. He taught for many years at Dartington Hall school, founded Sands school and now runs the International Democratic Education Network. After speaking at Futurelab’s recent Learner Voice conference, he talked to Kim Thomas about how his experiences as a teacher helped shape his views.
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Fragmented treasures awaiting prospectors for personalisation
October 2008Mobile devices have the potential for harvesting elements of our fragmented lives to be reordered for learning, says researcher Elizabeth Hartnell-Young. Merlin John finds out more.
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The digital panopticon
September 2008Jim Fanning, Assistant Headteacher at Tideway School in East Sussex, continues his series of articles exploring the issues around the school’s use of learning platforms.
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Something to shout about!
September 2008A proposal for a mobile application called ShoutBox grabbed the attention of Futurelab when it was submitted to the Ideas Incubator in February. The application, which would enable young people to share their informal learning experiences with their peers, was devised by a new company called Mobile Pie. Kim Thomas talks to company co-founder Richard Wilson.
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Learning – it’s a family affair
August 2008Museums and libraries are great places for children to learn. But if parents can be helped to learn along with their children, then everyone wins. Natasha Innocent, a senior policy adviser at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), talked to Kim Thomas about the benefits of learning as a family.
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Who personalises learning? The learners of course
August 2008Teacher Fiona Aubrey-Smith stepped from a Hampshire infant classroom into a key role with an international learning platform company. She shares her insights into transformational curriculum work with Merlin John.
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Rewarding risk: how e-scape changes learning
July 2008Students at Alexandra Park School have been taking part in a research project to encourage innovation and collaboration in Design & Technology (DT) through the use of PDAs. Ross McGill, the school’s Head of DT and ICT, talked to Kim Thomas about what the project has achieved so far.
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Mind the gap – open source is a player
July 2008Don’t believe the hype – open source is bringing major savings and quality support for teaching and learning. Talk to the schools, writes Merlin John.
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When what you get might not be what you see
June 2008As managed services make their way into schools, Merlin John visits the most ambitious of all, Northern Ireland’s C2K, for a glimpse of the future.
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From Shetland to South Africa – student voice goes global
June 2008The Learning School, founded by deputy headteacher Stewart Hay, is a unique project that has enabled schools around the world to benefit from evaluations by international groups of school students. Now in its ninth year, it is flourishing.
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Exploding the Black Box – the assessment revolution
May 2008“Hate marking, love learning.” How many teachers would disagree with that? And this simple mantra lies behind some of the most innovative software for assessment for learning that is being taken up by schools, local authorities and even the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, as Merlin John reports.
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Primary pioneers
May 2008Pupils at Sandaig Primary School were podcasting pioneers, and now they’re also into blogging, wikis and making videos. John Johnston, a class teacher at Sandaig, spoke to Kim Thomas about how Sandaig came to embrace Web 2.0 technology.
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Consolarium’s games plan hooks teachers
April 2008Don't believe the media hype - games bring learning to life, says Derek Robertson. Merlin John reports.
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Naturally curious
April 20085x5x5=creativity is about enabling children to fulfil their creative potential. Working alongside educators in schools and nurseries, artists help children develop their natural curiosity and explore their own ideas. Its Director of Research, Penny Hay, talked to Kim Thomas about the organisation's aims and achievements.
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Using VLEs at Tideway School
April 2008Tideway School has been involved in a range of small-scale research projects investigating the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in the classroom. Following a successful pilot in 2007, the school is now embedding its VLE in lesson delivery for a whole cohort of Year 11 pupils. Jim Fanning, Assistant Headteacher, reports.
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Junior safety zones for the ‘world wild web’
March 2008Social networking and Web 2.0 may be coming to primaries in a safer, bespoke form. Merlin John talks to two teachers testing innovative new social networking learning services.
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Fixing Humpty Dumpty
March 2008Tim Gill’s book, ‘No Fear’, highlighted the increasingly risk-averse approach we take to bringing up children. Here he talks to Kim Thomas about his concerns that our over-protective attitudes have resulted in a loss of opportunity for children to play freely and to learn independence.
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A primer on e-learning
March 2008New Zealand distance educator Ken Allan reviews current definitions of e-learning and presents an analysis of the technological and pedagogical merits and difficulties associated with it. He discusses how e-learning can support teaching and learning and highlights developments in approaches to its use, as well as evaluating a range of e-learning tools.
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Learning with a webcam
February 2008New Zealand distance educator Ken Allan explores the webcam's recent adoption in many areas of education and points to the need for awareness of privacy issues and the adoption of acceptable use policies.
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A window onto the world
February 2008A school in Birmingham for deaf children has been using mobile technology in a new and surprising way. Deputy head Alison Carter told Kim Thomas what happened when Longwill School gave pupils PlayStation Portables.
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‘Music for all’ teacher hits the right notes
February 2008A Devon secondary school has taken an extraordinarily effective step towards achieving a key consensual target of music educators – to broaden and deepen the musical experience of all children – by teaching all of its Key Stage 3 students to learn a musical instrument.
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Working with online learning communities
January 2008Ken Allan, a distance educator at The Correspondence School in Wellington, New Zealand, analyses the components of online learning communities and discusses strategies for encouraging non-participatory members to become active.
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For the 21st century teacher “the only constant is change”
January 2008Scottish teacher Ian Stuart tells Merlin John how the UMPCs used by every student in his island school are "a conduit to the curriculum".
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Playing it smart
January 2008Lizbeth Goodman is Director of SMARTlab, an organisation that brings together people from creative and technical disciplines to develop new technologies that benefit some of society’s most disadvantaged groups. She talked to Kim Thomas about how SMARTlab’s unique way of working has resulted in the some highly innovative projects.
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A little information can be a dangerous thing
December 2007The headteacher of a Sunday Times ‘top five’ school recently said that we live in a “data obese” society, and described the school league tables as “a cancer”. With such a perceived surfeit of information, how are schools to make sense of the data that is filling their servers? Merlin John visited the Fischer Family Trust and the new Institute for School Effectiveness for some answers.
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"The last siege tower is education"
December 2007Donald Clark, a director of Ufi (the University for Industry), former CEO of EPIC, and an e-learning specialist for more than 20 years, has strong views about schools, teachers and modern educational orthodoxy. He talked to Kim Thomas about where it all went wrong, and why he’s optimistic that schools will eventually succumb to the technological revolution.
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Template for transformation
November 2007Knowsley, in Merseyside, is acknowledged as having one of the most ambitious, transformational projects for Building Schools for the Future. Merlin John talks to the visionary behind the blueprint, Damian Allen.
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From robotic sniffer dogs to urban space stations
November 2007Scientist, artist, engineer, environmental activist: all these terms could be used to describe Natalie Jeremijenko, but none would do justice to the unique combination of flair and academic rigour that she brings to her work in educating people about the environment. At Futurelab’s recent ‘Why Don’t You…?’ conference, she spoke to Kim Thomas about her latest projects.
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A world-class learning festival
October 2007The Scottish Learning Festival has matured into a world-class event that has even grown a ‘fringe’. Merlin John explores its replicable seeds for success.
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Simulated mess
October 2007The messiness and unpredictability of the real world is often what makes exploring it fun. If we could allow school science students some access to this mess while still maintaining discipline, perhaps we could help to turn more of them back on to science. Computer simulations might be able to help.
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Switching on to learning
October 2007John Howells has been Principal of Leasowes Community College in Dudley for 21 years. In that time, he has introduced some radical changes, including whole days when students focus on a single subject. John outlined his philosophy to Kim Thomas, and explained the role technology plays in helping students take responsibility for their own learning.
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Making waves
September 2007Radiowaves is a web-based network of radio stations used by school students in 20 different countries to create and publish audio programmes for a wide audience. Kim Thomas talked to Tim Riches, Radiowaves’s Managing Director, and Bronwyn Murie, a history teacher using Radiowaves for the first time.
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Can serendipitous browsing lead to serendipitous learning?
September 2007People surf the net not only for fun, but also to discover and learn. We have all experienced the thrill of serendipitous discovery as we look for one thing but stumble across something else of value to us. Is this just ‘wilfing’ or can it lead to real learning?
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Machinima and education
September 2007‘Machinima’ are 3D animations created in real time using computer games. Educators are learning to exploit the potentials of this creative, flexible and accessible medium, writes Diane Carr.
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Travels in time and space
August 2007Primary and secondary schools in Kent have been discovering how to use a geographical information system (GIS) to find out more about the geography and history of their local landscape. Kim Thomas talked to lecturer Jason Sawle and teacher Gerard O’Sullivan about the project.
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Extended learning
August 2007Jim Fanning from Tideway School reports on a project in his school which is investigating some of the issues surrounding the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in the classroom.
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How personal is personalisation?
July 2007The focus on the technical elements of learning platforms may be eclipsing the transformational nature of e-portfolios, the heart of the learners’ experiences, writes Merlin John.
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An open approach to learning
July 2007Not content with making many of its course materials freely available on the web through its OpenLearn project, the Open University is throwing some collaborative learning tools into the mix. Laura Dewis, OpenLearn’s Communications Manager, explained why to Kim Thomas.
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The Fountain Journey – one teacher’s story
June 2007Fountaineers is a collaborative project which aims to design and build an ‘intelligent’ water fountain that is programmable and reconfigurable by primary-aged children. In this article one of the teachers involved in the project shares her experiences.
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Stepping out into learning with digital technologies: the London Knowledge Lab
June 2007With the explosion of collaborative technologies outside school, and a perceived gap in students’ classroom experience within schools, there has never been a greater need for up-to-the-moment, thorough educational research. The London Knowledge Lab, created three years ago, is now taking the bit between its teeth with a distinctive, multidisciplinary approach.
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Creating learning trails - the fun way
June 2007Islington City Learning Centre has been using Futurelab’s Create-A-Scape software to devise location-based learning trails for local schools. Peter Barrett, Project Manager for the Kings Cross partnership, talked to Kim Thomas about how Year 5 children at Blessed Sacrament Primary School fared on their local history learning trail.
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Money matters
May 2007Wendy van den Hende is the chief executive of the Personal Finance Education Group, an organisation helping to educate schoolchildren about money management. She spoke to Kim Thomas about pfeg’s aims and its latest project, Learning Money Matters.
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Every child matters – apart from the 100,000 out of school
May 2007According to research, 100,000 children are missing from normal schooling. Yet despite considerable evidence that online learning can prove extremely effective in motivating and re-engaging young people out of school, existing successful online services are only scratching the surface of the problem, as Merlin John reports.
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Mapping the invisible
April 2007Martin Dodge is an academic geographer whose work has involved mapping the geography of cyberspace and unpicking the politics of pervasive computing. His aim, he tells Kim Thomas, is to make hidden relationships visible.
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Resistance is not futile – it’s the haptic key to investigating 3D worlds
April 2007It may be in fits and starts, but haptic technology - the physical feedback that introduces human sensitivity to control techno-muscle - is on its way. Merlin John investigates some of the latest real-world applications.
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A mobile with a mission
March 2007Carried out in partnership with the University of Nottingham, Futurelab’s MobiMissions project sees teenagers setting and responding to missions on their mobile phones. Kim Thomas talked to Futurelab learning researcher Lyndsay Grant to find out more.
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Transforming learning spaces to personalise learning
March 2007With current debates about what a 21st century education should look like, the Fountaineers project is showing that children and teachers have enormous scope to influence the reconfiguration of their buildings and outdoor spaces - and the ways in which they learn.
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Overcoming the resistances to innovation in the classroom
February 2007Are classrooms places of change? Is there an inherent worth in change? Is there a benefit in empowering teachers to change their own practices to suit the needs of their students? Futurelab is investigating the role of teachers as innovators, and is examining what models, methods and techniques can be used to aid in developing new practices within classrooms and schools.
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Brown’s billions
February 2007How should researchers and educationalists passionate about the positive impact of ICT feel about Chancellor Gordon Brown?
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Not boring!
February 2007NESTA’s action-packed Planet Science website has been a huge success. Now it’s launching a new venture, Planet SciCast, which aims to get schoolchildren and adults filming their own science demonstrations. Kim Thomas talked to Katie Walsh, Planet Science’s project manager, to find out more.
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Stepping stones to lifelong learning
January 2007The PebblePad e-portfolio was devised by staff and graduates from the University of Wolverhampton as a way of supporting ‘lifelong’ and ‘lifewide’ learning. Kim Thomas talked to PebblePad’s creator, Shane Sutherland, about an ambitious project.
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Using digital video in the classroom
January 2007Joanne Murray and Paula Rolston at Cookstown Primary School have taken the bold step of turning their classrooms into creative workshops.
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Using wikis to assess collaborative achievement
December 2006Mhairi McAlpine from the Scottish Qualifications Authority explores ways in which wikis could be used in assessing groupwork.
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Travelling between worlds
December 2006Edith Ackerman is a distinguished developmental psychologist who now teaches in the School of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Here she talks to Kim Thomas about how the interaction between physical and virtual spaces supports children's learning.
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Schools of the future, education of the past?
December 2006Carolyn Gifford asks whether the Building Schools for the Future programme will provide an education for the future as well as bricks and mortar.
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Virtually there?
November 2006Bob Harrison explores the concept of the 'virtual school', reporting back from a visit to Stanford Virtual High in San Francisco.
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Open thinking and open spaces
November 2006Bruce Jilk is an American architect whose innovative, flexible designs for schools have gained him worldwide recognition. At the recent Futurelab conference, he talked about how his designs reflected his learner-centred philosophy. Kim Thomas met up with him over coffee to hear his thoughts on architecture, schools and learning.