Developing e-learning in the age of austerity

There won't be any single school, college or HE institution that hasn't been affected by the severe and wide-ranging budget cuts imposed by the new government. The hopes of so many school communities to rebuild or rennovate their ageing facilities through the Buidling Schools for the Future programmes have been destroyed and those that had planned to improve their ICT resources and infrastructures through the Harnessing New Technologies Fund saw their promised funding slashed in the middle of this financial year as the Gove-rnor cut this fund by 50% to divert the money to his new "free" schools.
What a lovely start to the new school year this has been!

However, schools are still under enormous pressure to deliver on innovative teaching methods, improving the use of e-learning tools in the classroom, developing students' e-literacy and competing with other schools by offering more exciting learning opportunities while equipping every child with 21st century skills for the ever faster changing world they'll have to make a living in. And all this on a shoe-string now.

Manufacturers are falling over themselves trying to sell their new products and gadgets "to innovate teaching and learning etc". More often than not these products have been made for the business market originally, only to be re-packaged as an innovative learning tool. Take, for example, the interactive whiteboard: it's still mainly used as a glorified presentation tool by most teachers. There are of course induction and training courses showing a few colleagues how to set the board up and use the tools but little regard has been given to ensuring that teachers are then able to exploit the true interactive potential of the board to involve and engage the majority of the class.

This under-use and subsequent "languishing in the cupboard" (TES July 2010) of so many expensive tools does not have to be the reality in your school! As an experienced teacher and e-learning specialist I decided to develop and deliver courses aimed at schools and educators trying to make the most of the existing resources and rolling out this training across the school in a cost-efficient way.

You may also want to invest money in new technologies and are unsure which ones can be used most effectively - contact me to discuss a way forward!

Volker Green
iNSPIRING LEARNING