庥豆app下载

At Jisc, we鈥檝e been supporting the college to trial new technologies and blended learning techniques 鈥� giving students the skills they need for the changing workplace.

All young people are comfortable using every type of technology 鈥� it鈥檚 the colleges that need to keep up.

According to James Maltby, learning technology manager at 庥豆app下载 in East Sussex, while this is a widely-held belief, it simply isn鈥檛 the case.

 

鈥淚t鈥檚 a misconception that all students come to college with strong digital skills. 

"They鈥檙e used to using apps on their phones, but don鈥檛 necessarily have good transferable skills. At 庥豆app下载, we focus on giving students the skills they鈥檒l need in the workplace, both directly after college and in years to come. Our technology-focused training shows students how they can apply those skills to other programmes or applications.鈥�

Ensuring teaching increasingly reflects industry

庥豆app下载 is a further and higher education college specialising in land-based courses. This refers to agriculture, horticulture, and other topics useful for rural economies, so subjects include everything from equine studies to adventure education and motor vehicle repair.

Technology is being increasingly used to teach subjects like these, to reflect what鈥檚 happening in industry. James says:

鈥淒igital technology is just going to get more and more embedded in industry within the next 10 to 20 years.鈥�

In the agricultural field, this could mean things like sensors and satellites to track livestock, automated tractors, or using data to predict harvest conditions. This will require farmers to have a greater understanding of not only using these technologies, but also how to interpret data.

鈥淲e need to make sure these skills are fully developed into the curriculum now,鈥� says James. 鈥淪o, our students are prepared for the future.鈥�

Using a blended approach

The focus at 庥豆app下载 is on 鈥榖lended learning鈥�: mixing digital technology with traditional teaching practices, rather than thinking about them separately. One of the biggest shifts, says James, is the move away from a suite of computers where students go for 鈥業T time鈥�.

鈥淲e鈥檙e now moving towards an approach where tech is embedded in many different parts of the curriculum.鈥�

At 庥豆app下载, they鈥檝e trialled different approaches, including investing in 360-degree video technology and using virtual reality headsets in the classroom. Students have been experimenting with creating immersive content for their peers. Level 3 agriculture students created a video on how to milk dairy cows to teach Level 1 and 2 students best practice. Students lead these projects. They devise materials and create storyboards and scripts.

Sam Coles, director of teaching and learning, said:

鈥淢ore and more students studying at 庥豆app下载 don鈥檛 have a farming background.

鈥淪o, using resources like virtual reality in the classroom helps to embed learning prior to being in the environment.鈥�

The college also takes the technology out to local schools.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a great way to show prospective students the amount of technology used in the land-based sectors, and how we can prepare them for their future careers, where technology will be used in everyday practice,鈥� says Sam.

庥豆app下载 students and tutors are also trialling different software to encourage active learning.

鈥淩ather than using PowerPoint in our lessons, which is quite passive, we encouraged our lecturers to start using interactive software like Nearpods for developing lessons,鈥� says James.

This software can create quizzes and polls and students can give instant feedback.

鈥淚t synchronises prepared lessons to all students鈥� devices, making learning more interactive and collaborative.鈥�

These blended learning approaches were inspired by the college鈥檚 relationship with Jisc.

鈥淚鈥檝e been to a lot of Jisc workshops,鈥� says James.

鈥淭hey have helped me understand blended learning on a strategic level and how we can start embedding it at 庥豆app下载. That鈥檚 been a huge benefit of our collaboration with Jisc.

鈥淛isc was instrumental in making projects like our virtual reality one happen,鈥�

He says he found his Jisc account managers鈥� support and advice really useful. They made it easier for him to collaborate with other local colleges.

鈥淚t鈥檚 surprisingly difficult to know who your equivalent colleague at another institution is, but Jisc account managers knew all the people in different organisations. They created a network amongst us 鈥� locally, but also nationally. Jisc also worked with us on evaluating the project and broadcasting results to our network and wider education community.鈥�

James continues to use our data and statistics to keep up with what other colleges are doing in technology.

鈥淲e use Jisc surveys as a benchmark to see how our digital technology compares with other FE and HE colleges,鈥�

he says. He also uses the digital capability framework to develop training to make sure colleagues keep up with the skills they need to teach effectively.

鈥淲e have a major digital skills drive at the college and are using the framework to shape our training sessions. We don鈥檛 focus on ICT skills now, it鈥檚 about the wider competencies, rather than specific programmes.鈥�

The importance of connectivity

庥豆app下载鈥檚 digital projects rely on fast and reliable interconnectivity through the Janet Network.

鈥淎ll our digital infrastructure is based in Janet, including our domain names,鈥� says James. 鈥淭he specialist support we get with that connectivity from Jisc is vital.鈥�

James was recently awarded a research fellowship to develop the college鈥檚 use of technology in its land-based courses, particularly virtual reality and collaborative learning.

鈥淲e continue to move away from technology being a passive thing to something that students interact with regularly as part of their learning,鈥�

says James, who wants to work with us again to share his research findings with other colleges and universities.

鈥淭hings are constantly changing with technology. If you鈥檙e going to keep up, you need to be looking outwards all the time. Our relationship with Jisc is a way of enabling that. It鈥檚 collaborative, which is really important for the college鈥檚 long-term approach to digital technology.鈥�

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