An introduction to 1:1 Programmes

Put simply, they do it to improve the quality of their teaching & learning.

The most effective lessons are those where students receive good quality, highly personalised and timely feedback and where the level of challenge is high and testing for all students, so that they are self-motivated, develop as independent learners and continue to aspire.

The content needs to be engaging and any processing of information must be at a profound level. Used effectively devices provide teachers with an even greater set of tools at their disposal to facilitate outstanding lessons that deliver to each student. The device in itself will not turn a poor lesson into a good one, nor does it in any way replace the professional judgement of the teacher to determine how best to support their students; but properly used a device, its features and its connectivity has the power to help enhance and broaden the teacher’s reach.

However, if you ask teachers what would make the biggest difference to student progress they will say that it is the student's self-motivation, engagement and independent learning skills that will have the biggest impact on their success.  A personal device offers new opportunities to motivate and engage students of all abilities. It empowers the student to take control of their learning and to work in a more individualised way. Additionally, the opportunity to work collaboratively with other students both within school and beyond has the potential to greatly enhance a child's understanding and educational progress.

There are many functions provided by devices that support effective teaching and learning. Some are obvious but others less so. Significantly they are also of great benefit to any child with any type of learning difficulty as there is a vast array of settings and software that can be used that allows a child to fully participate on an equal footing with the rest of the class.

Here are some of the many functions and uses provided by devices:

• Web browser - extension tasks, wider reading, film clips, and research skills can all be developed in short bursts and where appropriate, rather than having to take a whole lesson in a computer room.
• Apps - there are many subject specific Apps that can enhance the quality of provision. Obvious examples include GarageBand in music lessons and Mathletics but there is a huge range of subject-specific Apps for all subject areas. These are often peer reviewed and tested by other teachers and so teachers can take these on with confidence.
• Access to email.
• Camera - The production of rich media resources by students will lead to more innovative and varied presentation styles in lessons. It will allow learning to be consolidated and developed in a different way. Students can be filmed carrying out activities so that they can receive coaching from teachers, and others. Techniques can be filmed by the teacher to support the skill development in their students.
• eBooks and IBooks, You Tube lessons - the opportunity for teachers to use others or create their own interactive textbooks provides  unique opportunities to ensure that students arrive at lessons fully prepared so that lessons can be delivered in the most challenging way possible (the flipped classroom).
• Apps that can help the school to better support and manage students. Homework apps that help communicate with parents or enable rapid evaluation of work and feedback to students so that they are another step further ahead when they next come to class.

Their use as an educational tool is extremely exciting and staff and students alike find and will continue to find new and innovative ways to use them. They will not be used in every lesson by every teacher and never used 'just for the sake of it'. As with any tool - it is only effective when used with planning, due thought and in an appropriate manner.

There is frustratingly little direct evidence about the impact of devices on learning. There is however, a wealth of well-respected long term studies which look at what has the greatest impact on student progress, and it is these that now guide decision-making of most schools in the UK. Various large scale meta-analyses have been carried out over the last few years: Hatties work on effect sizes and the Sutton Trust Report which is used by many school principals to guide their thinking.

More than half of all secondary school principals now say that they use the Sutton Trust toolkit.

The top three teaching approaches that have the biggest impact on student progress are:

• Effective feedback
• Meta-cognition & self-regulation
• Peer tutoring/peer assisted learning

These three strategies have been shown to have a potential gain on student’s attainment of +9, +8 and +6 months respectively.

Whist the full potential is still being realised here are some simple examples of how devices can help support these three key strategies:

Effective Feedback

• eClicker App - allows a whole class to be quizzed quickly and the data analysed by the teacher to help pick up and respond to (anonymously if necessary) individual misunderstandings. The level of questioning can be moderated to provide different levels of feedback and a report of responses is emailed to the teacher.
• Nearpod App – Presentations ‘beamed’ to each student with built in assessment and feedback options which can be instantly shared with the class or analysed later by the teacher.
• Email - the opportunity for assessed tasks (whether tests or broader responses) to be completed electronically and then emailed to the teacher provides huge potential. These tests can be marked quickly, returned to the students for improvement and then resent in a much more timely and effective fashion than currently possible.
• Show Me App - allows a device screen to function as a mini-whiteboard which students write on with their finger, to give the teacher instant feedback.
• Verbal feedback - staff can produce more detailed responses to student work by recording audio feedback which the student can then listen to in their own time. An App called Explain Everything allows a video to be made of the marking process. Work does not need to be typed to be marked in this way, it can be photographed and emailed to the teacher.

Metacognition/self-regulation

• Interactive text - whether students are reading worksheets or textbooks a device allows them to check their comprehension by clicking on keywords and defining them. It also allows notes to be written while the text is being read to support the student in gathering their thoughts, and securing their understanding.
• Animation software - some subjects require large amounts of abstract thinking. By building and animating 3D models of complex processes students can form a far greater understanding and recall of the process.
• Mind map software - essay planning and revision can be greatly supported by the student developing mind maps of key concepts. These can be produced alone or collaboratively.
• Show me - this App can also be used for students to draw or write and then speak and record, therefore providing them with a means to articulate a thought process. It is particularly useful if students provide a voiceover to a sequence of events or film.
• Sharing - students are more likely to take a risk with answers if they know that the work will be quickly returned to them for improvement. By emailing their answers the students can receive faster, more relevant feedback and be expected to have improved their answers before the next lesson.

Peer tutoring/peer assisted learning

• Students are frequently asked to produce imaginative pieces of work for homework; assessing these can be difficult as a computer room would be required. When all students have a device they can share their work with each other for peer assessment.
• Students can collaborate on shared resources. These peer groups don’t necessarily need to be within the same class or school or country even.
• Model answers can be instantly shared with the whole class.

and numeracy skills develop slowly. Special needs include conditions such as dyslexia, physical disabilities, speech and language disorders, visual impairment, hearing loss, difficulties in communication, and emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Technology can help these children overcome many of their communication difficulties, so they can be included in lessons, and access a wider curriculum. For example, access devices can help learners with physical difficulties to use a computer, and enable them to access the same curriculum as their peers.

Software designed to meet a student’s particular needs can also help to motivate him or her. For some students technology may be the only way to ensure they can make their thoughts and needs known. For them, access to appropriate ICT-based solutions provides perhaps the only chance of participating fully in education and realising their full potential.

Students with specific learning difficulties can benefit enormously from using devices. Students would be able to follow video instructions which they can stop and restart, for instance, if they are having to follow a complex method. They can produce their own video and photographic evidence for portfolio work. Students with poor reading and writing skills can use a dictation apps. Devices often come with a screen reader, support for playback of closed-captioned content, and other access features. Features like these make devices easier to use for students who have vision impairment, are deaf or hard of hearing, or have a physical or learning disability.

Schools have a duty of care to their students and a role that extends beyond ensuring that they pass exams. Students need to leave their schools confident that they can safely navigate the wider world in which they live and will work.

Universities and businesses are expecting students to be digitally literate and have an awareness of their personal digital footprint. Many employers will now study a person's online presence before deciding on whether to employ them. It is far more the norm nowadays for university students to use devices to support their studies and this practice will continue to grow throughout academia as well as the world of work.  Many corporations are also looking at the ways in which new technologies can support them. Schools want to give their students the life skills and understanding to be ahead of others in terms of employability and general preparedness.

It is a constant concern to parents, staff and students that the link between school and home learning is not always clear. A device which is used both in and out of school to facilitate longer term projects, challenge-based approaches and the ability to learn anytime anywhere has the potential to transform a school’s approach to home learning for the better.

But what happens if a student does not have Internet access at home?
If a student does not have access to the Internet at home then most (but not all) devices can still be used although likely to lose at least some of its effectiveness. While the student will not be able to access services like email, they would still be able to work on most Apps that are installed on their device and create new files\content. They will have to save this content on their device and then back it up once they return to school and are connected to the Internet. Essential resources can normally be downloaded directly onto their device whilst they are at school.

This is an issue though and schools will be keen to ensure all students can get online most of the time when they are at home. For those families who don’t have internet access children can normally access the internet at places such as libraries etc but this should be a short term solution and parents are encouraged to talk to the school if they need help with getting internet at home.

Teachers will still be in charge of their classroom. They set engaging, challenging activities with expected outcomes that drive the focus of the class just as they do normally.

Anecdotal reports indicate that students enjoy using devices and are motivated by the independence and creativity that they afford. However, there will of course be occasional abuse of the device and this will be dealt with through the usual routes that schools have available to them in the same way that poor behaviour is normally dealt with. Teachers will always have the right to ask students to close the case or put the device away.

One aspect of some Device Use policies is often that students will be asked to use their devices on their desks, not their laps as this helps to prevent students playing games as the staff can easily see their screens.