CESI 2014

Perspectives on what Creates and

Effective Online Learning Experience

‣ Young people aged between 13-16yrs who are out of mainstream education

‣ At-home learners

‣ Blended Centre learners

‣ FETAC Accreditation L3

‣ Progression to further Education, Training and Employment

Stephen Heppell (Heppell.net)

Notschool UK

Notschool Ireland Pilot 2007-2009

iScoil 2009-

iScoil 2012-13

Fig: Gender 2012-2013 N=52

Fig: Accreditation 2012-2013 N=52

Fig: Reason for Referral 2012-2013 N=52

Fig: Progression Routes 2012-2013 N=28

“Well you are not stuck in all day From early in the morning till

night”

“Like in school you are trying to keep up with the rest of the class.”

“I used to have that problem where you would be writing something down and then you haven’t it all and she wipes the board. I hate that.”

I really liked that I could log on later in the day and do the tasks then, My brain works better when I'm fully awake and when I was in regular schooling I would be really tired and couldn't concentrate as much because of it. I also like that I can use the Internet to look up things I'm not 100% sure about.

What the Students think.....

“Very handy better than writing or books rather the computer.

I’m terrible at writing I’d rather the computer it’s handy.”

“I’ve always wanted to be a mechanic so I’d probably bring some things like that on to it [iScoil]. There’s bits on it already how you do this with a car and things like that if there was more up on it you’d learn more.”

“Yeah sometimes the videos have writing in it isn’t it when you have to read the writing. And it trips on very fast.”

“I felt like I knew her (mentor) like even though I never seen her before. I felt comfortable like.”

they don’t feel confined to a classroom, do you know like, just the pressure of having an adult, building up a different relationship with adults.

Very often in mainstream schools as well, is just that curriculum, where in iScoil, the project courses, we try to outline their interests and their likes and that really gets them going, if they’re able to do quite well on ‘Man Utd’ tasks or whatever might entice them to try another communication task and that

really gets the ball rolling

it’s going to be private and individual to them, nobody is looking over their shoulder to see what they’ve done, nobody is comparing it to what they’re doing next to them. And it’s that that takes that pressure away.

What the Teachers think .....

..... like if you do kind of set projects task and previously you’d only kind of be getting short answers for that and then you suddenly give them a task about World War Two or something and you come back and they’re written this big long essay full of descriptive language and it’s that they actually have no problems with literacy, just that they weren’t interested in what you were giving them.......

but sometimes the hard thing is you don’t even get any feedback (from students)

on the other hand I feel that lack, you get a sense of someone when they come in, their mood, where they’re coming from

I think that sometimes you have to try and assess students by stealth

Fig: Pedagogical Pattern Collector - Communications Unit 2

Fig: Pedagogical Pattern Collector - Maths Unit 3.2

Total 335mins

Total: 170mins

How it works .....

Studies in interventions using technology emphasise the ability of online learning environments to provide a highly individualised and differentiated learning experience (Archambault et al 2010)

SafeSelf Paced Interest Led

Competency Based Active LearningStudent Centred Assessment

Synchronous vs Asynchronous

Could it work better....

What we know works ...... Personalised

Interaction Instruction

Adaptable

Flexible

Discussion

What did you not like or what would you change?

I would change some of the tasks difficulty to make them more challenging for the students of course it all depends on the students strong & weak points how the tasks should change for example a student who is weak at math could start of at a 1 out of 5 on a difficulty scale and work their way up to 4 or 5 eventually while a student who is strong at math could start of at a 3 out of 5 etc.

Blended Learning Centres Partners

School Completion ProgrammeGarda Youth Diversion ProjectJustice and Probation Project

Youth Work IrelandFAS

Pathways