Home > News > December 2004 > 10-Dec-2004

£500,000 to develop e-learning techniques with new teachers

Half a million pounds is being invested in a series of projects designed to help trainee teachers to use the latest learning technologies.

The money is being awarded to nine ‘transformation projects', based mostly in further education colleges, that will pilot new techniques and resources in e-learning.

The nine projects, which start on 3rd December 2004 and finish at the end of July 2005, will explore different ways of embedding e-learning into initial teacher training programmes for further education. Each project, run by a single college or a consortium, will receive between £20,000 and £40,000. The projects are being managed by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) and funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).

The aim is to find the most effective ways of integrating e-learning into initial teacher training courses so that all newly qualified teachers working in post-16 education will be competent in using new technologies, from interactive whiteboards to online assessment.

"Our research shows there has been a vast improvement in the development of staff skills and a huge increase in the take-up and usage of the internet and other key e-learning technologies by teachers," said Markos Tiris, Executive manager for e-learning and technology at LSDA.

"But there is more to be achieved in order to make e-learning a mainstream activity, and meet the expectations of government and the needs of learners. As technology continues to move rapidly we need to be able to develop e-confident teachers who are able to seize the opportunity to exploit the benefits of technology, and are discerning enough not to use technology just for the sake of using technology. This initiative will ensure that new and aspiring teachers have the opportunity to develop this approach as they train."

The projects will investigate what works and why, in areas such as mentoring, assessment and observation, as well as the barriers to e-learning and the support and resources that trainers and trainees need.

Themes to be explored through the projects include:

- finding new ways of observing teachers on teaching practice, such as using video and other technologies

- how to use interactive whiteboards and web-based materials effectively

- how to set up a ‘virtual learning environment' so that trainee teachers who are not able to attend a full-time course can gain teaching qualifications

- ways of recording achievements through an online professional journal

The nine colleges and consortia running the projects are: Greenwich Community College, Kingston College (with Kingston's Adult Education Service), Weymouth College, South Birmingham College, Barnsley College, Bradford College, Tameside College, the College of West Anglia (with Isle College), and a consortium of colleges in the north east led by Sunderland College.

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