Case Study: Using Mobile Technology

to deliver eILPs for NEETS

By Sarah Hoss

Exec Summary

This is a report to inform the mTransition project (led by Pembrokeshire College) of a

short pilot study conducted in the summer break 2014 to trial the use of the mTransition

App to deliver a short intervention of one month to two groups of VET learners (14

learners) attending an engagement course to encourage them back into education and

training.

By giving learners the opportunity to participate in the planning and completion of their

eILP and monitor and document progress against agreed targets through the use of

mobile technology, we aimed to enrich their experience by increasing engagement and

introducing them to online learning resources.

It is hoped this intervention will assist Pembrokeshire College improve outcomes of these

young people.

The ambition is that what we learned through this pilot can help and inform our partners

to deliver similar activities to learners and progress the use of the mTransition App for

mobility learning, pastoral support and virtual tutoring.

Key to the success of this pilot was the face-to-face as well as remote support offered to

assist the learners develop their IT skills to make the most of the experience.

Introduction

Mobile learning at its best is where the equipment isn’t the main focus of the activity, but enhances

the experience of the learner and encourages them to want to progress their learning by making it

an enjoyable, empowering experience.

Traditional desktop computers can be barriers to learning amongst small groups and less

experienced learners, Almond, Chawla, Brydges (2007) whilst mobile devices, because of their size,

mobility and wide adoption for social experiences, have the potential to engage learners in such a

way that the equipment becomes secondary.

Weiser (1991) stated ‘the most profound technologies are those that disappear’ – a perceptive

observation at the time. What Weiser was referring to was how technology becomes ‘invisible’ once

it becomes ‘the norm’. One doesn’t reflect on the remarkable thinness and opacity of paper; the way

the ball in a biro rolls seamlessly to deliver a thin layer of ink onto the paper; we just write things

down. The same is true of IT equipment when the context and equipment match. Young learners are

completely comfortable using hand held devices – which ‘disappear’ as they are used for texting,

keeping a diary and taking photos.

Hand held devices not only liberate the learner from the traditional classroom setting, but also

foster a sense of ownership. Most of the young people handed tablets greeted them with delight

and learned very quickly how to operate them.

The Pilot

The pilot would help achieve these aims and objectives of the project:

-use of the App as part of the pedagogical framework

-evaluate the App used with VET learners at risk to prevent them from becoming NEET

-Evaluate the App in learning mobility to address the problems of communication between involved

parties and the recording of learners’ non-formal learning experiences systematically.

Location

Pembrokeshire College is the largest provider of post-16 education in the county of Pembrokeshire,

located in rural west Wales, UK. The college employs about 500 staff and has over 10,000 learners.

The College delivers a wide range of academic and vocational training particularly focused on

delivering work-based learning and apprenticeships.

The college is committed to investing in IT and innovating in the application of IT in education,

specialising in the use of mobile technology for fostering engagement with those identified as being

NEET or at risk of becoming NEET.

As part of the transfer of innovation, the mTransition project is promoting its eILP App to tutors and

Learner Coaches who have direct contact with learners at risk of becoming NEET currently on work-

based learning programmes.

Methodology

Two groups of learners were identified. The learners were attending an ICT and an Engineering

‘taster’ course in the summer holiday having left school for a variety of reasons. The learners arrived

at college having been referred by the local careers service. From their referral form we were able to

ascertain their current educational position. Individual learner accounts were created on Moodle.

The main aim of the course was to up-skill and inspire the learners to progress to further study,

employment or work-based learning after completing the course. In the event we engaged with 14

learners.

Each learner was introduced to the project through an initial registration form which allowed them

to document their agreed personal statement of learning after consultation at the outset and

completion of the course.

The methodology was to engage face-to-face initially, introducing the learners to an android tablet

and train each learner in its use. A user name and password was created for each learner. A short

course was built onto Moodle and all learners enrolled onto the course.

An eILP was drawn up to encourage each learner to fully participate in their course. Targets were

agreed and completion dates were set up to enable learners to manage their time. Activities that

they could undertake on their own outside of the formal classroom setting to complete their course

were set up on their devices. Learners were also shown how to contact their mTransition tutor via

Instant Messaging. Progress was checked daily.

The learners were required to complete a course built around eight key elements:

1 Personal Development and Wellbeing

2 Employability

3 Health and Safety

4 Enterprise/selling

5 ESDGC

6 Welsh Language and Culture

7 Numeracy

8 Literacy

A short course on Moodle was developed covering these eight areas and activities were set to help

the learners fulfil them. Individual targets were discussed and agreed assist the learners through this

process.

The learners were also required to assist the project by feeding back their experiences of using the

tablet and the App. They were also empowered to exercise their learner voice using an online

platform (VocalEyes Digital Democracy) to register their own ideas for improving the course and rate

and debate each other’s ideas. This information was sent to the College’s Managers. Some of their

ideas were turned into tangible actions. The most highly-rated ideas included changing the course

time to start later in the morning; having a higher rate of student allowance paid and cheaper food

made available in the canteen. The engineering uniforms were also highlighted as being not suitable

to fit female students – feedback which helped the institution meet the learner’s needs.

mTransition activities to be accessed via the App outside the formal classroom:

Pathway link Targets/Goals

1&2 Personal Development/Employability 1. Do your TRaCIO at outset of course

Target: Increase score 2. Do your interim TRaCIO test

3. Do your final TRaCIO test

EVIDENCE: automatically generated on TRaCIO – which measures key ‘soft’ skills via self-assessment by learners and assessment by tutor with the results showing any differences.

2 Employability 1. Research potential careers/jobs

Target: Develop career pathway

EVIDENCE: post a potential job on Padlet (an online noticeboard platform for collaboration)

2. Research qualifications needed and courses

EVIDENCE: Prepare a route-map

5 ESDGC 1. Participate in digital decision-making in-house

Become a digital citizen

EVIDENCE: Show user account activity on VocalEyes (a digital engagement tool)

2. Participate in Government consultation online

EVIDENCE: show 'Wales We want' activity on VocalEyes.

7&8 Numeracy/Literacy

1. Gain knowledge of online learning thro web-based tool e.g. Khan Academy; (maths) BBC Bitesize;(curriculum-based fun activities) Topmarks (maths utility).

Generate content and progress EVIDENCE: set up user account, participate.

2. Improve your LIT/NUM

EVIDENCE:Scores improving on the platforms used and reported via the App.

The cross-cutting themes of equality/diversity and sustainability were also reflected.

Examples of user journeys

Student A

Student A had agreed to attend the engineering course following advice from her careers advisor.

Aged 16, student A had spent recent months in a pupil referral unit having had disciplinary issues in

the past. As a result of extended periods of absence and disrupted schooling student A’s educational

progress had been somewhat limited and she expressed at the initial meeting frustration that she

had not achieved what she felt she was capable of. In the Initial Assessment (online test) she had

achieved a level 2 grade in literacy an entry level 3 in numeracy – the highest mark in her class. She

was keen to pursue learning and a possible career path into motor vehicle.

Student A did not have her own mobile device. Therefore, a Nexus android tablet was loaned to her

through the project. She was familiar with gaming and social media functions but had no prior

experience of using a mobile device in an educational context.

She quickly became familiar with using the App and was able to send instant messages to the tutor.

She was provided with access to the tablet whilst at College (using the institution’s wifi connection).

This learner required face-to-face as well as virtual tutor support. As part of the course she was

introduced to an online learning resource (Khan Academy). This particularly sparked the learner’s

great interest. She spent some of her own time working through mathematical assignments. By the

end of the course, this learner was progressing to being able to take more charge of her own

learning and progress.

As part of the course, she participated in providing feedback to the institution via an online ideas

and crowd-sourcing system – VocalEyes - and saw her suggestion (for better-fitting protective

overalls and boots for female students) turned into action. This experience, along with her mobile

learning, helped to increase her confidence levels and feel more engaged.

Student B

Student B was a young man hoping to gain employment as a coder/games designer attending an

introductory IT course. He was open enough to admit he had issues with attendance and

punctuality. He had achieved level 1 in both literacy and numeracy on his initial assessment. He

played an active role in the classroom and seemed to be really enjoying his course. He also

volunteered to make a film about using the App but struggled to recruit learners to take on the

presenting roles.

By the end of the course, he was proudly reporting that he’d managed to attend each day on time.

As part of his individual targets he was tasked with researching job vacancies. By the end of his

course, with help, he had successfully researched potential job opportunities, and applied online for

two vacancies. This was seen as a very positive outcome for this particular learner. Since then, the

learner has enrolled onto a full-time college course.

Learner Feedback

‘I’d rather use a tablet because it’s easier to use and I get my work done quicker’.

‘I enjoyed doing the targets the tutors set. I would like to continue using a tablet’.

‘Using the App helped make the learning more enjoyable and interesting’.

‘The App was great and easy to use. I will use it again in the future’.

Tutor Experience

The mTransition project has its own dedicated

tutor working directly with learners and

subject tutors (Sarah Hoss). One of the first

College tutors Sarah worked with on this pliot

was an IT tutor who was very enthusiastic

about using mobile technology for learning.

As part of the pilot, Heather (pictured) was

also issued with a tablet device and enrolled

as a tutor onto the Moodle course.

As had agreed that the learners were not

allowed to remove the devices from the

college campus, a negotiation took place in

which it was agreed that Heather would use

the tablets to deliver some of her classroom

based activities, such as taking photos and researching certain topics online, to assist the learners to

operate the tablet and manage the physical safety of the equipment by supervising the students

signing for the tablets and storing them in small lockers.

The tutor then agreed to give over some of her contact time to this pilot because we needed to give

the learners some time where they took ownership of their own learning outside of the classroom.

On two afternoons, Heather allowed the learners to be away from their main classroom and did

their own work completing targets set on the eILP with support from Sarah, their mobile learning

tutor.

Tutor Feedback

‘Using the tables improved the student’s self-confidence enormously. They loved using them

and felt that they had ownership of their learning’.

‘I gave them a topic to research using the tablets they came back with great ideas. Then they

emailed each other the links for the webpages’.

‘I feel that tablets are the way forward in learning and I look forward to the day that all

students at Pembrokeshire College will be able to be provided with tables to use with their

studies’.

‘Being able to keep track of progress via eILPs is crucial for assisting ‘at risk’ learners to

complete their studies by deepening the engagement between learner and provider.’

Dissemination and Awareness Raising

During the delivery of this pilot, the mTransition tutor wrote a blog contemporaneously - see the

blog page of the mTransition website: www.mtransition.eu capturing the challenges and progress as

the project progressed. These were also shared via Twitter. It was planned to involve the learners in

filming a short video about their experience with the project (using the tablet video function) but in

the end this did not happen as time ran out, having struggled to recruit a presenter.

Course Evaluation

Upon completion of the course, all participants were invited to provide feedback via a survey

conducted by our independent evaluators, NIACE.

Outcomes

NIACE survey results:

Summary

(For details see the results box below provided by dissemination partner NIACE)

The learners who participated in the online survey reported that:

Of 11 students who participated in the online survey; eight reported the mobile app very or

quite useful in supporting their learning; eight reported they would like a tablet for keeping

track of their learning in future; seven agreed or strongly agreed it made learning more fun.

The App functions that they enjoyed the most were the individual targets; instant messaging

and courses. Two learners reported that they didn’t enjoy using any parts of the App.

The majority used the App to demonstrate they had completed tasks; to keep track of their

work and to set and keep track of learning goals.

Eight of the 11 reported that they felt the App had benefited them by helping with their

employability skills (2 strongly agreed, 6 agreed), five agreed it helped with motivation (4

disagreed); that it made learning more interesting.

Critical Reflection

We set out to road-test a concept that eILPs could be delivered in a short intervention via the

mTransition App and provided tablets to ensure all learners had access. We had hoped that many

learners would use their own devices to ensure sustainability of the engagement. However, it

became clear at the outset that only one individual had their own device. This meant that the

intervention would only last for the duration that the learners had access to a project-owned device.

Based upon previous experience, the project also concerned about the need to safeguard the tablet

and ensure that it was not misused, lost, stolen or damaged. For this reason, it was agreed to issue

the tablets to the learners each day and ensure that they were returned. A locator App was also

installed into each device. The devices were all labelled and asset-tagged. They also needed to be

charged up safely. We used a special locker cupboard that had individual compartments with power

points to enable each learner to ‘take ownership’ of the device during the day, returning it to a

dedicated locker on charge each evening. Ideally learners would have the App installed on their own

device and this would then remove this layer of complexity to the situation.

The advantage of using in-house devices was that the project tutors could be more prescriptive

about the sort of activities that the learners were required to do using the tablet. It created a

professional digital space for the learners and tutors to occupy – in terms of online searches, which

Apps they had access to and the sorts of activities they did. Learners were introduced to various

learning platforms available online including BBC Bitesize (for topping up on their school work) and

Khan Academy (for mathematics).

The course tutor also used the tablets for other learning experiences such as taking photos and

creating presentations.

One learner brought in her own android tablet and the App was installed onto it.

The project pilot did not get the chance to try out the App on a mobile phone because none of the

cohort had an android phone.

Tablets look and feel more like

mini-computers than phones.

They are becoming much more

popular. Many are using tablets

for TV viewing and playing games.

It could be argued that this is a

good ‘space’ for learning Apps

because it creates a sense of fun

and playfulness essential to

learning.

For example, a learner can be

tasked with undertaking an hour

of Khan Academy (maths) or to

reach a certain level, before

moving on to spending time on a

gaming App as a reward. In

practise this worked well in the

pilot - on one occasion the

learners had to be prompted to

pack up and go home because

they had become so engrossed in

their maths challenge they hadn’t

noticed it was time to go home!

This was a startling and welcome

response in a group of learners

who had previously struggled to maintain concentration in the classroom and illustrated the

importance of finding a way to spark intrinsic motivation and fun in the learning environment.

One learner was very adept at operating the tablet. He was set a target to deliver training to the

other learners – something he achieved with great confidence. Learners were encouraged to start

self-organising, rather than relying on the tutors. With encouragement, they started to help each

other, becoming teachers at certain points where one had the knowledge that the others lacked.

By the end of the pilot, the feeling was that learners had generally enjoyed using the tablets, had

treated the devices and each other with respect.

One wondered what would have happened if we had handed over the devices for the learners to

take home, once trust had been established. Some would have perhaps sustained their learning

even after they had left the course. Others may well have simply switched off the device if they felt

they didn’t want to be in communication with the institution once they had finished their course.

The engineering group generally grasped the notion of e-learning and m-learning quickly and

expressed great support for this method of undertaking tasks and completing targets. As hands-on

learners, they seemed to really enjoy using a tablet instead of paper and pen and this also helped

some overcome their low levels of ability in writing clearly.

The greatest success was in helping these ‘at risk’ young people research, find and apply for jobs

online. They were able to quickly send emails to prospective employers. They also enjoyed accessing

their own social media profiles via the tablet.

Two of the learners had learning difficulties. This raised an issue. Whilst they delighted in ‘playing’

with the tablets and accessing gaming Apps, would they find the text-based nature of the

mTransition App a barrier? And how would they manage the very small font size and the text-based

instant messaging facility? Accessibility was clearly an issue. In this pilot both learners received one-

to-one support to participate. One of these learners overcame her fear of the technology and

engaged in class-based activities using the tablet. This was a very satisfying outcome for her.

The IT group all expressed a desire to keep the tablets and to return to college in the following

academic year. Many discussions took place in-house about how we could realise this wish and also

use the equipment effectively to hit our project targets. It was decided to issue the tablets to new

learners to ensure more learners had the experience, whilst also communicating the outcome of the

pilot to the IT directors with the hope that more tablets would be purchased and used as learning

tools in the future to enhance learning inside and outside the classroom and to see such devices

‘disappear’ in the Weiser-sense.

Words and Photos: Sarah Hoss

mTransition Tutor, Pembrokeshire College, Sept 2014 s.hoss@pembs.ac.uk (+44) 07949 087111

For further information about the project and App please see:

www.mtransition.eu

Blog: http://mtransition.pembs.ac.uk/news

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/m_Transition

Email: mtrans@pembrokeshire.ac.uk