As we see an increase of technology in the classroom, it is opening up new ways of learning for pupils across all key stages. As professionals, we are always evaluating the impact of tools used within our classrooms and are held to account on the decisions we make about which tool to use, when to use it and why. Technology is a tool… an expensive outlay of a tool. So it is not surprising that Heads and CEOs are eager to understand the impact EdTech has. When supporting schools, we are very clear in outlining that EdTech isn’t just ‘a classroom thing’. The benefits of EdTech run through every area of school life such as recording visitors into school, minimising workload for office staff, effective record keeping as well as increasing outcomes for children in and outside of the classroom.
In this month's issue, we focus on learning and more specifically on the movement of new learning into long term memory and whether technology can facilitate this.
Research suggests that retrieval learning – or the recall of previous information - is effective and efficient in moving new information into long term memory.
How can technology help?
The school day is long for our learners and with homework not always viewed in a positive light (spoiler alert for the next issue – is there still a need for ‘traditional homework’?) are there ways in which technology could provide opportunities to recall learning from that day, week, month or year, to help move it into long-term memory? A more efficient, effective way of learning perhaps.
In our Trust, we have been looking further into this through the use of our Class Sites.
Platform usage
Our schools use the Microsoft platform and have developed our Sharepoint to become an extension of the children’s classroom. From school or home, children are able to access individual and collaborative work. We set up discussions for children to contribute their answers by having to draw upon previous learning experiences. It is also time efficient – 5 minutes maximum and in a style that the pupils can fully relate to. It can be accessed by a mobile phone, on a tablet – completed anywhere at any time to fit into the ever-busy family life!
Practical use
We all know how tricky it is for children to master the amount of vocabulary used – so constantly getting them to draw in their learning with help reinforce it.
Quick, purposeful, manageable and having an impact! We can ask children to remember back to previous day’s learning or previous year group learning – after all when they are tested at KS2 SATS and above they are drawing on 4 plus years of learning facts!
Sometimes we use the Sharepoint in a similar way to ask pupils to bring past learning to the front. In any subject, by setting a pre-teach task where children are retrieving prior learning, this further embeds learning whilst giving the teacher a clear idea on where to pitch a new learning. This activity can be set before the learning takes place in a ‘flip learning’ style.
Obviously other platforms will enable the same thing to happen, as mentioned previously, technology is just a tool – it is what and how you use it that has the impact. But maybe this approach would provide pupils with another opportunity to retrieve and use their developing knowledge base, in a style that suits them!
Quizzes
Predominantly, our schools use Microsoft Forms but again there are different tools out there that do a similar job. Sometimes, to keep the children completely in control of their learning, they set themselves a quiz to complete during the plenary part of the session! A win/win situation as the children recall the facts and knowledge to set the quiz and then schedule for it to be completed the following day or week and when they will retrieve the information again - maybe from home!
Hopefully, this has provided you with a chance to reflect on the way you could help children move learning into their long term memory.
If you would like to discuss this further please contact us https://www.ehlt-training.org.uk/
For those specifically Microsoft and would like to attend any of our Microsoft Training courses, please sign up for them here at the Digital Learning Programme platform https://www.ehlt-training.org.uk/