Over the last 15 years, there has been a massive investment in technology for education. First, it was computers
in classrooms, then it was networking them. Most recently it has been about using content from “web 2,” VLEs, the cloud, or even ‘MOOCs. Alongside this has been a huge growth in smartphones and tablet devices, the launch of 4G superfast networks, and the increasing
belief that a “bring your own device” deployment will become the norm, when students can access nearly any data from their own smartphones or iPhone®, tablet or iPad®.
At Merchant Taylors’ School in the UK, there is also the realization that the transformation to a more personalized 24/7 access to data combined with student use of social media
will ultimately shift their framework and content to being video-based. These videos not only have to be made but sequenced, indexed and stored, so that they can be searched and found easily and activities completed in the correct sequence.
Anytime, anywhere access to video and audio resources
Merchant Taylors’ School has invested in SANSSpace Virtual Language Learning Platform to allow a much greater level of interoperability in the use of video. With SANSSpace, a teacher can set a series of bookmarks (in text, audio, or video) on top of any original
audio and video file, and send these contextual comments to a group of students. In turn, the students can respond to those teacher-driven videos in their own time and on their own PCs, MACs, or mobile devices by recording their own comments back—again in
text audio or video. All this can be indexed, blended, and linked back into the existing school website.
Transformative technology
“This is ‘transformative technology,’” says Chris Roseblade, Deputy Head Communications at Merchant Taylors’ School. “Instead of just relying on our students to download and look at video without any framework or reference, we can now direct,
inspire, correct, assess and catalogue any and all video and audio activity. I know that our languages department, who were the first UK school to pioneer Sony Virtuoso™ networked language labs some ten years ago, will find this tremendously useful for self-study,
stretching the most able as well as nurturing those who need more help and assistance. Students can work on a clip in the language they’re learning, asking questions in that language, producing a glossary for a newscast, and so on. That exposes them to real
language in use by native speakers, rather than the hyper-controlled vocabulary and grammatical structures of a textbook.”
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