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A constant challenge for all schools is the support of children’s educational achievements. With a large percentage of schools considered to be underachieving, there is a growing necessity to support 21st century learners with the appropriate tools to enable them to realise their potential and maximise their opportunities to achieve. Even in high-attaining schools there are some students underachieving – often from disadvantaged backgrounds – and reaching out to those students is essential to continuously promote excellence for all.
Every school is responsible for its own improvement, but what makes for a ‘great school’? According to the Department for Education, ‘It has an excellent headteacher focused on teaching and learning and with an understanding of wider outcomes; it has good teachers who provide personalised support and carefully track pupils’ progress; it has robust management systems and a ‘can do’ culture of achievement. The school offers a broad range of curriculum…teachers are encouraged to use the best resources available to them… Children always feel supported and are achieving well. The school engages with parents and the wider community…so that every child can have a successful and enjoyable education.’
I am learning, a games based revision and assessment system, is considered by many schools to be one of those key resources which supports schools in their quest to improve and do the best for their students across the entire achievement spectrum.
The fundamental principle behind I am learning’s games based approach is raising standards and making the learning process enjoyable; ‘making it cool to succeed.’ Students undertake exercises across a wide range of curriculum subjects, centralised in one online area. For each exercise, the student chooses which game they wish to play with built in unlocks meaning the more a student accesses I am learning, the more games are made available, providing a continuous incentive to engage in learning. Revision and consolidation exercises are presented to the learner throughout the game play, where students strive to perform to compete in their school, authority or worldwide for places on the leader boards.
 As students demonstrate improvement and progression, the system increases their chances of performing well in games generating a commitment from students to succeed academically.
Steve Fuller, Assistant Headteacher at St Wilfreds CoE High School and Technology College in Blackburn says:
‘The system is very motivational - we have used other revision tools before, but I am learning is the only one where students autonomously access the system without the need of pressure from teachers. We are finding the children are spending more and more of their free time playing the games and ultimately learning.’
By integrating this games based approach, underachieving schools have the opportunity to capture the attention and imagination of their 21st century learners, providing enjoyable education in a format which they best understand, harnessing their social practice for the benefits of learning and creating a ‘can do’ attitude culture of achievement for learners at both ends of the spectrum.
Mike Rimmer, Assistant Headteacher at Buttershaw Enterprise College in Bradford says:
‘I am Learning has provided Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College with a manageable, interactive resource which has had an impact on our students. Many of our students come from 'hard to reach' families, but having access anytime and anywhere to fantastic engaging resources has helped develop more independent and motivated learners. The feedback we receive on how much time young people have spent revising in specific subject areas has been very useful. Our results over the past three years have shown significant improvement, some of which I am convinced can be put down to the access our learners have had to I am Learning.’
 As students undertake exercises within, they generate a wealth of information which is presented within comprehensive reports; to celebrate success and highlight areas in need of improvement. This information is presented in appropriate ways for students, parents and teachers. At any time, a teacher is able to view reports pertaining to a cohort of learners or an individual to comprehensively appraise their learning. For areas in need of additional support, the teacher is able to tailor content to suit user needs by selecting appropriate exercises from the I am learning content bank, accessing community-based content or creating their own content specifically to address the learner’s individual needs. This can be allocated as a set task, together with the ability to send a private message to the learner(s) to provide additional support and instruction. Key to the success of personalisation is the ability to track pupil’s progress with accurate, real-time measurement of achievements demonstrating the speed in which a child is progressing.
Colin Kirkman, Deputy Headteacher at Westlands School in Torbay, comments:
‘Students have responded very positively to a fun way of learning / revising. We are utilising 'I am learning' as a tool for setting, automatically marking and monitoring homework. This will reduce work load on teachers and make homework more enjoyable for students. This edutainment approach is a good way to encourage students into regular study / revision and is a good way of checking that learning is secure. Teachers can apply AfL principles to an overview of question responses - i.e. focus on identified areas of weakness. We believe I am learning has great potential in encouraging students to independently learn.’
 The key driver behind I am learning is the use of information to support individual pupils, cohorts and whole school improvement. The premise is that the games based approach motivates students to access I am learning on a regular basis. The more they access the games, the more exercises they undertake, the more data is generated and the more meaningful the reports are. By making data more meaningful, more effective interventions can be made.
For schools currently considered ‘low achieving’ this is of paramount concern as such progression is considered an excellent indicator of how effective the school is. Using this meaningful data, I am learning can integrate with school management systems to empower students, parents, teachers and senior leaders and facilitate improvement.
The combination of ways which I am learning motivates students to want to learn, creating a ‘can do’ culture of attainment, combined with centralised, meaningful, real time data ensures that students, parents, teachers and senior leaders have the tools to support the raising of attainment at individual, cohort and whole school level.
For more information about I am learning, click here. |
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