Learning enters a new age at Teignmouth Community College

Teignmouth Community College is a shining example of the government's investment in information and communications technology within the education sector. The Devon-based college, which provides a focal point for education for eleven to eighteen year olds in the Teignmouth area, has transformed its ICT abilities and put technology right at the heart of its learning process.

When Jon Lunn, Head of ICT, joined Teignmouth Community College three years ago, he only had sixteen usable computers for 1,000 pupils. The challenge was to transform the college's outmoded ICT equipment and ensure that all pupils have the appropriate access to technology and to meet the requirements of the national curriculum.

Teignmouth now boasts six fully equipped ICT suites including three main suites that provide one hour's tuition a week for year seven to eleven pupils and separate facilities for science, humanities and technology for one-to-one tuition. The facilities include 370 networked computers which, in turn, has put its own demands on the college's ICT function.

A key requirement has been to ensure that the now large PC network works reliably and efficiently. "The ICT role has to be 100 per cent reliable. If ICT specialists are having problems with a particular item of technology, then there is no way that geography and history teachers are going to use it. It has got to work first time," comments Jon Lunn, Head of ICT.

Central to Teignmouth Community College's philosophy is using ICT to change the way that teachers interact with pupils. A key requirement was getting away from the old fashioned stand up at the front of-the-class 'blackboard mentality'. Central to transforming the teaching role within the ICT function is the use of remote tuition software. The college was using Altiris Vision (MasterEye) as its remote teaching solution, but reliability was a continual headache. The college wanted to ensure that all teachers had a modern tuition tool that they felt comfortable using. This was especially important because many teachers were sceptical about the use of technology.

The Solution
To find a successor to its outmoded remote teaching tool, Jon Lunn and his team assessed four different solutions during Summer 2003 including NetOp School, which came out head and shoulders above the rest. NetOp School was a clear winner because

of its superior reliability, allied to a number of user friendly features that the College liked and that provided tangible benefits to the teachers.

"I am very familiar with remote teaching solutions having worked with them in various roles for seven years now. NetOp School showed clear functional advantages over its competitors in terms of reliability. With the other solutions, if a pupil reset a computer during teaching, then it could bring down the entire network in the room. NetOp School keeps on running. We also found that NetOp School wouldn't try to connect-up to a PC with a dodgy connection which the other systems tried to do," comments Jon Lunn.

The Benefits
The adoption of NetOp School has been very successful for the college. "The teachers love its functionality and the way it enhances the teaching experience for both staff and pupils. Even quite sceptical staff have been won over by the new remote teaching solution," comments Jon Lunn.

The college's teachers have found that NetOp School enhances their pupil interaction. Pupils attention can be focussed by locking individual machines; the teacher can take register using the system; and pupils can vote interactively on particular discussion points. Critically, it means that teachers don't have to stand in front of pupils to teach anymore - something that has pervaded the classroom since Victorian times.

"I would put NetOp School far ahead of interactive whiteboards in terms of teaching effectiveness. Whiteboards still hark back to traditional teaching methods that haven't changed the fundamental teacher-pupil dynamics. Remote tutoring works because pupils can now look at their own screen which creates a far more intimate, responsive learning environment."

With increasing class sizes, NetOp School also provides the teachers with increasingly flexible ways of working. For instance, a significant concern with large class sizes is how to create a uniform learning process that covers faster learners and those that need more help. Critically, it means that the teacher can control the speed of the lesson. "The system's windowed option is great for flexible learning. It means that the three-quarters of the class who have understood the task first time can get on with their work, allowing the teacher to individually tutor those that need extra help," adds Lunn.

By adopting NetOp School, Teignmouth Community College has got much more than just a teaching tool. It has a robust system that can match the college's increasingly complex ICT requirements. The solution underpins the college's ability to deliver ICT teaching to pupils, enhancing and enriching the teaching environment for both staff and pupils.

For more information about Teignmouth Community College, please visit http://www.teignmouth.devon.sch.uk

For more information about NetOp, please visit www.netop.com