Ashton lead the way in New Technology

Ashton Sixth Form will be leading the way by helping practitioners across the North West to swot up on the latest communication gadgets at a new training centre based at the College, the first of its kind in the North West.

The College was recently awarded the centre of excellence for mobile learning which will see the launch of a professional development programme to help education staff across the North West to get to grips with the use of mobile technologies with students. Training events will be delivered by the Mobile Learning Network (MoLeNET) Academy, due to open in Summer 2010 on the College site.

Local schools and colleges will be able to take advantage of the training which will take place in a specially designed MoLeNET classroom, kitted out with all of the latest gadgets and technologies. Staff will learn about portable and compact personal computers, digital video cameras, head cameras, games consoles and mobile phones, and how they can support teaching both in and away from the classroom.

Sandra Taylor, MoLeNET Project Manager, who recently won an award the Becta Award for Next Generation Learning at the North West Teaching Awards said, "The vast majority of young people use mobile technology. It's become part of normal life. We are exploring how to harness it in a positive way to support learning and enable staff to update their skills in a fast moving world."

The MoLeNET Academy based at Ashton Sixth Form College is one of eight being set up nationally with £40,000 funding from the Learning and Skills Network. Last year the eLearning team at the College secured a grant of £150,000 from the Learning and Skills Network which has seen over 200 students benefit from the use of mobile devices on a range of courses. Sandra said, "Our aim is to help students learn and students today use technology so easily; we gave Nintendo DS consoles to students with learning difficulties such as Dyslexia or students with English as a second language – who then played a spelling game – and we've seen fantastic improvements".

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