Chamberlayne College for the Arts in Southampton
recently installed a brand new Mac suite and our partners at the NTI went in to
help them out with some training. We caught up with David Woolcock, the college’s
Learning Technologies Coach, to see what he thought of the whole process.
According to David, none of the teachers at Chamberlayne
“had so much as touched a Mac…and were still struggling to get to grips with
how to use Windows and MS Office”. They needed help working out how to get the
most out of their new equipment and use it effectively to teach their students,
rather than just having fun taking self-portraits with Photo Booth!
Jigsaw has worked with the NTI for years; together we help
schools get equipped with everything they need to teach students as effectively
as possible, including training. David had a brief chat about Chamberlayne’s
needs with expert Neil Emery, who suggested that David and another member of
staff accompany him on a tour of a few schools that had already benefited from
help and training. They talked to staff and students, and watched them use
their own Macs in lessons. “It was a real eye opener” says David. “Staff and
pupils at these schools were totally enthused by what they were producing…with
subject areas such as music and art making amazing use of the resources”.
After the tour, Chamberlayne
College booked a training
session for February this year. Neil and his colleague Ben visited the school
and gave members of staff an intensive one-day course in iLife ’09, which comes
free on all Macs. David said that teachers soon started “making connections
between what they were learning and what they usually teach”, and their
feedback was really positive. Everyone was excited about what it could mean for
their lessons in every subject and year group: “This would be brilliant with
year 7, or year 8, or year 9…”
Since the initial training session, the Chamberlayne Mac suite
has been booked solid. “NTI have provided us with the means to actually use our
Macs, instead of only turning them on for open evenings and Ofsted inspections.
Pupils are engaged and staff are growing in confidence” says David. They’ve
also used their new skills outside of the classroom by creating links with their
junior feeder schools, who can now access to the Macs too.
The teachers at Chamberlayne
College have been able to
build a relationship with trainers who have the expertise and experience needed
to provide them with the best possible training from the start. David described
it as the “most friendly and inspiring way to learn a new technology I have ever
experienced in the world of education”, and is keen to keep working with them. Everyone
at Chamberlayne College is very happy with the way things are going after the
first round of training and David told us that staff have already signed up for
two more training sessions: “This year has been very successful for us and with
the help of NTI, I can see no reason why this success won’t continue to
prosper”.
Getting the training you and your staff need is easy to
overlook when you’re setting up a new media room or studio, but it will always
catch up with you. If you want more information about training or if you have any
queries about your existing technology, you can give Jigsaw a call. Our experts
will make sure that your teachers get the training and support they need to use
your ICT equipment in lessons across the curriculum.
Call us on 03332 409 333
Or email us at learning@jigsaw24.com