Customised Learning for the 21st Century

Profiles in Success: Bryanston School

Bryanston School’s Mac-powered virtual learning environment (VLE) supports the very beliefs of its founder eighty years ago: encourage individual student learning by applying the best education practices, past and present. At the centre of the school’s technology strategy, the VLE is the catalyst for new teaching ideas and the hub for a wealth of learning resources — from podcasts to videos — all designed to promote independent study and the nurturing of personal responsibility.

“We’ve seen the technology landscape change year on year”, says Neil Boulton, Director of Studies at Bryanston. “Our portal has risen to every challenge. For example, with the new iPod range and the launch of Apple’s Podcast Producer software, the next big development is likely to be lesson podcasts, providing students with great new opportunities to learn and re-learn at their own pace, in their own time”.

Bryanston School was founded in 1928 with the motto: “Et Nova et Vetera” — the new and the old. Originally a private boys’ boarding school, the school started admitting girls in 1972, making it one of the earliest co-educational boarding schools in the UK. It now has about 700 13 to 18 year old pupils on the school roll.

Bryanston has high academic standards and good examination results. Its philosophy is one of continuous improvement and a belief that — as well as delivering academic achievement — education should impart a real sense of meaning and purpose, and develop open and enquiring minds. The school values creativity, individuality and variety, and wants its students to fulfil their talents wherever they lie.

“With the new iPod range and the launch of Apple’s Podcast Producer software, the next big development is likely to be lesson podcasts, providing students with great new opportunities to learn and re-learn at their own pace, in their own time.”

Neil Boulton, Director of Studies, Bryanston School

Bryanston School has used Mac computers for 17 years. So it was a natural decision for the ICT department to deploy Apple technology as the platform for its learning portal. Studywiz was the selected system, an online learning environment developed using Apple’s own WebObjects.

Students can log onto the Studywiz portal via any web browser, using the school’s eMac and iMac computers, or their own laptops in the dormitories via the campus-wide wireless network. Once online, they have access to a wide range of digital learning tools — including video and audio files, podcasts, images and PDF captures of smartboard content, and teacher presentations and assignments — to help them work independently.

The portal offers countless opportunities for new approaches to teaching. “Video content has been popular for many years as a way to illustrate events in history”, explains Boulton. “What tended to happen, though, was you had to sit through an hour’s film, which effectively dominated the whole lesson. Now you can download three-minute clips, as and when you need them, to illustrate a point in the lesson. The portal makes it easy to accumulate useful resources that can be used by different classes, but which a teacher doesn’t need to spend a lot of time hunting down on the Internet”.

All teachers can use the portal for reporting on students’ progress, gaining flexible access to key performance data. The school continues to develop its use of this reporting facility and is looking at ways to deploy assessment data even more effectively through the system.

In addition, the portal is used to support a wide range of learning activities. “The ideas come from teachers and students”, explains Andrew Barnes, Head of ICT. “For example, the economics department decided it would be useful if ‘correction’ lessons — where students come for additional help — were recorded so that learning points could be used by the wider class. We provided a microphone to plug into an iPod, and put the podcasts onto the system for access at any time”.

Next Page: Anytime Access

Explore more Profiles in Success