Please, no more paper

During my teacher training, all pupils studying Design & Technology worked with paper booklets, precariously held together with treasury tags. Pupils were completing work below standard and their ability to extend learning outside the classroom was limited, not least when working from home during the pandemic.

Furthermore, pupils lacked the ability to recall and consolidate prior learning with ease, inhibiting progression and making lessons feel disjointed and lacking in purpose.

In line with the current schemes of learning, it became evident that a move towards a digital learning landscape was going to be of benefit, not only so I could model good design and graphic layout, but also to demonstrate the breadth of resources available for pupils to extend their learning and become more independent. Supporting the notion that “Digitalisation processes have become the modern designer’s key modes of execution” (Poon, 2015, p.8), thus aiding pupils to develop skills for industry.

Going digital

Each ‘digital workbook’ or ‘E-portfolio’ contains interactive content to promote extended learning, such as YouTube videos, Twitter debates, and TEDtalks, meaning all pupils could access additional learning material using computers, smartphones, and tablets. Pupils were able contribute, enquire, and evaluate current social and academic issues relating to topics covered in the classroom. As outlined by Lipman (1991, p. 83), enquiry is “generally social or communal in nature”, and therefore a combined learning environment of both in person and in digital form would not dilute a student’s enquiry. Being able to leave the classroom and contribute to a live Twitter discussion, a YouTube video or a TEDTalk on the same topic is something that should not only be encouraged, but act as a fundamental method for students to obtain and retain information. Anecdotally, pupils were commenting on videos on my YouTube channel of an evening, continuing debate and reinforcing their critical faculties.

Pupils, often referred to as digital natives (Prensky, 2001), have long used smartphones, tablets, game consoles, digital music players. The move into digital workbooks was not without concern, however, it was important to recognise the value in a blended learning approach, described by Garrison & Vaughan (2008) as “the organic integration of thoughtfully selected and complementary face-to-face and online approaches” (in Kaur and Manjot, 2013, p. 148). Howard, S. K & Mozejko, found in their study that using multimedia approaches provided a wider range of resources for children, “…while learning was not significantly different from existing approaches, the use of film, radio and television did provide a wider range of resources that could be used and reused in learning”, thus aiding recall. (Howard, S. K. & Mozejko, 2015, p. 2). I realise that this is nothing new to the field in education research, however, the aim was to simply equip pupils with the skills to extend their learning. In doing so they were becoming researchers, rather than relying upon the teacher as their only source of information, facilitating their metacognitive growth.

Digital feedback

Embedding teacher-created YouTube videos within the digital booklets meant that I was able to provide additional live feedback from recorded voice notes and handwritten notes. I marked alongside pupils, promoting a sense of collaboration and introducing an open dialogue of assessment between pupil and teacher.

Prior to pupils working in digital booklets feedback was given once pupil work was completed. Dylan Wiliam (2006, p.1) succinctly identifies that, “For many years, the word ‘‘assessment’’ was used primarily to describe processes of evaluating…activities when the sequence was completed.” In Design and Technology, it is imperative that idea generation sits at the heart of teacher-pupil interaction. Assessment and feedback must support this, with effective learning demanding the interaction, “started by the teacher to evoke pupil’s ideas, leading to feedback…” (Atkinson, Black, 2007, p. 200) and this dynamic interaction can only serve to progress understanding and cement core knowledge. All pupils should be aware that each creative effort is valued on its merits and given appropriate credit in mark schemes (Balchin, 2008).

Pupils who actively engaged with this process through the entire unit of work recognised shortfalls in learning and areas of weakness became explicit, confirming that “When used effectively, assessment helps pupils to embed knowledge and use it fluently, and assists teachers in producing clear next steps for pupils” (School Inspection Handbook, 2005 p. 183). This informs not only what the pupils needed to do to progress, but more importantly, how they would get there.

The desired outcome is that over time, pupils begin to assess, plan, monitor and evaluate their progress (Ambrose, Bridges, Lovet et al., 2010) throughout each unit of work.

Have a go at turning your resources into digital masterpieces and join me in the digi-revolution in Design & Technology.