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i-Guide can be purchased using eLearning Credits (eLCs). Click on the logo above to find out more. |
i-Guide for Schools
Interactive
learning materials on PDAs or mobile phones, easily created and instantly edited
by teachers.
i-Guide from StreetAccess offers managed, interactive learning across the entire curriculum. It is compatible with any existing computer network that links to the internet, or using wireless PDAs can extend to every classroom, hall, gym, lab or workshop in the school, and even into the playground. With mobile phones, lessons can be taken out into the streets or fields. Learning materials created with i-Guide can also be accessed from home on any computer with an internet connection, making them available to students who are ill or excluded, or for homework.
The interactive nature of i-Guide means that students perceive learning as individual and personal. This has meant impressive payback in terms of students’ involvement in their work and in their overall work rate. Students with literacy difficulties seem to find it easier to respond using the computer; students with weaker skills of concentration have found the system fully engrossing.
How i-Guide Works
i-Guide interactive lessons and study materials – Trails – are created by teachers using the straightforward tools provided. The Trailmaker application is web-based, so Trails can be created or edited from any computer connected to the internet, wherever you are. Trails can be organised in linear structures or modules, and modes of interactivity are wide ranging: open text, photographs, diagrams, video, audio, multiple choice. Many other teacher and learning tools and strategies are available.
Student responses are entered as typed text or multiple-choice answers – there are also facilities for images with hotspots to click, tables, links to further information and more. All the responses entered by the student are saved for extended work in school or at home.
Because i-Guide is web-based there are no boundaries dictating the amount of information that can be included, where the work can be continued or what direction it can take.
When a Trail is ready for use it is installed on the StreetAccess servers at the push of a button. Thereafter any student in the school can take the Trail and afterwards teachers and students can review their work. Schools can build up a bank of Trails and share pages between Trails. The flexibility and ease of use of the Trailmaker means that staff are entirely in control of the process and can modify Trails or upgrade them whenever they wish.
How does it work? Click
here to see a step by step explanation
of the process.
Using i-Guide
StreetAccess
provides internet availability for every
Trail
that the school wishes to upload. Trails can be viewed on any device equipped
with an internet browser. For classroom-based activities this could be a desktop
computer, laptop or PDA. For mobile activities it might be a PDA connected to the internet via a wireless network or a mobile phone.
Because i-Guide allows learning materials
to be structured to let students take their own routes through them or to provide
step-by-step teaching, it can adapt to a variety of teaching and learning models.
The interactive nature of the i-Guide system can allow each student control over the pace of his or her learning should the teacher wish. The teacher can lodge additional explanatory points and exercises within the materials to support lower attaining students or to extend higher attaining students.
Students can preview a Trail before taking it, and having
taken a Trail can revisit their own individual ‘journeys’ by calling
them up from the StreetAccess website. In addition to their responses to prompts and questions, students
can make their own notes and even take photos or make voice recordings and
attach them to their Trails. All their work is immediately saved and is accessible on any
computer – at school, at home, or in a public library or internet café. Teachers, too, can review students’
work at any time from any internet linked computer. The recorded Trails can
be downloaded and kept for further use. In addition the teacher can place internet
research links into the review stage of the experience, so students can explore
further material when editing their answers and responses into an essay, report
or journal.
PDAs and Smartphones
i-Guide
turns a PDA or internet-enabled mobile phone into a powerful educational tool.
These mobile devices are an ideal educational resource for schools and field centres. Their
relatively low cost means that schools can issue classroom sets of this technology
and move them easily from one teaching area to another, enabling ICT to reach
teaching and learning areas where previously it has been almost impossible.
The potential for all areas of the curriculum is immense. Students in technology workshops or art studios can access lesson materials, diagrams and images whilst at their workbenches. Students doing PE in the sports hall can view instructions, photographs and videos on their handhelds and input their assessments on the spot. Geography classes on field trips can access materials to support their studies and instantly record their research; they can even take pictures or record their thoughts to be downloaded later.
Web Trails
In addition to stand-alone activities, interactive i-Guide trails can be built around an existing website or a combination of web pages from different sites. Thus you can create a structured lesson on a topic using material taken from a range of websites, or quickly add an interactive, educational layer to an existing website. These Web Trails can be accessed remotely from any internet-linked computer or classroom whiteboard.
Thus you can provide controlled and recorded access to the internet, taking the student to pages pre-selected and vetted by the teacher. Questions about these web pages can ensure that the information has been absorbed, and again the teacher can remotely review the session.
Harnessing Technology
The DfES strategy document 'Harnessing Technology' sets out the directions schools should be taking in order to harness the power of ICT to enhance education and achievement. Central to this vision is the use of Interactive Technologies to achieve a more personalised approach within education. As part of this drive, interactive ICT is to be used to help re-engage unmotivated and hard-to-reach learners. i-Guide is designed to support a school's developing interactive e-learning environment.
Homework and Excluded Students
Because
Trails are accessible from any computer that has access to the internet, learning
materials created using i-Guide are ideally suited to homework,
and to reach students excluded from school. Trails completed at school can be
reviewed at home, and those completed by students at home can be remotely reviewed
by their teachers back at school. Teachers can see not just that the student
has completed the task, but also information on when the work was done and how
long was spent on it.
Training, Support and Information
The
i-Guide licence includes full training and support. StreetAccess
stores the results of all Trails and provides access to them for staff and students,
as well as keeping secure records of all current user IDs. Statistical information
on users and Trails taken can be collated and made available to the school.
i-Guide is not dependent on any particular hardware; rather it will work with anything that can access the internet and has an HTML web browser. Thus you are not tied in to a particular technology, and the system will work with existing equipment as well as being entirely future-proof. Accordingly, StreetAccess do not provide hardware. However we can advise on suitable devices or, with our partners, offer a complete installation service.
Trail Creation
i-Guide is designed to be simple to use and to allow anyone easily to create trails. However we realize that staff are often already fully committed, so we also offer a trail-writing service. Collaborating closely with your staff, we can create bespoke Trails for use in your school. The results are wholly controlled by you, and can be edited or amended by staff as circumstances dictate.
Links to more information
