Mobile learning funding boost
Released: 19 October 2007
Up to 350 learners and staff across Wolverhampton are to benefit from the announcement of a successful bid to develop mobile learning technology for 14 to 19 year olds in the city.
Funding of £327,500 has been awarded by the National Learning and Skills Council programme, MoLeNet, (The Mobile Learning Network) to a joint bid made through Wolverhampton Learning Partnership by the City of Wolverhampton College and Wolverhampton City Council. The partners have contributed a further £65,500 of their own funding to the project.
The project builds on two nationally acclaimed educational strategies in the city; Wolverhampton’s award-winning Learning2Go project and 14 to 19 Development.
Learning2Go is an approach to developing mobile learning technology which has already delivered a real boost to teaching and learning to more than 1,500 children in primary and secondary schools across the city.
Wolverhampton’s 14 to 19 Development Team is a national leader in delivering the Government’s initiatives for 14 to 19 year olds, which have led to significant improvements in exam outcomes and more young people staying in learning.
This groundbreaking project aims to help young people in the city to learn, not just in traditional classroom environments, but also in the workplace and other settings.
The results of this exciting work will provide further evidence for national research regarding the impact of handheld technology upon learning.
Councillor Paula Brookfield, Wolverhampton City Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, and Councillor Christine Irvine, Cabinet Member for schools, agreed wholeheartedly with the reaction of Dave Whyley, Wolverhampton ICT Consultant Head teacher and handheld learning guru, to the announcement.
He said: "This is fantastic news for learners in the city. With this funding we will be able to combine the expertise from Learning 2Go with the excellence that already exists in 14 to 19 in Wolverhampton to bring about further improvements for young people’s learning by using state-of-the-art mobile technology."
Issued by the press office.