Innovation Profile 143

The fourth corner

Interactive and creative resources enable teachers to use different and more varied approaches in their teaching. This is an important aspect of personalising learning; different children learn best in different ways.

Moving to digital resources makes it possible to access and use a far greater selection than would be possible with just books or physical resources. But this wider selection of resources has to be assembled and linked appropriately to the topics to be taught.

This large task need not be a great burden. The delight of digital resources is that they can be so easily copied, copyright permitting.

Some teachers enjoy creating digital resources and are skilled in doing so. In addition, many of the companies who are Members of the E.E.P. aid the process of sharing, for digital resources linked to the use of their products.

For example, Adobe have on their website the Adobe Studio Exchange, in which you can find many files uploaded by teachers. This is at http://share.studio.adobe.com. It contains tutorials and help files provided by Adobe and many files created by the Adobe Studio Exchange Community.

Before we had ICT, teachers in a year group in a school, or in a subject department, might collaborate to develop the learning resources needed. But collaboration between schools/colleges was difficult. Now teachers can work collaboratively across huge distances, even globally.

Learning no longer depends just on the relationship between teacher and learner. The computer capabilities behind the screen or interactive whiteboard provide a third element. The digital resources which can be drawn over the Internet onto the interactive whiteboard or computer screen provide a fourth element in the teaching/learning environment.

Wise headteachers/principals are now carefully considering how they can help their staff to collaborate and share, not only within the school/college but with the wider educational community.

The Adobe Profile on our web site will give you an overview of the company and a list of other Innovation Profiles connected with it.

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If you know of examples of innovative use of ICT-for-learning that others would be interested in, please email innovations@eep-edu.org

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