Select a region
A maths teacher and IT expert has won a three-year battle with the Education Department to get a remote learning tool approved for use in schools - just in time for local students needing it most.
Adam Grocott has been Grainville School’s ICT Champion since 2017 and is recognised by Microsoft as an Innovative Educator Expert thanks to his use of technology to support his teaching and his students’ learning.
He is also one of 31 ‘Master Trainers’ across the UK and works with his fellow teachers – all of whom have applied to become Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts - school to help them develop their abilities to use software and develop themselves, as well with staff in Grainville’s cluster primary schools.
Pictured: Adam Grocott has been Grainville School’s ICT Champion since 2017.
Mr Grocott says he wants to see technology used as much as possible in class to give students the best start in their future careers. He says the school as a whole and especially the headteacher, Sue Morris, have been really supportive of his endeavours.
“If you look on LinkedIn, people are looking for skills such as collaboration and communication, they are integral to today’s jobs,” he said.
“What I would like is to give students the opportunity to develop 21st century skills. We have to be using the most relevant technology to do that, otherwise we are doing them a disservice.”
Since they disabled it in 2017, Mr Grocott has been trying to convince the Education Department to reintroduce Microsoft Teams, a communication platform that combines chat, video meetings, file storage, and other applications.
After three years of arguing that it was the perfect tool to encourage collaboration among students and support access to learning outside of school – and a global pandemic that led to the closure of local schools – he has finally won his battle and the platform is now accessible to all local schools.
Pictured: Local students can now access Microsoft Teams.
“It was welcomed with open arms,” Mr Grocott said. “I am looking forward to creating a culture where students and teachers can use it to communicate. It’s like giving teachers the ultimate tool for collaboration.”
Mr Grocott says Teams enables teachers to release assignments which students are then alerted to. They can then use the platform to show the progress they have made or get in touch with their teacher or classmates to ask questions.
While the platform came at the perfect time during lockdown, Mr Grocott says it could also be used in the future if a student is away from school for a long period of time due to illness or injury, for example.
“There is a huge benefit for students - they are able to engage with learning at home and also with other teachers and with their classmates,” he added.
“I look forward to the day students will be using Teams to each other. What I want to see is a student posting a questions and other students answering before I get a chance to, because they will have demonstrated collaboration and willingness to help each other.”
Pictured: Mr Grocott speaking at the BETT conference.
While Mr Grocott has welcomed the return of Teams – which he intends to keep using even when schools reopen – he says that thanks to the work Grainville has been doing around ICT, they were already well prepared for remote learning.
“We embed the use of ICT in all subjects,” he explained. “It’s a stand-alone subject but it is also widely used in school. ICT are in every facet of life so they have to be in every aspect of school as well.
“Our students have 25 lessons a week, 10 of those are ICT-based, including English and Maths.
“I think the next big step for us as a school is the daily access to suitable devices able to access learning day in and out. It is paramount every student has their own device to do their learning at home. This is the next big step forward, my 2017 vision! Now that we use the best platform we can we are finally close to having that."
Pictured: Mr Grocott with Michael Delahunty.
In the meantime, Grainville’s ICT champion is working closely with other teachers, including Michael Delahunty at Grands Vaux, to share his expertise and develop the use of ICT in local schools.
“There is no sense of competition, Grainville do not have to be better,” Mr Grocott said. “We are only a small island, we all should be working to be the best we can be.”
He is also participating in learning activities and webinars with teachers from the US. Yesterday he took part in a webinar with Alice Keeler on the subject of Microsoft Teams.
Mr Grocott also hopes to inspire other schools to follow Grainville's example.
“I don’t want it to be a Grainville thing, I want it to be across all schools,” he said.
“What we need to change is access to devices and the mindset of parents and schools.”
Pictured: The 'Learning at Home' website ncludes simple guidelines to assist parents and carers with learning at home.
Meanwhile, the Education Department launched the 'Learning At Home' website last week to provide parents with practical advice and resources to help with home learning, while schools remain closed.
The content and structure of the website has been designed based on the feedback received from thousands of parents and carers who took part in a survey.
The site is aimed at students aged 3 to 19 and includes simple guidelines to assist parents and carers with learning at home, and to support them in maintaining the safety and wellbeing of their family.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.