Could you please tell us your story of disaster with the FliC, the Flexible Learning in the Community project?

Andrew Watt: FLiC, Flexible Learning in the Community, was an exciting project aiming to remove the confines of the classroom and make learning more relevant and engaging for students at the beginning of the 21st century. It had three strands:

• developing the use of a virtual learning environment to make resources available at any time especially at home;
• providing new channels of communication between schools in the pilot through video conferencing;
• beginning to use multimedia software within the curriculum.

Sixteen schools were chosen for the pilot, three high schools and their associated feeder primary schools, about 6,000 students altogether, though not all of them were going to be involved in the project initially. What were considered to be appropriate software and hardware tools to enable all this to happen were selected, installed in the schools, and teachers were trained in their use. The project started in 2002 and finished in 2004.

While there were a few isolated examples of innovative work, it quickly became apparent that actual take up in schools was not as extensive as had been expected, and tended to take place in those schools that had more actively sought support from the project team. In some schools there was no real effort to use any of the tools provided.


Two months after the project had officially finished and the support team were no longer in place, there was no sign of the lasting transformation in pedagogical practice that had been hoped for. There was a little evidence that some teachers had tried to make use of some of the hardware and software, but the results were patchy and frequently had required outside assistance of some form.

What lessons did you learn?

Andrew Watt: Firstly, that the use of technology must be led by the development of learning in a school and not the other way round. Then the school leadership will be behind any such project and be driving it forward within their school. In FLiC, because of the way schools were selected on a cluster basis, some participants found themselves involved in the project simply because they were in one of the three clusters and not because they were particularly focussing on developing any of the three strands.

Secondly, but just as important, it must be easy to understand, easy to use - and easy to set up to use. If teachers find it too hard to understand how to use it or there is just too much to be done to set it up, they will not use it, no matter how good a solution it is for what they are trying to achieve. It is very important that early experiences of using new technology are good ones; otherwise, people who are not entirely confident with it or convinced by it will be reluctant to come back to it.

Why is Studywiz, your new VLE so successful?

Andrew Watt: From the teacher's point of view, first and foremost it is straightforward to use. A lot of work went into the design of Studywiz in the early stages to make it easy for teachers to upload all their existing resources. This means that, right away, teachers can start using it with resources with which they are familiar. While that is perhaps a good way to become confident with the new environment of a VLE, the majority of resources created for use in a traditional classroom setting don't necessarily work so effectively in an online environment.

As teachers' understanding of online learning develops, they realise the need to create resources specifically designed with online use in mind. Here again Studywiz makes it very easy for them to build online resources.

There are over seventeen different kinds of resources you can create within Studywiz, with wizards to guide you through the process. But Studywiz is also a completely standards-compliant product, which means that any externally created content that conforms to current standards such as SCORM can simply be dropped into Studywiz, and it will work. Being standards compliant was an important criterion for us as it maximises the potential for interoperability between Studywiz and other packages such as digital repositories or school management systems.


Finally, Studywiz is a dynamic product that is continually being updated to take account of the new ideas and trends in the continually changing online world. This is essential for any product that aspires to be a world leader in this field. For instance, for over a year and a half, it has been possible to synchronise an iPod with Studywiz so that resources in the VLE can be downloaded to the mobile device, and recently wikis and blogs were added to the list of tools available in Studywiz. Also, recognising the growing use of handheld devices in education, Studywiz has developed a special interface for mobile devices.

What recommendations and guidelines can you give to other schools and educational institutions seeking to introduce online learning?

Andrew Watt: Be absolutely clear that what you are trying to do is to improve learning by using technology and not trying to shoehorn a bit of technology into an unchanging learning process. The task of changing the pedagogical approach in classrooms to make learning engaging and relevant for the 21st century is huge and should not be underestimated. What happens in many classrooms today hasn't really changed significantly from what occurred over a century ago. (Should we even still be building schools with traditional classrooms - but that's a discussion for another day …! )


A teacher from 1907 could come back today and fit comfortably into many schools. But in the last thirty years, there has been such a revolution in how information can be accessed that what has been the status quo for many decades is simply no longer an option. Moving towards an online environment is only part, but a necessary part, of the solution. Other factors that influence what happens in a classroom also need to be considered, such as the curriculum that is taught, how it is assessed, and the infrastructure that supports it.

Plan how you are going to implement it carefully, and avoid the temptation to be overambitious. It will almost certainly take longer than you think. It is important that each step of the development is successful, so don't try to run before you have successfully walked. Make sure that ongoing training is built in at the planning stage so that teachers are fully supported if necessary because a significant number will not feel confident in this area.

But don't mistake lack of confidence for lack of desire to use new technology. I've never demonstrated Studywiz to teachers without getting the universal response, -œThat's fantastic - I want to use it-. This, however, is frequently followed by a feeling of uncertainty about their current ability to actually do so.

Don't expect all teachers to move at the same speed. There will be some who will take to using new technology very readily and will start to do exciting, innovative things with it without needing much support, and they should be encouraged in this. The results in their classrooms can be used to inspire the less confident to persevere, and then training can be directed towards those who need it most. Confidence with a new system such as Studywiz can be built up by using it for administrative tasks, which don't expose a teacher in front of a class; for instance using the Studywiz eBulletin feature to send out daily notices to staff.

Finally, choose technological solutions that are going to be reliable. There is nothing more guaranteed to diminish a teacher's confidence in using ICT than a piece of hardware or software that keeps breaking down. Try to find another establishment, if possible not from a list supplied by the product manufacturer, that already has been using it, and talk to teachers there about how reliable and easy to use they have found it. Ask to be given a free trial of a significant length of time - I would suggest six months - so you can see how well a particular product meets the needs of your situation.

And finally, hand in hand with moving to learning with online tools is the question of how these tools are accessed. Students have to be able to reach their VLE, etc., wherever they are, and therefore they need to have the means to do this. A suitable device for each student is therefore a necessity and there are now many examples of 1 - 1 projects. But that also is a topic for another day - or perhaps next year's Online Educa in Berlin!