Technology & E-Learning
State-of-the-art Facilities
Our building is equipped with state-of-the-art technology including powerful servers,
wired and wireless network and more than 250 desktop computers with flat-panel monitors.
Every teaching room throughout the College is equipped with an interactive whiteboard,
projector and sound system. All teachers, learning support staff and study supervisors
have been provided with a laptop and are fully trained to use the interactive whiteboards.
Staff receive regular professional development to continually improve their ICT
competency and in-service training is geared towards delivering enhanced learning
and teaching through the use of e-technologies.
Laptops and the VLE
Part of our e-learning vision was that all students would have a laptop to access
electronic materials and resources hosted on our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
In order to manage the introduction of laptops, the Scheme is offered new students
when they join the College. Students with laptops bring them into College on a daily
basis for use in class. We have a wealth of resources on our very well established
VLE which is widely used by students and staff for delivering course content, as
well as working collaboratively. Staff are allocated periods in their timetables
to develop e-learning materials. They receive support from our fulltime web development
team.
Laptop Support
The College employs specialist laptop-trained technicians, qualified to support
students with technical difficulties with their laptop hardware and configuration.
They are trained and licensed to carry out onsite repairs of laptops in warranty
where it is deemed appropriate by the supplier, helping to speed up repairer turnarounds.
The College regularly reviews its laptop scheme and is looking at ways to extend
their services to the wider community.
Supporting the St Paul’s Community
In order to encourage further shift towards an e-learning culture, the College created
a new role to develop ICT Skills within the St Paul’s community, taken onboard by
one of our longstanding teachers. This role is concerned with the continual development
and training of staff, students and parents in novice, intermediate and advanced
ICT skills. From time to time, daytime and evening courses will be offered to parents,
covering topics like the Parents’ Gateway, VLE, internet, email and Office applications
for those who would like to improve their confidence and ICT literacy to better
support their child.
Online Materials
With the help of our web development team, staff have and continue to create fantastic
classroom resources and curriculum tools that meet the audio, visual and kinaesthetic
needs of their students. To complement our recently attained Sports College Status,
the PE Department have been working on a rich library of resources for the VLE from
video clip instructions for basketball to interactive diagrams for hockey and football
team tactics. The History Department have created audio clips their entire Year
8 course on the VLE so that students, especially those with Special Educational
Needs, are able to access the same curriculum inclusively and more independently.
The Geography Department brought their Extreme Cold Unit to life with video clips
of the Antarctic, video instructions and audio exemplar work. Almost all departments
now have exemplar work on the VLE so that parents and students are able to see what
they are expected to do.
The Website and Email
Over the past year, the College has been working to improve communication and the
accessibility of information for the whole St Paul’s community. Our primary means
of communicating with parents has been via the College website, updated regularly
with the latest news, events and vacancies. Some of this information has recently
been moved to Parents’ Gateway: a secure online portal exclusively for students,
parents and staff of St Paul’s. For many of you, the College website will continue
to be the first place you look when you are trying to find something about St Paul’s,
which is why we have created as many links between the website and gateway to help
you find what you are looking for. We also communicate with parents via email instead
of using paper letters, which helps us with our continued Eco-Schools commitment,
along with reducing costs.
Sharing Good Practice
Throughout the year, we have many schools visiting us, not just from East and West
Sussex but right across England. In recognition of the way St Paul’s is moving forward,
we’ve held seminars at BETT, the world’s largest educational technology event that
takes place each year in Kensington Olympia, where tens of thousands of visitors
attend in four days.