The Essa Academy in Bolton has made an ambitious move into mobile learning by issuing every pupil (more than 1,000 of them) with an iPod Touch worth £149.
According to an online report at This Is Lancashire, this latest investment in mobile technology (the school has already committed to laptops rather than desktops) is worth around £250,000.
Headteacher Showk Badat is quoted as saying that the investment will raise standards: “We will work together to inspire our young people to success, the future is theirs but at the moment, as adults, the responsibility is ours and that is why I am prepared to invest heavily for their future.”
You can check out the Essa Academy's Manifesto for Change on YouTube (below).
The This Is Lancashire report also quoted learners:
Adil Bhutawala (Year 11), “iPods help bring modern technology to our academy. Why stop at the classroom when we have the technology to learn anywhere?”;
Milan Gola (Year 11), “My iPod helps me with my English coursework as I can download English podcasts and an application which contains most of Shakespeare’s plays such as Romeo and Juliet, means I don’t have to carry the whole book home to get the quotes for my coursework.”
