Brentford City Learning Centre (CLC) is to run the trial along with technology company Academia, following a two year independent research project on the use of technology in learning carried out by Professor Michael Gibson, formerly head of education at Kingston University. Gumley House was selected after a competition to design the classroom of the future revealed a high interest in technology among pupils.

Simon Elledge, manager at Brentford CLC commented: “In most schools mobile phones are viewed as distractions and banned from the classroom. But, as technology becomes more integrated into our daily lives, we wanted to understand how it could be used positively in the learning environment.

“The girls in the trial are encouraged to use the iPhones as much as possible, with permission from teachers of course. They will be monitored using questionnaires, spot checks and individual feedback, and the data collected will be independently analysed and shared with the other 104 CLCs nationwide to the benefit of pupils throughout the UK.”

The pupils will be allowed access to data free of charge, within a fair usage policy, if they keep at least £1

worth of credit on their devices. There is a significant number of educational applications they can download for free, but if they wish to obtain one with a charge attached they have to make a case for its educational value to Elledge.

“The whole purpose of the trial is for children to inform us of what applications will be educationally useful,” he told GC News.

If you are an iPhone user, don’t forget to download the barablu app to enjoy free VoIP calls to any destination in the world.

Written by
michael thomsen