On Friday 12th November, I was thrilled to pick up a coveted Gold award at the e-Learning Age awards held in the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel in London.
The awards, run by e-Learning Age Magazine, are seen as one of the most prestigious awards in the learning industry. They showcase the very best examples of work in the field, with winners representing everything from blue-chip multinationals to specialist start-up companies. There was almost 200 entries from 15 different countries, and so we were delighted to be shortlisted in two categories: Best Use of Mobile Learning and Most Innovative New Product or Tool in E-learning.
With so many entries, this is the most competitive year in the history of the awards. With standards so high, some categories have bronze, silver and gold awards for the first time. Learnosity was delighted to win a Gold award for Learnosity Voice in the Most Innovative New Product or Tool in E-learning category. Read more about it in the cover story of this month's edition of E-Learning Age Magazine.
Judges Comments
Implementing new technology in a school typically involves massive amounts of time, effort, and money, but the judges picked out Learnosity Voice as an impressive exception. All that students learning a foreign language require with Learnosity Voice is a mobile phone and a computer. For homework, they simply phone the system, enter their PIN, and answer questions posed to them. Completed sessions are then available for the teacher to review and students can also view the sessions online. Students feel empowered and more engaged in the classroom. They enjoy the privacy and freedom of practising oral and conversational skills outside the classroom, and gain a level of confidence that impresses teachers, who can spend more class time on cultural and grammatical objectives.
There was 200 nominees, with 36 finalists chosen from a panel of 8 Independent cross-sector judges. There was then over 4000 public votes to decide the winners. Many thanks to everyone who voted, and to the Learning Without Frontiers team who put on an excellent show and conference.
The awards were presented by well known TV presenter Jason Bradbury. The whole event was captured on video. If I had known it was being filmed, I might have said a few more words!
With oral language fluency of the utmost importance to secondary language acquisition, Learnosity Voice focusses on verbal abilities, allowing students to use any phone to dial into a voice application, and answer a series of voice-based questions. It also enables students to communicate one-to-one in real time, allowing them to use the target language in role-plays based on real life scenarios.
Learnosity Voice allows students use their own mobiles to access the application. We chose to use mobile phones for the following reasons:
Phones are built for speaking and listening.
There is no learning curve, technical support, installation etc. It just works.
Almost every single student will already have a mobile phone.
Students then use a computer or iPod Touch to get teacher feedback on their answers and listen to sample answers. This mobile language learning platform has been deployed projects in the UK, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, USA and Australia. Notably, it has been deployed in a large scale pilot project conducted by the Australian government, in the teaching and learning of the Indonesian language across three Australian states. Students involved in this project showed significant improvements in spoken language abilities. More
We are delighted to announce that our clients NCCA and Ratoath College have accepted the 2009 European Award for Languages- The Language Label for the FÓN project. The FÓN project used Learnosity Voice to incorporate mobile phones into the teaching, learning and assessment of Irish for nearly 400 second year students in 6 schools. The European Award for Languages is presented in recognition of a project's ability to engage language learners in a manner that is both meaningful and productive, while at the same time promoting a positive attitude towards both the learning and use of the target language.
To celebrate the European Day of Languages, the award was presented in a celebration ceremony held on September 25th, by Professor David Crystal, writer, editor, lecturer and broadcaster, at an awards ceremony in Farmleigh, Dublin.
Jury comments for FÓN
The approach used in this project appears to permeate all aspects of the learning of Irish. Resources are carefully and creatively used... There is clear evidence of student progression... This initiative appears to stimulate interest and enhance motivation...
The FÓN project is currently being evaluated with findings due in late 2009. Preliminary findings have indicated that the project has had a hugely positive impact on student learning due to the following reasons:
Students were motiviated by the technologies involved.
More opportunities were provided for students to practise their Irish and converse with others on the project.
There was a shift in learning from teacher led to student directed and this empowered students.
The ability to self assess allowed students to compare their levels of fluency with others.
About the European Language Label
The European Language Label, formerly known as the European Award for Languages, is an annual award recognising projects where participants have found creative and innovative ways to improve the quality of language teaching, motivate students, and make the best of available resources. The European Language Label is co-ordinated by the European Commission and managed in Ireland by Léargas.
The general criteria for winning an award, agreed at a European level, are as follows: Initiatives should be comprehensive, provide added value in their national context, motivate the students and teachers, be original and creative, have a European emphasis, and be transferable in that they might potentially be a source of inspiration for other language initiatives in different countries.
This year's Irish winners were selected on the basis of excellence, innovation, creativity and their ability to serve as a model for others. For Irish projects to be eligible for an award they must be:
Innovative- involving a new method, approach, or resource.
Effective- the work must be already completed or at least be able to show progress to date and provide evidence of self-evaluation and ongoing critical review.
Replicable- there must be potential for growth and the possibility of providing a model for other projects and situations.
We were thrilled to learn that Learnosity Voice has been nominated for a Handheld Learning Award. We were nominated in the Secondary category for the Innovation award, defined as "An initiative, project or product that has had the most positive impact within category".
Please vote for us by text LEARNOSITY to +44 7786 205 637. One vote per phone. Voting closes at midnight UK time on Monday 28th September.
We are excited to see Learnosity nominated for two illustrious e-Learning Age awards. We have been shortlisted from almost 200 entries from organisations worldwide.
Learnosity Voice has been shortlisted in two categories:
Best Use of Mobile Learning
Most Innovative New Product or Tool in E-learning
We're in super company with some great products shortlisted in our categories. Best of luck to all those shortlisted. I look forward to meeting you all at the awards dinner on November 12th.
The ICT Excellence Awards, now in its tenth year, is Ireland's longest-running and most prestigious event recognising outstanding achivers in the information and communications technology industry.
Every year, these awards are hotly contested in a variety of trade categories. The 2009 Awards were presented last night by Marty Whealan at a Gala Presentation Dinner in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire.
I was up against some stiff competition from Keep IT Safe, Movies.ie and Microsoft. I would like to thank Mr. Greg Tierney from Steljes who sponsored and presented my award.
The NSW Board of Studies have received another award for the Assessment Resource Centre website. This website has previously won an Excellence in e-Government Award. Learnosity is very proud to be involved in the development of such an excellent resource, and we congratulate the Board of Studies on receiving another award.
The Board of Studies has received a second award for the Assessment Resource Centre (ARC), recognising the ways it has revolutionised school assessment and reporting in NSW.
At the Premier's Public Sector Awards, presented on 13 November 2008, the Board received a Commended Award in the "Delivering the Plan - Business" category for the ARC.
The awards formally recognise and reward the achievement of excellence by the New South Wales public sector, acknowledging initiatives which have produced measurable outcomes with proven results and benefits to the state.
General Manager of the Office of the Board of Studies, Dr John Bennett, said the ARC used real samples of student work graded by groups of teachers who agree on each sample's level of achievement according to the Board's Common Grade Scale (A-E or equivalent).
"This collective grading gives teachers confidence that they are marking their students' work properly," Dr Bennett said.
"Put simply, the ARC allows teachers to ensure a B grade in Bondi means the same as a B in Ballina or Bourke."
The ARC is a free online resource available to more than 85,000 teachers in over 3000 NSW schools. It currently has more than 1800 real student work samples from Kindergarten to Year 10, based on more than 350 class activities. More than 1500 of these samples have been graded A-E by teachers from every part of NSW.
The ARC also includes some 28,000 HSC work samples, previously printed in Standards Packages.
"Part of the ARC's strength lies in the fact that it is readily accessible to teachers throughout the state, providing them with consistent information on student grades," Dr Bennett said.
"It gives every NSW teacher, no matter where they live or work, unprecedented access to the professional judgements of their peers."
The ARC was this year awarded Silver (Highly Commended) at the national awards for e-Government (the 2008 Australian Government Information Management Office CeBIT awards).
We are delighted to announce that Learnosity has been selected as a regional finalist in the Seedcorn competition. Seedcorn, run by Intertrade Ireland, is the biggest business competition for early stage/high growth companies in both the North and South of Ireland. This prestigious competition, has a record prize fund of €280,000 and also offers the opportunity to develop and improve the business plan with a view to making the concept investor ready. It also provides exposure to VCs and other equity providers, while increasing the profile of the business.
Best of luck to the other finalists in the competition. We are honoured to be in great company, and I look forward to meeting you all at the finals in Belfast.
At the international CeBIT Conference at Darling Harbour, Dr John Bennett accepted two awards for IT Innovation given by the Australian Government Chief Information Officer Ann Stewart.
Learnosity is proud to be involved with these projects and delighted that the NSW Board of Studies have been recognised for their ground breaking work.
