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Learnosity

National Council for Curriculum and Assessment : Ireland

The National Council for Curriculum & Assessment in Ireland is devoted to improving the quality of education in Ireland by reforming assessment and curriculum. In 2007, in a scheme initiated by the Irish Minister for Education, Learnosity worked with the NCCA to investigate the use of Information and Communication Technology in the teaching and learning of Gaeilge (Irish).

RTÉ news story on Learnosity/ NCCA project broadcast 16th November 2009.

Project Background: Reforming Gaeilge Education in Ireland

The way in which to educate Irish students in their native tongue is a subject that has long caused controversy. Politicians and pundits alike have accused educators of neglecting to teach Irish (Gaeilge) in a way that appeals and impacts on Irish teenagers. They argue that this apparent lack of enthusiasm towards the Irish language is ultimately leading to the cessation of conversational Irish amongst young people and the language is slowly dying out with each new generation. More

Phase One: Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) Project, 2007

Presentation: Early MALL Project Overview

EdTech2007 Conference Presentaion Watch the Learnosity CEO Gavin Cooney give a presentation at the EdTech2007 conference in DIT Bolton St., Dublin. The presentation given weeks into the first NCCA MALL project in 2007, gives an early look at the project. The title of the presentation was Use of Mobile Phones for language learning and formative assessment, a pilot project. More about: Watch our CEO Gavin Cooney give a presentation about this project at the EdTech 2007 conference in DIT Bolton St., Dublin.

Project Results

Phase One: Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) Project Results The reports from the first MALL project showed that this technology increased student's motivation, confidence, and language speaking abilities; that teachers enjoyed the ability to be more interactive with all of the students and provide more individual feedback; that the classroom experience was much more enjoyable, with more participation and energy. More


Phase Two: 2008-2009 FÓN Project

Phase Two: 2008-2009 FÓN Project In October 2008 Learnosity successfully completed the deployment of its ground breaking language learning platform in the second phase of this strategic project with the NCCA, NCTE and Foras na Gaeilge. More

European Award for Languages (Language Label)

European Language Label

NCCA and Ratoath College have been awarded the 2009 European Award for Languages- The Language Label for the FÓN project. 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. More


Project Components

The projects have the following main components:

Student Feedback

  • I think using mobile phones to teach teenagers is a good idea because most teenagers are always stuck to their phone and they couldn't live without it!
  • I liked it because it put a lot of fun into learning Irish and I think it was beneficial to me for my Junior Cert.
Source: NCCA 2007 Annual Report (pdf)