There’s an app for that! How educators are embracing digital technologies

The University of Northampton hosted an exploratory digital meet for educators from Denmark, Norway, Belgium and England this week.

The Digital Learning across Boundaries’ (DLaB) project, which received over £380,000 through the Erasmus+ scheme, will explore ways to integrate technology within education over the next three years.  The project’s recent UK meeting saw over 50 people from nine partner organisations visit Northampton for a five-day digital PLAYDATE (People Learning and Asking ‘Y’).

The University of Northampton’s Faculty of Education and Humanities hosted the event, which united our student teachers, teachers, pupils, lecturers and cultural partners from Northampton and across the EU, to get to grips with technology for education.

The group explored Northampton’s Cultural Quarter, public parks and arts spaces to create art, creative writing and video pieces using apps available for mobile devices. The group had the opportunity to create a digital scavenger hunt by using image manipulation apps, before exploring Google Expeditions, an app which takes the viewer on a 360 degree tour of famous landmarks. Technology such as this allows classroom boundaries to be extended, bringing the world outdoors inside via a mobile device. Through workshops, speakers and practical demonstrations, the educators developed digital skills in practical settings, honing these before they take the technology back to their home nations and schools.

Helen Caldwell, Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Northampton said: “This week we’ve explored the circulatory system of the human body using mobile phones and cardboard viewing glasses, created art through trail walks and GPS doodles, and created music by capturing sounds from the world around us and stitching them together through an app.

“The technology and apps used within these sessions are all easily available to teachers and pupils today; the DLaB Project is designed to work with student teachers, teachers and those working in teacher education to develop digital skills, enhancing their teaching by bringing the world around into the classroom; as well as taking learning out of the traditional classroom using technology outdoors.”

“This project, which will run for the next three years, will evaluate ways to break down learning boundaries through the use of technology. The project will include eTwinning activities, which will connect classrooms in different countries as learning tool to develop language and cultural understanding.”

Join in the DLaB conversation on Twitter: #DlaBerasmus

See photos from the visit on Youtube

Browse our Technology Outdoors Padlet