Students test iPhone education apps

Pupils at a London secondary school have been given iPhones to test applications for education, reports ZDNet.

A group of 30 pupils in grades seven to 11 at Gumley House Convent School in Hounslow have begun to use the phones in class for the next seven months.

Brentford City Learning Centre 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.

'The UK e-learning market 2009', a report by Learning Light, suggests that the annual size of the UK e-learning industry is currently between £300 million and £450 million; with growth rates forecast of between 6.7% and 8%, states PersonnelToday.

“Our premise that this industry is 'flowering' is based not just on organic growth as more companies use e-learning and learning technologies but also on other factors such as the role of marketing departments in commissioning learning materials to support customers,” comments one of the report's authors, David Patterson.

“Another key factor is the adeptness with which the UK e-learning industry is adopting and exploiting new media for delivering learning, such as gaming and immersive learning scenarios, leading to the eventual contextualisation and personalisation of learning being promoted by companies such as the LCMS producer, Giunti Labs,” he adds.

Edutech has deployed an extensive e-learning project for King Khalid University (KKU) in Saudi Arabia, which will serve over 70 000 students, says ITP.net.

The integrated e-learning solution will give KKU improved efficiency and co-ordination of activities, with a unified view of student, faculty, and course and enrolment data; well accurate tracking and reporting for enhanced performance and consistent standards of teaching through a centralised leading environment

The project will also allow the KKU to extend its distance learning programmes, by capturing and broadcasting classroom sessions to students across all their campuses and in remote locations, while giving students 'anytime anywhere' access to course work and data.