Department for Education and Skills (DfES

Parity helps the Government to transform school learning environments

Teachers across the country are being encouraged by the Government to use new digital learning resources from CD-Roms and the internet as part of their everyday classroom activities. However, it can often be extremely challenging for teachers to know where to go to easily access the best educational materials.

Working with Parity, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has successfully created a ground-breaking one-stop online catalogue of digital learning resources. The portal, called Curriculum Online, brings an exciting new range of learning materials to teachers’ fingertips.

It provides teachers with lesson plans, interactive videos, and simulated software. The Department believes the new portal will enable teachers to transform learning environments and will help them to move towards greater individualised learning, with each pupil being able to learn more flexibly according to their needs.

Parity was engaged by the Department to create a technology solution for the new education portal based upon the Microsoft Internet Business Solutions (MSIB).

Parity has successfully implemented a solution which consists of Microsoft Content Management Server (MSCMS), Microsoft Commerce Server, SQL 2000 and Windows 2000. All of these technologies were combined using Parity’s expert implementation and systems integration skills to give teachers direct access to the widest range of free and priced digital materials for learning and teaching. The portal aims to free up significant time for teachers so they can focus more on pupil interaction and spend less time laboriously researching material for lessons.

Mohammed Asif, the Department’s programme delivery manager for Curriculum Online, says:

A key aim of this project was to ensure that teachers could move easily through the

online catalogue and discover resources that closely matched their individual needs.

explains Neil Malpas, Parity’s operations director.

The innovative search facility which Parity has helped to develop, allows teachers to rapidly search the portal’s database by key stage or subject. It is anticipated that the technology will have a dramatic impact on e-learning. Teachers are quickly shown all the free and priced products, from a range of providers, that match their requirements. All of the priced products that are listed can be purchased by teachers using Government-issued e-learning credits.

A metadata schema and innovative tagging tool, including subject specific vocabularies, were developed to enable digital educational content suppliers to create XML records.

Malpas explains.

He adds that full account was also taken of the feedback from teachers during usability testing carried out in a purpose built laboratory. The portal has been designed to be easy to use by anyone who is familiar with finding their way around web sites. Also users with special needs are catered for by facilities such as text only presentation for the visually impaired.

The Curriculum Online portal

(http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk) forms a key part of the Department’s ICT in Schools Programme which is working to improve standards and encourage new ways of teaching and learning. The Government hopes this new ambitious online initiative will transform teaching and learning across the country and give pupils fresh opportunities to achieve their full potential.

In order to tackle the possibility of teachers being bewildered by the amount of digital resources to choose from, the new Parity-created portal provides independent evaluations of products as well as teacher reviews.

E-learning in classrooms is rapidly re-defining the traditional roles of teachers and the new portal showcases a wide range of interactive digital materials that teachers can use to manage classroom activities more effectively and reinforce what children have learned. They also explain the best ways for teachers to manage school children in groups, pairs and individually when they are working with learning web sites or CD-Roms.

Curriculum Online has been created through comprehensive consultations with individuals, educational institutions and industry. The portal can comfortably handle a large volume of users and its content can be dynamically updated by the Department.

Overall Malpas believes this project clearly demonstrates Parity’s ability to build high-quality public sector web sites quickly, using leading edge technologies.

Parity is a leading UK-based provider of IT services, technology staffing and training solutions for the Government sector. With its strong track record based on more than 25 years with the Government sector, Parity continues to help deliver highly innovative solutions which can successfully move forward the government’s ambitious e-agenda.