What's in it for me?
Secondary education - Making the Learning Platform work for you
Contributing authors : Brian Coates and Nick Jeans

Increase the time pupils are prepared to spend on your subject
We subscribe to the principle that pupils are to a greater or lesser degree motivated by being able to use ICT in their work. Also, when learning materials and tools are available on demand, pupils may be expected to access them more frequently.
Inbuilt reinforcement and revision capability
Materials stored on-line will be readily available as revision aids and for further study after the lesson in which they are introduced. Teachers can direct pupils to particular resources according to their individual learning needs.
Learning becomes relevant to the individual rather than the group norm
Wide availability of on-line communication tools means that pupils who may not have a voice in the traditional classroom can make use of the “virtual-time” facilities to interact with their teacher. Thus, every pupil potentially gets to discuss their learning with their teacher, rather that the small proportion who would typically interact within a traditional lesson, with limited time, pressure from peers etc.
Adaptable to pupils’ preferred learning styles and pace of learning
(See above) Also, over time, a range of resources can be collected within a learning platform which accommodate different styles and levels of access to the same learning. Teachers can then select the most appropriate resource for each pupil.
Share planning and development of resources with colleagues
As teachers become more focussed on facilitating learning, they should work alongside pupils in making sense of the materials provided – it’s therefore more productive that they don’t constantly “reinvent the wheel” of a resource aimed at the same learning objective as that of a colleague (but probably reflecting their own preferred delivery of the topic) , rather the development of resources reflects a genuine aim to repackage the learning outcomes for as wide a range of pupils’ learning styles as possible. (An individual teacher may then find themselves exploring a new learning resource alongside their pupils, sharing and modelling their own metacognitive techniques for the benefit of pupils. Teachers would then be accessing these same resources in the context of guiding their pupils through them, interpreting the materials into the overall context of the subject being studied.)
Same materials available instantly to pupils away from school (hospital/exclusion/etc)