Spiral - Education for the digital generation

Social media and portable devices have the potential to transform the way educators teach.
However, schools' ICT systems are not fit for purpose (NASUWT, 2014) and have not yet
delivered the improvements expected. Schools in England spend £460m/yr in technology,
much of which remains underused (NESTA, 2012).
To establish how technology can be better used to support teaching, between 2012 and 2014
The Social Learning Network (TSLN) attended 384 Key Stage (KS) 2-5 lessons and
conducted 100s of interviews with teachers and pupils (7-18year-olds) in five UK schools.
TSLN research identified an opportunity to improve classroom digitisation with a platform
that complements existing teaching practices rather than imposing new ones, by:
- Mirroring established teaching methods in a user-friendly and scalable way;
- Improving data gathering to assess effectiveness and increase personalisation;
- Deliver efficiencies through savings on costly ICT hardware and software.
This project will allow us to develop the critical technologies and demonstrate the validity of
the Spiral prototype, key to raise investment for commercial exploitation. TSB funding will
enable us to test Spiral in more schools, catering to the needs of a more diverse group of
pupils.