Excellence Gateway
Published: 12 January 2010
This case study was produced by JISC Regional Support Centre for Northwest on behalf of the Excellence Gateway.
Sector relevance: Further education and Sixth Form colleges
Keywords: Improving teaching and learning, improving institutional effectiveness, Nintendo Wii, games consoles, motivating learners, using e-learning materials, developing self-confidence, working with groups, working with individuals, enjoying and achieving, mangement of learning resources, staff development, sport, leisure and recreation, child development and wellbeing, health and social care
As part of a wider project to develop more interactive and effective teaching and learning, West Cheshire College has been exploring use of the Nintendo Wii games console and Wii Fit. Staff in the Learning Resources team invited tutors to incorporate use of the Wii into their courses, and have been impressed with tutor responses and student engagement.
West Cheshire College is a vocational college with three main campuses located in Chester, Ellesmere Port and Capenhurst. The learners are drawn from the West Cheshire and South Wirral regions. There are approximately 2,000 full-time and 20,000 part-time learners studying at the College.
The vocational courses are offered at various levels, and students learn practical skills in real work environments. The wide range of courses includes Care and Childcare, Construction, Logistics, and Public Services.
The College has Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) status for Social and Healthcare, and in Automotive Manufacturing.
West Cheshire College encourages its tutors to use technology to good effect in their teaching, aiming to ensure, for example, that Microsoft PowerPoint and interactive whiteboards are not simply used for the ‘static' delivery of lessons.
So when Learning Resources staff Tricia Haddock (Senior Learning Resources Officer) and Anthony Beal (Learning Resources Section Leader) were made aware that a Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit were among technologies available on short-term loan from JISC RSC Northwest, they were keen to explore the potential.
Tricia admits that initially she was somewhat sceptical about how the Wii might be used other than in Sports subjects, but she and Anthony agreed there was a possibility it might suit the College's focus on vocational courses.
The upcoming loan of the Wii was advertised through the Learning Resources newsletter via the College intranet, explaining that they wanted volunteers to help evaluate its use for teaching and learning. Tricia also promoted it directly to participants on the College's PGCE course, on which she teaches e-learning elements.
They received some immediate responses from a number of tutors, who were then asked to:
Learning Resources staff took the equipment out and supported tutors in setting it up for use. However, in most cases the set-up was simple, with the Wii linked directly to the classroom data projector (in most cases via a data socket on the wall), and projected onto the interactive whiteboard.
Tricia says that seeing the simplicity of the set-up instilled confidence in some tutors who were initially concerned about how complex they thought the process might be.
A laminated checklist of contents was produced to ensure that all components of the Wii and Wii Fit were accounted for and returned after each session, no matter which member of the Learning Resources team went to collect it.
Pilots with the Wii and Wii Fit have been undertaken by tutors from Childcare, Sports, Games technology, and Health and Social Care. It has proved particularly versatile for Childcare, including supporting topics on:
During the pilots the team discovered other ways in which the Wii can be used, such as uploading images to the Photo Channel via an SD card slot, which enables the Wii to be used as an interactive whiteboard, with students able to work on it using the Wii remote from wherever they sit in class.
As a result of the pilots, the team has purchased a Wii for each of the three College sites; the ‘standard' kit they have bought comprises Wii console, Wii Fit and balance board, Wii Play, Wii Sports, and Mario Cart.
Before promoting the Wiis too widely, Tricia and Anthony have had to determine a practical loans procedure for the equipment; this has involved incorporating it onto the Library Management System, and identifying which items should be listed individually and which should be bundled together.
When the Wii was first promoted to the PGCE participants, Tricia simply let them know it was available as they were concentrating on other elements of the course at the time; however, she is hoping to open participants up to the potential of the Wii in the future by modelling its use appropriately within e-learning elements of the course.
Plans for wider promotion include further inclusion in upcoming newsletters and via a stall during the College's staff development week. Anthony is also keen to get access to a range of lesson plans in different subjects to show how the Wiis have been integrated into teaching, and which he can be use to open tutors up to possibilities.
As is typical with the implementation of new technology into the classroom, introduction of the Wiis has thrown up an issue which Tricia and Anthony hadn't predicted – in this case, how to ensure that the Wii Fit balance board is kept clean (hygienic) to prevent fungal infections being passed between students. To resolve the issue, the team is drawing on the experience of the Sports department, which already has procedures in place for some of its sports equipment.
Although the numbers of tutors who have used the Wii so far is relatively small, all the feedback has been positive, even from those who were sceptical, or had concerns about using it beforehand.
From observations, Tricia and Anthony have noticed that any reluctance from students to get involved has generally been overcome as soon as they saw the Wii in use, and saw others getting involved. Tutors Margaret Maddocks (Health & Social Care) and Emma Jones (Sports) confirm that it has drawn less confident students into getting involved in class activities much more readily, with a positive impact on confidence and self-esteem. Both tutors also agree that the Wii was easy to incorporate into their lessons in a meaningful way, and that it was good for group working and, therefore, group cohesion too.
Margaret is convinced that this has had a very positive effect on student learning too. About using the Wii for her lessons on child growth and physical development, she says:
"Not only were they discovering things for themselves, experiencing the exercises gave them a better understanding of what it might mean for children and for older people. It then sparked deeper discussions about issues such as deterioration in old people." Margaret Maddocks, Health and Social Care Tutor
"Not only were they discovering things for themselves, experiencing the exercises gave them a better understanding of what it might mean for children and for older people. It then sparked deeper discussions about issues such as deterioration in old people."
Margaret Maddocks, Health and Social Care Tutor
Both Margaret and Emma plan to continue with use of the Wii. Other tutors are now coming forward to the Learning Resources team with suggestions as to how else they could teach using the Wii, and Tricia feels it has certainly opened them up to the potential of learning through game playing and entertainment.
Senior management at the College have even indicated that they may explore making the Wii available for recreational use to benefit the wellbeing of students at their Capenhurst campus, which is located in the middle of a British Nuclear Fuels site and, therefore, relatively isolated.
Tricia is impressed not only that the Wii brings interactivity into the classroom, but also with its flexibility, enabling tutors to get their students working individually, in small groups or in teams depending on the activity.
"It gets them up there moving about, it helps their attention span and it suits their learning style." Tricia Haddock, Senior Learning Resources Officer
"It gets them up there moving about, it helps their attention span and it suits their learning style."
Tricia Haddock, Senior Learning Resources Officer
The Wii has also proved to be a motivator for students. When one class had not progressed to the point in the topic at which they were due to use it, the incentive of being able to use it the following week if they had completed work up to that point was all the motivation they needed.
Tricia and Anthony are enthusiastic about other opportunities for the Wii, which they haven't been able to explore yet, recognising that there are plenty of games and programs which could be effective for their students, from ‘Big Brain Academy' through to ‘Cooking Mama', for example.
Anthony thinks that growing use will put pressure on the Wii equipment that Learning Resources has for loan. However, he sees this as a positive, with subject departments then likely to budget for purchasing their own; this would enable them to make full use of the equipment, including students being able to create Miis (Wii characters created by users to look like themselves), and the retaining of student and class data within Wii programs.
Although some resource managers might see the Wii as a waste of money, Anthony's recommendation is that they should think again. He says:
"Even if you just think of the value for a Sports student, being able to look at health profiles and training programmes for development. You can spend a lot of money on subject-specific software but with the Wii, for just over £200 you can get something that can be used across many different subject areas. It might not be perfect, you may have to work with, and adapt what's available in the technology, but it certainly represents good value for money." Anthony Beal, Learning Resources Section Leader
"Even if you just think of the value for a Sports student, being able to look at health profiles and training programmes for development. You can spend a lot of money on subject-specific software but with the Wii, for just over £200 you can get something that can be used across many different subject areas. It might not be perfect, you may have to work with, and adapt what's available in the technology, but it certainly represents good value for money."
Anthony Beal, Learning Resources Section Leader
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An interesting read as a member of staff here has expressed a interest in the Wii. But what exactly was used in this trial. I would like to know the particular application or game that was used and how it was used. This would be very useful to inform the teaching staff here.
Dave Nixon, North West
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