A North-East school is at the forefront of a technological revolution in education. Ray Crisp reports

IN schooldays gone by, running in corridors would be enough to attract the ire of your average school teacher. Today it is the ubiquitous mobile phone. Heads down, shoulders stooped, fingers frenetic, children text, tweet, or Facebook each other across cyberspace and the playground. And while this new technology is condemned as a fad, a distraction and a nuisance by a large section of the education system, one North-East school has decided to embrace the modern day industrial revolution.

Enter the corridors of Darlington School of Mathematics and Science and students are likely to be scanning poster-sized QR codes with their smart phones, egged on by teachers, giving them access to an enthralling electronic tier of education.

The Code Bank is unique and designed to give children the skills they will need to thrive in a world driven by the microchip.

“Some people’s attitude is a bit Luddite,” says assistant headteacher Steve Parr. “They think mobiles are a pest when they are in fact an extremely powerful and developing medium.

If they can bring down a 40-year dictatorship in Libya then they are a force to be reckoned with and, as a profession, we need to be on top of this technology.

“Our students will be the leaders of the future and the Code Bank encourages resourcefulness.

It teaches them how to use the pathways to information repositories all over the world. It is far more important to be able to access information than simply remember it. So the Code Bank is incredibly current and relevant.

You could say it is on trend.”

The Code Bank has been specially designed for the school, the only one in the country to be using such a system. An encrypted information website, it is accessed online or by mobile phone using a smartphone scanner and a QR code – a square of hieroglyphics that is now popping up all over the place.

Once pupils have gained access they have to use their IT skills to the full, including email, to answer a range of questions on issues across the curriculum. Each subject area has related questions aimed at the various key stages and a range of difficulties. Students can also use the internet to research the answers. But the system is designed so they can only tap in outside of lesson time.

“The QR codes have timelocks and if you try to access them during lessons they just delete,”

says Mr Parr. “It is meant to encourage use at break times, lunch and after school and the students certainly seem to be enjoying the challenge and the potential of winning some great prizes.”

Deputy head girl Rebecca Parkinson, 15, says: “I think the Code Bank is brilliant because it is so relevant to the world we now live in. It’s also good that it suits all levels with questions that are easy, intermediate and difficult. So one question might read, ‘how many lines are in a sonnet’, while another says,‘what is the calculation for the discharge of a river’ and then you can research the answers online. It’s all great experience and giving us the skills we are going to need as adults.”

Headteacher Calvin Kipling adds: “This is about engaging pupils in innovative ways so they can access higher level thought processes.

Firstly they have to access the system, work out the answers, which could require more online research, and then use technology to submit them. The imagery is a safe and they have to crack the code to open it. This is about making learning a challenge to be cracked and it is amazing how quickly young people understand this. Watching it go viral is incredible.”

DESIGN consultant Dan Hopper developed the concept into an interactive website which emails the children to say the next round of questions is ready to be accessed. It is also testing teachers’ IT knowledge.

“It’s great because it is also forcing teachers of all ages to get up to speed with the latest technology, which, in turn, helps them relate even better to young people,” says Mr Kipling.

“The Code Bank is the talk of the new tutor groups and is encouraging the healthy rivalry we were looking to imbue in our students. It is all an easy sell as students are naturally attuned to anything technological. It crosses age groups, skill levels and the traditional gap that often exists between teachers and students,” he says.

“Instead of letting technology run away from us we are harnessing advances in IT and defusing an unnecessary source of conflict in a very positive way.”