Supporting non-traditional learners using technology

April 27, 2017

The way students learn continues to evolve – pen and paper is increasingly replaced with electronic devices. Indeed one colleague from an AccessHE member HEI recently commented to me that he has seen some students recording and accessing content using a fairly basic but functional smart phone. And this idea is an exciting one for our work with our members – particularly when thinking about how our target groups of non-traditional learners can learn more about the different ways to contribute to and access higher level learning content.

So with our ‘Falling through the cracks’ event less than two weeks away – the last few remaining tickets available here – it was exciting to hear about an innovative MOOC from Cambridge Assessment, hosted on the FutureLearn platform, being launched on the same day as our event. As you will see, the MOOC, entitled ‘Aim Higher: Access to Higher Education for Refugees and Asylum Seekers‘, is designed to support refugees find out more about the support available to help them access HE. That it is being launched on the same day as our event focused on enabling access to HE for the unaccompanied asylum seeker children is pure coincidence, but it is nevertheless exciting to see how technology can help remove the barriers standing in the way of such non-traditional groups.

I for one am interested to find out more!

Jamie Mackay, Deputy Head of AccessHE – jamie.mackay@londonhigher.ac.uk