Moovl – just add imagination

Hope School is a school for boys with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, in Liverpool. All of the learners have a statement of special educational needs or are undergoing assessment. Most have a history of disrupted schooling and poor attendance at other schools. This school epitomises real personalised learning in every sense of the term – they need to tailor for a wide range of abilities in some very challenging circumstances.

The ICT Manager at Hope School, John Lewis, started using the demo version of Moovl on the Futurelab website. The school subscribed to the schools version of Moovl when it was first published in May 2006.

The school has found that the key benefits of using Moovl are that:

• It is very engaging; hugely important given that the learners suffer from severe behavioural difficulties. One learner had not sat through a complete lesson since he started (3 years ago), until he used Moovl.
• It is the only resource that learners keep coming back to and want to use again and again. Learners find it instantly rewarding as animations can be created quickly and easily.
• It lends itself to science and helps develop some difficult scientific concepts in a fun way.
• It helps develop thinking and investigative questioning, learners have begun asking questions such as ‘What happens if I do this or this?’ and ‘How can I do that?’
• It encourages learners to take control of their learning and gives them the confidence to articulate themselves. The teacher is only a facilitator.
• It provides learners with a challenge (which boys thrive on) and this gives their learning momentum and purpose.
• Learners help each other – Moovl support true collaboration.
• It is easy to use – learners use the tools confidently, grasp functionality very quickly and often tell teachers how to use it.