Helping Learning - Online teaching services for students by qualified teachers

News

07/01/10 School closures right across the United Kingdom and here we are open for business at Helping learning waiting for headteachers to contact us to set up links between their teachers and their pupils so that lessons can continue remotely. Schools could be giving support to their sixth formers right now even though school is closed.

19/11/09 We are updating all our registered teacher's details. If you do not receive an email in the next couple of days, please make contact via the Feedback page.

18/11/09 In the Queen's speech we learn that Ed balls has confirmed his intention to continue and develop the One to One Tuition programme for under-achieving pupils. 'Helping Learning' is ideally placed to help deliver this programme and we hope that some LEA's will explore how this could happen.

27/10/09 We are revising the text on our website and hope that users will feedback their comments so we can improve it further.

23/10/09 Today we attended a 'Celebration of Export Success' organised by UK Trade and Industry South East at the Williams F1 Conference Centre in Grove, Oxfordshire. Lord Mervyn Davies, Minister for Trade, Investment and Small Business addressed the meeting together with represdentatives from Glide Pharma and RKS laboratories and after lunch we toured the private collection of Williams F1 cars. Wow!

07/10/09 We see that Skype applications are available for the Iphone, Ipod Touch and the PSP also, 'Helping Learning' support is becoming more and more mobile. Perhaps "Anytime Anywhere" should be our motto!

23/09/09 Just like that perfect meal being presented in the fine-dining restaurant, it is easy to forget all the preparation that goes on in the kitchen and we would like to pay tribute for all the hard work that is going on in the background to alter the 'Helping Learning' software in order to accommodate our developments this year.

09/09/09 We have added the French schooling system to our Key Stage comparison chart as we are hoping to expand in to France this year.

01/09/09 We have started to seek out schools and Local Authorities who might be interested in using Helping Learning. We would like to trial a support service for excluded students and those who are unable to attend school , to explore HL as a contribution to the Extended School's provision and as support for family and community education. We are also interested in using HL as support for the One-to-One programme. If you would like to know more then please contact us.

24/07/09 'Emergency plans for virtual schools and "homework by post" have been drafted in case a decision is taken to close all schools over swine flu.' was the headline of a report on the BBC news education site on 23rd July 2009. We have been trying to interest the government in Helping Learning for some time now - we have just what schools and colleges will need - the ability for their learners and teachers to work together remotely over the internet.

22/07/09 We are planning to add 'recreational' topics such as 'gardening' and 'photography' to our list of subjects and are exploring the best way of managing the website to incorporate these 'non academic' subjects and link learners to them.

30/06/09 We have come across Supertintin for Skype which appears to offer us just what we need to enable teachers and learners the opportunity to record their Helping Learning sessions with both sound and image.

24/06/09 We have just distributed a press release about our successful project with the Learning Support Unit at King's College, Guildford. Students from the Combi Centre have been booking weekly online lessons through Helping Learning with a Business Studies teacher.

21-05-09 We attended the British Council event "India and China ELT Today" at the British Council in London. See details of the event and power Points from the presenters at http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-india-china-elt-event.htm .

06-04-09 Our simple PowerPoint presentations for Families and Teachers have been revised and we have added a new one for Schools, Colleges and Local Authorities. Why not take a look by selecting 'Presentations' from the menu on the left?

27-03-09 We have been following up an enquiry from an overseas Director of Education who is interested in exploring how Helping Learning might be utilised to support their already excellent educational provision.

25/03/09 An email from Russell Prue (the well known and 'not to be missed' ICT evangelist) has reminded me that you can listen to his radio station and in particular to our interview with him at www.andertontiger.com/radio.

24/03/09 Over the last couple of days we have been busy preparing proposals for three schools who are interested in a closed user Helping Learning service. Their specific needs vary but the underlying thread of being able to connect students to teachers in real time is what excites them

20/03/09 In Guildford today we watched a BTEC Business lesson being delivered remotely through Helping Learning. Seeing is believing and the student's enthusiasm for the support he was receiving confirmed the benefits of the Helping Learning service.

19/03/09 We were represented at a DCSF consultation meeting on the Children's Plan - 21st Century Schools - A World Class Education for Every Child being held in Gatwick. This was one of a series of similar sessions being run across the country. It was refreshing and exciting to meet at least a few colleagues who shared concerns that the plans for the future lacked innovation and change. Could it be a lack of understanding that stands in the way of change or is it a fear of the enormous potential of the technology that is available now?

We know that Helping Learning could open up exciting avenues to support teaching and learning. How do we persuade others to give it a try? The Children's Plan seems to be to adapt existing schools to support a more personalised learning programme instead of starting with the individual child and building a system that included all aspects of their development and protection to support them.

16/03/09 Membership of SALTIS has been confirmed.

13/03/09 We visited Rhosnesni High School in North Wales and introduced Helping Learning to a group that included local headteachers and teachers. We would like to visit your school now!

03/03/09 We are seeking membership of SALTIS - the organisation is dedicated to improving the effectiveness of learning technology in schools. Find out a bit more about them here http://www.saltis.org .

02/03/09 'National Strategies', 'Inclusion' and 'One to One tuition'. We have had a look through both the new DCSF publications about 'Developing one to one Tuition' and have been unable to find any suggestion that this could be delivered remotely to some students? We are already providing one to one tuition remotely and it works! If you are reading this and would like to know more please contact us!

26/02/09 We have just delivered the second successful online Business Lesson to students in Guildford - watch this News page to read their reactions soon.

24/02/09 We were privileged to be able to attend the Open Day of the newly refurbished premises of the Combined Learning Centre at King's College Guildford. It was enlightening to hear all about the fantastic work that is done there by Hannah Marsden and her team, in support of the students and their families.

20/02/03 A telephone call from a concerned parent who had just elected to educate their fifteen year old at home following bullying incidents at school reminded us about the huge numbers of children being 'home educated' and that we had had an email request that we provide a link to the 'A home education' website. So here it is! http://www.ahomeeducation.co.uk

12/02/09 Today we held our first online Business Studies lesson supporting students from Guildford. "The technology worked perfectly well", reported the teacher after the lesson. To learn more about our project with Guildford, contact us through the feedback page.

11/02/09 We have downloaded the latest version of Skype - v.4 www.Skype.com and it seems to be working happily within the Helping Learning software. There are quite a few white board conferencing tools out there. We are going to try out Talk and Write one of the Skype extras. It is free to download and use in its basic form and can be found on the Skype menu bar - Extras - Get Extras. Let us know what you think.

10/02/09 Three students from Guildford had their first experience of online video contact through Helping Learning today during a practice conference. Everything is set up for their first lesson on Thursday.

08/02/09 Maybe providing access to education when schools are closed, is not such a good idea. To-date not one reply from any of the Directors of Education!

07/02/09 Our online support for students in a Guildford school should have started today but disappointingly, bad weather and a missing parcel have led to a postponement until next Friday.

04/02/09 Snow, school closures and lots in the media about this. We have done our bit and contacted all Local Authorities in England suggesting that they consider working with us to provide connections between their students and their teachers which could be used when schools are closed.

20/01/09 We are not sure what we have done in signing up with Twitter today but it seemed the thing to do and we are always ready to follow the crowd! (Within reason!)

12.01.09 We had a great response to the TEFL advertisement and now need to find ways of attracting students from across the world who want to learn English. Any ideas?

08/12/08 Today we have begun an advertisement campaign on www.TEFL.com to attract TEFL/TESL and TESOL teachers as we are planning to spread Helping Learning across the globe during 2009.

28/11/08 we have advertised in TES for Business Studies Teachers to offer part-time online support to a small group of students during the Spring Term 2009 - if that could be you, please email now to enquiries@HelpingLearning.co.uk for more information

10/11/08 We are inviting everyone to join the Helping Learning Group on Facebook and to help to spread the word about the innovative way we can connect students to teachers. In doing so, you might just present someone with the opportunity of obtaining the help with their studies that they need right now!

04/11/08 Thank you to everyone who entered the 'free draw' on the Helping Learning stand at the Language Show. The winner was Christine from Bournemouth. She has won a weekend in the Loft in the Forest - luxury self-catering accommodation in the New Forest. To see where she will be staying, visit www.LoftintheForest.co.uk .

02/11/08 Day three of the Language Show started quietly and therefore provided an opportunity for exhibitors to talk to each other about their products. As a result of this opportunity, we hope to explore some new business partnerships in the next few months. Later in the day Helping Learning stand was as busy as ever dealing with enquiries from visitors.

01/11/08 The first two days of the Language Show at Olympia have attracted many visitors who have shown significant interest in Helping Learning. As a result of this we expect to be marketing online lessons in Business and Holiday language courses in the coming months. We will keep our registered teachers notified of these opportunities, so why not register now or email us to be added to a mailing list.

24/10/08 Teachers of Business Studies who might be interested in taking part in a pilot online teaching project are invited to contact us.

09/09/08 Why not pop in to your local supermarket or newsagent next weekend and find our advertisement in the 12th September issue of First News, the award winning and excellent weekly newspaper for young people. We will also be advertising in First News for Teachers this week so look in your Primary School mail for your free copy and find us in there to see what we have to say!

08/09/08 The Language Show

Come and see us on Stand 228 at the Language Show in Olympia, London between 31st October and 2nd November 2008. Although we will only have a small stand there, we have some pretty big ideas about how Helping Learning can support language learners!

01/09/08 Autumn Special!

From today we are offering all families a free Helping Learning registration. This offer will run for a limited period of time. Once they have registered, families will only have to pay for the help that their family members seek through the Helping Learning service.

10/07/08 To ensure that there are sufficient teachers available to support students who will be seeking help when schools return after their summer break we have advertised in SecEd, the weekly publication that is sent to all secondary schools.

25/06/08 We addressed the south west regional summer term conference of Local Authority officers with responsibility for Elective Home Education

04/06/08 Helping Learning has made its debut on Facebook - we hope to include a video there soon. Please visit us there and add some comments about Helping Learning.

20/5/08 The Helping Learning website has been scrutinised and accepted by Safebuy. Watch out for their logo on the site soon.

04/03/08 Thanks to an invitation from Olaf Hindmarsh of Staffordshire LA, Helping Learning visited Stafford to introduce its service to the spring term Elective Home Education forum of representatives from Local Authorities and other organisations.

19/02/08 We were approached to be one of the innovative products that would be showcased at the AoC Technology Conference which will take place in April in Loughborough. FE colleges are to be challenged to prepare for the future with the theme of their conference being - Digital Natives, Digital Spaces.

20/01/08 The Helping Learning stand at Bett 08, attracted interest from teachers, businesses and government representatives from across the world.

They paused to watch a demonstration, discuss the benefits of Helping Learning and asked questions before collecting a handout and disappearing into the crowds. Almost four thousand Helping Learning leaflets were distributed during the four days.

At Bett 08 we launched a new feature for Helping Learning teachers. Revision and Tutoring sessions can now be set up by teachers once they have logged in to their area on the website. These can be single or multiple sessions, each individually set by date, time, length, topic, detail and cost.

Helping Learning students can log in and search the database of Revision and Tutoring sessions and book them in advance.

Free registration for Families - do you have a pupil or student in your family who might need help from an online teacher this year? Why not be prepared and register with Helping Learning today!

03/03/09 We are seeking membership of SALTIS - the organisation is dedicated to improving the effectiveness of learning technology in schools. find out a bit more about them here http://www.saltis.org .