Lewisham College, Interactive Kitchen and associated projects

Background & Context

Lewisham College is largely a vocational college. Demonstrating of skills to students is an important part of learning at the college. It can be challenging to demonstrate skills to groups of people in a satisfactory manner. Anecdotal indications suggest that to some extent, with regard to vocational teaching and learning, success could regularly be marked up to a case of 'survival of the fittest'. Those students who were near the front of the class when a practical demonstration was taking place were at a distinct advantage - those at the back would have to strain to see - with the danger that they could become completely disengaged from the process.

The idea for the interactive kitchen at Lewisham came about as the result of a 'magnifying glass' concept of everyone being able to view the practical aspects/demonstration that the teacher is working on.

This concept of the magnifying glass is taken further - so that it incorporates the learner. It moves away from the passive activity and helps to progress the whole agenda for 'personalisation' in learning.

There is a strong belief at Lewisham that transforming the learning environment affects how people work within it. The College has done a lot of work on this and has incorporated Learner and Teacher Pathways into their modus operandi. Teacher pathway information is available at http://www.lewisham.ac.uk/TeacherPathway/.

Robin Ghurbhurun, Head of Learning and Development at Lewisham views the work that has been taking place at the College as a dress rehearsal for the future. He identifies a culture of innovation. The College ethos is that it's okay to take managed risks - and even get things wrong if necessary. An action research approach is used; this means a safe environment for teachers to run with ideas - underpinned by appropriate support and time for this exploration.

There are some exciting changes and opportunities afoot at Lewisham College.

Robin feels that the forthcoming national digital switchover will provide excellent opportunities to exploit the technology available in an educational context. There are enough bands available for something like a learning channel led by a consortium of colleges to be established. This type of opportunity is something that Lewisham, as a London-based College, is in an ideal situation to explore - especially with other institutions and colleges in the London area. Additionally there is a lot of activity surrounding the Olympics, Thames Gateway regeneration and Cross Rail that Lewisham College can gain from. The Principal of the College is very much a forward thinker and is very encouraging of innovative and dynamic activity.

One of the main principles behind the refurbishment of spaces within the College was the provision of equality of access to demonstrations and teachers no matter where the student is situated in the space.

The Lewisham campus comprises of buildings built in the 1920s and 1970s. The majority of the campus buildings (apart from one listed building) will be demolished and the College is due to move into new premises at the Deptford Campus in 3 years' time.

This case study touches on a number of innovations that have been introduced by the College into the buildings over recent years.

Lewisham has introduced a number of innovative learning spaces as refurbishments and additions to its current estate.

An interactive kitchen has been provided as a result of refurbishing space within Breakspears Building - a 1970s purpose built building.

The interactive kitchen is fed into by a number of media and a variety of support - internal and external experts, including employers. It's about moving away from the institutional push re course content to a more student-centred approach.

Initially it's about customised content - leading to dynamic content - this empowers the learner to take responsibility. It's about active agents for learning and how technologies can support this. It's not about technology for its own sake - it is important that any technology used has to add value.

The innovation demonstrated in the establishing of the interactive kitchen has also been rolled out, on a smaller scale, into the Beauty School, Performing Arts, Construction and other areas of the College.

The College also has two purpose-fitted e-assessment centres - dedicated to online assessment. The centres sit within the registry function and are staffed by 2 full-time members of staff and have been provided partially in response to a requirement for an online assessment equivalent for all College coursework by 2009.