Katowice

Blended learning expert, Pete Sharma, writes:

'Katowice in Poland was the venue for the second IH Country Fair. The structure of the day involved three different types of training.

Firstly, the input of new knowledge. Participants were new to the Campus, so this was training in the pure sense of the word: to teach with MEC, you need knowledge of the product.

After lunch, participants reflected on the respective roles of the teacher and the technology. This type of training, or "teacher development", is fascinating.  As the teacher trainer, I devised a task in which I predicted the answers. However, the task outcomes were different to my model answer. Such divergence illustrates the value of running INSET (in-service training) as a chance to hone your views and test your principles against those of colleagues.

The day concluded with a hands-on session. This is skills training and the session took place in a lovely self-access centre. At one point, each of the four groups was completely absorbed in the language games - undeniably one of the highlights of the Campus.

What about training in your school? Does it include all three of the above? To integrate Campus successfully, the message seems to be: train, train, train! If you don't adapt to technology, then your school might simply ... miss the train.

This day was especially significant as no school in the country is using the Macmillan English Campus, so IH Poland have a real chance to forge ahead with a visible USP.

A huge thank you to Bronwen, Director of Studies at IH Katowice, for organising the day.'

The participants

Which learning processes are best supported by the teacher and which by technology? Where do the two overlap? Leave a comment.