Digitober Stories: Innovating Learning With Technology at Manchester Adult Education Service
Learners at MAES try out a range of different technologies.
Step into one of Manchester Adult Education Service’s English Entry classes, and you could soon be chatting to a robot about your weekend plans.
For over 30 years, Manchester Adult Education Service (MAES) has helped thousands of people to transform their lives through widening access to education. With most courses offered free of charge to Manchester residents, MAES continues to provide opportunities for adults across the city to follow their learning ambitions and pursue a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities. With a variety of courses tailored to a wide range of interests and ability levels, MAES supports learners to build their confidence, learn new skills and gain qualifications, no matter their background or circumstance.
New technologies have the potential to innovate teaching and learning processes, supporting educators to deliver engaging educational experiences and improve learning outcomes for their students. The learning technology team at MAES are passionate about helping tutors to integrate technology into their practice to develop innovative and inspiring lessons that enable all learners to realise their full potential.
Technology can never replace the role of a skilled teacher in creating a culture of learning, or replicate the relationships that a tutor builds with their students. MAES’s innovative approach to education instead supports staff to use technology strategically as part of a broad range of tools in their skillset. When purposefully integrated within existing practice, technology can reduce staff workload, engage learners, raise attainment, and support tutors to deliver inspiring lessons.
For high-needs learners studying English, tutors involved in the AI Champions scheme have introduced chatbot tool Mizou to help learners practice their conversational skills.
AI-powered chatbots can offer learners the freedom to make mistakes, and a safe space to try out new language skills without fear of judgement. Mizou, which can be personalised to support specific schemes of work, offers students a low-stakes environment to build upon existing skills and improve their language fluency. For learners who lack confidence, conversations with AI chatbots can motivate practice to build the self-belief needed to apply their skills to real-world contexts.
In a busy classroom, tutors can often be overwhelmed with questions. By helping more learners to independently practice their language skills with a responsive partner, tools like Mizou can also extend teaching capacity, granting course leaders the flexibility to deliver one-to-one support where it’s needed most.
AI could even help education leaders to address one of the biggest causes of staff leaving the profession: teacher workload.
In English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) lessons at MAES, tutors have used Curipod - an AI-powered tool for building interactive lessons – to reduce the time spent creating individual presentation slides. This has freed up time for staff to focus on creating engaging lessons, develop relationships with learners, and providing individualised support.
The administrative burden of resourcing lessons can dissuade teachers from experimenting with new activities. By using Curipod’s built-in AI generator to support lesson preparation, tutors at MAES have been able to explore fresh approaches to learning, and invest more time in lesson ideation, planning, and delivery.
Interactive and creative tasks can create a more enjoyable and engaging learning experience that supports the long-term retention of language skills.
In one ESOL classroom, learners were tasked with using Curipod to draw pictures on their devices representing adjectives and nouns they had recently learned. With a miscellany of scribbled facial features popping up on the interactive whiteboard, a visitor could be forgiven for mistaking the lesson for an art class! Artistic skills (or lack thereof) aside, the opportunity for creative expression offered students the means to consolidate their understanding of new vocabulary in a fun and social learning environment, supporting long-term language retention.
Over the last few years, an explosion of technological advances has left many people struggling to keep pace with the rate of change. Digital skills are now integral to navigating the full spectrum of opportunities in education, employment and entertainment, and have become increasingly needed to easily access vital services. With the advent of generative AI, and the continued acceleration in digital development, it is more important than ever that learners are equipped with the understanding, knowledge, and skills to navigate the online world effectively.
Inviting technology into the classroom offers learners valuable opportunities to practically experiment with new technologies - even when digital skills are not the primary focus of the course.
Despite the potential of AI and digital tools to support tutors to deliver more positive outcomes for their learners, low levels of confidence can present significant barriers to adoption. The growing number of available tools can be overwhelming – and leave many tutors struggling to understand where to start!
MAES’s in-house IT and Learning Technology team researches the AI and EdTech landscape to identify evidence-informed tools most likely to benefit teachers and learners. Tailored training sessions support tutors to develop an understanding of the range of tools available, and access the resources and expertise needed to meaningfully integrate new technologies into their practice.
When technology is thoughtfully introduced to the classroom by knowledgeable staff, learners benefit. Through experimenting with tools such as Mizou and Curipod as a routine part of their educational experience, learners at MAES intrinsically build an understanding of what AI is and what it can do. Alongside building the skills needed for their course, learners are encouraged to develop the knowledge to use AI confidently, responsibly, and effectively. By embedding technology throughout their educational experience, MAES supports learners to approach new technologies with curiosity rather than fear and develop critical skills in digital literacy, opening new possibilities for their personal and professional lives.
Realising the potential of technology in education could help the sector to combat significant challenges around teacher workload, reduce the digital divide, and positively transform the educational experiences of learners. Manchester Adult Education Service’s learning technology team is hugely proud to pioneer innovative applications of technology that empower tutors to deliver inspiring lessons and equip learners with the essential skills needed to access the full range of opportunities the digital world can offer.
Manchester Adult Education Service is the largest Local Authority Provider of adult education in the city, supporting thousands of adults each year to rekindle their excitement and enthusiasm for learning.
To learn more about MAES’s vital work, and discover the range of courses available across Greater Manchester, explore the website via the link below.
We believe that everybody in Manchester should be able to access the benefits of being online. Find out how we’re working with organisations, businesses, and people to combat digital exclusion in our city:
