SmartScreen

Pat Spires, Head of the Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy department at Hertford Regional College looks after just under a thousand students across a range of courses with nearly 600 on full NVQ courses in hairdressing and beauty.

'I first heard about SmartScreen following a presentation held at one of our network meetings.  I realised immediately that it would be a very useful learning tool for our students and an invaluable support for staff.  On my return to the college I contacted our Director of ICT and the Deputy Principal and they agreed that a demonstration on site would be useful.  We have been using SmartScreen ever since.

SmartScreen helps to improve the learner’s perception of the qualifications and provides them with easy to access information, tests etc. The material is presented in a way that is engaging, stimulating and easy to understand.  In addition the learner can access the site anywhere, anytime which has to be a bonus. It makes research, homework and revision useful and interesting. The hairdressing and beauty therapy lecturers use the site for planning sessions, new ideas on delivery and activities.

Our learners benefit from  being able to work at their own pace in study centres, at home or at work, or when  in college in groups. They can actually take control moving through a unit quickly or one step at a time. The joy is that they can go through everything again and again until they feel confident.

Our tutors have found the sample session plans, ideas and strategies, handouts etc do save time and is extremely useful for new tutors in particular.   The tutor forums available will also prove very useful to our tutors once they have got used to the idea that they can ‘chat’ with peers and colleagues via SmartScreen.

The site is friendly and supportive and I think it has definitely been money well spent.  SmartScreen is definitely working well within the college and I look forward to introducing it to new colleagues and learners and making sure all staff and students take full advantage of what the system offers.'