​‘We want the students to be creators and not mere consumers of technology’

Carlos Lázaro, Head of eLearning at King’s Group, explains the details of the award winning E-Learning programme of King’s College schools...

Last February, the prestigious magazine BIS (British International Schools) presented the BISA 2017 awards to different educational projects to recognise excellence in British schools overseas. King’s College schools were awarded a trophy in the “IT Initiative” category, in recognition of the technology-based project undertaken in their classrooms for the past 2 years.

The eLearning programme at King’s College was designed with the goal of turning students into “producers and not mere consumers of technology”, explains Carlos Lázaro, Head of eLearning at King’s Group. To this end, in addition to providing students with their own Chromebook (Google personal computer), the programme involved different platforms and technological applications that were implemented in all schools within the Group in order to facilitate creativity, participation, communication and collaborative work.

After starting an initial pilot phase that took place in King’s College Alicante, the eLearning project was implemented in the rest of the Group’s schools at an international level (Spain, United Kingdom and Panama). Today, the programme reaches more than 3,500 students (between 11 and 16 years old) and about 700 teachers, who receive continuous training about the most innovative technology available for teaching, school management and education.

Carlos Lázaro gives us all the details of this ambitious and successful project.

What does the eLearning programme at King’s College schools consist of?

We have been able to demolish classroom walls, allowing students to be part of a safe learning community at all times of the day. They use a variety of technological tools that allow them to be creators and not mere consumers of technology.

Each student now has their own Chromebook that they must bring every day as a tool for learning, creating and participating. By using these devices, we have created an infrastructure where communication is restricted to other students and teachers. There is no need for old USB drives or paper copies. Students can work and communicate with their teachers even when they cannot come to school.

We have also invested in applications that provide interactivity and participation in the classroom, while enabling teachers to conduct formative assessments in real time helping to verify students’ understanding and learning process.

What have been the main benefits for the students and teachers?

We have been able to equip students with technology fit for the 21st century. We have made it accessible to help the natural progress of their own learning, develop critical thinking skills and create a collaborative educational community.

Teachers have found new ways of communication and support, with tools that allow them to individualise the teaching and promote collaboration. This has been very beneficial for students who are more resistant to participate in a traditional classroom, and it has created a more inclusive environment where the student is more proactive.

How was the programme implemented in all the schools internationally?

This project started as a small pilot in King’s College Alicante (Spain) almost three years ago and has now been replicated in all King’s Group schools. We are proud to be one of the first schools that started using Google in Spain and the first in Central America. We also have several teachers and students who have achieved the status of Google Certified Educators who will help us achieve Google’s Reference School status very soon.

We have had many obstacles along the way but they have helped us to learn and improve and now King’s College can be considered pioneers in comparison to the rest of British Colleges around the world.

However, there is no doubt that the key to a successful implantation of this kind of project is working with an enthusiastic and hardworking team that is passionate about education and not afraid of innovation.

How did students, parents and teachers respond to the programme?

We are delighted with how enthusiastically the entire King’s College community has embraced our eLearning programme.

This first major milestone in the eLearning programme at King’s College was putting technology at the heart of learning and signified the start of a very exciting journey for us all; a journey that is revolutionising how we as educators, parents and children approach learning and collaboration, both inside and outside of the classroom.

What do you think has made your E-Learning programme stand out?

More than anything, what is unique to us is the fact that we have put the focus on using the technology to promote the 6 competencies of 21st century education: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Cooperation, Communication and Digital Citizenship. These skills combined with a high quality British education system allow us to be at the forefront of British education internationally.

About King’s College schools and King’s Group

The first King’s College school was founded in 1969 and, ever since, the prestigious educational institution has grown to a total of nine schools in the UK, Spain: Madrid, Alicante, Murcia, Elche (to be opened in September 2017), Latvia (to be opened in September 2017) and Panama.

The schools currently cater to over 4,300 students from over 50 different nationalities and have become a point of reference in their region for offering a quality British education. Many graduates access every year the best universities in the world, including the UK’s Russell Group, Oxbridge and Ivy League in the US.

Thanks to the success of King’s College and, of course the excellent academic results achieved each year by their students, King’s Group has become one of the most important and prestigious international educational institutions in the world.

For more information about the schools, go to www.kingscollegeschools.org