When empowered learning empowers teaching
David McKee is the Quality Improvement Education Officer for the City of Edinburgh Council and is responsible for improving digital learning outcomes across schools located in the local authority. In particular, he is working closely with schools to deliver the City of Edinburgh Council’s Empowered Learning project.
"The nice thing with ClickView is you’re in that safe environment."
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Overview
When Deputy Head Teacher of Leith Academy, Rachel Watson, put ClickView into action during recent COVID-19 isolations, she had the City of Edinburgh’s Empowered Learning Project to thank.
Designed to provide equitable access to digital learning for all students, it was an easy decision for Edinburgh City to make ClickView part of this innovative project. During the pandemic, with constant interruptions, the timing could not have been better.
For Rachel, ClickView removed concerns around equity of access when students were isolating: “Our students were still able to access all the content from their lessons.”
Tasked with delivering the Empowered Learning Project to Edinburgh schools, David McKee describes ClickView as “a key component” of its aim to ensure equal access to digital learning. “iPads are going to be the core hardware for that, but ClickView will be our video solution.”
Beyond equity, the project has highlighted other benefits from using ClickView in classrooms across Edinburgh. It quickly became clear that video was transforming learning and teaching across the city.
The secret weapon behind the Empowered Learning Project
David describes a familiar classroom challenge: “As a teacher, you can stand and deliver a lesson to your children. It will be appropriate to some, too hard for others, and too easy for others. But the joy of video content means that pupils can consume it once or many times; they can stop, they can rewind.”
ClickView’s format speaks directly to today’s digital natives. Yasmine Naeem, Principal Teacher at Cramond Primary School, explains: “Video content within the classroom is essential. Our children are digital natives, used to smart TVs, game consoles, and devices like iPads. We need to keep up with them to make sure their needs are met.”
David adds: “You can create the content beforehand, pre-load the lesson with it and then be more focused on individual support for different children in whatever activity they’re taking part in. And obviously if a pupil misses that lesson, it’s there.”
Yasmine recalls a poetry lesson where a short ClickView video sparked outstanding creative writing: “The poems my students produced were fantastic! I’ve never seen such high use of imagery within writing. Parents even commented on how positive the whole learning experience was.”
David notes that ClickView’s carefully curated content ensures teachers can trust its safety and quality. Unlike YouTube, there are no inappropriate sidebars or autoplay distractions. “The nice thing with ClickView is you’re in that safe environment.”
The platform also supports teacher development.
"We use ClickView as the hosting solution to allow staff access to professional learning in the form of videos and quizzes as they prepare for the deployment of the Empowered Learning Project in their school,” David says."
Teaching empowered by reduced workloads
Teachers need high-quality material that’s easy to find and deliver. ClickView’s playlists, TV recordings, and interactive features provide safe, curriculum-aligned resources while also allowing teachers to create their own content.
David points out that the broadcast TV feature is especially useful: “Teachers see content all the time on television that’s useful for the curriculum. The TV aspect of ClickView gives teachers the opportunity to grab content, edit it, and save it for use.”
Leith Academy’s History teacher Jessana Gooch agrees: “With ClickView, it’s a lot easier to get into the core of the topic. ClickView content tends to be more of what you’re looking for, so you don’t need to trawl through lots of different clips or long documentaries.”
For Modern Studies teacher Sian Sievwright, playlists are a game-changer: “The ClickView playlist feature means that once I create a playlist, I can share the same link year on year. When you’re looking for video content, you can curate or create it yourself. That’s powerful.”
Teaching and learning is not one-size-fits-all
ClickView has enabled equitable access for all students at Leith Academy while also encouraging independent, self-paced learning. Rachel Watson explains: “If pupils want to revisit something they didn’t quite grasp in class, or go over it again, they can do so at their own pace through the ClickView platform. Allowing learners to have content at their fingertips means that learning doesn’t need to wait for an adult. It happens when the child is ready.”
Customisation is another benefit. Teachers can clip videos and add interactive elements to cater to different learning needs, saving time and making lessons more accessible.
Training and support at the ready
The City of Edinburgh Council values the analytics ClickView provides, helping target support where needed. “It’s allowed us to target support at specific schools and organise bespoke training sessions for them,” David explains.
And the results speak for themselves: “What we generally find is that when a school has the kind of training and support from ClickView, they really start to fly with it. That is what empowered teaching looks like.”
Together with ClickView, the Empowered Learning Project continues to thrive across Edinburgh. Yasmine reflects on its impact: “Because learners are completely engaged with video content, I think schools will definitely see improvements in participation, engagement, and assessment results.”
Councillor Ian Perry, Education Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, agrees:
"ClickView is another step in our journey to bridge the educational equity gap, ensuring every student and teacher in Edinburgh has our commitment and support for an inclusive, innovative and transformational education, sustained inside and outside the school gates."
