We recently had the opportunity to visit City of Wolverhampton College, where several of the staff and students shared with us how they have been using CENTURY and what staff and students think of the platform.
Conrad Taylor, Business Learning and Technologies Manager, said:
We chose to subscribe to CENTURY because we felt that it would be the ideal package to support our college transformation. The artificial intelligence used by CENTURY identifies where students need to develop their skills, and for students who only just missed out on passing their GCSEs, this means that they don’t have to go through the entire syllabus again. We can just identify and target their areas of need.
Using the diagnostics on the platform to identify students’ starting points also allows teaching staff to plan their classroom activities accordingly to fill in gaps and further develop those skills. CENTURY isn’t just a company that’s sold us a product and ran away, they’re a partner in helping us ensure our students achieve what they want to achieve, and they’re flexible in their approach.
Rebecca Brownrigg, Functional Skills Curriculum Manager, said:
I love CENTURY – it’s the platform to be on. It has enabled us to have a package that not only helps us with our Functional Skills reform, but also provides students with the provision they need for GCSEs as well.
I’ve been very involved in the planning of using the platform for initial assessments, starting with our maths and English teams then with our admissions and recruiters. That has been very beneficial for us, and we’ve worked very closely with CENTURY to get it work exactly as we want it to for our learners, so that we’re able to provide them with instant access to the platform. This has streamed our learners into the correct classes and enabled us to give them the right support right from the beginning.
Matt Habgood, Mathematics Tutor for GCSE and Functional Skills, said:
I use CENTURY on a daily basis. I use it a lot as an independent activity and a homework tool that provides individualised learning. I’ve got a couple of classes this year. I’m amazed – I actually have one student who’s done over 36 hours of work on CENTURY in just 9 weeks, and I’ve seen in the face-to-face lessons that this student is excelling in lessons. So I can see it’s really working for them. My adult learners embrace CENTURY, I’m extremely impressed by the way they’re using it and they all really understand how to use it.
The differentiation in learning is excellent. The proof is in the pudding. I used CENTURY last year with one Functional Skills Level 2 class who embraced and engaged with the platform, and ultimately I was amazed with the results they achieved. They exceeded all my expectations, and actually scored more than the national average – I do think CENTURY was a huge factor in that happening.
Hayley Jarman, English Lecturer for GCSE and Functional Skills, said:
It’s making planning easier because you can see gaps and areas of focus more quickly.
The data is all there at the touch of the button, it’s not like you have to wait for it to come through, which is what I like about the platform the most. Sometimes it’s hard to remember where every single student is with every single lesson, but you can find that out at a glance on CENTURY.
I’d recommend using it to support teaching. It’s accessible, students get on board with it and can navigate it quite quickly, it’s really helpful for the tutors and it gives them quite a lot of control over students’ progress, which is essential. It’s quick, efficient and you get data quite quickly.
Learn more about how CENTURY is helping FE colleges to supercharge their teaching and learning.
