Klik2learn Launches the Digital Learning Hub for ESOL Learners Ahead of Schedule

Glasgow based #EdTech and e-learning company @Klik2learn has launched the Digital Learning Hub ahead of schedule to enable colleges, schools and councils to provide continuity of learning during periods of lockdown.

The Digital Learning Hub empowers education providers to give English as a Second Language (ESOL) learners a high quality online learning experience remotely. During any local lockdown the online Hub can help learners with little or no English language skills to feel more connected and help them achieve digital accreditation from awarding bodies in the UK.

Tansitioning from classroom to remote learning

According to census data, there are approximately 770,000 adults (aged 16+) in the UK who do not speak English well.* At the start of lockdown, tutors from FE, local authorities and and third sector providers made huge efforts to switch to online. ESOL tutors in the community reached out to their hard-to-engage learners using a variety of Zoom calls, online resources and digital tools to stay connected. 

What the Digital Learning Hub offers is; high quality online courses, content and collaboration tools underpinning a robust online strategy for teaching the English as a Second Language. It helps tutors to successfully transisiton from 98% classroom based learning to 100% blended learning when remote learning is the only option.

Designed for Education Providers

Designed to assist tutors and education manager in blended learning, the Hub allows tutors to collaborate with their learners in a safe, secure environment. The Digital Learning Hub comes with two oven-ready online courses, one for complete beginners with very little English and one for intermediate learners who are focusing on English for Work. To make tutors lives easier, the Hub comes with reporting, user-management and collaboration tools.

English language tutors will find an online English Skills assessment, progress tracking, chat and reporting features to help managers and teachers keep an eye on what students are learning and how it is being achieved.

Ann Attridge, CEO said… “We increased design and development efforts to launch the Hub for Autumn 2020. Blended learning is not only a matter of expediency, it’s a hugely useful tool for the inevitable catch-up process, as well as future learning opportunities.”

Reporting

Tracking and monitoring is crucial in a world where face-to-face teaching is reduced or non-existent. The Hub offers simple charts and graphs to enable users to access the data they need quickly and easily. Individuals can track their progress, tutors can monitor progress for their groups and managers can access platform data at an organisational level.

Responding to Covid-19
When the pandemic hit the headlines, the company directed new resources into an early Beta trial of the Digital Learning Hub. Ann Attridge, CEO said, “Early feedback from our community of ESOL tutors highlighted the need to feel for teachers to feel more confident about delivering remote and blended learning. Many new platforms have appeared during the pandemic, but very few actually come with the course content. The Digital Learning Hub provides quality online content plus the collaboration tools to fully support an online teaching strategy.”

Award nominated courses for ESOL
The core content on the Hub focuses on English language learning and offers two accredited courses – a groundbreaking pre-beginners course and an intermediate course totaling 200 hours of multimedia, highly interactive e learning. Both of these products have been nominated by the British Council for Innovation. Supporting this, the Hub offers a multi-level diagnostic English Skills Test, as an auto-marked version for Reading and Listening or a full version for all four language skills.

A pathway to vocational course

We’re already responding to market requests by developing short vocational courses to enhance employability skills. Subscribers to the Digital Learning Hub can expect the following innovations in the next 12 months:

• Real time analysis of speech to improve pronunciation skills
• Real time analysis of speech to improve writing skills
• 3D simulations of authentic scenarios to enhance employability and interview skills