Centre boosts lifelong learning

Citation

(1999), "Centre boosts lifelong learning", Education + Training, Vol. 41 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.1999.00441eab.005

Centre boosts lifelong learning

Keywords: Teachers, Training, Education, Schools

A state-of-the art lifelong-learning centre, believed to be the first of its kind in the UK, has been opened at Dixons City Technology College, Bradford. The Minerva Centre, named after the Roman goddess of wisdom and learning, is dedicated to individual lifelong learning, teacher training and educational research. It includes digital electronic whiteboards, videoconferencing facilities, Internet access and integrated learning systems, as well as 60 advanced workstations. Other schools will have access to the equipment. Masterclasses, homework and holiday clubs will provide a wide audience with new learning opportunities. Teacher training is also high on the centre's agenda, with a range of innovative training courses to disseminate understanding of the potential which new technology offers. Companies will also have access to the facilities for both training delivery and customized training programmes developed with the centre's own staff. Regular conferences and seminars on the applications of new technology, in the classroom or business environment, are also planned.

The college has been appointed by the Department for Education and Employment to lead a project on the virtual classroom of the future.

TV personality Carol Vorderman, who opened the centre, commented: "Some 80 per cent of the jobs youngsters will acquire in the next century have not even been invented yet. The technology here at the centre will be of inestimable value in ensuring that they have the key skills, the adaptability and flexibility to take advantage of those opportunities when they arise."