Investigate the use of ICT in post-primary schools in Ireland 
for teaching and learning Irish, April – May 2007
Second pilot project September 2008 - June 2009
Every student learns Gaeilge from age 4 to 18.
Necessary to enter university and certain careers
At present, only twelve schools partake in the optional oral exam.
Irish Government Projects
“One of the key Government objectives for Irish
is to increase the use and knowledge
of Irish as a community language”
(Mary Hanafin, Minister for Education and Science, 11 March 2007)
promote oracy through audio-lingual and more communicative methods
increase student motivation through the use of familiar technology each student uses daily
increase student use of the four skills, reading, writing, speaking and listening, in Irish
help students progress their Irish competency
promote the use of Irish for communicating
investigate the use of ICT to assist teachers in assessing students and students in self-assessment.
Project Aims
Uk Deployments
Australian Federal Project
Indonesian Language Learning
Three States- Tasmania, Victoria & South Australia
~ 900 Corrected tests
~ 270 hours of calls
Significant improvements in spoken skills
    (10%-25% over 6 weeks)
Currently scoping phase 2
It’s nice to hear students you wouldn’t usually hear 
too much in class talking on the recordings.
He’s gaining in confidence. He’s not very clear in English,
but his recordings are getting better.
It’s more interesting and interactive 
than sitting with a red pen.
I liked it because it put a lot of fun into learning Irish 
and I think it was beneficial to me for my Junior Cert.
Before the mobile phone project,
I wasn’t good at pronouncing words or speaking
and this made me better.
It gave me more practice at home 
and my teacher could still correct me.
It was a new and fun way to learn Irish.
Comments from Teachers
...huge improvement in their confidence...
one of my very lazy but quite capable kids who always does the absolute bare minimum has done an amazing job with this trial and  really extended himself to the extent that I found it hard to believe it was actually him speaking.
Sally, Class Teacher, South Australia
It helped me be able to think quicker on my feet
and answer straight away instead of pausing and thinking.
It helped improve my speaking skills
because I got to practice it a lot.
Gavin Cooney, CEO, Learnosity www.learnosity.com
gavin@learnosity.com
Twitter: @gcooney & @learnosity
Learnosity Voice: Use of mobile phones
for spoken language learning
Photo Credit: http://foghlaim.edublogs.org/
Learnosity Voice Case Studies
Natural Interface
Widely available
Familiar to students
Built for speaking & listening
Technology used as a tool – not "accessorising education"
Why Use Mobile Phone?
How it Works
User Generated Content
Questions
Sample Answers
Text-chat Stimulus
SMS Pools
Saudi Arabia
http://bit.ly/tlf-mall
I feel more confident in speaking Indonesian 
and stringing sentences together with flow.
That this approach to learning languages and other subjects
        be explored for broader implementation.
To enable students to use their own mobile phones.
“Full implementation” of the program by extending the time length.
Continued development of content.
Help schools expand their technology, 
        for example high-speed broadband capability.
Report Recommendations
Student Comments
Conversation skills improved, group work was more cohesive and peer teaching
        was more meaningful. There was greater purpose to learning language.
...it was also way better to hear a student’s work without class noise
        and other distractions. Very easy to pick up more mistakes 
        and common errors than when in a normal class situation.
...blown away by improved confidence. Not afraid to speak in front of others. 
        Weak students; boys in particular.
Teacher Comments
Pre to Post Test Scores by Class
Gain in the mean scores across trial schools:
Pre and Post test scores
Deployments & Languages
Voice Chat
Text Chat
15,374 calls made
882 hours of calls.
http://bit.ly/ncca
Significant Improvement 
in language skills