Tim Rylands, So Into It Ltd
I have used many "voting systems" at conferences, often for feedback at the end of the day. Often, they are slow, unreliable and painful to use. They turn delegates off of the whole process. Not so with Turning Point. Your feedback gathering was fast, efficient and even FUN!

How refreshing to get instant feedback without the hassle

Well done indeed for the way you ran the session but also for the pain-free technology

BETT Awards Judges’ comments

• "The use of TurningPoint addresses many of the issues around assessment for learning. It allows the teacher to assess on a range of measures including individual performance and group performance against a particular teaching point."

• "This is a hugely flexible product that could have significant impact on teaching and learning across all phases and subject areas."

• "The software is quickly mastered by totally inexperienced users."

• "Comprehensive support materials are on the CD, providing information in a highly graphical format. Followed step by step, these ensure minimal set up time and quickly move the user onto developing teaching and learning materials."

• "All members of the educational community can be supported through use of this product. Evidence of this came from a range of sources, for example, LA advisers using it to monitor the student voice related to Schools of the Future, teachers using it to test recall of historical facts and pupils using it to express opinion about the impact of WW2 on people at the time."

• "Analysis of performance enables teacher planning to meet pupil needs identified through analysis of data gathered in a session, using principles of assessment for learning.  This provides opportunities to tailor content to meet the needs of individual learners and the ability to track learners' progress, either by following their activities or by reporting on tasks that are assessed."

• "The open-ended nature of the 'Turning Point' kit provides a flexible resource that teachers can tailor to enhance teaching and learning strategies to support creativity."

• "The product facilitates discussion and collaboration. It encourages participation by all including normally reluctant contributors who lack confidence. A site visit and reference show that pupils are enthusiastic users of this product. It involves all pupils and builds the confidence of more timid learners. The product is easy to use in real time and very flexible."

Pam Marsh, St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Kent

• I'm thrilled to bits! Was a bit anxious about how to use it but in fact it took me just half an hour to produce a set of slides for different materials with 2 simple responses for each, conductor or insulator. The children voted for what they thought, then tried out the materials in their circuits, and referred their results back to their original responses on the slides. Fantastic!

Tom Barret, Assistant Head Teacher, ICT Subject Leader, Priestsic Primary School

• "I have been using TurningPoint in my Year 6 class for the past 3 months - very impressed, very resilient, very simple to use. The beauty of it lies in the use of PowerPoint. Worth every penny and we may well be spending some more on a set for each class from year 2 upwards. I think they are too fiddly to manage with very young children."

Russell Prue, Award Winning ICT Evangelist, Author, Inventor & Broadcaster

• "I've been using TurningPoint for a while and so I knew exactly what to expect. Even so, nothing could have prepared me for what was about to happen.  Pupils were completely engaged, the technology enabled Mr. Hawkins to get on with his lesson delivery and focus his attention on teaching and learning whilst adding an extra dimension to that day’s lesson.  I was reminded just how naturally pupils engage with new technology."

Pupils, Stow Heath Junior School, Wolverhampton

• “That was really good fun and it made us think about our answers”.

• “This is much more fun and it makes it easier for you to mark our work.”

Dave Whylley, LA ICT Adviser, Wolverhampton

• “That lesson blew me away. I know that Gavin was worried about the technology but this was unbelievably easy to use and I know he was surprised by how little technical preparation was involved. The quality of learning in that room was very high because the activity meant Gavin could get all of the children to empathise with children during the war and share their feelings about this with the class."

• "The development of higher-order thinking skills enabled by the lesson was immediately obvious. The open-ended question slide was brilliant and really rounded the lesson off perfectly."

• "I couldn’t believe how simple it was to link the Espresso content in with the slides and this redefined my opinion on voting systems."

• "I know now that TurningPoint isn’t a voting system at all and I can see that it has phenomenal potential. The system was automatically giving evidence of achievement perfectly suitable for inspectors and head teachers."

www.newman.ac.uk

• "The system, once the class list has been established seems very easy to use and a presentation can be created within PowerPoint in half an hour easily".

• "The programme works brilliantly and really does make the whole experience very fun and motivating for the children, with cheers and clapping all over the classroom when the results graphs are shown and they all got the answers right…"

• "This response system is absolutely brilliant it creates competition and excitement into the classroom, provides instant results for assessment that are easily transferred into excel and other spreadsheets and most importantly encourages complete inclusion and participation within the classroom allowing all children to be involved rather than just one at a time."

Berryhill High School, Stoke on Trent

• "The pupils found the system easy to learn. We had to work with two groups of GCSE ICT pupils who were working together. I set up a game and a quiz and used some of the online resources provided by TurningPoint to go through exam revision practice. We chose multiple-choice activities to simulate exam practice levels and in particular the important push from Ds to Cs. The pupils remained well motivated because of the instant results on the graphs. As every teacher knows revision can be onerous and dull but using the TurningPoint keypads created a fun, competitive environment in the classroom. The groups of pupils who revised without using TurningPoint had to be constantly teacher driven, since they switched off very quickly and staff felt that they were fighting a lost cause. The pupils found their revision sessions boring and complained about the unfairness of the other group who were able to use the vote-pads for their revision.

Integration into the classroom was a simple matter since most pupils are PowerPoint trained and consequently they were very comfortable working within the TurningPoint environment. This makes the learning curve small since anyone who understands PowerPoint can use it straightaway. the kids thought it was brilliant."

• "Year 11 Business Studies pupils were set homework where they had to create their own question for their peers, this would then become part of a quiz the next day. They had to email them to staff, who then collated them and together they were used as a springboard for the next learning activity in class. Those pupils taking part in the collated activity with the vote-pads agreed that the activity at once became more meaningful and interesting. Staff believe it gave them the opportunity to think seriously about the challenge to create a sensible question that they would expect other pupils to be able to answer. Berryhill pupils enjoyed the votepads so much they often requested the staff to include them part of their lessons.

They have used them in various departments and have found them to be most useful as revision and testing tools. TurningPoint allowed me to join 2 groups together on a regular basis which helped last year with teacher illness and then to motivate and consolidate basic knowledge before their exams.

I am keen to put this into my practice and I can see its use. I will use it across the zone to track achievement in terms of what our pupils are thinking and looking at how they perceive that they learn best.

Pupils will benefit by the increased enjoyment that is afforded by these vote-pads, it’s instant and this really appeals compared to paper-based assessment which some pupils find hard going."

Ian Beardmore (deputy Head Teacher), St Mary’s  Catholic School, Stoke on Trent

Ian found the voting pads particularly useful for maths mental starters and allowing his pupils to vote on whether they have achieved the learning objectives of the lesson. The pads afforded instant feedback / assessment which was useful for both pupil and teacher.

One of the areas of weakness in the school was the parental response to school questionnaires that are sent home on a regular basis. Ian countered this by giving out the keypads to sets of parents at every Key Stage assembly and as a result the feedback was doubled from 23% to 51%.

Ian has also made unique use of the voting pads at the Summer fair as part of the Game “Play Your Cards Right” pupils were able to vote on whether the cards were going up or down.

• "TurningPoint is certainly an effective tool that can be used right across the curriculum."

Neil Tuttiett, Bristol LEA

• "I've downloaded TurningPoint today, and I am stunned and amazed at how easy it is... I am confident that it will have a positive impact on the schools here."

James Green, Worcestershire LEA

• "Can you imagine what it's like trying to get responses from 35 children to a given question? TurningPoint allows every child to have a 'voice'"

Phil Shufflebotham, ICT and Geography teacher, Berry Hill High School, Stoke on Trent

• "The system is fantastic, tamper proof, and from the pupils' first reaction they look dead keen to try it out".

Deputy Head, Berry Hill High School, Stoke on Trent

• "TurningPoint is one of the most uplifting pieces of software that I have seen. It really made me want to get back into the classroom and start using it"

Lisa Simpson, Head of RE and teacher of History at Darwen Moorland High School

• "I am in love with TurningPoint! I have just used it first period on David and Goliath and I asked the questions at the beginning and at the end! The kids loved it and they weren’t an easy class."

Barbara Hudson-Reed – St Mary’s School, Ascot

• "A most useful and inspiring session – the trainer led a dynamic, informative and practical session that gave us immediate access to this valuable technology.  He made the technology look very user friendly and we were able to envision our pupils using the handsets to record many important result.  His hands-on approach and understanding of what it is like to be in the classroom made it easy to apply the technology to our different subjects."