Mrs Hanson beat off stiff competition, including rapping RE teachers and singing sociologists, to win the prize. Her video was the most highly rated amongst more than one thousand uploaded to www.o2learn.co.uk over the last year by a combination of public voting and the views of a panel of expert judges.
The prize fund will be split between Mrs Hanson, who will receive £50,000 and the school, which will receive £100,000, which they have earmarked for the creation of a new outdoor learning complex.
Mrs Hanson, who plans to donate part of her £50,000 winnings directly to a school in India, said: “I was astounded, humbled and overjoyed to find our film had won. The ethos of the competition was right up my street as I’m very keen to advance teaching beyond ‘chalk and talk’. Twenty-first century teaching is all about ‘active learning’ – the pupil engagement and practical hands-on participation that forms the basis of my teaching and is realised so effectively by O2 Learn. They say rocket science is one of the most challenging applications of physics, but through our filmed lesson we’ve been able to make it accessible to students in a whole new way.
O2 Learn is an innovative education initiative designed to celebrate the UK’s finest teaching and create a lasting learning resource that can help young people achieve their ambitions. Teachers are encouraged to upload and share videos of their best lessons on the e-learning hub. The ambition is to build Britain’s biggest classroom online, giving young people everywhere, from all backgrounds, access to inspiring teaching.
Since the scheme’s launch in Autumn 2010, visitors to the site have been asked to vote for their favourite video, with the most popular awarded £4,000 for the teacher and their school. This led to £72,000 being given away to teachers through the O2 Learn scheme. Last month, eight finalists were drawn from a pool of 1,000 uploaded videos, to be in with a chance of winning the grand prize of £150,000. There were two runners up, Claire Corrigan and Salim Rahman from Oldham Sixth Form College came second with their singing sociology lesson and rapping RE teachers John Cordeaux and John Allerhand from Sprowston Community High School in Norwich came third with their ‘Matters of Life and Death’ film. Second place will receive a prize fund of £60,000 to be shared between the teachers and the school, while third place will receive £30,000.
O2 Learn is part of O2’s Think Big initiative which seeks to inspire young people, and those that help young people, to make a positive change to the community. O2 Learn recognises the crucial role of education and the teaching profession in young people’s lives, providing them with the skills to make their communities better places.
