Sheffield College has developed the Mobile Learning Network Academy, MoLeNET for short, at its Hillsborough Barracks centre on Penistone Road.

A programme is being launched to help 300 teachers and other education staff get to grips with mobile technologies in the first initiative of its kind in the north.

Staff from six city schools are involved: All Saints, Chaucer, City, Myers Grove, Stocksbridge and Wisewood.

They will learn about portable and compact personal computers, digital video cameras, head cameras, games consoles and mobile phones, and how they can support teaching in the classroom.

Project manager Dave Pickersgill, who has just won an award for his work in the area, said: "The vast majority of young people use mobile technology. It's become part of normal life. We are exploring how to harness it in a positive way, to support learning and enable staff to update their skills in a fast moving world."

The MoLeNET Academy in Sheffield is one of eight being set up nationally with £40,000 funding from the Learning and Skills Network.

In addition, Sheffield College has taken part in a wider MoLeNET mobile and wireless technologies programme.

More than 100 staff and 700 learners at Sheffield City College have tested the devices during the last 18 months.

Construction students have used digital head cameras to gather practical evidence of their work for their portfolio, while hairdressing students have used smartphones to search on the internet for hairstyles. Maths students have been testing an arithmetic training programme on games consoles, while visually impaired learners have tried a hand-held electronic device called Braille Sense. This allows the user to type in Braille, save the information as a file and print in Braille.

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