It is “seriously impressive” that three in five Oak National Academy lessons are completed, its chair has claimed.
Speaking at today’s Westminster Education Forum on the future of edtech in England, Ian Bauckham said he initially found the 60 per cent completion rate “disappointing” as he would be “none too impressed” if 40 per cent of his pupils walked out before the end of his lesson.
However, he said the rate is “seriously impressive” when compared with similar online resources.
Related: Oak National Academy to start paying its teachers
Funding: Oak National Academy gets £4.3m to stay open next year
Oak National Academy: Everything you need to know
“Our completion rate for lessons is at around the 60 per cent mark, which when I first heard [it] felt a little bit disappointing to me,” he said.
“As a teacher, if 40 per cent of my pupils walked out before the end of my live lesson, I’d be none too impressed.
“But when we look across the sector, actually, 60 per cent completion is seriously impressive when compared with many comparable opportunities in the online world.”
Mr Bauckham said that, since the national academy launched, more than 14 million lessons have been followed across the subject range, with over 4 million unique users on the site to date.
English and maths are among the most popular lessons, he said, and around 70 per cent of users are accessing Oak through laptops, while 15 per cent use tablets and 15 per cent use phones.