Primary ICT Subject Leaders Meeting
Asus Minibook presentation (Chris Browning)
The Asus Minibook is a great innovation that made its introduction at BETT this year. Like a small laptop computer, the Minibook has WIFI capacity, along with access to multimedia software and the internet. Unlike the laptop the price of these machines make it extremely attractive for schools wishing to build and improve upon their computer pupil ratio. Chris provided an overview of the product and outlined its features in more detail. What was impressive was its functionalilty and its price (£199). The built in WIFI of the Minibook offers a great deal of potential for students to engage with school VLE (Virtula Learning Environments. They are also extremely light and portable.
http://www.rm.com/Primary/Products/product.asp?cref=PD1030046
There are some tweaks that need to be addressed with the Asus Minibook. Battery power only lasts for up to two hours which could pose a challenge for use in classroom activities. RM are promoting the Minibook as a portable device to support learning between home and school.
Organisations such as Go Education are addressing the battery issue by supplying hardware such as desk chargers and cabinets for the Minibook.
Eportfolios and Honeycomb (Phillipa Lloyd Perks)
Honeycomb is a great online tool that takes advantage of using Web 2 Technologies. For schools considering the creation of student centred eportfolios, this online tool offers some interesting features, although some of the functionality was limited http://www.rm.com/Primary/Products/Product.asp?cref=PD1075734&position=1 Phillipa has offered an account for any school interested in using or trialing Honeycombe as a possible eportfolio solution. If you are interested please indicate using by clicking the Comments link on this blog entry. ICT in the curriculum
During this session delegates looked at Schemes of Work and shared some local examples of strategies in planning and delivering great ICT enriched lessons. The most successful strategies were those where ICT was used to support and enrich other areas of the curriculum rather than teaching it as a subject. There is a perception that the ICT strategies on the QCA site still promote lesson strategies which have been ‘out grown’ by the learners. Concepts such as databases for example are best delivered within the context of a science or geography activity rather than a unit of work by itself. There doesn’t appear to be much advice on the QCA site about implementing Web 2 Technologies (learner interactive technologies such as blogs, wikis and podcasting) although to be fair there are some examples of lessons where podcasting was used.
It was great that members brought along some examples of the work they are currently doing with ICT and I would like to thank Alison Tanner (Darrick Wood Junior School), Mark Wynard (Malcolm Primary School) and Emma Cook (Pickhurst Infants School.)
All the delegates found it was very positive to examine the work of teachers from other boroughs and all expressed a desire to do something similar in Bromley. Therefore it was decided that the next meeting should be devoted entirely to teachers teams jointly planning work together.
