Bromley ICT Forum Blog

(from Pippa Grayson NAACE)

The vast majority of the teaching force still do not use web 2.0 and distributed resources on the internet.

What are the barriers to them doing this at the present time? At present the main barrier to even becoming aware of such facilities is probably time and institutional buy-in to the whole process. Whereas their students are happily at home with social networking sites and the process of friendship groups and online communities, their mentors do not have the time or the facility to start learning about these processes.

One of the main barriers to enabling teachers to engage and risk take using web 2.0 is the fact that they are working within an outmoded system of institutional pedagogies based on the shifting sands of rapid reforms, which have left everyone punch drunk at the scale and speed of tweaking the system. There needs to be a rapid overhaul of professional development based on action research and communities of practice within the teaching community, with new roles and practices based more on the models used in current business practice rather than an outmoded curriculum.

Interested in thinking about Naace’s role as an innovative community? Come to this FREE to members event and contribute towards the future direction of Naace. Taking place at Harrow Teachers’ Centre on the morning of 17th May, you can find the full programme and booking instructions at: www.naace.co.uk/618

Latest Report regarding Web Mail

ICT in Schools 2004-7

Reprinted from NAACE Newsletter

HMI David Anstead presented Ofsted’s findings about ICT during a conference seminar. These “long reports”, based on a sample of schools, supplement the Section 5 inspections, which no longer directly report on subjects. He was unable to say anything about the content of the next 3-yearly report, due out in autumn this year, but David’s presentation was drawn from the same evidence base that will be used for that report. Caution must also be exercised regards the accuracy of your editor’s notes! Given that the report will be based on survey visits made between 2004 and 2007, it is effectively monitoring the impact of policy implemented to 2003.

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Message from Brian Durrant (LGFL Director)

Following the success of this event in earlier years, the London ICT Technicians’ Conference is this year being held in two sittings, morning and afternoon.  The very comfortable seats at the high-tech Auditorium within the BT national HQ are being quickly taken up, but as yet about 100 seats remain

The programme which is aimed at school network managers and details of venue and how to book are attached.  In previous years this event has been greatly appreciated and the preparations for this year will not disappoint.
We are particularly grateful to Penny Patterson and members of L2ICT Environment Group for all the thought and preparation they have put into arranging this conference.

We are also grateful to Atomwide which has agreed to sponsor the lunch for both the morning and afternoon conferences.

We look forward to seeing many of you there.Click here to download the program

The NAACE Primary on line activities, reviews and resources remain available here

This wide ranging collection includes primary curriculum support materials, primary on line resources, software applications and curriculum activities covering all Primary education including Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

Popular software titles include Big Book Maker, Find the Pairs, Jumbo, History Photo Quiz, Number Board and Sorting Games.

There are also reviews of books, software and hardware with a focus on embedding ICT in Primary Education.

The Direct2U service was a weekly email service produced by Becta in partnership with NAACE. The service was for primary teachers and offfered lesson plans featuring ICT in activities based on six subject strands. The service is now discontinued but you can view the lesson plans in this archive

Newham ICT Scheme of Work

In addition to their foundation stage materials, Newham have now launched their entire ICT scheme of work (covering years 1 - 6). Featuring active flip chart resources and tutorial videos there is a wealth of resources on offer. Importantly every unit contains a challenge lesson which gives the children an opportunity to develop their independent ICT capability. http://www.itass.newham.gov.uk/curriculum/sow.aspx

Mastering E-Pedagogy Part 2 [Ian Usher, extracts]
Today was the second full day of the Certificate in Advanced Educational Practice in E-Pedagogy (try saying that with a mouthful of cake) we’re running in conjunction with Oxford Brookes… One of the most useful pieces of the day for me was Chris Higgins’ presentation on threshold concepts - the theory that in every subject area there are certain concepts which, once mastered, allow the learner to significantly expand their knowledge and understanding in that subject…

I have my own idea of an important threshold concept in the area of E-Learning - that’s the point at which a teacher realises that, in some aspects anyway, their pupils will always know more than them and no matter what the teacher does they’ll never overtake or even catch up with their pupils. That might be something too hard to admit for some people - but if it happens, then it allows teachers to concentrate on understanding:

• what the technology is capable of;
• those areas of competency which pupils aren’t naturally blessed with;
• that the role of a teacher is to guide the use of appropriate tools, rather than necessarily lead in the use of them;
• that if you want something done technically, ask a twelve year old.

… show me a teacher who’s admitted that they’re not going to catch up in everything and I’ll show you someone whose pupils will be far more free to learn by discovery, research & experimentation.
http://moodlea.blogspot.com/2008/02/mastering-e-pedagogy-part-2.html

Further thoughts on the EeePC [From Where is AB?]
“I’ve had my hands on an EeePC before, but only in short bursts - last Thursday and Friday gave me hand on for almost a day and a half. Have I changed my mind about this little wonder?”

[Ed] Andrew Brown considers screen resolution, battery life, the webcam, storage space and the keyboard of the EeePC when used in earnest.
www.whereisab.co.uk/blog/?p=583

Multimedia wordsearch [Nik Peachey]
This is a really nice tool that I have just discovered. It’s called PhotoSoup and it generates wordsearch activities based on any topic in just seconds.

It’s very simple and works on images from flickr. You simply type in your topic and the site automatically generates a word grid and image clues. You then have 90 seconds to find all the words. You can get hints and even get it to show you the answers.

Further comments at http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2008/02/multimedia-wordsearch.html

Intro to digital storytelling [Joe Dale]
This sweet video shows how easy it is to create digital stories with Windows MovieMaker by scanning in a few images and adding a voiceover. Hope you find it inspiring too.
http://joedale.typepad.com/integrating_ict_into_the_/2008/02/intro-to-digita.html

More creativity with the WiiRemote
[Ed] Doug Dickinson has embedded a link to a video of another demonstration of Johnny Lee’s creativity with a WiiRemote. This time it shows the creation of a virtual first person 3D display that moves as you move your head.
www.dougdickinson.co.uk/blog/2008/02/more-creativity-with-wiiremote.html

From Oscar Stringer

This brief email is to let you know about two animation courses happening this term at the Institute of Education, London.

-Introduction to animation 29th Feb 2008

-Advanced animation 18th March 2008

Both courses are being run by Oscar Stringer.

More info and booking forms can be found here on the digital creativity for education site.

To watch films made on the last teacher training event, Click Here.

If you know of any teachers who are interested in learning more about animation, feel free to pass on these details.

I can forward more details and a booking form on request.

LGFL and Synetrix are offering another opportunity for Bromley Primary Schools to upgrade their broadband speed from 2Mbps and 5Mbps to a 10 Mbps.

Part of the offer includes

• reduced upgrade setup fee of £3000
• reduced annual rental from £5998 to £4998

For more information about the offer please click here to download a flyer.

For further information please contact John Eaton

Reprinted from NAACE Newsletter

Dedicated ICT hours throughout February 2008
During the week, from 9am-11am and 5pm-7pm, Teachers TV features a two-hour block of programmes which is dedicated to core curriculum subjects, with Thursdays being reserved for ICT. The first hour of programmes features ICT for primary teachers, and the next hour features ICT for secondary teachers.

Programmes highlighted in this month’s technology edition of their newsletter include a primary history resource review, an “industry trail” to learn about the world of work using PDAs, using a website to help transition, examples from a previously technophobic TA and use of ICT in assemblies and collective acts of worship.

See www.teachers.tv

Teachers TV Launches National Science Experiment For Schools
“As part of National Science and Engineering Week in March, Teachers TV has joined forces with The BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) to undertake Ready To Learn? The Experiment. A major piece of education research, it will investigate how factors such as diet, sleep, and exercise influence memory and concentration. “

Conducted via a simple on-line test and survey, The Experiment will be run by primary and secondary school teachers across the country before 11am each morning, from 10-14 March 2008.

Schools register to take part at www.teachers.tv/experiment.