Bromley ICT Forum Blog

Since Bob Usher’s  course in January, many of our schools are now beginning to incoporate Podcasting as a strategy in the delivery of engaging curriculum activities.

We have  examples of teachers using podcasts as a strategy for supporting children with their homework such as teacher,  Karen Easterling’s ‘Division using Chunking’ podcast at Farnborough Primary School. We can also see examples of  students recreating and processing their learning in the form of their own podcasts such as the Year 6 Flashback at Darrick Wood  Junior Primary School. Churchfields Primary School (Christmas in Argentina ) and Warren Road Primary School  have also been very active in using podcasts to supplement their curriculum program.

Podcasts are not hard to do and they can offer  great value to the school’s curriculum program. They can be used successfully from Reception to Key Stage 4.

The LGFL offer a site for hosting podcasts produced by teachers and children. Schools can set up their accounts and load their podcasts to be shared with other schoools. The site also has some great suggestions for incorporating podcasts into currioculum planning along with tools to help you get started (and most of those tools are free). Visit Podcast Central for more information. (Use your LGFL login and password to get cracking…).

If you are interested in having your class participate in a podcast ICT Project Adventure please email me. If any other Bromley Schools (or from any other borough for that matter) are using podcasting, please share your thoughts with us on the blogsite. I would be really keen to hear from your, especially any secondary schools)

New Voices, Old Vic

Under Kevin Spacey’s direction, the Old Vic Education section has employed professional directors, writers and actors to work with pupils and students from South London schools on a variety of projects to encourage them to think about the creative use of drama in other subjects. The first project was a joint collaboration with the Imperial War Museum around the theme of the first day of the battle of the Somme in 1916.

LGfL has agreed to host this and subsequent OVNV projects to make them available permanently as an anytime, anywhere resource for the National Education Network. Each project comes with full lesson plans and videos to help teachers and students create their own version of the project in their school.

Find this in the KS3/4 English and History menus or directly at www.ovnv.lgfl.net

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.

We have received this invitation from our colleagues in iEARN Pangea (Spain) to participate in their public art project - this uses photography, environmental considerations and ICT to promote the consideration of the public spaces around us. Further information is contained in the invitation:-

Dear friends in iEARN,

We would like you to remember that the enrollment in the Public Art Project is open.
This project is designed to promote the respect for the urban environment and to encourage relationships between students in Europe countries.

*Deadline for subscription is near!!!*

It is a didactic proposal that applies the use of ICT in several curricular areas and promotes the attainmentof several basic competences.

We have thought the project for 10-18 years students, the participation is with every country language as well as English. The schedule of participation run from February 4-
April 30, 2008.

For more information see our web site: http://www.iearn.cat/publicart

Repurpose, Create and Share 

Becta and the National Education Network are inviting your school to submit a proposal to create engaging and innovative projects that exploit online digital resources for effective learning. Any materials created by participating schools will be then made available nationally for sharing with other schools.

This is a great opportunity for your school to

• Exploit online digital resources
• Create new materials to support learning and teaching for secondary aged students using these resources
• Work with the LGFL and the LA in the production and dissemination of these materials across the NEN

Becta and the NEN will provide up to £25,000 to support the development of these school projects .

The deadlines for these bids is 12 noon on Friday 22 February 2008Enclosed is a copy of the Call for bids paper with further information.

If you are interested and would like assistance in preparing a bid please let me know

(Thanks to the Wirral Grid for Learning)

The following sites are child-friendly and have copyright permissions for educational use.

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(Thanks to David Mason LGFL)

LGfL has been given by the City of London a website about the life and experiences of George Bridgetower. This site was produced for the City of London’s 2007 commemoration of the abolition of slavery and celebrates the extraordinary achievements of this Polish-born Black Londoner.

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Maximising Teaching and Learning using Podcasts

Presenter : Bob Usher (Curriculum Consultant London Grid for Learning)

Date 21st January 2008

Time 9:00-3:30pm
Venue : Bromley EDC Church Lane Princes Plain Bromley BR2 8LD

Limited places are available for a whole day INSET program specifically aimed at KS2 and KS3 teachers.

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• Using games technology and methodology to improve training & education [Weds 17th Oct, London, ETSA]

• 4th EduGeek.net conference [Weds 24th Oct, E. Mids]

• South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL) E-Safety [8/11, 20/11, 21/11, SW England]

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Interested in free software to support your school curriculum program?

Below is a comprehensive list of free software resources for teachers. (Thanks to Alison Tanner from Darrick Wood School for this entry).  Are any of you making use of these programs? Do they work well? Share some of your thoughts in the comments area.. Continue Reading »