ICT for Teaching and Learning

General Update!

OK, it’s been a hectic few weeks, but we’re getting there, so here’s a general update on the things that have been going on!

Work on NTLP has increased rapidly with the league of teachers putting a lot of effort into their areas! Mr Tetteh has developed and area covering an entire Scheme of work for Year 7 reproduction, and is setting up an area with relevant homework for this section. I provided an Inset session with the science department, and they now all have their own area to offer interactive homeworks on the portal. Mawuli is now setting up an overall homework area so the rest of the department will simply need to copy and paste the pages in. It looks like Science are taking the portal on whole heartedly and Mr Tetteh is becoming a man of legend!

In Math, a similar project has begun for the entire Year 7 scheme of work, the project is being worked on by Heather and Ron, and the framework is now in place for this piece. Again, homeworks and SOW are going to be made available to all staff and students, which will make life a lot easier!

DPA’s area of the portal is expanding with relevant lesson links for many areas, and the next plan is to move onto homeworks.

We’re planning something a little different with English, to give staff a big WOW, which will hopefully grab their attention and get them all on board. I’m working closedly with Kate for 1 lesson a week to get this up and running, and this should be ready very soon!

Other progress around college is picking up. Art are regularly using the data projector unit they have been provided with, and are regularly now borrowing a second projector so they can run 2 simultaneously! Music are now using interactive CD Roms in lessons with their new speakers, but the problems with cubase still persist! AND Finally…….MFL are using Podcasting for GCSE Oral exam practice recordings. These should go on the portal later this week!!!!!!

Personal use at the moment is centred around a piece of kit called “Revelation Sight and Sound”. It’s a great piece of kit, which allows pupils to create audio visual presentations using any form of digital media available to them. You can check out a couple of examples of the work produced on the portal, with Year 12, and Year 9. The quality of work is excellent, the pupils love it, and it can be accessed from the Portal to showcase work! EXCELLENT!

The I-River has landed!

It’s a little later than expected, but it has finally arrived. We now have the means of creating high quality podcasts! Anyone wishing to do so should contact me!

P P P P P P P Podcasting!

It’s the latest craze to hit the streets! Podcasting may sound technically difficult, but let me assure you……..ITS NOT! It’s simply a sound file that people can access and put on their MP3 players. What could be simpler! Approximately 70% of our pupils as a whole have MP3 players, with KS4&5 pupils being close to 90%!!! We really should be tapping into this!

So, should I tell you what we’ve done? We’ve only gone and invested in some top spec kit to allow you to create Podcasts in college! Hells Yeah!!! A top class Microphone, and audio recorder, plus 5 small voice recorders!!! And do you know what’s even better? Our technician is a legend with it! So,  at some point his week we should receive our new kit. It’s there for everyone to use, so if you’ve got an idea that you wanty to turn into a podcast, just let us know…..I’m using the gear on Tuesday afternoon, so get in early!

You Snooze You Lose Suckers!

Going Blue!

OK, so I’ve been looking at the hardware situation accross college, and helping departments get a little closer to where they would like to be, but up until recently, I haven’t really been pushing the boundaries in using ICT to enhance teaching and learning. That all changed this week! On Friday afternoon a group of Year 12 pupils created a Celebrity Big Brother Historical spoof Movie using Blue Screen Technology, and Movie Edit Pro software. The project was based around an idea for imaginary dialogues (taken from Michael J Gelb), adapted into a historical study of Civil rights activists and given a modern twist by being staged in the big brother house. The 10 minute movie took 2 lessons to prepare, 1 lesson to shoot and 45 minutes to edit. It has been well worth the effort. Not only did it enthuse the pupils, but it also made them think of the historical characters in more detail, and produced a resource they can access for revision in the future. It was also one hell of a laugh!

Taking the plunge!

OK, so it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a time where everyone is together at the same time to get the questionnaire completed to find our starting point. So, I’ve put the copies in people’s pigeon holes in the hope that it won’t be a total pain in the arse making sure I get them all back! Fingers Crossed!!!

Technician Training!

Those of you who have been keeping up with this Blog, will know that part of the vision for this post was to gain a whole school approach to ICT for teaching and learning, with every member of staff contributing to increasing the impact of ICT. Part of the strategy to try and bring this about was to help departmental technicians become more confident in using ICT to help create resources. I am pleased to announce that we are beginning to get on our way!

Paul Jennings the legendary Science technician dude will be undertaking rigorous training this week to become an expert in media editing. this will mean that he will be able to edit, crop and chop and media file to suit the needs of the department, leading to a more effective use of video to meet everyone’s needs!

Remeber……….training is open to everyone in college……all you need to do is ask!

Mobile Multi Media!

Ok, so we all know that data projectors are expensive. We all know, getting them ceiling mounting them is mega expensive, but we also know that they are excellent tools to try and increase the effectiveness of teaching and learning. What to do???????

I think we may have cracked it! the Mobile Multi Media Unit may just be the answer! Containing a data projector, video, and speakers, all you need to do is wheel it into your room, infront of the board, plug it into the wall and hook up your laptop! It’s so easy! Not only that, it’s cheaper than ceiling mounting a projector, and can cover more rooms!

This week, all the pieces arrived to put the unit together. It was built, and is currently under trial in Art. Based on its usage, we will see how effective it is, and consider a role out to under subscribed departments.

Check out the Port Hole!

Interest in the Portal is gradually increasing, and fingers crossed will continue to do so! After an initial letter to the whole staff there have been a number of queries dealing with access to the portal, and editing areas. All 6 projects from the League will be posted to NTLP, which will hopefully begin to bring about greater usage and ingrain the view that the portal is an excellent tool to aid teaching and learning. Added to the Leagues efforts, Andrew Dickson has also showed interest in creating a business Studies area of the Portal, and Dr Rands will be working with Trudy Craddock to add further science resources to the Portal. I have also organised a meeting with Eileen Wall to go through how the portal can be used for pupils dealing with long term adsences.

Finally, a recent meeting with the Head of Science at Longbenton has further confirmed the fact that the Portal really is the future. He has been uploading his entire SOW to the portal, with links to various video clips, worksheets, web pages and powerpoints. His system is truly great, and is something we should be strivivng to work towards. Anyone wishing to view the work going on at Longbenton should see me, as I’ve got an access code to view their site!

Chris

The First Meeting!

The newly formed League had its first official meeting this week on Tuesday 25th January. It was a chance to meet up, discuss what projects everyone was going to work on and then begin some brainstorming to help bring forth ideas to work on. The meeting began with an introduction to Inspiration, a discussion on the various projects and then time to throw different ideas and strategies around. The following projects have been decided:

Dazza Parr: Will be working to extend and Improve the Virtual Geography site he has begun work on, leading to links and exercise that will be posted to their NTLP area!

Heather Caswell: Will be working on a 4 lesson study for KS4 maths, looking at Circle Theorems. The aim is to provide interactive content for this unit, again with links for other teachers on their NTLP area!

Mawuli Tetteh: Will be working on a series of lessons focussing on the Haber process, for Year 10. The work will have a focus on starters and plenaries, which again will be uploaded to NTLP, with a possible focus on assessment of pupil progress using VerdICT.

Veronica Pilkington: Will be focusing on an interactive Scheme of Work for Year 7, linking the current scheme of work to relevant interactive lesson activities and digitised work. This will also be made available to other staff on the NTLP!

Chris Wilde: Whilst working with everyone else involved in the group will also be working on an interactive Scheme of work for “Black People of the America’s”, which will be made available on NTLP.

Katie Fiddler: Due to illness Katie was unable to make the first meeting, however discussion with Mr Bullock has led me to the conclusion that the English project will focus on Yr 10 writing skills, concentration on a specific lesson on a writing triplet.

Work has began well, and everyone is happy with the projects thus far!

Chris

A Little Setback….

….Ok, after an initial good start we’ve encountered a little setback. I had planned to hand out the baseline questionnaire during dept meetings on Tuesday 17th, to give people time to complete them on that night. However, timings and reschedules have meant that this meeting became a full staff meeting, and there was no time to complete the questionnaires. I therefore intend to distribute the questionnaires during the departmental meeting on 31st of January. This may effect the timings on the action plan, but cannot really be helped.

Chris