ICT for Teaching and Learning

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

Getting to Know Everyone!

So, as you should already know, the first point on the action plan is for me to obtain a benchmark to find out where everybody in CCC is in relation to using ICT for Teaching and learning, and that I intend to do this by asking all members of staff to complete a questionnaire. I will then analyse the results of this questionnaire to become better informed about the action I will need to ake in the future. To view a copy of the questionnaire, simple download the link below!
Initial Questionnaire

Chris.

Taking Action!

Right then. I’ve used the Vision to create an Initial Action Plan. It’s only planned for the first 3 months because I’m not totally up to speed on where we are as a whole college yet. When I am, the Action plan will be extended and added to. Anyway, you can view the current action plan below.
Action Plan

Chris

One Vision….As Freddie Sang!

One Dream, One Soul, One Prize, One Goal da da da da………

OK, so when I was interviewed for this post I was asked to provide a vision for what I felt the post of ICT for Teaching and learning needed to so. So I drew one up!

I want to be as approachable and open as possible with this post, so what better way to do this than to make the vision public so anyone can see it. I’ll tell you what, I’ll do it then!

So you can follow THIS LINK and view my vision! However, it was produced using a piece of software called Inspiration. Now, everyone at Triple C can have Inspiration on their laptop, because we have paid for a huge number of liscenses.
Chris

Adobe Photoshop!

The software for Adobe Photoshop has now been added to all 18 computers in LRC 4. This now means that access to this programme is now a lot better, allowing the art department more time to make more effective use of ICT in their Teaching and Learning.

We have also introduced to the Art department the possibility of using a piece of freeware, which is VERY similar to photoshop. Essentially pupils could use this software to edit pictures at home, as it is a free download, or we could provide access to it throughout the college. The software has been loaded onto Art’s standalone PC, and will hopefully be trialled to test its usefullness.

The software can be found at the following URL:

www.gimp.org

an excellent name!
Chris