Monday 21 December 2009

Technology and Writing

Better writing skills are developed across a range of technology and media (December 2009)

The authors suggest that teachers do not value technology-based writing, 'yet, much of this writing is creative, designed to entertain the intended audience, and covers many of the assessment criteria that are attached to academic writing'.

http://emergingtechnologies.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=etn&rid=15053

 

 

Thursday 17 December 2009

A CLC E-Mailing List

Dear all

As you are aware, Gladesmore@Haringey CLC are providing free high quality sessions for schools at the CLC. These sessions have been very well received by the schools who have used them.

 

We have had a request from the managers of the CLC for our mailing list of the ICTCOs email contacts so they can keep you informed about further developments and sessions available to schools.

 

If you do not wish to be on the CLC Mailing List please let me know by 8th January. If I do not hear from you I will assume that you are happy for me to pass on your email address to become part of their list.

 

Best wishes

 

June

 

June Isik

School Improvement Officer ICT

Haringey Children and Young People's Service

Tel: 020 8489 5058

Fax: 020 88815298

Email: june.isik@haringey.gov.uk

P Think of the environment...please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.

 


This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use, retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the system administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.
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Leading ICT Teachers School Based Support

Dear Colleagues

Please find attached a letter from Paul Easterbrook which gives details of the leading ICT Teacher support available to schools from next term.

 

The support provided will consist of 2 days of school-based support and will reflect the 6 packages currently being offered by Haringey CLC, focusing on the creative uses of ICT. The support will also facilitate a loan of ICT equipment which is left in the school to continue work on the package in school before the Leading Teacher’s final visit.

 

Dates for the first available days of support are listed in the letter. If you are interested in taking up this opportunity in either the Spring or Summer Term, please contact Paul Easterbrook either via email: paul.easterbrook@haringey.gov.uk or by completing and returning the slip provided at the end of the attached letter. This letter will also be sent to all primary Headteachers via EDUCOMMS.

 

If you have any further questions about this, please don’t hesitate to contact either myself, Paul or Dan.

 

Have a lovely holiday!!

 

June

 

June Isik

School Improvement Officer ICT

Haringey Children and Young People's Service

Tel: 020 8489 5058

Fax: 020 88815298

Email: june.isik@haringey.gov.uk

P Think of the environment...please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.

 


This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use, retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the system administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.
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Wednesday 16 December 2009

Nativity online!

Here’s a seasonal MLE idea!

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8414104.stm

 

Videos can easily be hosted on the new video central service from LGfL, they can then be embedded into MLE pages.

 

Dan

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Web Safety Code

Hi,

 

New government websafety code. Will be compulsory from 2011.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8398763.stm

 

Dan

Wednesday 2 December 2009

Manga High

Hi,

 

Have a look at this http://www.mangahigh.com/en_gb/

 

It is aimed at secondary children but I think would be excellent for supporting primary children working at Levels 4 and 5. Give the Flower Power game a try. Really good for practising the ordering of fractions and decimals and fun.

 

Dan

Friday 27 November 2009

2Simple Maths Pack Offer

2Simple Maths Pack offer

2Simple have recently launched a special Maths Pack Offer. This package contains five 2Simple Maths programs on site licences, to help Primary teachers and learners explore Maths in every year group. The package can be purchased for just £555 (usually £1,495)!

Contact 2Simple on 020 8203 1781 for more information. The offer ends on 31 December 2009.

www.2simpleshop.com/mathspack/ has more information about the pack and the included programs

 

 

June Isik

School Improvement Officer ICT

Haringey Children and Young People's Service

Tel: 020 8489 5058

Fax: 020 88815298

Email: june.isik@haringey.gov.uk

P Think of the environment...please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.

 


This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use, retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the system administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.
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This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email
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Tuesday 24 November 2009

Tanya Byron article

Hi,

 

Interesting article by Tanya Byron refers to the role learning platforms can play in educating children to be safe online.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8369111.stm

 

Dan

Friday 13 November 2009

FW: BECTA Home Access Programme

Dear Colleagues,

 

One of the biggest -justified- criticisms levelled at the MLE is that it disadvantages children that don’t have a computer and internet access at home. The BECTA Home Access Programme, due to start in January should help to redress this.

 

The first phase of the programme will target families with children at Key Stage 2 and 3 (Years 3-9 inclusive) who are eligible for Free School Meals and have not had the opportunity to have a computer and/or the Internet at home under the programme or the related Computers for Pupils initiative. The aim is to help over 270,000 households by March 2011.

 

The Home Access Grant will cover the cost of a computer and/or one years Internet plus a reinstatement service in case of theft (one claim), one years warranty, 3 years virus checking and parental controls, information on Internet safety and a suite of assistive technology software that will be pre-programmed into every machine for children with special learning needs.  There will be additional provision available for learners with more complex needs and a separate process will ensure that looked after children are included in the programme.

 

Becta are due to be sending letters out to schools informing them about the initiative in the next few weeks. It might be a good idea to keep an eye out for these and contact BECTA if you haven’t received one by the second week of December. It would also be worth reminding your Headteacher that the initiative is taking place so that they too can be looking out for the letter.

 

Dan Warner

Haringey LA

Monday 9 November 2009

Perform a poem

Hi,

 

Have a look at this. Michael Rosen has teamed up with LGfL to create Perform a Poem. Children can video their performances then teachers can upload them.

 

http://performapoem.lgfl.org.uk/default.aspx

 

Dan

Friday 6 November 2009

Cyber Bullying Conference - PDC 10th November 8.30 - 1.00

Dear colleagues

 

A conference for primary and secondary schools on Cyber Bullying is being held at the PDC on 10th November 8.30 – 1.00. It will provide an opportunity to hear about what other schools are doing to tackle cyber bullying and provide ideas for Anti-Bullying Week 16-20 Nov. the keynote speaker will be Will Gardner from Childnet.

 

I have attached a flyer which gives more details about this event being held at the PDC on the 10th November.

 

If you wish to book a place, or require further information about this, please contact either Selina Adu selina.adu@haringey.gov.uk , or Mike Davis mike.davis@haringey.gov.uk

 

Thanks!

 

June

 

June Isik

School Improvement Officer ICT

Haringey Children and Young People's Service

Tel: 020 8489 5058

Fax: 020 88815298

Email: june.isik@haringey.gov.uk

P Think of the environment...please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.

 


This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use, retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the system administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.
______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email
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Tuesday 20 October 2009

Useful Education Technology Quotes

Wanna quote to spice up that staff meeting or discussion with children?

 

Here’s a bunch of nice tasty technology ones:

 

http://www.slideshare.net/tonyvincent/education-technology-quotes

 

The slide show comes with an embed code that allows you to drop it onto a Fronter page too!

 

Dan

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Subject Leader Meeting

Subject Leader Meeting 12th October

 

Agenda items include 2 Assess ICT, E Learning Foundation grant funding, Leading Teacher programme, MLE update and all you need to know about Unified Sign On!

 

The full agenda and associated documents and links are in the ICT room in the virtual building.

 

Dan

Wednesday 30 September 2009

ICT Subject Leaders' Course

Colleagues,

 

A reminder that it is not too late to book up for the ICT Subject Leaders’ Course taking place on 20th October at Haringey PDC. The course is primarily aimed at those new to leading ICT. We will be working through what you need to know as an ICT subject leader in order to effectively lead and move the school towards the ICT Mark. The course will cover aspects including the self evaluation and planning process, resourcing, schemes of work, monitoring and assessment, and case studies of innovative practice.

 

Details of the course are available here: http://www.lgfl.net/lgfl/leas/haringey/web/CPD2009/Area-IT/PDC09-IT-013A.htm

 

Dan

 

 

 

Tuesday 29 September 2009

Picture Book Maker

Colleagues,

 

Picture book maker is the latest release from ArtisanCam and was commissioned by LGfL.

 

http://www.artisancam.org.uk/flashapps/picturebookmaker/picturebookmaker.php?PHPSESSID=76c30954fcee0db9351c043217b797f9

 

I’ve already emailed Bob Usher (LGfL Content Manager) to tell him tthat it is wonderful but would be even better if the book could be saved too!!

 

Dan

Tuesday 22 September 2009

FW: UPDATED: Bletchley Park - WWII History, Maths and Computing all in one place

Find attached details of Bletchley park visits for schools.

 

Many thanks for Teresa McBride for passing this on to me.

 

Dan

Friday 18 September 2009

Web 2.0 Activities

Came across this recently, though I think it has been around for a while. Lots of interesting ideas for activities that could be adapted for use on an MLE.

 

http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/db/web2/doc_page4.html

 

Dan

Duck's Off!

Hi,

 

If your ICT provision were a restaurant.. http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/premium/articles/article_1563.php

 

Decide whether ICT provision in your school is a Michellin Star or the equivalent of Fawlty Towers Gourmet Night!

 

Mmmm??

 

Dan

Thursday 10 September 2009

Beyond Google

Searching the Internet isn’t just about Google … this presentation takes you through some very interesting applications and ideas that should spark off other ideas …

 

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_343dhkvp4ds

 

I really liked

 

Soungle –a really simple way of finding and downloading sound effects

Visuwords –a way of seeing words and their relations to others

Tag Gallery –an image search that uses Flikr tags and presents as a sort of globe of pictures

 

Enjoy.

 

Dan

Wednesday 9 September 2009

FW: old computers to dispose of!

Find useful information below regarding reuse/recycling of computer equipment.

 

Dan Warner

 

There is no foolproof way of permanently removing data from a computer’s hard disk drive short of physically breaking it.  However, please ensure that as much data as possible is "wiped" from the equipment prior to disposal.

 

Assuming that your school owns the IT equipment (i.e. it is not leased) and is unsuitable for redeployment elsewhere, options for disposal of computer equipment from schools are as follows :-

 

1) IT equipment can be taken to the Reuse and Recycle Centre on Parkview Road, Tottenham (there is no collection facility - the school will have to arrange to take it there).  This is a facility for domestic waste, but it's a bit of a grey area and charities and schools are able to use it, if volumes are low.  If you do decide to take it there, please contact the recycling team so that you can tell the operatives at the site to expect it.  Katie Rigg is the recycling officer responsible for electrical goods.  Her contact number is: 0208 489 3261.

 

The equipment collected at the R&R site is then passed onto a company called Maxitech.biz Ltd.  This company either refurbishes equipment, or if that's not possible, they will re-claim what they can for recycling and then responsibly dispose of the remainder.

 

2) IT equipment can be taken to Maxitech.biz directly.  They are in Wood Green.  Please use this link to access their company details - www.maxitech.biz/new/contact-us.html .  The school would need to contact them to see if they can collect (there may be a charge).

 

Maxitech.biz Ltd

Unit A10, The Chocolate Factory

5 Clarendon Road

London, N22 6XJ

Tel. 0208 888 9907

 

3) Computer Aid International refurbishes computer systems for reuse in developing countries (see first attachment).

 

4) Computers 4 Africa (C4A) redistributes unwanted computers to improve education across Africa (see second attachment from C4A & Kent County Council).

 

5) RCS Recycling Ltd will physically shred computer hard disk drives as part of the recycling process, thereby guaranteeing that personal/confidential data cannot ever be retrieved.  They are at :-

Unit 2 Fairacres Business Park

Windsor

Berkshire SL4 4LE

Tel. 0870 199 5010

 

Quotation for collection available on request

(approximately £10.00 per “unit”; processor and monitor = 2 “units)

 

 

 Regards

 

Max Riley

Head of Education ICT Services

Business Support & Development

The Children and Young People's Service

Haringey Council

( 020 8489 3202

Fax 020 8489 3760

 


From: Claire Durrant [mailto:clairedurrant@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tue 08/09/2009 3:54 PM
To: Riley Max
Cc: Clements Jude; Isik June; Dan Warner
Subject: old computers to dispose of!

Hi Max

Can you give me any idea as to how to get rid of some obsolete computers that have been remove from our inventory?

Would appreciate some advice - as we have investigated several options and drawn a blank!

many thanks,

Claire
 

Claire Durrant
Business Development Manager
The Mulberry Primary School

Parkhurst Road
London
N17 9RB
tel: 020 8885 8694/07867 554522

 


This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use, retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the system administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.
______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email
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Thursday 3 September 2009

E-Learning Foundation

The E-Learning Foundation has launched its latest grant funding round. ELF offers grants towards the cost of providing one to one access to computers for children. To find out more contact Jane Warren

jane@e-learningfoundation.com 07826 844708

 

Thursday 27 August 2009

Wednesday 26 August 2009

St Gildas' OFSTED Success

ICT at St Gildas was highly praised by OFSTED during the recent OFSTED inspection. Read the rest of the recent OFSTED report here.

First Haringey Primary ICT Mark School

Congratulations to Crowland Primary School for successfully achieving the ICT Mark!

Thursday 26 March 2009

Monday 9 February 2009

NWGfL ESafety Games

NWGfL ESafety Games

 

http://www.nwlg.org/esafetygames/

 

Dan

School TV station

How about a school TV station??

 

Here’s a Newsround video about a primary school in Newcastle that runs one!

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7870000/newsid_7874400/7874465.stm

 

Dan

Thursday 5 February 2009

Online tool from Futurelab for gathering and organising ideas.

 

http://www.exploratree.org.uk/

 

Dan

Friday 30 January 2009

Million Futures

Try this one for developing visions for ICT in your school!!

 

http://www.millionfutures.org.uk/

 

Click on the all questions option to see related questions.

 

Would be great for getting people started thinking about ICT in the future.

 

Dan

Wednesday 28 January 2009



John Cleese provides a ten-minute insight into his ideas on creativity:
  • We do not know where we get our ideas from (but we do know we don't get them from our laptops).
  • Sleeping on an idea can help make its reappearance later so much better.
    Ticking things off and keeping all the balls in the air means you will not have any creative ideas.
  • In our frenzied connected world we need to make some time to make some mood for creativity: a tortoise cocoon from which we can check it's safe to come out into a self-created oasis in our lives.
  • We need to set aside time and place where interruptions are not allowed - we need to create boundaries of space with a starting time and a finish time, separate from ordinary life, and only then creating a space and place where we can play.
  • The problem with some teachers is that they may not know that they are not very creative, and therefore they may not value creativity even if they can recognise it.
    If those in charge are egotistical and wish to claim credit for the work of others, then they shall directly or indirectly discourage others from being creative.

Is he right? What do you think?

FW: LGfL Content Videos

Here’s an easy way to flag up new content the LGfL has made available to schools recently:

 

http://cms.lgfl.net/c/journal/view_article_content?groupId=86041&articleId=611948

 

Ideal for 5 minutes during a briefing meeting or at the beginning of a staff meeting.

 

Dan

Tuesday 27 January 2009

My first 2DIY game...age...37

The folks at 2Simple have really surpassed themselves with 2DIY. A wonderful collection of tools that allow anyone to create interactive activity that can be played online.

Haringey ICT Co-ordinators' Meeting


ICT Co-ordinators Meeting at the PDC. We discussed interesting discoveries at BETT, the new arrangements for Email,the London MLE and finished with presentations on Podcasting using EasiSpeak by Kamal Butt and on creating radio programmes by Michael Hodges.

Monday 26 January 2009

Amara's Law - What do we want our MLEs to do?

Have just been reading an interesting piece on the NAACE website called "Do We Still Need e-Learning?" by Theo Kuechel. It questions what we mean by e-learning and what this might mean re. using learning platforms in the future. Here are a couple of quotes from the article to get you thinking:

"... it is very easy to dress up the old paradigms of learning in a VLE, call it e-learning and assume that it will be transformational just because we can mark, test and manage students online. I suspect that this is the aspect of VLEs that will be find favour with those in education who find it difficult to change their pedagogy to encompass the potential of the new technologies."

"The Internet itself is generating new technologies that are mutating so quickly research needs to be focused not on the tools but on how users interact and relate to that technology."

"Whilst researching for this short article, I conducted a Creative Commons search for images using e-learning as the keyword. This returned thousands of of images of people presenting to audiences; I saw 'suits', projectors and whiteboards, the colours were beige and muted except for white glare of the projected presentations. I repeated the exercise but this time without the e from the learning and the results were startlingly different, pictures of children, fun, engagement activity colours landscapes - indeed I found many inspirational images."


The term 'Amara's Law' comes from Roy Amara who was a past president of The Institute of The Future: that "we tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run." So over to you, what do you think about 'e-learning'? How do you think we should use Managed Learning Environments or learning platforms? How can we enhance pupils' interaction and relationships with fast-moving technologies?
June x

Thursday 22 January 2009

Hole in the wall project



A teacher that can be replaced by a machine should be!!?
This facinating talk by Sugata Mitra explains the impact of providing access to 'hole in the wall' computers in villages in India. If you want to skip straight to the trials forward through to about 8 minutes.
Should generate some very interesting discussions about how much we need to teach children technical skills.
Dan

Wednesday 21 January 2009

ED-E the RM Robot

For those who missed the ED-E robot at BETT (mentioned by Dan below) here's a video of him throwing some shapes on the dance floor! June x

BETT feedback

Hi,
 
Following on from BETT here is my round up of a few of the interesting things encountered. There will be a chance to find out a bit more about them at the subject leaders meeting during the afternoon of 27th January.
 
EEE Top -all in one PC with touch screen
Picturacy -film literacy activity CDROM for KS1
Pixton for Schools -allows children to create cartoons online
Brainpop -used to be a US only resource now adapted for UK curriculum and with new voiceovers
RM EDE -amazing fully flexible robot with computer interface -reminds us how far we have come since the days of the roamer
Mathletics -what it sounds like online athletics for maths, won a BETT award
Isis furniture -a fresh look at school furniture
Mini frame -allows you to run 6 computer terminals from one computer, drastically reducing the cost of re-equipping a computer suite
Timstar microscope -considerably better than DB microscope and still less than £100
 
Ideas were provided couresy of the teachmeet event.
John Davitt's slightly mad learning activity generator: http://www.newtools.org/showtxt.php?docid=737
Photoshop tennis http://www.flickr.com/groups/pstennis/ scroll to the bottom of the page to see the examples
 
Ever wondered what the top 10 most visited content on the LGfL is across London? Well here's your answer....
1. LGfL Weather Stations 900000
2. Audio Network 235000
3. Mult-e-Maths 180000
4. Us Online 80000
5. i-Board 78000
6. Espresso Primary/Secondary 33000
7. i-Board Maths 32000
8. Talking Stories 3 16000
9. Espresso Faiths 12000
10. PB Bear 7000
 
(number after each indicates the number of page visits)
 
It's all available via www.lgfl.net Of course all of the content is great but it's well worth having another look at the weather resources now that there are so many stations across London - a live source of real data. Us online now has an eSafety section that is worth exploring and was up for a BETT award.
 
I know it's all a bit random but despite best intentions that is often the nature of a trip to BETT!
 
Hope to see everyone at the PDC on 27th either for the afternoon session is 1.30-3.30 twilight session 4.00-5.15

Dan