ICT in Schools 2008-11

Hi,

 

I’m still here! Just catching up on email from last week. The OFSTED report on ICT 2008-2011 was published last week.

 

The summary and full versions of the report are available online here: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/ict-schools-2008-11

 

It doesn’t provide anything that will come as much of a surprise but if the Government reads and inwardly digests then it might mean the axing of ICT from the NC is reconsidered, expectations for assessment are reinforced and more is expected around control and data handling.

 

Dan Warner

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

Blogging, BETT, LWF, Ipevo, Klutz, Morpurgo and Wired toys....

Dear Colleagues,

 

The term is nearly over and the goose –or vegetarian equivalent- is getting fat etc...

 

The last few weeks have been very busy and a few things have built up so rather than send out in a number of emails I’ve compacted them into one big bumper one....

 

First the Blogging Course run by Jack at Ferry Lane is taking place at the PDC on 18^th January. Please do book yourself in. Blogging is inspiring children to write and Jack’s course is ideal for getting you up and running. If you’d like to book go to www.cpdharingey.com

 

Don’t forget BETT -11^th -14^th January 2012! I’ll be going down on 11^th Send me an email or text me on 07870122959 if you’re heading down there.

 

I’m attending the Learning Without Frontiers conference in London on 25^th and 26^th January (I’m getting an LGfL discounted ticket that sadly doesn’t come with an Ipad before you ask). If you can persuade your HT to allow you out then it should be spectacular, the line up of speakers includes some fantastically innovative thinkers around learning and the blurb on the site includes the following text that I rather like...

 

If you’re a leader, policy maker, innovator or inspired practitioner working in education or in an organisation seeking to positively disrupt entrenched thinking then LWF is THE conference and meeting place for YOU.

 

The tickets are expensive, but if you can get the green light on attending from your Headteacher then I will see what I can do to secure a much more economical ticket -albeit without an Ipad.

 

Ipevo –I bought one of these as the webcam on my home computers isn’t all that great. It offers most of the facilities of a visualiser for a fraction of the cost of a fully size one (£60). It does have a few little shortcomings: it won’t send directly into SmartNotebook, doesn’t have a microscope mode and on the supplied stand really only covers an A4 area. However for everyday use for sharing a child’s work with the class or showing little things or photographs on the screen it is brilliant.

 

Klutz –I bought the video and animation books by Klutz recently and they are full of wonderful ideas for creating video and animation tricks –scroll down the page for each to watch examples. I love the way the ideas are all low tech –there are absolutely no computer special effects involved. It seems that the fun and quirkiness of creating the films really helps to deepen understanding of the nature of moving images and telling stories through film.

 

I really like this recent summary of writing tips by Michael Morpurgo....Michael Morpurgo’s top tips for writing

 

And finally here are Wired magazine’s top 5 toys of all time:

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/01/the-5-best-toys-of-all-time/all/1

 

Enjoy your winter break!

 

Dan Warner

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

Computer Programming

Dear Colleagues,

 

Finally a bit of interest in computers in education by the Government, though it may come together with the culling of ICT from the National Curriculum:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/nov/30/games-government-and-education

...a step forward and several steps back! Clearly the government has been steered by the industry though their focus might be too narrowly on computer programming!

 

Anyway it’s possible to get ahead of the game using Scratch so that children have a basic understanding of programming. However, the recent Young Games Design Bafta shows that it is the creative ideas that really count rather than the construction of the game itself. Have a look at the shortlist. None of the games have been created, they are ideas: http://ygd.bafta.org/Shortlist  Wouldn’t it be great to have a winner from a Haringey school next year!

 

Of course there is a nice link between computer programming and control technology. This Robot festival is taking place at the Science Museum. It finishes on Sunday but if you can get tickets they are free and it should be fascinating: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/robotville

 

Dan Warner

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058