Manga High -Yippee! J2Webby class recognition!

Dear Colleagues,

 

I’ve just arranged for Manga High to be accessible via USO login. Manga High is a terrific collection of maths games developed as a collaboration between a professor of mathematics using game play qualities derived from the computer games industry.

 

In order to access it via a USO login you will need to ensure that Auto Update has class reports enabled. To do this you’ll need to do the following.

1.       Login as a nominated contact for your school

2.       On the User Accounts tab select Auto Update Settings

3.       Select your school, you should now see three tick boxes about halfway down the screen that read: Atomwide Classes, Atomwide Student<>Class links and Atomwide Group Supervisors (or something similar).

4.       Put a tick in each box then scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on Accept Selected Reports. You will then need to wait over night for the update to take place.

The next morning children in your school should be able to login to Manga High by going to: http://www.lgfl.net/curriculum-resources/Pages/manga-high.aspx

 

I’d also strongly recommend ticking the classes section on Autoupdate if you are blogging using J2E as this will mean that you see just the posts etc. for your class.

 

Please do let me know how you get on with this and get back to me if you have any questions.

 

Kind regards

 

Dan Warner

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

Class Traveller

Hi,

 

I bought some Geocaching Travelbugs and have set a couple off. I’ve got one left over (worth £5) Your class can attach a traveller to it then track where they go as they are moved from one geocache to another by geocachers. If you’d like the one I’ve got just email me and I’ll leave it in an envelope in reception at the PDC.

 

All you need do is create an account on the geocaching website, decide on a mission for your traveller deliver the Travelbug to a nearby geocache and you’re off.

 

More information on Geocaching is available on www.geocaching.com

 

Dan

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

Important information about LGfL 2.0

Dear Colleagues,

 

A number of schools have been contacted by Virgin Media Business to arrange the survey for LGfL 2.0 this week. Generally they contact the person that is listed on the Atomwide site as the school Secretary or On Site support. This is recorded in the LGfL 2.0 section under My Account.

 

It is important to ensure that the listed contact knows to expect a call and follows up by arranging a date for the survey. It is likely that the school will be contacted by:

 

Charlotte Smith
Project Co-ordinator
Peterborough Programme Team
Virgin Media Business | Beechcroft, Southgate Park, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough, PE2 6YS
Direct Number 01733 772100
Alternative number 01733 392112
Team Hunt Group 01733 776412
Visit www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk for more information.

 

The actual survey will be carried out by a company called Plancast. If Haringey is the landlord of your school (generally this is non-church schools only) then Steve Barns (Haringey Capital Projects Property Manager) will attend and will be in a position to input into the suitability of routes and plans. The Headteacher also needs to be present during the survey. In the instance that a Headteacher is not present, but later disputes the route plan, requiring a repeat survey to be carried out there would be a charge to the school of £250!

 

Kind regards

 

Dan Warner

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

TeachMeet

Dear Colleagues,

 

If you can’t get to Bett during the day but aren’t busy on Friday night (13^th Jan) this event is arguably better than the whole show...

http://teachmeet.pbworks.com/w/page/48562279/Teachmeet%20@BETT%202012 You need to sign up but tickets are free.

 

Anyone can get up and present on any aspect of innovative learning usually using technology. After 5 minutes your time is up and a camel will be thrown at you if you don’t stop and let the next one up. There’s an outright ban on Powerpoint and a fruit machine decides the order. Oh and last year there was free beer and a slightly strange raffle!

 

Dan

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

TTS at the TecXitement Room at Heartlands

Dear Colleagues, 

 

RM will be running the following event in the TecXitement Room at Heartlands School in Wood Green.

 

It will offer an opportunity to see the new cutting edge classroom and look at some of the new TTS products available for ICT. To book a place please contact Sarah Williams of RM.

 

Kind regards

 

Dan

 

An invite to a TTS Twilight Event with RM Education

 

When? 3pm - 5pm Wednesday 29th February Where? The TecXitment Room, The Heartlands High School, Wood Green Who? An invite is extended to all Haringey Primary schools Senior Leadership team (max 2 per school) What? 3pm-4pm a TTS presentation on new and old TTS primary products including hands on play. 4pm-5pm a tour of the TecXitment Room* and more play time with TTS products Why? To find out more about TTS, to get hands on with new and old products. To discuss and share idea's with a TTS specialist, a Senior RM Educationalist and your fellow teachers How? To find out more or book your places/s please contact Sarah Williams, RM Business Development Manager on telephone number or email address below.

 

 

Best wishes,

 

 

Sarah Williams Business Development Manager sawilliams@rm.com 07970 702807

 

 

Dan Warner

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

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

 

Mars

This mission mainly because the rover is the size of a car seems set to have a wow factor long missing from space adventures of late. The video showing how the mission will work is brilliant and would be fantastic to inspire children to write. Could also be good as the start of work around control: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15882485

Dan

ICT Adviser, London Borough of Haringey

Email: daniel.warner@haringey.gov.uk
Telephone: 02084895058

6 common data protection risks

Dear Colleagues,

 

A couple of data protection issues have arisen today and as I was going for my lunch I was thinking about a few of the common data protection risks I have seen in schools. Here we go.....

 

·         Writing down passwords and usernames in the inside cover of a diary (this goes on a lot!!!)

·         Not logging out  and closing the browser when you are using an online system

·         Not deleting pupil data when it is no longer needed

·         Keeping pupil data on unencrypted computers and memory sticks (if it’s lost on the bus....)

·         Not checking the credentials of contractors that support with ICT

·         Sharing usernames and passwords (treat it like your toothbrush –never share)

 

I don’t want to suggest I’m perfect - I’m not, I’ve made some of these mistakes myself. However, there have been some pretty high profile cases of organisations that have ended up with big fines that could have been avoided if a little more care had been taken...

 

And so finishes my sermon;-)

 

Dan Warner

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

FW: London MLE - Start-of-Year Process 2011

Dear Colleagues,

 

Find attached information about the London MLE Start of Year process. There are a few key changes to the process compared with last year, these are summarised in the email below and in the attached guide.

 

If you would like me to help you with the process please come along to either of the sessions I am running on 5^th or 12^th July 1500-1800 at the PDC.

 

Kind regards

 

Dan Warner

 

From: Brian Durrant [mailto:brian.durrant@lgfl.org.uk]
Sent: 14 June 2011 18:27
To: global@lists.lgfl.org.uk
Cc: tom.soron@fronter.com
Subject: London MLE - Start-of-Year Process 2011

 

To LGfL Global List

 

Colleagues

 

Please find attached the Start of Year guidance for the London MLE.

 

The text below containing important information about the SOY will be emailed to all Fronter Administrators in the next few days.

 

Please find attached the revised Start of Year guidance and scenarios for the London MLE for 2011/2012 academic year.

We would like to highlight some important changes which have been made to improve the process:

·         MIS data imports into Fronter will be automatically deactivated on 1^st July 2011.

·         The MIS integration setup option in the admin section of Fronter will be temporarily removed to prevent Re-activation and will be re-added on the 1^st September 2011.

 

NOTE: This means that data will not update within Fronter during this period giving you time to prepare your MIS systems for the new academic year without it affecting your Fronter building. Schools wishing to deactivate imports earlier than 1^st July can do this manually themselves or contact the Fronter Helpdesk to request this.

 

IMPORTANT: Schools wishing to have their MIS integration switched on earlier than the 1^st September must contact the Fronter help desk to request this.

 

IMPORTANT: On 31^st August 2011 Fronter will perform some automated functions as follows: (the first two will not happen for schools who request early re-activation)

 

·         Fronter will auto archive all MIS (imported) rooms. This will also include any automatically generated rooms that are open from previous academic years.

 

·         Fronter will delete all MIS (imported) rooms that have never been activated from previous academic years

 

·         An update will be run to ensure that all schools regardless of their MIS system will receive a new set of rooms for the new academic year

 

Once your MIS is ready for the next academic year, you will be able to re-activate the import as from 1^st September.

If you have any questions about the Start of Year process please feel free to contact the LGfL support line on: 020 82 55 55 55 (option 5)

 

On behalf of Tom Soron
Customer/Operations Manager
Fronter UK

 

 

Regards

 

On behalf of Chris Wood
Learning Platforms Manager           
London Grid for Learning Trust

CI Tower, St Georges Square, New Malden, KT3 4TE
t 020 8408 4455   f 020 8408 6014   m 07973 405 491 

 

www.lgfl.net                a school improvement partner

www.safety.lgfl.net         keeping learners safe online

www.content.lgfl.net         anywhere, anytime learning

www.news.lgfl.net              learn what is new on LGfL

      

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this e-mail is intended only for the individual, persons or entity to whom it is addressed. It may contain privileged and confidential information and, if you are not the intended recipient, you must not read, copy or distribute it, nor take any action in reliance upon it.  If you have received this e-mail in error, please inform the sender as soon as possible and delete the e-mail from your computer.

 

========================================================================
This email has been scanned for viruses and inappropriate content
========================================================================

Warning about LGfL Email hoax

Dear Colleagues,

Brian Durrant, CEO of LGfL has informed me this morning that some LGfL email accounts may have received an email purporting to be from LGfL requesting confidential login details. This is a HOAX and recipients should not respond in any way.

At this stage I don't know how widespread the distribution of the email is so it would be worth warning staff that they may receive this and should not under any circumstances respond. If any staff have received the email and responded they should immediately contact me and I will arrange for the account details to be changed.

At this stage LGfL have not indicated whether the hoax also includes London Mail. I have emailed Brian Durrant to ask about this.

I have copied the text of the message below for information.

Kind regards

Dan Warner

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

From: LGfL Webmaster Updates [accounthelpdesk@live.com]
Sent: 13 June 2011 23:08
Subject: Warning Update Your LGFL Account Now‏

Welcome to your London Grid for Learning

 

We are currently Upgrading our database for more LGfL Services efficiency, so therfore we are requesting that you send Us all information you used earlier to register the mailbox for confirmation and Upgrading your mailbox size by Microsoft Exchange. We are about Upgrading your mailbox storage limit to 600MB. To prevent your account from being deleted, you must reply to this e-mail by providing us the Information for confirmation that you still operate this email on regular basis:

 

Hosted by Microsoft in collaboration with LGfL for London Grid for Learning

 

Username : ...................
LGfL Login ID.................
Password : ...................
Confirm password:.............
Date of Birth :...............

A guide to this WebMail user interface is also provided.
We hope that you will enjoy using this product. Please share your experiences and feedback with us so we can continue to make this LGfL Services even better!
 
Thank you!
This service for the London Grid for Learning is supported by Atomwide Network Solution
Contact Us - Company Information - © 2010 LGfL

========================================================================
This email has been scanned for viruses and inappropriate content
========================================================================

 

Filters

Colleagues,

 

I know that internet filters are not exactly fun but getting them set right is essential for ensuring that children and staff can access what they need and not what they shouldn’t be!

 

Now that Max Riley’s team is no more, adjusting internet filter settings falls into the hands of individual schools. To find out how to administer the filters for your school as well as the likely changes to filter arrangements resulting from the move to LGfL 2.0 please join us at the PDC on Wednesday 15^th at 4pm.

 

Kind regards

 

Dan Warner

 

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

MLE Good Practice YES, Webfronter NO!

Hi Colleagues,

 

The MLE Good practice event is going ahead today hooray, but the Webfronter course scheduled for Thursday 9^th June and the second session on 8^th July have been cancelled due to insufficient numbers signed up.

 

I’m wondering whether there might be more demand in the Autumn term for Webfronter or whether a course on school website development using alternative tools such as Dreamweaver or Wordpress etc. would be more popular.

 

Dan

 

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

ICT events this week

Dear Colleagues,

 

A little reminder of a couple of ICT events happening this week:

 

Wednesday 8^th June at 4PM at Haringey PDC, London MLE Good Practice, Bob Drew Headteacher of Gearies Infant School in Redbridge will be talking about he has used the MLE to support learning at his school. There will also be an opportunity to sign up for free support provided by Fronter.

 

Thursday 9^th June 3PM to 6PM at Haringey PDC the first of two sessions on using Webfronter to build a school website. If you are thinking of getting started on building a site then this will guide you through the foothills of website design and construction. The follow on session is on 8^th July 3PM to 6PM.

 

Other courses coming up this term:

 

20^th June 9.00-3.30 at HPDC Beginners IWB training (note change of date from that previously published)

22^nd June 1.30-3.30 or 4.00-6.00 at HPDC Subject Leaders meeting

5^th July 1500-1800 HPDC Fronter End of Year process

12^th July 1500-1800 HPDC Fronter End of Year process (note change of date from that previously published)

 

To book any of these courses go to www.cpdharingey.com

 

Kind regards

 

Dan Warner

 

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

LGfL 2.0 Updates

Dear Colleagues,

 

Find attached bulletins on the LGfL 2.0 roll out. I will also be sending these out to schools via Educoms, but I know sometimes the mailings don’t filter through to the people that really need them...  

 

Almost all Haringey schools are in phase 9 of the roll out. This is due to take place in February 2012. If your school is in an earlier phase I’ll contact your school directly.

 

So for most schools there is quite a bit of time. However it is worth being aware that moving to the new service involves a bit more than flicking a switch..In order for it to go smoothly the school will have to submit information (likely to include site plans, IP addresses and a photograph of the coms cabinet )  prior to the beginning of the installation phase. Then during the installation phase Virgin Media (an LGfL Contractor) will need to install a new cable to connect the school to the service and Atomwide (another LGfL contractor) will need to install new equipment in your school’s coms cabinet. Your school will then be responsible for making alterations to internal  network settings on computers and servers so that they can access the new service.

 

At this point it is worth logging on to the support site: https://support.lgfl.org.uk (you need to be a Nominated Contact) Click on the My Account tab and select the LGfL 2.0 menu option. This is where you can monitor what is going on with the installation and where information can be uploaded for access by Atomwide and Virgin Media.

 

I will do what my capacity allows to help smooth the transition to LGfL 2.0 but my time is very limited and often I will need to defer to LGfL anyway, so if you have  queries they should be addressed in the first instance to LGfL.

 

Kind regards

 

Dan Warner

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

Victorian Children video conference

Hi,

 

National Archives run free video conference role play sessions for schools. They have sessions running on 8^th and 9^th June and 2^nd & 4^th November, for more information see here. The conferences support historical enquiry objectives and understanding of life in the 19^th century. They last an hour, are aimed at yrs 5 & 6 and would require the children to prepare in advance. The events are fully booked for the dates above. However, when I phoned up they said there was a waiting list with nobody on it so there is a chance that there will be drop outs and the opportunity for your class to have a session instead. If you would like to be put on the waiting list email sue.seber@nationalarchives.gov.uk . You can also phone on 020 8392 5365 for more information.

 

Dan

 

ICT Adviser

London Borough of Haringey

Haringey PDC

Tel 02084895058

 

Who IS Nigel Penstone?

Dear Colleagues,

 

As I’ve had quite a few responses to the offer of Nigel’s support along the lines of “Who is Nigel Penstone?”.....

 

Nigel is an LGfL Curriculum Consultant, his background is as a primary teacher and deputy head. He is able to provide support on use of the London MLE  and LGfL Content to support learning, so that could involve INSET, demo lessons introducing the MLE, one to one support for teachers in setting up their virtual classrooms, working with staff on developing specialised rooms such as virtual staffrooms, halls, maths rooms etc. etc.

 

Haringey purchased a large number of sessions of Nigels time and there are just 15 half day sessions remaining to be used before the end of the summer term.

 

Dan

Find out about how they've used the MLE at Gearies Infant School!

Dear Colleagues,

 

In collaboration with Fronter we’ve arranged a presentation by Bob Drew, HT of Gearies Infant School in Redbridge where they have made really effective use of the MLE to support learning and save money!

 

It takes place at 4pm on 8^th June at Haringey PDC.  I’ve attached the flyer for it.

 

If you are work at a school where the MLE has yet to really take off then this event is ideal for getting a glimpse of what is possible and hopefully inspiring a relaunch.

 

Kind regards

 

Dan Warner

ICT Adviser, London Borough of Haringey

Internet Safety Report

Dear Colleagues,

 

See this draft report published today on ESafety and young people http://www.nen.gov.uk/esafety/222/nen-internet-safety-report-draft.html . There are some fascinating insights, the executive summary is highly recommended if you don’t have time to digest the lot!

 

Dan