Interactive planning tool for the Primary Framework for literacy and mathematics

For those of you who teach in English primary schools just available is a planning tool for the Primary Framework for literacy and mathematics. The interactive planning tool is designed to support your use of the Primary Framework website. This tool enables you to plan electronically drawing on the framework materials, allowing you to manipulate the Primary Framework content to personalise the learning and teaching in your classroom.

Enjoy !

Shambles Forest of 'Theme' blogs

My good friend Chris Smith from the far side of the world has produced an amazing resource. You simply must look at it. It is called The Shambles Forest of 'Theme BLOGS'

This is what he says about it:

'This page offers a list of the "Theme BLOGS" that started growing all around the outside of the Shambles website in March 2007 ... in much the same way as a forest might grow around a township.
In the first instance these Blogs showcase online (free) videos that support a particular theme but they may well evolve into other content and media.
So why use Blogs rather than the regular webpages on Shambles for this particular growth? ...

mainly because of the social aspect of Blogs which allows visitors to leave comments and suggestions on any or all postings

also for the ability to subscribe to individual Blog pages using RSS in order to be automatically informed of new additions ... and eventually save you time.

Textease Studio CT meets West Dunbartonshire

A brilliant time was had on 24/25 April in West Dunbartonshire, just down the road from Glasgow, where the LA launched its adoption of Textease Studio CT. Teachers, many of whom were real 'Mac' users gathered for some inaugural training on PCs and with Textease. It was fun and some of the art work produced in the painting package was wonderful.

Many thanks to all who attended for making the session so stimulating.

Dutch School in Woking top of Netherlands education tree

On the BBC News this morning there was an article about a Dutch school in Woking, Surrey, set up mainly for the Dutch children of Shell workers. It caters for children aged 4 to 12 and has achieved the highest results in the annual CITO exams of all Dutch schools in the Netherlands and overseas.

In the video shot in the school the interactive whiteboard use by the children was excellent showing them collaboratively using the board to explain - I think it was percentages. They were having a good time. The teacher was sitting in with the class. It was their tool at that moment - not his !

CITO examinations are for pupils aged 12 before the move to secondary schools.

The students in Woking achieved an average score of 549.3 out of a maximum 550, and the national average in the Netherlands this year was 535.1.

Everyone in the school, students, teacher Tom Navis are very proud of this achievement.

The school was founded by Shell for Dutch employees of the oil company but is now attended by children whose parents work for the Dutch Embassy and multinational companies.

The school follows both the international primary curriculum and the Dutch curriculum, in addition to English being taught in the school.

The significance of the article for me is that the teachers were extolling the virtues of what I would call an 'integrated day' ! Back in the 1970s in the early years of my teaching this is the way I taught and I thought it was superb ( and so did the children and the parents). It occurs to me that many of the people in the top positions in our education system today might well have taught in this way or even been taught using this type of scheme.

The wheel turns yet again ...

Science Learning Centre

Around the country there are Science Learning Centres which provide the highest quality Continuing Professional Development for everyone involved in science education, at all levels. With a network of ten Centres across the country access to innovative and inspiring courses is within easy reach of anyone.

On Friday I ran an interesting session entitles 'Using ICT to support and enhance science teaching in KS1 and KS2 - Investigating Materials' for a small group of primary teachers. This was the first of three sessions, the others, coming in the next two months being 'Physical Processes' and 'Life Processes and Living things'.

The day covered many things including:
Using Interactive Whiteboards in science teaching
Data Handling
Using internet resources in science
Datalogging
Digital cameras and microscopes

We also looked at a selection of CD based resources

During the session we got quite hooked on 'social bookmarking',saving the useful website that we found into 'del.icio.us' so that they could be accessed anywhere/anytime. This broached ideas on having school access to the 'del.icio.us' so that teachers could share effectively important site for curriculum contexts thus cutting down on the time it takes to assemble resources.

ICT Specialist Students visit Web 2.0

Some of my ICT Specialist students have made their first forays into considering how Web 2.0 can be of use to them professionally and to enhance their teaching and learning.

Andrea and Emilie have built a blog to inform friends about web site that will be of use to them during the course and hope that others will contribute their best sites.

Aaron has been working with some children and has produced a series of podcasted book reviews.

Jo produced an excellent resume about podcasting and built it into a blog.

Pierrick did some research on the use of ICT in Physical Education and put his references in a blog

TED Conference NEW Website

If you have never watched/listened to one of the TED conferences on video then you have a real treat to come. Here is the launch Press release:

TED Conference Launches All-New Website Focused on the Distribution of Its Award-Winning Audio and Video podcasts
Redesigned Website promotes "Ideas Worth Spreading"

April 16, 2007. New York, NY. TED, known for its annual invitation-only summit of the world's brightest minds, today unveiled the new TED website (www.ted.com), showcasing the extraordinary talks that have made TED famous. With its striking design and groundbreaking video technology, the free site encourages audience participation consistent with its tagline, "Ideas worth spreading".

"This is an important moment in TED's history," said Chris Anderson, Curator of TED. "With the launch of our new website we're really saying to the world: We want to share with you our best content for free, and we want you to connect with like-minded people inspired by these talks. In other words, we see the site as a way of dramatically expanding our community from the 1000 people who attend the conference to millions of knowledge seekers around the globe."

TED is owned by a non-profit foundation whose mission is to leverage the power of ideas. The new website was inspired by the viral success of TEDTalks, the audio and video podcast series, which premiered in June 2006 and has been viewed more than 8.5 million times worldwide. The TEDTalks series was exclusively sponsored by BMW, who returns as the inaugural sponsor for TED.com.

"We were astounded by how quickly the audience for TEDTalks grew. But what surprised us even more was the impact the talks had on viewers. The extensive discussion in the blogosphere, and the depth of the emotional response inspired us to create this new site," said June Cohen, Director of TED Media, who led the development of TED.com. "When you think about the impact a single talk can have on a single person, and multiply that millions of times, the overall effect can be world-changing."

The new TED.com features:

More than 100 full-length TED talks, including 30 never-before-seen outside the exclusive TED Conference

First-of-its-kind video player with an elegant interface and innovative features including large-screen playback, automatic adjustment for bandwidth speed, and chapter-marking technology that lets users find and skip to key moments in a given talk

A unique ratings system more nuanced than the typical 5-star approach, allowing users to describe talks with adjectives, such as "beautiful", "eloquent" and "courageous"

High-resolution video that can be viewed online or downloaded for playback on a computer, iPod or set-top box

Ideas, insight and inspiration from a diverse group of thinkers and doers, including Bono, Bill Clinton, Jeff Bezos, Jane Goodall, Stefan Sagmeister, Malcolm Gladwell, Eve Ensler, Nicholas Negroponte, Peter Gabriel, Al Gore, Richard Dawkins, Tony Robbins, Anna Deavere Smith, Hans Rosling, Jeff Han, and many others

Detailed talk summaries and speaker biographies to provide more context around each talk

Innovative ways to browse talks, which are grouped into TED-like themes, such as "Inspired by nature", "How the mind works" and "Tales of Invention"

Social-networking tools -- including Profile Pages, Comments and Favorites -- that allow for interaction among members of the extended TED community

Free site membership for everyone worldwide


Among its innovations, the new TED features a groundbreaking sponsorship with BMW, built around the opportunity that online video affords for engaging more intelligently with customers. A homepage "Ideas from our sponsor" video helps explain BMW's strategy for a post-carbon world, which centers around hydrogen as a source of clean energy.

"We are extremely pleased to be partnering with TED again on a venture that falls so perfectly in line with BMW's commitment to technology, sustainability, passion and the profound experiences that the power of ideas can deliver," said Jack Pitney, Vice President of Marketing, BMW of North America. "As inaugural sponsor of this project, we are helping TED deliver groundbreaking, inspiring content to everyone, everywhere. As evidenced by our previous project with TED, we truly believe that many of the breakthrough talks on TED.com -- topics like design innovation and sustainable energy alternatives, which are so central to BMW -- will help shape our future."

"BMW took a big chance on us when TEDTalks were just an idea, and we're thrilled to have them back as our new website's first sponsor. They share our commitment to ideas worth spreading," Cohen added.

The new TED.com was designed by New York and San Francisco-based design and branding firm Method (www.method.com). TEDTalks are produced and edited by Jason Wishnow, award-winning filmmaker and TED's Director of Film and Video.

---------
About TED
TED is an invitation-only event where the world's leading thinkers and doers gather for inspiration and insight. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design -- three broad subject areas that are, collectively, shaping our future. In fact, the event is broader still, showcasing ideas that matter in any discipline. Attendees have called it "The ultimate brain spa" and "A four-day journey into the future." The audience -- CEOs, financiers, inventors, intellectuals -- is almost as extraordinary as the speakers, who have included Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Quincy Jones, Frank Gehry, Paul Simon, Philippe Starck and Bono.

Each year, TED features 50 of the world's most fascinating people. TED presenters run the world's most admired companies and design its best-loved products; they invent world-changing devices, and write best-selling books. They are trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. Collectively, they have won every major prize awarded for excellence, including the Nobel, Pritzker, Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Tony and Macarthur "Genius" grant. TED was first held in Monterey, CA in 1984. In 2001, Chris Anderson's Sapling Foundation acquired TED from its founder Richard Saul Wurman.



As a starter try the three below.

The Evelyn Glennie presentation is masterful and exciting. The snare drum part after 4 minutes of the presentation is awesome !

Also the wonderful style of Sir Ken Robinson really does get to the point of his question, 'Do schools kill creativity'

...and if you want music that will make you think about the waste of talent in our schools just listen to the words of Eddi Reader.

With apologies( and thanks) to Saab

This could be the anthem for a 'new' view of education.

TES article, The Next Horizon ...

The TES for Friday 13th April has a superb resume of an article to be found published in Solace Foundation Imprint. The article (on page 20 of the full publication), 'The next horizon: imagining an end to failure in education' is part of a set considering 'educational disadvantage', written by Michael Bichard is addressed to the Finnish Education Minister and dated March 20 2017. If you are asking , 'Why the Finnish Minister?' you may have missed something ... somewhere ... ( read paragraph one of the article)

If only ...

Teacher Tube

A relatively new site that has educational video content that is 'secure' in that users are urged to keep it 'clean' and report quickly anything inappropriate.
A really good start would be for you to watch and listen to 'Have you been paying attention?'



The message from the producer is: ' Since most of today's students can appropriately be labeled as "Digital Learners", why do so many teachers refuse to enter the digital age with their teaching practices?This presentation was created in an effort to motivate teachers to more effectively use technology in their teaching.'
There is a superb bit towards the end exemplifying the use of podcasting as an essential educational tool !

Early Years Blogging

I am alerted by Tricia Neal to two blogs from USA. One told from the point of view of a duck nesting in a school playground and one an observation, over time, of some young trout growing in a classroom aquarium.
Both demonstrate some interesting ideas.
Questions to think about here:

• Who were the blogs for?
• What reponses did they get?
• How was the teaching and learning enhanced by their use?
• Was the communication effective?

Coming of Age - an introducation to the new World Wide Web edited by Terry Freedman

This online booklet is a compilation of ideas and thoughts by a number of the world's e- education thinkers. Edited by Terry Freedman it is a source which gets constantly updated. The blogs of the writers make very powerful reading for those wanting to stay in the thick of the Web2.0 developments in education

Feedblitz

You will notice down at the bottom of the menu on the right hand side of the blog, a subscription to this blog, which will deliver it to your email box directly that there are any changes. All you have to do it put in your email and click 'subscribe me!'.

I am indepted to my friend James Watson for alerting me to this utility.

You can see how it will look for you by clicking on the preview button. You will recognise the email because it will come from FeedBlitz@mail.feedblitz.com . All email will be easily recognizable because subject lines always start with [FeedBlitz]

Please try it and let me know if this sort of 'email information on update' works for you.

Thanks

Functional Skills Tests

I notice in today's TES that the new tests for 16 year olds in English planned for 2009 will now not begin until 2010 along with those in Maths.
It appears that the government is having difficulty in deciding ' what the test should assess'!
It is also noted that there will be a functional skills test in ICT. I wonder what the 'functional skills' will look like in 2010 considered against the exponential changes that is sure to take place in that time. A view of the current offering from QCA certainly shows a interesting edge towards generalisation. It will also depend on whether the institutions have managed to keep up-to-date with the technical and technological developments.

Thoughts for the future ...

Thoughts for a conversation with the Vermont State Education Technology Committee April 5th 2007

Please find below some of my thoughts and references as I prepared for this Skype conference:

What a 2011 classroom might look like – a UK perspective

A classroom of the future a Futurelab showcase project
At the heart of this project was the desire to challenge the traditional relationships between indoor and outdoor learning environments and the perceived barriers between play and lesson time
What if … ? Re-imagining learning spaces
Spaces, Places and Future Learning:Using innovative technology and practice to re-imagine learning spaces
‘Classroom of the Future Foundation’
This from the USA 2007 Innovation in Education Awards from the Report of
The Gilbert Report
‘In 2020, the children who started in Reception classes in
September 2006 will be entering higher education or
employment. Fourteen years is one entire school generation.
Most new school leaders in 2020 are now in their early years of
teaching or still studying. Many of the parents of the children
who will start primary education in 2020 are just coming to the
end of their own schooling.’
A Glimpse into the Future
‘The class switched on their electronic whitepads. The date 05.05.20 was flashing in the top left hand corner. The electronic whiteboard at the front was playing a video collage of groups of adults making various decisions based on their interpretations of data’
A look at what might be …
Schools of the Future
The English Government’s plan to rebuild all secondary schools
Worth £2.2 billion in its first year (2005-6) – aims to ensure that secondary pupils learn in 21st-century facilities. Investment will be rolled out to every part of England over 15 waves, subject to future public spending decisions. By 2011, every LA in England will have received funding to renew at least the school in greatest need – many will have major rebuilding and remodelling projects (at least three schools) underway through BSF and the remainder will have received resources through the Academies programme or Targeted Capital Fund.By 2016, major rebuilding and remodelling projects (at least three schools) will have started in every LA.
Pause for thought:
· Considerations of ‘anywhere, anytime’ learning
· The daily time scale of learning – relevance from early years to late teens
· Compulsory education – is this the problem?
· Personalisation or preferred learning style
· Inclusion
· Expectation of attendance – in an electronic age
· Collaboration


Trends in technology in the UK, and changing teaching strategies.

Interactive whiteboards – What the research says, Becta – forced teachers to the front …. ‘sage on the stage’ not ‘ guide on the side’
VLE/MLE - What the research says, Becta –
‘Research literature is only beginning to emerge relating to the benefits of VLEs on teaching and learning in schools in the UK, as the market for VLEs is still developing. But by drawing on the more extensive evidence from further and higher education, where the use of VLEs is more advanced, it is possible to identify potential benefits and issues for schools.
Key benefits:
_ Enhanced teaching and learning
_ Flexible access for students, in a protected environment
_ Potential to extend the reach of education beyond the classroom
_ Greater parental involvement Teachers can maximise the impact of VLEs by ensuring that they:
_ use VLEs to support departmental planning and administration
_ collaborate and share resources with other teachers
_ invest time in training so they become confident users’

Broad band consortium
‘The RBCs are consortia of local authorities established to procure cost-effective broadband connectivity for schools in England. There are 10 RBCs covering 139 of the 150 local authorities’

National Education Network
‘The National Education Network (NEN) is a dedicated education network, harnessing the power of broadband technology to deliver unique content and services. It will allow teachers and learners to share resources, improve the availability of high quality educational content and help to support personalised learning.’
How legislation can effect technology implementation
NOF training – all teachers ‘trained’ to reflect on the use of ICT to enhance teaching and learning
‘The Government’s New Opportunities Fund (NOF) is spending £230 million of lottery money on a three-year programme up to the Spring Term 2003 to:
“equip teachers [and school librarians] with the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding to make sound decisions about when, when not, and how to use ICT effectively in teaching particular subjects”.’

Electronic Learning Credits
Government money for software – money devolved to schools – approx £1000/school + £10/pupil over 5 years

Fast broadband connectivity
Key to developing a digital infrastructure

National Curriculum and National Framework
The new framework for literacy and maths from Foundation to end of KS2

E-portfolios
Personal electronic portfolios

Shibboleth
Shibboleth is an authentication and authorisation infrastructure capable of granting individual learners with secure anywhere, anytime access to educational resources. Shibboleth separates authentication from authorisation. Authentication is controlled by the identity provider for the user's home institution - the local authority or regional broadband consortium. Authorisation is based on user attributes and controlled by the service provider. By granting access based on the role of an individual (for example, Key Stage 3 pupil from a local authority X), Shibboleth does not require any personal information and therefore protects the privacy of users. Information type and other factors may also be considered during the authentication procedure. Users (or their institutions) may decide to provide additional information to content providers, but for the purpose of authentication it is not required.

Self Review Framework
Becta's self-review framework offers you a route for assessing and improving your schools's use of ICT. Based on maturity models, the framework allows you to benchmark against established best practice and helps to create an action plan for improvement.

What are some of the critical elements to spark change?

· Business interests in Education as money spinners
· Government interference/Target setting/fear
· Change from education led to ‘social services led’ … ‘Every Child Matters’
· Tipping point … pump priming an idea
· Social networks
· Money
· Leadership

Other References

The Impact of ICT in Schools

Demos study into personalisation

The Learning Country - A Comprehensive Education and Lifelong Learning Programme to 2010 in Wales

The Shambles - Newsletter from SE Asia packed full of information

English Schools Federation Hong Kong - contact Peter Woodhead

Emerging Technologies for Learning

This new publication from Becta is good reading for those wanting to get to grips with the implications of social software in an educational context. You can even have your say or review the say of others.

As a sample ... this from 'Emerging trends in social softwaref or education' by Lee Bryant, Headshift

'IT functions in schools, just as in small businesses,
must focus on providing underpinning services and
infrastructure rather than seeking to control how people
use them. This means more diversity of software
and hardware rather than top-down standardisation
decisions that lock users into tools that are out-dated
by the time they are implemented. Interoperability
does not require central control, as the proliferation
of RSS and microformats have proved. Maintaining a
sensible degree of external security is fine, as long as
this does not stop people from doing the basics, such
as consuming web services or linking with the outside
world. But inside the network, experimentation and
innovation should be encouraged. Anything less runs
the risk of turning educational IT into an irrelevant
backwater that is far below the expectations of young
people that they simply do their learning elsewhere.'

Citizendium

Larry Sanger, one of the earliest 'Wikipediarists' has begun to develop a new social project concerning ratification of information which appears not to have, in concept at least, the pitfalls of Wikipedia with its ' editorial by committee' approach. It is called 'Citizendium', the linked details portray the concept in essay format and this is the site proper : http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Main_Page