Podium Podcasting in Newham

A totally awesome day with about 40 or so ICT co-ordinators in Newham at the ITASS powerhouse - the Credon Centre - who arrived to experiment with the curriculum implications behind podcasting. They were very receptive to the ideas that underpinned the ICT and could focus on the classroom contexts while still maintaining a personal, watching brief on the kit they needed to get it all sort out.

I was first up and began with the Ninja Podcasting video followed by the wonderful Common Craft explanation of podcasting:



Then I did my bit with Podium ending up with the participation slot for the witches from Macbeth!!

I was followed by an extremely well planned an executed session by Ken Maslin of ITASS and Emma Parker, Primary Strategy Literacy Consultant who explained case study projects that they had been involved in using podcasting. They introduced us to various versions of 'The Nig Nang Nong' and how explained how motivating the whole thing about recording was for the children.

These were my favourites:





After a superb lunch Pippa Dorma, LGfl Consultant, explained the LGfL approach to podcasting and got the assembled mob to do clever things with Audacity.

A brilliant day with enthusiastic teachers ... lucky children !!

ictopus is here !

The tentacles of ictopus are now extending freely into the world after its launch at midnight on August 31st.


Ictopus (ICT online primary user support) is a free support service for primary education which was launched on 1st September 2007. Each week registered members of the service will have access to a six page printable magazine (Sharing Good Practice) and a set of activity suggestions (lessons2go). There will also be a regular newsletter and a variety of other resources and projects. All the resources will be available from the web archive and members can also opt to receive alerts offering a one-click download service for each item.

Ictopus builds on the highly successful Becta Direct2U service and also the legacy of MAPE (Micros and Primary Education).

Register now to be a part of this exciting new venture. Registration is free.

Please join us now – be part of ictopus.

ictopus - primary resources

New online service to support primary educators

Subscribers to the Becta ICT Advice Direct2U service were informed this week of a new scheme to provide primary teachers with up-to-the minute ICT information.

Ictopus (ICT online primary user support) is a support service for primary education. Anyone can sign up for the service (free of charge) to receive a weekly six page printable magazine and a set of activity suggestions. There will also be a regular newsletter or e-bulletin. These resources (and more) will be archived on the ictopus website where there will also be access to classroom activities, software and a variety of other resources and projects. Ictopus builds on the Becta Direct2U service and also, for those of you who may remember it, the legacy of MAPE (Micros and Primary Education).

Each edition of the weekly magazine, ‘Sharing Good Practice’, will have 6 pages and will comprise case-study articles, top tips for using ICT effectively in primary education, website recommendations and a variety of teaching plans and other resources. It will be available as a download in a printable format that could be displayed on a staff notice board or coffee table, slotted into individual staff pigeonholes and stored in a ring binder for future reference. It is proposed to have a coherent theme for each edition and the overall focus is to be on disseminating good practice.

The weekly activity ideas, ‘Lessons2go’, are a development of the Direct2U activities. These lessons aim to provide ideas for the use of ICT across the primary key stages and curriculum. The pick of the original lessons will be updated, including the checking of web links and inclusion of any new developments. A regularly updated index will be available so that lessons can be found for different key stages, subjects or year groups. This should assist key stage coordinators, ICT coordinators and class teachers. Although aimed primarily at the school user it is hoped that the resources will also benefit advisers, teacher training tutors/mentors and parents.

In addition there will be an e-bulletin which will keep colleagues up-to-date with all things ICT on a very regular basis, including links to a ‘website of the moment’ as new and exciting things come to light.

Users will be able to sign up for each service individually. Resources will be despatched to you as they are issued and will also be archived on the website.

Ictopus is run by a group of primary teachers, university lecturers and consultants who wish to support colleagues working in the field of primary education. It aims to be flexible and adaptive to your needs and to provide a forum for dissemination of the excellent practice currently found in many schools.

The service launches in September 2007 but you can sign up for it right now by visiting the website www.ictopus.org.uk.

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.

Cumbria ICT Conference 14th March 2007

A really good day at the Rheged Discovery Centre near Penrith with the sun shining and over 100 ICT coordinators coming together to 'up' their knowledge base on current issues.
The Keynote by Kevin Thompson was an excellent opener on the world of Web2.0 and set the mind going about what can we use in school that our children/students are already using at home. The went from del.icio.us to flickr and onwards.... podcasting, wikiing and blogging. The real challenge now is to make use of this technology in a learning/teaching context.
Check the podcast if you want to here some of the bits ... it was made using the Podium software which I introduced to about 60+ people during the course of the day.

Assessment of ICT

I noticed that QCA have produced a set of booklets to support subject assessment. There are materials there about ICT and there is a link embeded in the KS1 example that is worth a look about sorting and labeling toys

From the BBC News this morning ...

'Pupils at a Devon school have had their textbooks replaced by personal computers and webcams.' ..... this is the scariest thing that I have seen for a long time. If this is the face of the future for education then I think we should have an uprising now !!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6310000/newsid_6316000/6316013.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm