February 2003
MirandaLink is edited and sent out by Anne Dobson.
Esher College | ICT
Research | Depends how you look at it
Implementing ICT | Teachers of the Year
Awards | GTC
MirandaNet Mid-February 2003 Newsletter
1. DR. KATYA TONEVA NEW SCHOOL ESHER COLLEGE
Dr. Katya Toneva is now a full time teacher of ICT in Esher College. Katya's
new college aims to be the specialist provider of non-selective, open-access
sixth form college education for south-west London and north Surrey. The
College is committed to:
Katya enjoys teaching A, AS Levels and Intermediate GNVQ ICT student groups
and is a formal tutor of a first year student group. She is also the contact
person concerning an English/Chinese ICT educational project between Esher
College and The First Middle School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University.
As well as her school duties Katya is a MirandaNet fellow and a Co-ordinator
for the Bulgarian MirandaNet called MiraNet.
MirandaNet sends Katya our best wishes for her success and happiness at
her new school.
2. ICT RESEARCH
You may be interested in a number of new reports Becta have published at
the BETT show, now available on the Becta Research website: www.becta.org.uk/research
* ImpaCT2 - Pupils' and Teachers' Perceptions of ICT in the Home, School
and Community
The third ImpaCT2 report demonstrates that pupils have an extensive awareness
of the role of computers in today's world, and they can develop skills in
using ICT more quickly and easily than is often anticipated by schools and
teachers. It recommends that more time should be spent on exploratory learning
in curriculum subjects and less time on teaching skills in discrete ICT
lessons. Taken together, this major study shows that even though there is
some way to go before the transforming potential of ICT in teaching and
learning is fully exploited, the positive impacts are already coming through
for both pupils and teachers.
Further details at www.becta.org.uk/research
3. DEPENDS ON HOW YOU LOOK AT IT
Marjorie Scardino, Pearson's Chief Executive is well respected in the publishing
industry, her views carry weight. Mike Smith of NAACE commented that was
interesting, therefore, to read two accounts of her BETT03 speech that vary
so widely as to make one think that must have been two people with the same
name appearing at the Show. The usually reliable e-Government Bulletin,
an email newsletter, says, "In the background, a debate is raging about
how much valuable traditional schooling techniques are in danger of being
lost in the rush to introduce new technologies to the classroom" Then
comes the surprise: "However later in the conference Marjorie Scardino,
chief executive of publishing giant Pearson, articulated possible concerns
about greater use of technology. 'A worry is that more computers in education
could be a distraction, absorbing the attention of our children so completely
that they fail to learn things that you can only get from novels like Jane
Austen's,' she said." The article continues: "Scardino also expressed
concern that teachers could be brushed aside in the rush to e-learning.
'I'm a bit worried that the teacher is being forgotten in all this. You
can't just sit a child in front of a computer and expect it to work,' she
said."
The Becta press
release of the Jane Austen bit reads differently: "Marjorie acknowledged
that there has been a tendency to see technology as getting in the way of
learning; to feel that somehow television and computers will destroy children's
ability to understand and appreciate Jane Austen. However, she continued,
children are finding their own ways of learning with technology and making
school exciting. "It's now time to start loving it, to start appreciating
it," she said, but warned, "The goal has got to drive the change."
And the concluding paragraph: "Marjorie Scardino finished up by saying
that ICT in education works if, at heart, it is about learning and if we
are prepared to adapt and work together. "We do know that, properly
used, ICT in the classroom does produce results[but] we've taken a small
step in a long revolution," she concluded.'
Are people being influenced by the anti-ICT statements that appeared following
the publication of ImpaCT2? Says Mike Smith, It was this reporting, no doubt,
that led the Secretary of State to introduce his BETT speech with the following
strong statement: "I want to use this opportunity here to assert very
strongly my belief and the Government's policy, that information and communications
technology (ICT) makes a massive addition in value to the teaching and learning
of students and young people in our society. There have been people who
have contested whether that's true, and I want to take this first major
platform since I was appointed as Secretary of State to challenge the proposition
that ICT doesn't offer value, and to assert the belief that it does. I also
want to commit the Government to policies to make ICT's value to education
even better and even stronger. That's what I want to say today."
So what do MirandaNettters think?
4. IMPLEMENTING ICT
Mike Bostock, a MirandaNet consultant, would like comments on Implementing
ICT which is the web-based revision of the successful paper publication
by the same name. It went live last Autumn and can be viewed at www.thelearnzone.net.
5. ICT: A STUMBLING BLOCK OR A STEPPING-STONE?
A report from one of our new Scholars Georgina Stein:
The Kent IT in Schools (KITSch) NOF Programme of Study has engaged with
22,070 registered teachers, and teaching assistants over the past three
years and a half years. Every element of the provision offered by each NOF
Approved Training Providers (ATPs) has been carefully scrutinised throughout
this time and reported on by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA)
The Quality Assurance report by the TTA indicated,
'The [KITSch] training materials, both on-line and in hard copy, are strengths
of the programme. The materials and web site have continued to be developed
and KITSch's knowledge and experience have been used by several other training
providers. The trainers are experienced, well trained, well supported and
effective. The management and administration of the programme, in particular
the internal quality assurance, are also strengths.
The strategies adopted to inform the continued development of Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) in teacher education should not be left
to chance.
The KITSch 'Together we will make a difference' case study seeks to identify
the key KITSch success factors.
Initial Teacher Educators and Continual Professional Development providers
wishing to build 'stepping-stones' for ICT in Education may find this study
of interest.
All of the KITSch resource materials and online support are now freely
available to teachers, teaching assistants and students throughout the UK
and beyond.
To find out more go to: www.cant.ac.uk/kitsch
or http://smarteducation.org.uk
To register with KITSch email: kitschoffice at cant.ac.uk
6. GTC SUMMARY
'Building a Community of Practice' is a three-year project run by MirandaNet
Ltd on behalf of the General Teaching Council.
The aim of the project is to provide an e-mentoring programme, leading
to accreditation, for the e-facilitators who will engage with the GTC website's
online community of teachers. Efacilitators will take on different GTC roles
after their first qualification such as ementors, ejournal reviewers, programme
planners and trainers. New modules will be designed, if funding allows,
building up to a diploma or an MA.
7. LITERARY REVIEW
Network Members may be interested to see the series of literature reviews
commissioned by NestaFuturelab which are now available on the web.
The first 4 focus on Technology and Learning in:
