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7 November 2003
November Newsletter
4th December – MirandaNet Seminars and Christmas Party at the Institute of EducationWe do hope as many people as possible will be able to attend the seminars and Christmas party on 4th December. It will be a time to discuss your work and make new links.
12.00 – 2.00 - Room 901 - Hermitage Homeless Project
"Living" is a graphic novel by children at Hermitage School based on their research of Homelessness, a citizenship topic of their choice. The artists, writers, film makers and teachers are giving a seminar about their classroom approach. Details on
wec.mirandanet.org.uk.
2.00 - 5.00 - Room 901 - Informal MirandaNet speakers will be:
Karen Hanrahan – Millais School
John Cuthell – MirandaNet North
Francis Howlett – MirandaNet Web Editor
Joe Nutt – Teach First
Elizabeth Carruthers – Devon Council
Maulfry Worthington - National College of School Leadership
Nigel Riley – Knowle School
6.00 – 9.00 - Lawton Room - Christmas Party Buffet
Awarding of 4 Fellowship Certificates
Basia Korczak – 4 awards
Basia Korczak Awards
MirandaNet will remember Basia with great warmth for her contribution to our community. The winners of the Basia Korczak award for ICT innovation are:
Elizabeth Carruthers and Maulfry Worthington for their excellent work on the GTC scholarship project, as well as Francis Howlett who built the amazing web environment for them to work in. The quality of debate amongst the maths teachers is the highest I have ever seen. They will be writing an article about how they set this project up.
The fourth award is to Dr John Cuthell for his outstanding work with Interactive Whiteboards (IWB) in transformational learning.
Elizabeth Carruthers, Maulfry Worthington and Francis Howlett
We are pleased to be gaining our MirandaNet Fellowship through writing up our recent work about young children’s mathematical concepts.
We planned and led an e-learning community on an innovative aspect of early childhood mathematics and recruited teachers from Early Excellence Centres throughout England. Our forum makes innovative use of e-graphics which appear on the left of the screen in a moving slideshow on the same page as the forum. Thanks to Francis Howlett for this innovative design. The graphics are examples of children’s mathematics from the teachers’ own classes. During the project we are researching the teachers’ use of on-line graphics and comparing on-line socialisation of pairs and individuals within the forum. We are delighted that this project has received recognition:
Awarded TACTYC’s Jenefer Joseph Award for Creativity for 2003 (for our research into children’s mathematical graphics combined with our e-learning project)
Awarded the Basia Korczak Award for outstanding innovative achievement in ICT 2003
Shortlisted for Becta ICT in Practice Award 2004 in the Innovations and Change category
Building on the success of this pilot project, we are planning a larger project for the coming year:
Project 2004 - E-learning and Children’s Mathematical graphics:
Transitions from Foundation to Key Stage One.
John Cuthell
Many of John’s IWB group will be getting their Fellowships for their imaginative use of IWB. Their seminars have won wide praise in Huddersfield and we are thinking about a repeat in London.
www.mirandanet.ac.uk/associates/interactive.htm.
Interactive Whiteboard Research
Promethean/MirandaNet Action Research Project
In December 2002 Promethean Ltd announced Action Research awards for teachers to evaluate the impact of ACTIVboards on teaching and learning. Seven teacher researchers have been working with MirandaNet for the past three terms.
Dai Thomas, of Ringmer Community College Lewes, has explored Knowledge Schemas and Visualisation.
Jonathan Wood, also of Ringmer Community College Lewes, has explored the integration of Visual Learning into the syllabus.
Karen Graham, St. Giles CE Primary School Shrewsbury, has investigated Switching On Switched-Off Children. She has found that ACTIVboards do!
Kirsten Lowe, from Castle View School Sunderland, has been evaluating The Effects of IWBs on Underachieving Boys. She has some very interesting observations of a range of learning outcomes.
Marion Scott-Baker, Cheam School, has developed ACTIVboard resources for Teaching Phonics.
Sue Mainstone, from the Mathematics department of Sir Charles Lucas Arts College Colchester is working on The Impact of IWBs on Departmental Praxis.
Tony McNally’s Castle View School, Sunderland, case study uses a range of multimedia resources with ACTIVboards in his study, Transforming Music Teaching.
They have now almost completed their work. Their research has shown that Interactive Whiteboards have a considerable effect on their and their colleagues' teaching, their learning and student learning. The teachers will present their conclusions research at the University of Huddersfield on Friday November 21. Their case studies will be added to the existing IWB resource on the MirandaNorth website.
MirandaNet Forums
Look out for new MirandaNet forums coming soon.
MirandaNet Web Editor Francis Howlett writes about the Forums in more detail.
Recently I received an excited email from a school IC Coordinator who was keen to share a discovery he had made, telling me that I ought to have a look at some really interesting stuff he had come across on a really good site. It was a bit old now, he said, but the discussions that people had been having were still relevant. He then proudly directed me to his discovery - the MirandaNet web site forum! Well, MirandaNetters really ought to look at the Forum pages every so often, because it's possible to miss some good discussions. Click on the Forums button on any page of the main MirandaNet site (on the right hand menu) and you will be taken to the Public forum. Earlier this year there were a couple of contributions from visitors about the classroom of the future, but unfortunately no MirandaNetter took up the challenge. You could still join in! And the other day a teacher from Liverpool posted the following item, which challenges just about everything that we stand for in MirandaNet:
'How effective is ICT implementation in schools?'
'Experience of primary schools in NW UK has led me to believe that ICT in schools is there for the OFSTED inspectors' benefit. After an OFSTED visit, PE equipment is stored in the IT room and the computers are avoided by staff at all costs. Staff are not paid extra to learn how to use/teach IT skills and therefore don't. Technical support is expensive and schools are quite often sold things that are not good for the teaching environment. IT budgets are exhausted on hardware with no thought to tech support, training or on-going maintenance. Staff don't have adequate training in how to use or maintain the school IT. E-mail is avoided as a medium of communication. The role of IT co-ordinator is shunned by staff with a Luddite tendency and often foisted onto an unwilling member. Once a terminal has 'gone down' it is a good excuse to avoid the IT suite. Has anyone else experienced similar?'
So come on, you MirandaNetters - is he right? Get on to the Forum and share your thoughts with the rest of the world. Challenge our visitor! Offer advice! The Forum is read by interested visitors in every corner of the globe.
The Forum has been very quiet this month but there have been other 'private' forums going on, some of which have been far from quiet. We can set up a forum for a specific purpose, such as for a conference or for a school discussion group. MirandaNetters might like to have a look at the kind of discussion that has been going on - look at the end of the list of items in the public forum, and you will see a link to 'Forum List'. Click this, and then 'Up One Level', and you can go from there into the private forums. They are private, of course, so you shouldn't join in unless you are a member of the group, and some need log-ins and passwords, but you will get an idea of what is possible.
MirandaNetters wanting to set up their own private forum should contact me on francis at mirandanet.ac.uk. I'll need a title, and a decision on whether it is to be password protected, log in only, or just hidden in the way that all the private forums are hidden - tucked out of site from all but the inquisitive.
Keith Phipps - Guardian Article
MirandaNet Fellow, Keith Phipps, gets a mention in the Guardian this month with an article about Geography.
There's more information in the TES and also http://www.tes.co.uk/search/search_display.asp?section=Archive&sub_section=TES+Teacher&id=376910&type=0
You should also visit Keith's own site.
Four New Scholars
Sally Caplan
Subject: ICTResearchNetwork Using ICT in English
Sally is the ICT co-ordinator at The Holy Family technology College in Walthamstow, East London. They run a cross curricular model at KS3 & 4 with yr 7 & 8 also having a one hour lesson each week.
Every subject area must include ICT in their scheme of work and English is no exception. Each year group has at least 6 one hour sessions each year. Sally and the English dept work on tasks and go through the aims and objectives together. They have ICT suites with 30 iMacs in each and also 60 bookable ibooks; they are a split site school hence the volume of hardware.
Sally books the classes in, and the in-class support and how to are supplied by the ICT dept.
She asked colleagues why they want to use ICT and they mentioned the following:
Motivation
Presentation
Enjoyment for many
Use of the interactive whiteboard gives an added dimension to the work
Use of the internet for relevant images
Children who might do very little with a pen and book, make greater progress and achieve more
It is easier to take a pride in your work.
They used video clips of TV advertisements for analysis and still photos on screen for in depth observation. Stories have been written and bookcovers created with a spine, synopsis, bar code etc with the images on the cover reflecting the story.
Their learning assistants all use ICT and those who come to Sally’s ICT lessons are able to help the students with their work. There are computers in the SEN room and most of the SEN admin is carried out on these. The ICT dept runs surgeries to help all staff enhance their skills and go through 'how to' do new things whether it be finding web sites for children with a reading age of 7 or number work for year 7 students who have learning difficulties to creating tasks for gifted and talented students.
Jane Finch
Jane’s first piece of serious research was into the use of ICT to enrich and extend the educational experiences of more able pupils (as part of an MA some years ago)
She was the first recipient of the Bill Tagg bursary, courtesy of NAACE, and researched the effect of introducing the QCA SoW for ICT in a primary school in special measures.
Jane has lead on the managed assessment portfolio developments in Worcestershire, working with TAG Learning. She has created a case study based on this, which is available from the TAG website. As a result of this Jane delivered an 'Expert' seminar for BECTa and this month she is delivering a session for Nestafuturelab called "Forging a way through the assessment quagmire".
Jane is co-ordinating the LEA's associate involvement in the Primary Strategy interactive whiteboard pilot and will be monitoring the effect of that initiative, with a view to writing a case study later in the year.
Jane also does the 'day job' as a teacher adviser for ICT in Worcestershire!
Dennis Morley
As a 'retired' IT consultant, Dennis is starting to do all the things he ever wanted, including starting to write. In the past he had managed to cram into his (self imposed) busy lifestyle the editorship of club/society newsletters and attended Writer's Circles, but had never made the plunge.
Now he is raring to go and looking for a quick route into the epicentre so he can start to rock along with all those people he has admired for years.
Dennis hopes our Fellowship can help him along.
Les Hereward
Les is a Year 3 teacher in an independent school in Surrey; the school has a strong international element to its composition and whilst it is a Christian Science Foundation has most world religions represented within the school community. Claremont Fan Court, Esher.
He is responsible for Science and parts of ICT development within the school from N to Y6. Les also has input into school strategies for the implementation of new learning technologies. They already use Think.com through most of the Junior School. As an institution they are trying to develop ICT. This includes moving to a full laptop environment from Year 5 upwards. Below that there will be half class sets of laptops down to Year 2 or maybe 1. The change is pinned to theories of MI (Gardener) and usually refers back to Bloom's Taxonomy or similar. Les sees technology as a liberating influence for both staff and children. In addition to this the school (which is where a popular Drugs awareness programme was written - RIDE) is rapidly developing its values education.
Les is passionate about IT and is dependant upon it for much of his day to day organization. He has an interest in developing links with schools in other countries but is having trouble lighting up a fire of enthusiasm at distant schools. He also wishes to link together both current school initiatives Values and IT.
The New Remit of Becta
Geoff Scott Baker sent us this news item on the changes at Becta.
Becta, the Government's lead agency for the development of ICT in education, has been given a new role by the Education and Skills Secretary, Charles Clarke, following a quinquennial review of the organisation's role and activities. Following its success, Mr Clarke now aims to give Becta a more strategic role as a "key partner in policy development and implementation in schools and the learning and skills sector". Becta's core responsibilities will focus on providing strategic advice and services that support the Government's ICT in education policies. This will include co-ordinating efforts in the development of the national ICT infrastructure, broadband connectivity and digital content, as well as promoting the safe use of the internet and reducing the digital divide. In line with the new responsibilities and following a recommendation in the review, Becta will see an increase in funding, which it receives as a core grant.
Children on the Internet – report from LSE
A report published yesterday shows key new findings on children's use of the Internet. It appears from the report that while the safety message is getting through to young people, governments, internet providers and parents could still be doing more to make the internet safer for children.
The UK Children Go Online report has been prepared by Professor Sonia Livingstone of the Department of Media and Communications at LSE and research officer Magdalena Bober. The pair talked to 14 focus groups of nine to 19 year olds about how they used the internet and their opinions on its safety and value. The executive summary and full reports can be downloaded from the project website at
http://www.children-go-online.net/.
ICT errors and misconceptions
This is a compilation of emails that were sent around the ITTE list on this topic. Do Mirandanetters have any more?
www.mirandanet.ac.uk/profdev/misconceptions.htm.
David Longman is collecting a full list.
And finally….are you ready for electrowetting?
An interesting item from NAACE news that offers food for thought.
Recent research developments describe a flexible, colour paper-like computer displays which will be able to display not only text but moving images. Not only could this lead to a roll-up screen which could be carried in your pocket or up your sleeve, but to a screen so flexible that it could actually be your sleeve. Those with a fertile imagination may take this a little further, with favourite pages from the intelligent digital organism being displayed on strategic parts of one’s vestments. Those of public-spirited disposition could provide internet access on their back, whilst others preferring a slightly more covert modus operandi could whip open their long raincoats and say to startled by-passers, “Seen the news?”
The advances from electronic ink devices which would allow the daily news to be reproduced on a flexible screen are largely down to a process called electrowetting, which sounds like something advertised in the window of a Parisian coiffeuse. In fact the process gets liquids to move around in other liquids very quickly. Thus, equipped with this extremely simple definition of what must be a very complex process we are pleased to note that Dutch electronics giant Philips report that prototype displays will be in production by the end of the year. Sewing-machines to the ready! (For those wishing to check this process in more detail, visit:
http://www.newscenter.philips.com/InformationCenter/NewsCenter/FArticleDetai l.asp?lArticleId=3023&lNodeId=13.
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