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2 December 2006
December Newsletter
The workshop in Prague is filling upWe hope that colleagues will be able to book before Xmas as this will help our planning. Please let us know if you are thinking of coming so we can save you a place. The hotel is filling up.
We may have one or two bursaries for members. Let me know if you are interested.
Prague workshop 15th - 17th February 2007
BETT 2007, Olympia, London
Wednesday 10th January
10 - 13 January 2007
BETT is the world's leading event placing technology at the centre of learning. Constantly innovating, consistently thought-provoking, BETT provides solutions enabling educators to touch and test resources and debate ideas.
www.mirandanet.ac.uk/bett
www.bettshow.com
News about meeting other Fellows at BETT07
We’d love to see Members face to face so at 4:00pm every evening of BETT07 colleagues are invited to share a bottle of wine on the MirandaNet stand.
On Thursday 11th and on Friday 12th we will be going out to eat in the evening as a group. Come to the stand at 5:30pm if you want to join us. We will be very pleased to see as many Fellows as possible.
Thursday 11th January 2007 at 12.30 to 13.30 we have a seminar Learning to Be: Social Software; Young People's Web Communities
A meeting about starting a MirandaNet working group in 2007
MirandaNet stand number S97 Grand Hall Gallery
(moved from 1st December 2006)
Anyone can book an appointment with Christina Preston or John Cuthell online, by visiting www.mirandanet.ac.uk/bett and following the links to make an appointment.
BESA’s major pre-BETT International ICT Conference
Why is the international dimension in education essential in the 21st century and how can information and communication technology make it a reality?
Monday 8th January 2007 – DTI Conference Centre, Victoria Street, London
This conference will seek to identify skills and strategies, and their dissemination world-wide, through a series of keynotes and workshops to discuss how interactive ICT technologies can be a driver towards personalised learning and a widening of the definition of ‘global learning communities’. Last year over 30 countries were represented by delegates.
Christina Preston will be doing the keynote at this conference about our World Ecitizens project with the support of pupils from Westminster Academy who will be showing their Etopian projects. Hope to see you there.
To find out more, and to download a copy of the brochure and application form, go to www.besa.org.uk/intconf07
The Education Resources Awards
The Education Resources Awards that are awarded at BETT every year highlight the quality and diversity of educational products and resources, excellent educational establishments and the most dedicated members of the teaching profession and supplies industry, all working together to encourage the very best in education.
Now in their ninth successful year, what makes these Awards really different is that they focus on the resources, services and people that really make a practical impact on learning and the day-to-day work of the teachers in the classroom. The process is simple and costs nothing.
Categories that may interest Fellows include:
Education Resources: Special Education
Education Resources: Early Years
Education Resources: Primary Resources and Equipment
Education Resources: Secondary Resources and Equipment
Education Resources: Books
Education Resources: Primary ICT
Education Resources: Secondary ICT
Leadership in Education
Educational Establishment of the Year
Supplier of the Year
UK Innovation Award
Details of last year’s winners can be found at www.besa.org.uk/era07. All the information necessary to enter next year is also on this site.
Christina Preston, John Cuthell, Francis Howlett, Alastair Wells and Georgina Stein, who are MirandaNet members, are all BETT judges. We hope to see some of you at the Awards dinner on Wednesday 9th January.
Report on Technology in Schools by Cheryl Lemke
Michelle Selinger, one of our Fellows, reminded us about this report by Cheryl Lemke, recently commissioned by Cisco, that may be of interest to MirandaNet colleagues.
For more information email Michelle.
FutureLab publish report on teaching with games
From the latest issue of the FutureLab newsletter we bring the following information on the report of the Teaching with Games project. The report outlines the context, objectives, methods, findings and key messages arising from the Teaching with Games project. The report:
- offers an overview of teachers' and students' use of computer games and attitudes towards computer games in schools
- identifies factors which impact upon the incorporation of computer games into existing school practices
- describes the processes by which teachers plan and implement games-based learning in existing curricular contexts.
http://www.futurelab.org.uk/research/teachingwithgames/findings.htm
Download the report from:
http://www.futurelab.org.uk/research/teachingwithgames/report_01.htm
or in pdf format from:
http://www.futurelab.org.uk/download/pdfs/research/TWG_report.pdf
Two new projects have been added to the FutureLab Showcase: Teachers as Innovators and Models of Innovation.
Etopian school uniforms
An unusual fashion show was held in South Korea as part of the 2006. These video clips might offer some futuristic ideas on School uniform. Reuters report on this, complete with video clip.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/tv/videoChannel.aspx?storyId=9b23cd5071668af33c9945d38e59cb190a2386b4&channelId=fd423ad6d402dd97ab6a6d572c96dbb63e953056
Christina Preston
An invitation to Secondary School MirandaNet colleagues to join a iViva programme from Bob Rogers
I’d like to invite MirandaNet colleagues from Secondary Schools to join our iViva programme.
http://www.iviva.com provides a truly personalised information portal for education, career and life choices. It profiles an individual in a non-threatening, but sophisticated way which connects them with school, college, further education, and higher education service providers who have been carefully vetted for quality. In the UK, http://www.iviva.com is provided free of charge to users, who can be of any age - typically 12 upwards. It provides the link between aspiration and achievement through building networks and learning/career pathways. The lifestyle content provision motivates users to constantly revisit the site in order to get latest information on their personal interests, and often links those interests back to their learning objectives. http://www.iviva.com provides everyone with a personal iPortfolio where information, achievements, aspirations and commentaries can be stored and shared according to their own wishes and needs, including the facility to build a CV or Resume in the most appropriate fashion. For young people making subject choices for university, for individuals seeking better career advancement, for unemployed, employed, high or low-skilled people, for recruitment or training, http://www.iviva.com offers unbiased, highly relevant information at any and all stages. It truly underpins lifelong-learning. The partner organisations include UCAS (the UK Colleges and University Admissions Service), City & Guilds - the worlds largest vocational qualification provider, Hot Courses, Learn Direct, and a number of prestigious content, training and skills providers, professional bodies and public and private sector organisations. Built on Oracle technology, http://www.iviva.com is designed to facilitate intelligent decision-making for huge numbers of people, in an exciting, safe, secure, trusted, collaborative environment.
Please contact me directly for more information
Bob Rogers
New Scholars
Nikos Amanatidis
Primary school teacher from Greece with 12 years experience in the field. Recently on a study leave doing a PhD in ICT in Education at the London Southbank University. I work and live in Thessaloniki, Greece.
I have completed an MA at the Institute of Education in ICT in education. My first degree comes from Greece. A BA in Primary Education from the University of Athens.
In addition I have participated as a consultant (pedagogic evaluation and creation of on line tests and courses for e learning) in the Leonardo European project by the name e-study.
It was one of the 32 success stories out of 168 participation in the Leonardo European Projects.
Yvonne Buchanan-Coutts
I am currently a 4th year BEd Primary student at Moray House School of Education in Edinburgh. I am a mature student with 3 children (1 at primary level and 2 at secondary school).
As a parent, I am intrigued to see how much ICT is used by students and how far it has progressed in the classroom even in the last few years.
However, as a student teacher I am interested in the way ICT, and in particular interactive whiteboards, can motivate learners and whether or not they are as effective in a learning situation as the research (mainly carried out by whiteboard providers) actually states. This curiosity is what has instigated my own small scale research study to be carried out during the early months of next year (2007) as part of a final year professional project.
As a member of MirandaNet, I believe I will be able to use current published findings to inform and support my own findings, possibly providing another view to the investigations or supporting those already found.
Claire Campbell
I am interested in looking at how e-Learning and the use of ICT in education can provide enhanced user experiences and can facilitate widening participation and increased access. I am particularly interested in lifelong learning and how e portfolios can contribute to this especially in the sphere of family life when parents often take extended breaks from careers for family reasons.
Ryan O'Donnell
Hi there. I'm a new teacher (as of 6 months ago) and have been given the exciting job of teaching ICT and computing at the school, and also co-ordinating where the school goes technologically ... and then keeping everything running (everything from ordering printer ink to installing new servers). The staff have many ideas about using technology in the classroom and are keen to embrace it, and it's my job to implement those ideas.
Christine Wilkinson
I have been the ICT co-ordinator at a small rural primary school for the last 6 years. I believe that ICT has been one of the main contributors to improved pupil and staff learning. I am excited by the ongoing improvement in our ICT provision. We have only recently invested in interactive whiteboards and BT has just managed to bring broadband to our remote location. Eighteen months ago I began studying for a National Professional Qualification for Headship and have been bitten by the studying bug. In September I began an MSc in Leadership and Learning and whilst searching for papers relating to personalised learning came upon MirandaNet. Many years ago I taught in a Harambee school for girls in Kenya and have been actively seeking ways to re-establish a relationship with education in the area. A brief appraisal of the MirandaNet website has convinced me that as an organisation I would be able to learn a great deal from your collective expertise that would benefit my school working practice, my personal studies and my desire for closer global links.
New Members
Alice McDonnell
I teach mathematics and ICT.
Midori Ozawa
I'm interested in utilizing ICT for teacher professional development, more specifically the potential and the roles of online learning community.
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