Selected Newsletter
News | Diary | Newsletter | Newsletter Archive | Seminars
24 February 2007
February Newsletter
ICT & Strategic Concerns Debate on mirandalink
The MirandaNet community responded with a large number of posts to Allison Allen’s concerns about the redundancies amongst ICT advisers in the UK. What we found was that the national ICT community is observing a number of actions and attitudes which are raising urgent and serious concerns about the future of Strategic Technologies in education and impact on the Gross National Product.
You can read Alison Allen’s summary of our debate on ICT and Strategic Concerns here.
MirandaNet is now involved in meetings with key organisations and companies to see whether a campaign can be mounted about this situation. We will keep you in touch on developments.
Meanwhile in Prague we discovered that the Czech Republic is suffering the same problems. Let us know what is happening in your country about support for ICT in schools.
Netiquette for new members
The debate on ICT & Strategic Concerns prompted another wave of public resignations. This is a matter of regret for us. However we have decided not to put the debates in web based forums as they get busy. The reason is that some members cannot access the web easily in other countries- also we find that if we move a debate to a web based forum the pace drops and people fall away.
New members might like to know that there are 500 international members of MirandaNet who post on mirandalink on topics that interests them. If the thread which is announced in the heading does not interest you just delete as soon as you see the heading or file away for when you have time. Some people set up a ‘rule’ or a ‘filter’ (different email programs use different terms to describe the same thing) so all the messages go into one file and you read them when you have time. Your techie guys will know how to deal with this, but in Outlook and Outlook Express it is very easy to use the ‘Create Rule’ wizard to tell it to put all MirandaLink messages into a separate folder.
We get flurries of debate like this about 6 times a year- from 20 – 40 posts each. For members it is an important way of knowing what issues are most current as well as being a key way of understanding each other. Learning to deal with information overload is also important not only in our lives but in the lives of the students we teach.
Not all debates raise such high levels of interest but members who post get helpful personal replies.
We’d like to have more input from our international members. I am happy for you to check your post with me first if you wish although there is no need to worry about your English. It does not need to be perfect.
If you want to start a debate, just send a message to
This will go to all the members. If you want to reply to a message, use ‘Reply to All’ to make sure it goes to MirandaLink, or just ‘Reply’ to respond to the original sender of the message.
A thank you to Francis
Unsung Hero
He will not thank me for writing this, but it is true, nonetheless. We have learnt, in MirandaNet, to send in challenging material for posting on a wide range of sections, and to follow interesting and complex debates, but perhaps to give little thought for Francis Howlett, who works so efficiently, so tirelessly, and with such good humour to keep the whole web show running. And what an impressive web site it now is! I am very proud indeed to show material posted on MirandaNet. It is brilliantly organised, and very easy to navigate. When I mentioned his helpfulness, Christina asked me to embarrass the man (not quite her actual brief, but I am sure you get the idea) by writing a few words of thanks. In my own case it is for consistently dealing with requests for postings, sometimes in Japanese, sometimes in Mandarin, and can this be done by yesterday, please, as I have an important INSET, and would like to show the pages from MirandaNet. Since adding Poland, and Macedonia, to the International section, and a major UK-Japan Science project, we have added Thailand, Taiwan, and a significant new section on UK-China. I owe him a great debt of gratitude for his willing and highly professional support.
Francis, “Thank you.”
Lawrence Williams<
PS: Have a look at the UK-China pages on MirandaNet
MirandaNet in many languages
Let's have some fun! Google Translation is a machine translation system that doesn't quite get it right, but it does a darn good job at getting the gist and making you smile. We thought a fun activity for MirandaNetters would be to share various cultural idioms (sayings that aren't literal in meaning) such as, "kick the bucket, a piece of cake, and let the cat out of the bag. Then trying to stump the Google Translation and see what is rendered. Francis Howlett put it nicely when he said, "Machine translation has got a bit better over the years, but still continues to show how rich languages are and how well we understand the meaning of words in context, while a machine falls over again and again." Just for fun, let's share our sayings and see what happens in translation. To start us off here's Francis' experiment: "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." Cheers and have fun!
I suggest you send your efforts to me I will publish them in future newsletters.
Mechelle De Craene
Comments on research into IWB report
Bridget Cooper says it is probably a grave mistake to look at the effectiveness any piece of technology on its own without considering the nature of the learning context and the nature of learning. As someone who researched the use of these boards when they first entered the classroom it was in the context of designing classrooms which might enhance human interaction and pleasure and motivation in learning and the board was just one feature in a design which required a collaborative classroom with greater cross-curricular use of ICT and with much more pupil access.
There is a brief final report on the ICT and the Whole Child project which gives a small flavour of some of the more complex understanding of teaching and learning involved in looking at students and children interacting with technology if anyone is interested. Used as a tool for teachers which preserve teacher domination and control in large classrooms I would think any equipment is likely to have a limited if any effect on improving learning.
wec.mirandanet.org.uk/ftp/ICT_KS1.pdf (PDF file: 565KB)
Bridget Cooper
See also news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6309691.stm
Becta funded research project into ICT and personalised learning
MirandaNetters might be interested in joining this Becta research project led by Jean Underwood to look at personalisation. Please contact Emily Coyne directly below if your school would like to have some input.
We are looking to recruit schools at both primary and secondary level to take part in this Becta funded project looking at the extent to which ICT has allowed teachers and learners to develop a more personalised approach to learning.
Participation in the project requires online surveys to be completed by both staff and learners, but the project has been designed with minimal disruption to the schools. There will also be a small amount of funding available for participation.
The tools have been developed using teachers from the schools associated with phase one and their feedback has proved vital. As Becta are hoping to produce a set of national tools to measure personalisation we are hoping for further teacher input during this phase.
For more information about the project please contact Emily Coyne at Nottingham Trent University (email emily.coyne at ntu.ac.uk or telephone 0115 8485501). We realise that you are very busy, but would greatly appreciate your help and support with this project.
Penguin and DMU launch A Million Penguins - a wikinovel Experiment
Christina Howell-Richardson sends us this interesting article.
Penguin UK today launches A Million Penguins, a first-of-a-kind experiment in creative writing and collaboration based on the wiki principle. For the next six weeks, anyone logging in at the site will be able to contribute to the novel in progress or edit the work already there. The wiki will be accompanied by a blog where a Penguin editor will provide a running editorial commentary on the work in progress.
It is managed by Kate Pullinger, Reader in Creative Writing and New Media at De Montfort University, along with students from the online MA in Creative Writing and New Media.
Jeremy Ettinghausen, Penguin's Digital Publisher, said: "Communities, crowdsourcing and collaboration are the buzz words of the moment and we wanted to discover whether these social values could be applied to creative writing in the same way they are to, say, open source software. To be honest, we don't know exactly what is going to happen or how this will turn out - I guess that is up to the community!"
Penguin has long been in the forefront of digital marketing and publishing initiatives which engage a new generation of consumers with books. The Penguin Remixed competition in 2005 gave musicians and DJs the opportunity to use samples of Penguin's audiobooks in their compositions and later that year Penguin became the first publisher to launch a podcast, which has since won several awards. In 2006 Penguin became the first trade publisher to launch a blog, which was recently described as 'Simple. No Frills. But oozes Penguin-ness...'
"The success of Penguin Remixed and the recent My Penguin initiative have shown that people are not simply content to be passive consumers of content, they want to get involved and the internet has given them the means to do this," said Ettinghausen. "What we're trying to do with A Million Penguins is see how we can use the new technology platforms that now exist to bring people into the world of books and writing and hopefully provide a forum where they can express themselves creatively and have some entertainment in the process."
Penguin is collaborating with students from the MA in Creative Writing and New Media at De Montfort University who will be contributing to the wiki and will form the seeds of the community. "The success of a wiki project depends on the commitment of the community," said Ettinghausen, "and we're very pleased that these most imaginative students are on board." (adapted from Penguin press release)
See also: books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2003520,00.html
Contribute at: www.amillionpenguins.com
Sue Thomas
Professor of New Media
School of Media and Cultural Production
Faculty of Humanities
De Montfort University
BETT 2007 video review
The BETT team have put together some of the highlights of BETT into their online video magazine for you to view. It's free to watch, and you won't need to sign-in or register.
It contains interviews and information from the show as well as providing links to podcasts, slides and other material for a selection of the seminars. You can also watch Jim Knight MP's opening address at BETT.
Lara Baumann
Partner’s announcement: Another Winner from 2Simple!
Our partners, the 2Simple team, believe that software should be used to enhance children’s creativity in order to make a difference to teaching and learning. The BETT award this year has proven that 2Simple is continuing to achieve this. They won the BETT Award for ‘Best Early Years Solutions’ with Simple City, a fantastic program with ten exciting locations for FS and KS1 children to explore. A fun way to stimulate language, listening, creative play and collaboration.
Maths Games 1 was also highly recognised with a special commendation for Digital Content (Primary Core).
Members may also like to know that four brand new programs continue 2Simple’s mission to provide creative, powerful educational software for the primary age-range. As ever, these come with a wealth of resources including support videos packed with teaching ideas and usage tips. They are 2Paint A Picture, Maths City 1, 2Stimulate and Photosimple. Members who want to write reviews for the MirandaNet eJournal qualify for a free copy. Let me know.
Visit www.2Simple.com, email pr at 2simple.com or contact Erika Alejos, Head of PR & Marketing for more information.
Members’ blogs and CVs
We have some more interesting profiles from members below. Many site visitors read these profiles. We designed the profile as a ‘blog’ long before the term came in. Please up-date yours if it is out of date. This space can be your online CV as well. Have another look at your profile in the members’ area. John Cuthell’s profile is a good example of how you can use this well.
New Scholars
Maka Baramidze
I have been involved in numerous collaborative projects particularly surrounding the use of ICT in teaching English and in developing differentiated ICT resources for SEN and early stage EAL students, to help raise achievement. I use ICT in my lessons to focus on the skills where my students clearly have weaknesses. I have attended a 3 day workshop run by the London Grid for Learning using 'Final Cut Pro' and 'Movie Making programme' using Pathe archive clips in KS3 and KS4 English lessons which led to me devising new IWB resources with lesson plans on behalf of NWCS that are now for public use on London Grid for Learning website.
I was responsible for devising IWBs resources for the whole KS4 department; a challenge which I enjoyed as a chance to further develop my own professional skills in ICT as a teaching tool. I also developed and resourced a successful Year 10 GCSE scheme of work on 'A View from The Bridge' which again was used by the whole department.
Anita Bjelica>
I guess the first sign of my inclination to be a teacher was in primary school when I used to help my classmates with their English homework and also mark their tests for our teacher??!! Twenty years later and I am doing the same thing, apart form the fact that I am the English teacher.
Something else is different. I grew up never seeing a computer at school. The overhead projector is the most high tech piece of equipment I remember some of my teachers using, and not all successfully (although it never stopped them from delivering the curriculum, but that is a different discussion point).
My relationship with the computer started when I arrived in the UK in 1992. I completed short course in ICT at school before starting university (1993) and discovering Internet. I remember how proud I was to be able to email someone or use messenger in order to communicate instantaneously with friends abroad.
A decade and a bit later and I spend more time with the computer than I do with many (other) friends. My work life has become dependant on computers that I sometimes despair to what it would be like without them-again???
Most of all, the fact that the world is within my reach and I can invite it into my classroom whenever I want, has given us teachers and students a great although dependant freedom.
Emma Duke-Williams
I am a lecturer in the School of Computing at Portsmouth University in the UK. I have a particular interest in the use of IT to support learning and assessment. Current work includes looking at the role of Web 2.0 in teaching and learning. This covers a range of aspects, such as the use of blogs for student reflection, how online communities develop. Though we currently use a VLE (WebCT), I am interested in the way in which students can start to build their own PLE (Personal Learning Environment) from freely available tools. Having previously been a Special Needs teacher, I'm also very interested in accessibility of online materials.
In addition I support the departmental use of Online Assessment - for both summative and formative use.
Richard Felicelda
I am currently teaching ESL courses at Les Roches Jin Jiang International Hotel Management College in Shanghai, China. One of the courses I am currently teaching is Hospitality English. This is like an ESP course which in our curriculum specifically in hospitality discourse.
I have been an advocate of the integration of ICT in language teaching. Many of my classes have been a combination of traditional teaching delivery with the integration of Computer Aided Language Learning. In fact, I am currently enrolled in the EdD program of Walden University and I have written in my Doctoral Development Plan is I want to purse in inquiry stance in the integration of ICT into Content-Based Language Instruction. Though I am still in the first stage in developing this topic inquiry, I am getting excited everyday as I read new articles and researches related to my topic.
Another this is that my school has purchased a Computer Aided Language Learning software (Auralog) which we are going to implement and use this coming new semester, March 2007. Everybody is very excited about the new venture our school is going to engage as this involves money (individual license of CALL is not for free to the students), teachers have mixed feelings and attitudes about the CALL, and many teachers are not up to the use of computer in teaching.
Because of this, I am planning to conduct a case study regarding our new program which is the integration of CALL (Auralog) to our English teaching curriculum.
It is my hope that by joining this group of intellectuals, I will learn more about the area which I am very passionate about - ICT in English language teaching.
Linda Harrison
I am Linda Harrison and have been working at Becta in the Evidence and Evaluation Directorate for 2 years. My key areas of interest are ICT - in particular- the use of mobile technologies and the post-16 sector in general. Own first degree in history and postgraduate in Information Management. Currently studying for an MSc.
Matthew Kearney
Dr. Matthew Kearney currently teaches across two programs in the faculty. He coordinates the e-learning related subjects in the BEd (Prim) and GradDipEd (Sec) programs and is interested in innovative technology-based learning in K-12 and teacher education contexts.
His research and development interests are in the area of e-learning. He is a member of the faculty's Designs for Learning research cluster and has recently completed the following funded projects:
Developing pedagogy using student-generated digital video with 1 other colleague (2004).
Investigating pedagogy using interactive whiteboards with 1 other colleague (2006).
Teachers as e-learning designers with 2 other colleagues (2006).
His PhD thesis (2002) focussed on the design and use of multimedia supported predict-observe-explain (POE) tasks in science learning. In 2002, he also contributed to the ICT-based Learning Designs Project.
www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/index.html by describing the learning design www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/exemplars/info/LD44/index.html behind multimedia-based POE tasks, and also by designing and developing (downloadable) POE e-shells www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/tools/info/T3/index.html (see www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/tools/info/T3/index.html) - generic tools that can be used by educators to build their own multimedia-based POE tasks using a web page editor. Further information, including publications can be found via his website.
Kelly Kermode
Kelly Kermode is currently a high school English teacher in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She revels in finding new ways to sustain student interest and in implementing technologies to heighten student achievement. She currently teaches English 9 and Honors English 9 through a hybrid course created with Moodle. She is highly interested in collaborating with teachers abroad to offer her students distant learning opportunities so they may be more prepared for a global economy. She also publishes the school yearbook through a yearbook class that focuses on journalism, design, and photography. Currently, she is updating her website and online classroom environments to include more multimedia.
New Members
Kevin Abbott
I am the ICT Co-ordinator of a large all-girls' grammar school. I am responsible for provision and access to the ICT resources for all staff and pupils, including taught courses, ICT across the curriculum and CPD for teaching staff.
Manal Ebrahim AlEid
My name is Manal Ebrahim AlEid, I am from the Kingdom of Bahrain. I like to be unique and like new ideas, sometimes people call them crazy ideas! I like to exchange and share knowledge with others.
I hold a Masters degree in Information Systems Management and my research was on "Developing A Model For Integrating ICT Into The Classroom: A Teacher's Perspective". My study was based on schools from England. Based on my research I have written a working paper, "ICT in Education", and presented it in the First International e-Learning Conference in Bahrain in April 2006.
I also have teaching experience since I taught, as a part time basis, teachers on how to utilize the Microsoft PowerPoint to produce a learning materials.
Currently I am searching for how to integrate ICTs into kindergartens daily practice.
Josh Oke
The world our children are living is changing four times faster than our schools. I have always believed that technology has become a platform that has totally transformed the way we live, think, work and more importantly learn. To ignore this is to stop being relevant. The vision of my company, and my passion as a person is to intelligently deploy the best available learning technology to open up the mind and unleash the potentials of the African child and thus give every child irrespective of her background the unique opportunity to raise his or her head high above water in a technologically driven and highly competitive world we all live in today.
Matthew Rees
I have worked in ICT for over 25 years and been involved in Education as a school governor and a local government officer for the last thirteen years, so the topic of ICT in Education is of great interest to me.
[Back]
