Twenty Ten

Twitter is fantastic.  Today, one of my Yr 12 students asked if I knew where he could get some Royalty free music for his iMedia coursework.  Normally, I would have gone to google and done the usual searches, or told him to do the same.  This time I tried twitter.  One simple request and over the next few hours I gathered a few very good websites.  The results I have posted below.  

These are all fantastic websites where you can either access free material or purchase large quantities of Royalty free music which can then be stored locally.  The only downside I have is that because most of these sites offer a download as an MP3 our Internet Provider (SWGFL) filters the download. So pupils have to access it from home and then bring it in.  This is irritating. 

Can I once again thank all the people/companies that responded to my quest.  As a weird side effect to the request, I have had a few new followers, all music related.  :)

misterel Resources Free music Royalty download twitter

I have been using Moodle at our school for about 2 years now.  I like it and have spent a lot of time learning how to use it. However I am finding it difficult to get the rest of the staff on board. I realise that time for training is an issue, but I also think that some of the functionality isn’t instinctive. The video below sort of sums up moodle at the moment (apologies for bad language at the beginning).

I have also just read the excellent article on different VLEs by @andykemp which can be found here . It raises some interesting questions regarding the VLE options as well as how best to integrate them into schools.

We went for Moodle, because we like to have control of the server, host locally and therefore be in control when or if it goes wrong.  This has meant that one technician and I have had to learn shed loads to make sure it all runs smoothly.  This is fine as long as neither of us goes… 

I am also seeing lots of other VLE options appearing that look at lot more user friendly and give a lot of tech support.  This will obviously come at a cost. But if staff can adopt it more easily and use it then it might well be worth it.

I didn’t manage to get the Moodlemoot09, so am so far unaware of the changes being developed for Moodle 2.0.  I am hoping that it is going to be extremely user friendly and less ‘boxy’.  When you have a VLE like edu2.0 saying ‘edu2.0 is like a Mac, Moodle is like a PC’ you have to wonder why.  There are also other great VLE options that are easy and simple to use. I quite like edmodo and if I was a Primary school teacher I would defintely consider using it. 

Frog, seems to be becoming the next big comercial VLE that people are talking about.  I haven’t seen a demo, but the website looks fantastic and once again it look easy to use and can be hosted locally.  So do you pay a technician to run moodle or pay Frog to run their VLE???? 

As a school we also use SLG to enable staff acess to SIMs.  This will also be used as our parent and student gateway.  I know that SLG has the potential to be a VLE. This may be a tad clunky, but at least the pupil info will seemlessly link with SIMs.  Our Moodle is not yet linked with SIMs annd our MIS coordinator would rather it did.  So would I.  It would be great to assign sets to different course and if a pupil changed sets, it would be automatically picked up.  Can moodle do this? Will Moodle do this?

So I am sort of sitting on a VLE fence.  Should I stick with Moodle now and persevere with staff training and induction or go for an alternate option like frog or SLG?

misterel Resources, Teaching & Learning moodle VLE Frog edmodo

We are in the process of re-writng SoL for KS3 ICT.  This is made slightly harder than normal as we have now gone to a 2 year KS3.  However aside from that, it is still a struggle trying to get all the necessary ICT into the time allowed. We have a 2 week timetable, and have 1 hour of ICT per week.  That gives us approx 6 -7 hours per halfterm.  With the introduction of flexible learning days it’ll proabably work out an hour less per halfterm.

This causes us a few challenges.  New software packages need to be taught and assessed.  APP is coming in as well as making sure that you include AfL, SEAL and time to reflect on learning.  I’m not sure that is possible, and still give pupils the opportunity to acess the higher levels.  All our classes are mixed ability so that adds another layer of challenge.

I also want to include as many ‘new’ technologies, opportunities to allow the pupils to experience a wide range of ICT apps that aren’t necesssarily Microsoft based.  We are using Moodle and the vast majority of students have internet access, so my first thought is to make the topics interesting enough to enthuse the students enough to want to do extra work from home.  I am also pushing for Google Apps so that we have access to collaborative learning and all puils have access to an ‘office’ style package.

To add in the assessment of pupils I have purchased GOAL online assessment (http://www.goalonline.co.uk/).  This gives pupils an inidicative level and target level and assesses 10 different strands of ICT. This gives feedback for individual pupils as well as classes, so that you can see if there are any knowledge gaps.  I am hopeful that this will enable a better traccking system for pupils and teachers.  The school is also looking at IamLearner (http://www.iamlearning.co.uk/)which is a games based revision package. This will hopefully reinforce the learning and help pupils retain knowledge that they sometimes forget between year groups.

So I think a medium to long term plan is needed:

1. More interaction with feeder primaries to develop a transition SoL and a better understanding of prior knowledge (this will only be effective if all Primaries are on board).

2. Very detailed SoL that contain various routes through units so that pupils are aware of the ‘levelness’ of tasks

3. The ability for pupils to track their progress on a unit of work and compare it to their targets, thus engendering a desire for improvement and motivation.

4. A decent SIMs based tracking system that enables staff to be aware of the pupils levels and targets (some form of traffic lighting – we have this in place now, but isn’t being used effectively)

5. Mapping of ICT use across the curriculum so that pupils can see where they are transfer skills.

6. Making sure that we use Moodle and other ‘web2′ tools effectively

This is purely my initial thoughts.  Any suggestions, ideas or Moodle based units of work already written would be much appreciated.

misterel Teaching & Learning KS3 Moodle APP ICT SEAL

Twitter… what’s all the fuss about?

misterel Resources, Teaching & Learning twitter

We are looking at the BECTA framework and are considering going for the ICT mark. (Our LA has funding for this and is pushing it hard). The school has considerable ICT capability and hardware is prevalent in all curriculum areas. However, when sitting down to do the framework, we have realised that although we maybe an ‘e-mature’ school (LA phrase, not ours) we haven’t got the paperwork and evidence in place to meet some of the key targets…. this is a tad frustrating.

Our MIS system is fantastic.  All staff have access to SIMs.net via the ‘front of house’ PC’s or via PDAs.  We have SIMs Learning Gateway (SLG) accessible via our website, so that staff, can, if they want to, access their marksheets to complete student reports.  All departments are now using SIMs as their central record for pupil data.  We have a designated admin person who works solely on data entry and data analysis. We have Jesson data entered into SIMs with coloured cells to highlight the bandings as well as FFT data and targets based on YELLIS, MIDYIS and ALIS.

Moodle is our VLE of choice and we are slowly in the process of bringing departments on board.  This is a time consuming process as time for staff training is an issue. We also know that at least 85% of our cohort have internet access.  We have invested heavily in a managed wireless netwrok system, which means that our banks of laptops access the net wirelessly and don’t lose connectivity.  Our wireless system has also had an open netwrok added so that all pupils with handheld devices and laptops can access the internet. no matter where they are in the school.

All of the above is fantastic, adn makes us question why we cannot seem to achieve a higher rating on the framework.   Paperwork and documentation is the main issue.  We are a ‘doing’ school.  We see something that needs doing and we do it… but we lack a written ICT vision…This is a massive problem.  A big chunk of the framework refers to the ‘Vision’ and how everything links to the ‘Vision’.  Also, becasue we just do it, we also lack the documentation to show that we consult with; pupils, parents and staff….this takes time and stops us from ‘doing’.

So we now need to develop a strategy to impliment a plan to enable us to show that we are ICT capable and that we meet the criteria for ICT mark.

We have therefore decided to start at the bottom and work our way up.  Our first major hurdle is access.  This may seem a bizarre statement considering the ramblings of the first 2 paragraphs, but it is a serious issue.  We run an RM network.  Easylink should allow all staff and pupils access to their ‘My docs’. no matter where they are… it doesn’t work. Well, not always.  If you have XP you have no problem.  However if you have Vista or use an EEPC (linux) then it doesn’t work.  We have just invested in 60 – 70 EEPC’s – staff won’t use them becasue pupils can’t access their work… this is frustrating.  Staff can’t access their work from home…this frustrating…Pupils can’t access their work…again frustrating.  So we need to tackle this as a matter of urgency.  We have therefore decided to abandon easylink.  We are now looking at adding some webparts to SLG that will allow pupils and staff access to their my docs, shared docs, read only and staffpool.  It will also mean that as we release more data to parents via SLG we can also release similar data to pupils.  It seems like a great solution, am just hpoing that it will work.

Our second and as important strategy is to develop a community of ICT advocates that would be willing to meet up once a halfterm and discuss and share ICT good practice and to cascade it to departments.  However trying to encourage enough staff members to willing give up their time to meet and promote ICT across the school is a tad challenging…especially with the new KS3, KS4, KS5 curriculum changes as well as APP, AfL and our own changes to the curriculum structure.  So we have had a cunning plan…. 1 ICT advocate per department, willing to put the time into sharing and using ICT within their department adn whole school…. the hook…. a brand new, all singing all dancing laptop.

Personally I think this is a great idea.  It will mean that we have ICTAC working well, staff confidence in using ICT will increase and we get to tick the annoying boxes in the framework.  I am hoping this will lead to moodle being intergrated across the school.  It will also mean that staff won’t stagnate in the use of ICT and be willing to try new things and all our pupils will benefit from a more interactive, ICT rich curriculum.

misterel Teaching & Learning ICT BECTA Advocates framework