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ICT -
Curriculum News |
Issue 28 March 2003 |
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Editorial: |
by
Tony Berkeley |
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·
Good practice at Minsterley Primary School ·
Star websites : ·
Software/Content recommendations & 15% scheme
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Welcome
to the third newsletter of 2003 in the new formats;
this being the full online version. We cover a wide range of topics in this
issue and it is particularly pleasing to be including articles by and about schools.
So many schools have good practice to share and even where precise
replication isn’t possible, details often act as a stimulus for others or a
confirmation that what they are doing is “on the right lines”. Please
consider how your school could contribute. Related
to this there is the aspect of “letting us know”; letting us know for example
that you have a new website, that you are involved in an. |
exciting project or through illustrating some of your
pupils’ work, that standards in schools continue to rise. Any articles
contributed by schools are always welcome and we are very grateful to Judy Udale (Norton in Hales Primary), who has presented a
comprehensive review of some of the available Software to support handwriting
development. Finally make a note
of the conference planned for 26th June. Fliers will reach school
after the Easter holiday. Please send
feedback to tonyb@it4l.org
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ICT
Heads’ Consultative Group:
– Last Meeting: |
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Minutes: click here (future minutes will be
archived separately in a new area of the website with direct access following
some further changes, but as an interim measure they are appended below) |
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ICT
Heads’ Consultative Group: – Next
Meeting |
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Proposed/provisional agenda 15th May will include: ·
Broadband
Update ·
Standards Fund
update (component 3) ·
14-19
Pathfinder update ·
Information and
security policy ·
Laptops for
teachers update. |
·
Conference
developments ·
Software/content
update ·
AOB Remember to make
sure your SDG is represented at ICT heads and get
your issues raised. |
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Good practice
at |
by
Andrea Dunn |
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Minsterley is a 170-pupil primary school
in a rural village in The importance of applying ICT skills
across the curriculum is recognised, and almost all ICT is “contextualised”.
For example, a Year 5/6 class used a spreadsheet to input and manipulate data
related to a citizenship project on playground equipment and voting, whilst a
Year 3 class used the Internet to research information on the ear, linking
ICT, science and literacy skills. Reception children, as part of a topic on
Bears, used a Teddy Bears Picnic program and Year 2 children used a phonics
website, targeted at their own level, as part of a literacy lesson. So, whilst skills are sometime taught discretely, they are
always then applied in a subject context. One way that ICT is easily integrated
into other subjects is by the use of large (20/ 21 inch) monitors, available
in each class (and bought second hand for around £80), which enable the
teacher to demonstrate to large groups, or enables children to work collaboratively.
Each teacher has a laptop, which they (and the children) use, linked to the
monitor; they can also link into the school network and the Internet. For
example, one class spent part of a geography lesson on weather looking at
live satellite images of weather from space. The laptops can also be used
“stand alone”, and for administration, preparing work etc. The school uses
free software called ‘Teachers Report Assistant’ to create their reports, for
example, and one teacher felt it cut down on report writing time by at least
12 hours. All teachers, and the special support assistant who also has a
laptop, felt that they could no longer be without them! |
The school also has a computer suite of
15 PCs, and successfully applied for an Innovation Grant
which helped provide a projector, interactive whiteboard and a digital
camera to facilitate the creation of an interactive map of Minsterley. This innovative spirit is one that
makes ICT at Minsterley stand out. For example, they trialled a website
creation tool from Paradigm (now Progrid), which
has enabled their web site to be constantly and easily updated, by any member
of staff. They have run animation clubs and 3D photography clubs. The ICT
co-ordinator has put together a school website directory, to enable teachers
to find what they want quickly and easily. They have invested in equipment,
which will enhance the quality of children’s learning, such as a DV
Camcorder, and an Environment Monitoring Kit (a precursor to use of the EcoLog). The school has developed a portfolio of
children’s work, showing progression throughout the school, and it is obvious
that the children get a rich ICT diet. This is also evident in watching the
children at the computers – they are confident and relaxed, are encouraged to
experiment, and explore the programs. This obviously reflects the attitude of
the teachers, who, through in-school CPD, the support of an enthusiastic and
talented co-ordinator and their own willingness to learn, are also relaxed
and confident with the ICT they need to use. Our thanks go to Clive Roe, Headteacher, and Tony Davies, Deputy and ICT co-ordinator,
for allowing us to share the school’s ICT experiences. If your school has examples of good practice you are
willing to share, please contact andrea@it4l.org |
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by
Judy Udale, Norton in Hales Primary |
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Words & Pictures – ‘Magic
Pencil’ – Sherston Software Ltd - this is a program intended to support the teaching of early letter
formation. The program follows the familiar TV ‘Words & Pictures’ format
for letter formation – patter and multi-sensory cues – which are familiar to
most children who have watched at home
or in school. The user can select various options, which allow demonstration
or activity modes. Teacher options
allow selection of particular font styles which offer most combinations of precursive and ‘from the line ‘
formation. Letters are clear
and the pattern is as most Reception teachers would use or could adapt to readily. It is easy to change between precursive and ‘from the line’ (as recommended by the
Dyslexia Institute for example) although most letters in reality would be the
same from the word go. Essentially, children are asked
to locate the starting/ending points for the selected letter and then watch
the formation as Magic Pencil moves onscreen.
Other activities require the children to identify the letter from its
pattern, from the path Magic Pencil follows on-screen or a combination of
both – not something many teachers would normally do other than incidentally,
in the air, perhaps. Although clear and easy to use (once past the
annoying intros!), the software has several limitations: it can be run directly from the CD or installed onto the hard drive.
but even if installed , the CD must be in the drive
in order to run. It cannot be run on a network
without support from Sherston. If you have the luxury of a projector and screen the
program is useful for demo purposes as the animations hold young children’s
interest long enough to engage them in the ‘meat’ of the session and they can
then practise
on their own whiteboards etc, but that is about it. It isn’t really the sort
of program young children could return to time and again to practise these particular skills, supervision would be necessary for it to be
meaningful since there is no way of
monitoring responses. Therefore, to sum up the program has its uses for
demo purposes, but is limited beyond that. On the other hand, Handwriting
for Windows (HFW) is worth looking at. This is a
program (as opposed to a font, but see below) which looks a bit like
Word but allows you to covert common fonts into what to all intents and
purposes is joined script with all the correct flicks and leads in to
letters. Options allow you to select default letter shapes –
with or without ‘from the line’ letters, looped/not looped descenders, joins or not joins from particular letters
etc – to match your school’s agreed style. |
It is ideal for preparing worksheets in cursive
script directly from the program itself or you can write in HFW and copy and
paste into Word or Publisher etc. You
cannot prepare within borders etc directly, but once you have written text
you can cut and paste into a prepared border/table in another program. Alternatively you
can begin writing in HFW, cut and paste into another program and then
continue writing whilst maintaining the style. Having installed the HFW program ‘HFW cursive’ will
appear in your font list in other programs and can be selected in the usual
way, but the finished text will not be perfectly joined as it would have been
if cut and pasted as above. It is
nevertheless far superior as a model for cursive script than is any other
font I have used and the incomplete joins you get when using as a font is a
small price to pay for the results you get.
For perfect results prepare everything in the
HFW program itself, then cut and paste. The other great thing about HFW is that you have an
option to do dotty letters! This is
ideal in Early Years settings for practising
letter formation and can be set as dense or dark dot, cursive or precursive. Once
installed these options appear in your usual font list, whatever program you
are running, though again perfect joins will only be available if prepared in
HFW or copied/cut and pasted from it into another program.. The results are very pleasing, especially for
worksheets, posters or name cards that have been prepared
by an adult and they provide a good model for children’s writing. The only drawback is that young children
cannot open up the program and write with a cursive style without adult
intervention, since at some point their text has to be ‘converted’. If you have time to set this up before the
children get to the machine it is no problem, but there appears to be no way
to bypass the default non-cursive
style and it is unlikely that a very young child could convert text
independently. There are one or two letters which may not conform
to your chosen style – such as ‘s’ with a flick to the right even when at the
end of a word – but these again are a small price to pay for what is
otherwise a very useful piece of software.
One quirky thing I have discovered, by chance, is that if you are
using the HFW font in another program, the lower case letter k appears with
straight lines, as would a capital. If you prefer a looped k, then you insert
3 full stops after the straight k, it changes to a lopped one, the full stops
disappear and you delete the straight k you do not want. Sounds fiddly, but isn’t
really! Definitely
worth a look. Handwriting for Windows 2.1 Price ~£42 (ELC eligible) Contact Nick@it4l.org for
supply (tel: 01743 233628) |
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by
Andrea Dunn/Tony |
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Sad news! The last batch of SEQs
ever are now being made - so if you were planning on getting some to
up your stock - now is the last chance. We will continue to support the SEQs,
which have played an important part in the development of control in schools,
offering a real way of getting to grips with “programming” sequences and
linking to real models. However, we need a replacement for the
future and for those schools for whom resourcing
control remains an issue. Importantly we can also take a next evolutionary
step to take advantage of developments e.g. ease of connectivity using the
now prevalent usb connector on PC’s and notebooks.
We can also better exploit the opportunities gained through the LEA licencing of Flowol e.g.
modelling/simulation stages of control systems for the whole class prior to
e.g. linking to real models/equipment. This is also important in the contexts
of progression, higher order thinking and transition, since the same software
can be used from KS2 through to KS4; indeed, it is a
key component of KS3 Strategy developments in control. Given the above, we are recommending
the FlowGo (see right panel), which is totally compatible with Flowol,
and is reasonably priced, robust and does everything the SEQ can do (and
more). Related developments: Together with Gareth Pimley, we are getting together soon to update the QCA+
units to include use of the FlowGo. |
FlowGo: The control interface with a difference! The FlowGo
interface and Flowol software offer a way to
explore the world of computer control. Using a combination of both real
models and on-screen simulations, pupils can gain an understanding of how
systems operate and how these are created and controlled. FlowGo can be used as a traditional
control interface alongside a PC, or run as a remote stand-alone controller.
Download your Flowol program to FlowGo
and let the system you have created take control. FlowGo is designed to operate with small electrical components
e.g. 6v bulbs, buzzers, motors, LEDs etc. Technical Information:
Input, Output and Motor sockets are all
4mm. Analogue sensor inputs are 3.5mm stereo jack
sockets FlowGo is supplied with a 6v 1.3A power
supply. It can also be powered from an external 6v
battery pack, enabling it to operate away from both mains electricity and the
computer. Contact Nick@it4l.org
for details/supply (tel:01743 233628) |
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Star
websites - see also below (it4L cannot be held responsible for the content
of external Internet sites): |
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This month we have a good variety, the first few sites are
from Chris Robinson for primary science: http://www.naturegrid.org
-includes reference sheets covering the most common creatures found in
various habitats http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/plants
- - includes a wealth
of information about plant life http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk
- contains various magnified images of living things such as
the different parts of a dandelion seed. These could be compared with what
the children see under the computer microscope http://www.farmsforschools.org.uk
- lists farms available for school visits by area, allowing
you to specify what type of farm you want to see. All farms listed meet the
required standards in the provision of facilities and educational resources
for farm visits' Linking with ICT heads agenda items and the area of caching servers we have included
include the URLs which offer direct access to the caching document that Paul
handed out at the meeting: http://getconnected.ngfl.gov.uk/info/downloads/caching_systems.doc
or http://getconnected.ngfl.gov.uk/info/downloads/caching_systems.pdf Steve has offered some sites about digital
video cameras/webcams, topical in the KS3 strategy:
sound and vision Digital Movie Creator – more info from
here: http://www.taglearning.com/browse/info.asp?CatID=876&sessID={DF746477-00F3-11D7-BC49-00508BE18ED4} Logitech Quickcam
Pro 4000: Logitech Clicksmart
510: |
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by
Tony Berkeley |
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As
mentioned in the ICT headteachers group minutes,
schools are starting with developments using Digitalbrain
as part of projects submitted by groups of partners. The first training
sessions have been held and have been judged very useful, not simply as a
skills training experience but as a way of putting the opportunities into
pathfinder projects in real school and college contexts. As
with so many courses, much benefit was gained from
the opportunity to work with colleagues from differing scenarios, and an
excellent collaborative spirit developed, even to the extent that a
“development” group formed out of this first cohort, which will meet again. . |
The
next block of 5 day training commences on May 15th with further days on the
16th, 19th and 20th and a final “assessment day” on the 4th June. The courses
are for up to 10 people and we have only a couple of places remaining, so
please contact me if you want to reserve a place. At
the Pathfinder Management Group Meeting (with representatives from all
partners), it was suggested that there would be value in running further
different courses e.g. a further briefing 1/2 day for heads, a one-day for
teachers involved in particular projects etc. These are
being arranged currently, with the briefing for heads scheduled for
May. Details will be sent direct to headteachers. |
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by
Tony Berkeley |
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In
the light of developments, notably the ELC and taking account of the
budgetary concerns of schools, we have reviewed the place of the 15% content
scheme. The merits are not in question; bulk purchase, shared training,
exchange of pupil and teacher work, common formats etc. However, it is
recognised that for some schools there remain concerns; the disparity of
available funds (since these are based on NOR), the mismatch with common
licensing models (often site licences are independent of NOR), and the
tension between waiting for a “good deal” recommended by the LEA and going
ahead with servicing a particular locally identified need. Given this
background and the fact that ELC allocations exceed the 15% of ICT in schools
grant (formerly NGfL), the last ICT heads meeting accepted the following
proposal, to retain the advantages of the scheme whilst addressing some of
the limitations:
To
illustrate these points: We
recently identified a number of products and offered a showcase twilight at
which they were demonstrated by experts. Showcased
products will generally be available for “having-a-go” in Room 6 at the Purchase Offer: Revelation Natural Art - PRIMARY Total cost per school.”break prices”..(NB ELC eligible) 10 schools £175.00 * 50 schools £132.00 * 70 schools £108.00 * 90 schools £84.00 * over 100
schools £60.00 * the
above are for illustration only, and though correct, omit prices for some
(20,30,40 etc) intermediate numbers of schools |
Schools
simply tick the box next to the maximum price they are prepared to commit to. We can then reasonably assume they would be happy to
pay this or anything less, and can
collate the results to give the actual number of schools and hence fix the
price we obtain the product for, or, notify schools should a viable group not
been achieved. Since
no schools will be “in” or “not in” a special purchase group, the prices will
the same for all participating schools for the particular offer, having taken
into account the limit of their commitment. Clearly, it will not be possible to offer further
special prices to schools after the deadline of the offer. This is different
to the 15% content approach to date, where often non participating schools
were still able to make some (though less) savings on price Schools
will receive purchase offers as separate letters as they arise – several will
be in schools after Easter including the above. Purchase
offers will normally have a brief description of the product application area
and age suitability. Rebate for current 15%
schools: Owing to the extended period during which we
have been looking at image processing software in particular, we have only
made minor purchases to date with 15% funds this year, namely the numeracy software bundle and most recently Music Explorer
(£25 for 15% schools) equivalent in total to about £30 of a school’s
contribution, leaving the bulk for rebate to the school. It is important to note
that this is ring-fenced funding and must still be used to meet eligible
NGfL/”ICT in schools” spend e.g. PCs to reach target ratios,
projectors/whiteboards, paying technical support SLAs
from SITSS etc. Recommended
software/content: Following
the recent showcase twilight the following products are recommended and will
all have purchase offers as discussed this month:
We
hope that these changes will give greater flexibility to each school to use available
funds including ELCs especially at a time when budgets are “tight” but
demands on them continue relentlessly. NB Music Explorer, the
last 15% content purchase will be distributed to all
eligible schools. It is also available
to non 15% schools for the special price of £40. I understand that Keith
Havercroft who recommends this software may also be offering training for its
use. |
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by Tony Berkeley: |
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Working
coherently across the strands of the KS3 strategy and learning from earlier numeracy and literacy experiences, we will be pursuing
the idea of “leading projects” in both Essentially,
we have identified a number of key areas and mapped these against the
strands. For ICT this gives three main |
focuses for leading projects – transition (which
all strands will address), assessment for learning and thinking (several
modules available in the FS strand). Leading projects will therefore support
particular schools to address these areas, and disseminate their findings
using a variety of approaches. ICT
subject leaders have been invited to express
interest in these areas at recent meetings, and further details will be
available shortly. |
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Minutes
of ICT
Heads’ Consultative Group: –
Last Meeting: |
by
Andrea Dunn |
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Present: Ian Budd, Phil Wilson, Jean Shepherd, Paul Nash, Tony Berkeley,
Andrea Dunn, Paul Tutchener (SDG 6A), John Golightly (SDG 7), Virginia Clements (SDG 11A), Eddie
Edge (SDG 9), Melanie Wood (SDG 1), Brian Cartwright (Secondary) 1) Schools’
issues The only issue raised was that of ELCs, which was covered under item 9 below. 2) Standards Fund
Guidance Phil pointed out that some schools are only
sending back their ICT in Schools Grant 2003-04 Return without an ICT
development plan. He pointed out that
the plan must be received by the LEA before funding
can be released. Tony reminded schools that there is an exemplar
ICT plan on the it4L web site (www.it4l.org).
Most schools are opting in to the Component 3
allocation. 3) Broadband
update Jean reported that we are nearing completion of
Broadband connection. 8 more schools will be connected by the end of the
month, 1 around the beginning of April and the remaining 5 (Stiperstones, Selattyn, Clunbury, Ashford Carbonell and
probably Grafton) will be connected as soon as possible thereafter. Brian asked about the cost of Broadband. Phil is
currently in discussion with the finance team about this. The money for this
has gone into school budgets (£2000 per secondary and £1200 per primary), and
it will be taken from there. Phil assured the group that the money would be taken, but no more than that allocation would be
charged. He reminded the group of the actual charge of Broadband connectivity
- £4500 per site for installation and up to £7000 a year, depending on where
the school is situated. 4) 14- 19
Pathfinder update Proposals and bids from schools are now in and
the management group feeds back its decisions on March 27th. The first DigitalBrain (Managed Learning
Environment/ Virtual Learning Environment) training is under way – ten
participants have completed
4 out of 5 days’ training, and found it to be excellent,
especially in the way it related to participants’ specific requirements. The
next group will begin their training on May 10th. Some schools are already beginning to customise
their portals, registering pupils and even setting work on line. There are opportunities to exploit DigitalBrain
beyond 14-19, for example creating a Key Stage 3 portal, or using it with EAZ
primary schools. 5) Laptops
for teachers There has been some slippage in the delivery
programme, due to a component problem. Unfortunately, Tulip did not inform
the LEA, so some schools have been inconvenienced.
All schools should now have been informed of their
delivery date (by the end of March). Any problems with the hardware should
be reported directly to Tulip. John reported that their technical
support team were positive and useful. An upgraded DVD driver is now available. Letters
have gone to schools regarding this. It can be downloaded
from the it4L web site or accessed on a CD from Nick Hawksworth at the
Science and Technology Centre. The question of insurance for the laptops arose –
Ian suggested that a definitive statement on this is required and will be produced shortly. 6) Caching Paul gave out a BECTa information sheet on
caching systems. We need to make a decision fairly soon about
developing caching (it is a Standards Fund priority, after computer:pupil ratios). An
Invitation To Tender (ITT) needs to be developed, either regarding the
acquisition of a
caching system for all schools, or regarding a purchasing framework, so that
schools buy a system from an approved supplier. In either case, some sort of
commitment will be required from schools. The ITT will hopefully
be ready by June/July so evaluation can take place in August. We therefore need to broaden schools’ awareness
of the need for caching and the timetable, thus enabling schools to budget
for this. The cost could be up to £12k per site, but more
realistically will be £1-3k. It is probably cheaper going for a whole LEA
solution, and schools may wish to buy into it this year or next year. In
fact, it will probably not be ready until the final quarter of this year (due
to the complexities of tendering), and as it is a complex business, phasing
is the most attractive option. Schools can use their ICT in Schools funding (including
Component 3) to fund this. Why do we need caching? – much
content that is now being developed (e.g. the BBC online curriculum) is
delivered in ‘real media streams’ which takes up huge amounts of bandwidth.
By caching this data on a regional/ county/school basis, data can be accessed more easily without using up all the
bandwidth! 7) ISP and
filtering A new regional broadband network is being developed and a) we become our own
ISP (as an LEA), employing staff and purchasing equipment to provide
filtering b) we buy into a
commercial third party to provide the service for us c) we go to another
authority to provide the service ProGrid’s contract runs until February, so that gives us an opportunity to
begin the transition. Schools will not see a difference in what they
pay and any filtering must be at least equivalent to the present one, but the
system as a whole will bring benefits 8) Information
and security policy Ofsted recommended that we implement such a policy. It is
suggested that the County Council’s policy is used as a basis for
this, made appropriate to schools. This will be discussed
at the next meeting. 9) Content
group recommendations Until now, most primary schools have bought into
the 15% content fund. A system for recommending software has evolved of
However, the way that the ICT in Schools grant is
worked out (per computer) and the way software is purchased
(often site licences) means that there can be a discrepancy in the money paid
in, and value. We have tried numerous ways to correct this, but now make the
following recommendations 1)
We return any unspent monies from
this round of 15% contributions (after paying for the Numeracy
Bundle and Music Explorer). Schools can then spend this money on other areas
of ICT – remember it is still ring-fenced, e.g. improving pupil : computer
ratios, or buying into the 2)
The Advisory Service will
continue to provide suggestions for software purchase, following the system
mentioned above. This will provide opportunities for bulk purchase, discounts
etc, but schools do not have to pre-commit their money, and can also use their ELCs. Current software recommendations are Logotron’s Revelation Natural Art (a configurable art package, suitable from
Foundation Stage to secondary schools) Logotron’s Black Cat’s Decisions3 (Key Stage 1
and 2 branching database) Crick’s Clicker 4 (Special Needs writing
framework/word banks) Kar2ouche (although this will need a committed
teacher to get the most out of it) 10) ICT
event An ICT ‘Good practice’ conference and exhibition,
aimed at Heads, has been arranged for |
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