Thunder

Formed in 1970, SAGSET is a voluntary professional society dedicated to improving the effectiveness and quality of learning through the use of interactive learning, role-play, simulation and gaming - in all aspects of education and training, from Primary School to University - and in all levels of adult, lifelong learning from the shop floor to the board room.

Our 37th Annual Conference will be held in Manchester in July 2007 (16th - 18th) and contributions are invited from:

• Teachers in Primary, Secondary & Adult Education
• Teachers specialising in supporting pupils with learning disabilities
• College & University Lecturers
• Employers & Trainers interested in interactive methods of developing the skills of employees in Business & Industry
• Business Management Training Organisations
• Voluntary Organisations
• Teams designing simulations for the Emergency Services
• Designers of other games & simulations

Why not use this opportunity to spread your message among a variety of like-minded groups - and pick up new ideas from them in turn!

Papers (to last 40 minutes including questions) or Workshops (85 minutes) will be particularly welcome with a deadline for Full Paper Submission of 20th April 2007. For more information please visit: http://www.simulations.co.uk/sagset/sagset2.htm

Conference Fees (All prices include VAT)

Early Bird Full Residential Conference Fee (Must be booked by Saturday June 16th 2007 - higher fees apply thereafter): includes en-suite accommodation in the conference centre for the nights of 16th - 17th July, all conference facilities on 16th - 18th July, meals & conference report, and a year’s membership of SAGSET: £295.0 (or $US 580.0)

Day Delegate Rate: (Does not include supper, but does include lunch & SAGSET membership): £70.0 or $137.0

To book your place, and for a full set of details about the conference, please contact the Conference Organiser:

Paddy Griffith, 41 Burlington Road, Manchester M20 4QA

Tel: 0044 (0)161 434 2551 e-mail: paddygriffith@tiscali.co.uk

Today I have been working with a group of year 7, 8 & 9 students from Sundorne school. The group planned/scripted their podcast for the first hour of the day and then went off to interview staff and students, they used the internal mics on the apple laptops, irivers and a usb mic. After recording the necessary audio they edited the clips within Garageband and obtained appropriate images to enhance the podcast.

• What have you learnt today?
• Was it an enjoyable experience, would you do it again?
• How could a podcast be used by the school?
• What would you like to be on the schools monthly podcast?

Cheltenham College, 10 - 13 April 2007.

Now is your opportunity to develop the ideas you have already had about digital creativity, to see how others are using these new tools with great benefits in learning gains, and to understand the pedagogy that underpins the excitement of digital media. You will learn in an environment where you are given the opportunity, inspiration, space and support to be creative with like-minded colleagues. All learning on this unique course will give you a thorough background in digital media but is carried out in relaxed and friendly manner so that newcomers to the areas covered will not feel intimidated.

At this event, you will investigate a range of activities that focus on different digital media:

• Digital storytelling
• Podcasting
• Creating content using digital video cameras and editing software
• Exploring the use of still images, music podcasts and animation in multimedia projects
• Methods for sharing digital projects on DVD and the Web
• Sharing of experiences, action planning and portfolio development
• Development of skills in subject/age group relevant projects

Further details can be found on the ATI website.

Becta’s ICT Excellence Awards are now open for entries!

Entering its second year, the ICT Excellence Awards aims to identify and reward whole school excellence in ICT.  They look for schools across the whole of the UK approaching ICT in outstanding and innovative ways.

Winning schools will receive prize money of up to £6000, as well as opportunities to share their excellent practice with others.

The categories, open to both primary and secondary sectors, are Assessment, Curriculum, Extending Learning Opportunities, Inclusion, Leadership and Management, Learning and Teaching and Best Whole School.  In addition to the schools categories and new to this year is the Support for Schools category for organisations supporting school improvement with ICT.  All categories are closely aligned with elements of Becta’s Self-Review Framework and the ICT Mark.

To find out more about the ICT Excellence Awards and to enter online, go to www.becta.org.uk/excellenceawards/.

Don’t miss the deadline of 23 March 2007!

This morning I was in Oldbury Wells School in Bridgnorth, Shropshire working with a group of MFL students in year 9.

8 of the students were studying Spanish and the rest of the group were French students. The students studying Spanish were new to the topic so they produced a Spanish Alphabet podcast and an interview with a famous person/celebrity. The students studying French had been working on health etc in their recent lessons so they produced podcasts based around healthy eating, lifestyles etc.

Prior to the session the students had produced their scripts, that they later copied into the lyrics tab (within itunes), this meant that we were able to get straight on with recording their vocals and adding in sounds, then later in the morning appropriate images. It was the first time the majority of the students had used an Apple Mac but had no problems using Garageband. Flickr was used to find copyright free images for use within their podcasts.

As with all these podcasting days I had a great time and the students all seemed to enjoy what they were doing. The deputy head teacher is now thinking about what next, producing podcasts with year 11 students for revision and purchasing a set of MacBook’s for the school. The MFL teachers that worked with me throughout the morning were really impressed by the language questions the students were asking and their motivation throughout, they didn’t stop and go for break

Here is one example (m4a, mp3) the rest can be downloaded and listened/viewed here.

Listen to the podcast produced on the bus on the way back from BETT07, I would recommend the m4a file so you can watch the video.

BETT07 - m4a (view in iTunes or Quicktime)
BETT07 - mp3

I hope you enjoy it, I will get around to writing a serious post about BETT soon.

It is official, the KS3 on-screen test for ICT will not be statutory.

The Department for Education and Skills is now working with the QCA to evolve the exam into a “formative test for ongoing assessment”, rather than a statutory test.

I think this is good news for schools but I am very concerned about the implications the test has had to date on schools.  It would be great news if they are able to tinker with the present test to make it a formative tool.

While at BETT07 yesterday the photograph on the left hand side of their stage was pointed out to
me:

Is the laptop that the boy working on an Apple Mac with the apple airbrushed out?

So what do you think? It certainly looks like a Mac to me.

After recommending del.icio.us to many people on many occasions I was asked recently what can you do if someone sends an unsuitable link to one of your students.  It stumped me, I didn’t know what to say, there is always the usual line about teaching the students about being responsible users of the internet and getting them to inform an adult about it - what do you think del.icio.us would do, should there be a button to inform them of an unsuitable link??

Any thoughts….

I am after a couple of new gadgets so I thought I would try and get the opinions of people who read my blog prior to me purchasing anything.

I received a Video iPod for Christmas and am in the market for a microphone and a fm transmitter for the car (possibly with a charger). After scowering the market there appears to be a several options for the transmitter:

• Belkin TuneBase FM
• Belkin TuneCast II
• Kensington RDS transmitter
• Griffin RoadTrip
• Griffin iTrip

The microphones I have found include:

• Griffin iTalk
• Belkin TuneTalk

The last thing I am contemplating purchasing is a graphics tablet for my MacBook Pro, the Wacom Graphire4 seems to be the one that gets teh best reviews.

If anyone owns any of the above or knows someone who does I would be really pleased to hear your thoughts.

Cheers