Education ICT Newsletter

Please remember that all software purchases should be made through the IT Helpdesk.  By doing this, schools can be advised if the software is appropriate for use on  school computers.

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Monday 26 NovemberYou thought the earth was flat!!!!!!

The 100 Activprimary Whiteboard Lessons by Scholastic, is a resource that I have used for the last two years and have found invaluable. The CD ROM is extremely well laid out; from the easily understood main menus, to each lesson having a clear learning objective stated and a section to describe the whiteboard tools you need to use. The flipcharts themselves are very clear and most have page notes where you can gain clarification of the main ideas. The resource book comes with photocopiable follow up materials and each lesson is described in detail, including cross-curricular links. I have found it to be a marvellous resource to use in the classroom, as it is so practical and easily accessed.Mellony Bertram

We are pleased to announce that Dave Rawson has joined the ICT Team as our ‘Glow’ Implementation Officer. Keep up to date with what’s happening with GLOW by reading Dave’s blog on

http://edubuzz.org/blogs/glowboy

Susi Simkins and Mellony Bertram have joined the team as Interactive Whiteboard Support Officers on a one day a week secondment. Both Susi and Mellony will be available every Tuesday to support the use of Promethean Interactive Whiteboards in schools. They will also be available for twilight and Friday afternoon sessions. Please contact Suzanne Todd in the first instance to arrange support/training.

We have decided not to offer any ‘central’ ICT training through the CPD brochure for 07-08. 
Instead, our TeachMeet training sessions and additional courses will be available on request and
will be delivered in cluster schools.  We hope that this will enable us to cater our courses to the
needs of schools. Courses available are outlined in the brochure along with booking instructions. 
Further suggestions for courses or specific requests are welcome.  The CPD brochures are now available
within schools and also http://edubuzz.org/blogs/cpdshare

A number of demonstrations illustrating how different technologies can support and
enhance the teaching of English are to be set up this term.  It is hoped that this
will enable English PTs to make an informed decision about the technology requirements
of the modern English classroom.

After a well-earned rest, the eduBuzz blogs are now about to become busier than ever.

The parental involvement consultation is complete, and has identified class-specific web pages
as having great potential to increase parental engagement. A number of schools are working on getting these going.
Another driver for class blogs in some schools has been experience of running a school site, which has rapidly
become very large. At Law Primary, for example, it’s now planned to move class-specific posts to new class blogs.
We’re starting to see more in the way of international developments, with four classes at Yester Primary using blogs
as a basis for “Healthy Passport” link-ups with French and Finnish schools. Two West Barns pupils will also be using
individual learning blogs to report from 6 months in France, while their class teachers will be able to use them to keep
them in touch with class work.
This year’s Scottish Learning Festival, at Glasgow’s SECC in September, will feature a talk by Ewan McIntosh
featuring eduBuzz developments in East Lothian.
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/slf/seminarsandkeynotes/seminars/wereadoptinganadoptionstrategyforsocialmedia.asp

Emma Griffiths is starting her second year as a member of the ICT in the Curriculum team, on a part time basis. 
Emma works one day a week on a secondment funded by Microsoft, which aims to identify and celebrate excellence
and innovation in teaching, using ICT.  The academic session 2007 – 8 is the second and final year of the secondment.
The aim of the secondment has always been to support the development of Extreme Learning. While developing the rationale
and structure of implementation has had a rather longer lead time than anticipated, the main focus of Emma’s time this year
will be to address any remaining barriers to teachers running Extreme Learning in their schools.
A first step will be to create a steering group, and a training event will take place in January.
Any teachers or other staff interested in becoming involved at any level should make contact.
The Extreme Learning website has a lot of very useful background:
Extreme Learning for Teachers » 1. About

Feedback on the prototype Extreme Learning example being created at present is very welcome.

This pack has been designed to give advice and to assist Support for Learning staff in
primary schools in dealing with the issue of Dyslexia and the use of ICT.
Included in the pack are some tools available to use with the dyslexic learner
and help on how to use applications, which are already installed on computers within
schools. The packs will be distributed to primary schools during September.

It is proposed to hold a series of ICT Open Meetings on a monthly basis. 
The first of these is detailed below.

Searching and Researching the Internet

Ø Tips and Tricks
Ø Sharing your favourite websites
Ø Sharing your ideas
Where:-  Prestonpans Education Centre
When:-   Monday 24 September
Time:-    16:00 – 17:00

Open to all interested staff.  Book your place via e-mail to stodd@eastlothian.gov.uk

Thank you to all the schools who took part in the ‘Enterprise and ICT Showcase’ on 5 June. The pupils came to showcase the projects they had devised and participated in to improve their locality in some way. Technology was used to support the publication of the campaigns with podcasting and film being particularly relevant. The awards were presented to the following schools -
Cockenzie Primary - ‘In the News Award’ for their podcast about the Cockenzie Gala.
Stoneyhill Primary - ‘Most Impact on the Community Award’ for their digital video about their recycling campaign within the school community.
Law Primary - ‘Most Unique Award’ for making a difference in the community in trying to raise funds to have a wind turbine to reduce the cost of electricity. You can follow their journey on their school website.
St Gabriel’s Primary - ‘Funniest Award’ for their take on modern day politicians.
Whitecraig Primary - ‘Radio Award’ for their Podcast of life in their school.
Humbie Primary - ‘Tourism Award’ for their video about life in Humbie and how to attract more people to the school and village.
Macmerry Primary - ‘Environment Award’ for their podcast with photos about saving the view from their school in light of the new housing developments in the area.
Musselburgh Burgh Primary - ‘Road Safety Award’ for their video about traffic problems in and around their school.
The initial question posed was ‘Can you make a difference?’ It was obvious from the confident presentations given on the day that the pupils involved are aware of local issues and realise that they do have a voice.

Phil Denning, our area inspector, conducted a good practice visit to two of our schools on 19th June. Having met with Don Ledingham and being a keen observer of East Lothian developments, he was keen to see how we use technology in Learning and Teaching, particularly with regard to the use of social software to develop networks and build communities of learners.

The visit to Sandra MacNiven’s class in Law was really interesting with the P7 children working with P1 children filming, editing and uploading videos to their school website. We were struck with how independently the children worked, the types of comments they left on the blog about their work and the way Sandra facilitated the learning without necessarily being the ‘expert’.

Robert Jones from North Berwick Maths Department accompanied us to Sam Stebbing’s Maths class in Ross High School. Robert has worked with the Maths teachers across the authority to support the use of Interactive Whiteboards in Maths. He has also supported staff to develop the use of social software to open a dialogue with pupils about learning, such as Craig Stebbing’s homework blog and he has supported the sharing of knowledge across the authority.

Due to the change in timetable, it was only the second time Sam Stebbing had worked with this S2 Maths class. It was interesting to see how a specific technology is used within a subject one year after installation and heartening to hear from a good teacher how technology has developed her approach to teaching and learning and the engagement of the pupils.

Check out:

The next meeting of the Education IT group will take place on Thursday 28^th June.  This group is chaired by Don Ledingham and is the group that makes key decisions about the ICT Strategy in East Lothian including managing ICT budgets, decisions about network upgrades, hardware and software solutions, technology entitlements and support personnel.  Minutes of the meetings are issued to Head Teachers.  The school representatives on the group are

 Ronnie Summers – Musselburgh Grammar School

Angus MacRury – Innerwick Primary

Alison McNeill – Levenhall Nursery 

Updates on the strategy are published more widely through cluster meetings, Edubuzz, email updates to schools from Karen Robertson and the newsletter. For further information, contact Karen Robertson  krobertson@eastlothian.gov.uk

Once again I’m pleased to report that there has been further progress with the new network since my last update in April.