Education ICT Newsletter

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.

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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.

Why not take a look at this blog and add your comments.  This blog has been set up to discuss issues surrounding support for learners within East Lothian.  http://edubuzz.org/blogs/supportforall 

Since the start of the year, the Edubuzz open group has been meeting to support the developing Edubuzz online community in East Lothian. If you would like to have a look at some of the logs those involved in education are keeping and would like to comment, check out <http://edubuzz.org/blogs/edubuzz>. The open meetings are held every month in the large meeting room at John Muir House. The content and the outcomes of the meetings are outlined in the various blogs of many who attend. If you would like to be involved, the dates for the open meetings next session are: