The Self Review Framework (http://matrix.ncsl.org.uk) is an extremely useful tools for schools assessing their level of ICT in eight areas. It is also the application form for the ICT Mark. This page also contains a link to the Learning Platforms Functionality matrix (under ICT Infrastructure) which is designed to help schools identify their readiness for Learning Platforms.
SWGfL Media Gallery March 25, 2008
The South West Grid for Learning Media Gallery is a developing tool which aims to overcome the two problems with children using Google Images: breaking copyright and the possibility of coming across unsuitable images. The gallery contains pictures, sound and video, all of which can be saved into your favourites, and if you register you can upload your own content for children to use throughout the South West: by doing this, you are guaranteeing either that you hold the copyright or that you have the permission of the copyright holder for children to use it.
Online surveys March 21, 2008
Setting up an online survey allows data handling to stretch beyond the classroom. You or your children can set up surveys and questionnaires with a wide variety of questions and ask people to fill them in either by emailing them a link or by putting a link onto a web page (or blog/ wiki). The survey tool will then collate the results and present them to you in a variety of ways. http://www.surveymonkey.com/ is a good free example.
To complete my survey on the usefulness of different online tools, including the tools which will come within Merlin, please click on this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=3WxA0fMl31Ibbruroi6nug_3d_3d
Del.icio.us March 21, 2008
Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site. Once you have registered and downloaded a special toolbar to your computer, if you find a website you want to remember you can save the link to your own Del.icio.us bookmarks page. Anyone you give the address to can then look at your links, or you can add them to your Del.icio.us network so you can see each other’s links as they are changed. The uses in school are clear: create a set of web links to sites connected with your topics (or Maths games or whatever), give your Del.icio.us address to the children, and they will be able to access these sites easily with no typing of URLs anytime, anywhere.
Picnik March 21, 2008
is a free online photograph editor tool. You can try out lots of techniques, both sensible (red-eye reduction) and silly (put a hat on yourself), then save your photo to your computer.
Big Day Out March 21, 2008
The Big Day Out is a set of modelling activities aimed at Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, though many are suitable for older children. The online communication element is where children can email what they’ve done in a “postcard” or, at school, send their work to a class scrapbook where they and their teacher can add comments. To use the scrapbook feature, you need to be at school and the teacher needs a password (which Anna can provide for Swindon schools).
E-safety March 18, 2008
As soon as schools encourage children to use the Internet more, and especially to use Web 2.0 tools, they are more likely to do it at home. This is, of course, fantastic: what teacher doesn’t dream of children who choose to do extra writing for fun. However, while at school we have systems in place for keeping children safe, there could well be no such systems at home. Advice for schools is given by Becta (http://schools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=is) the South West Grid for Learning (http://www.swgfl.org.uk/safety/). Basically, schools’ responsibilities fall into these categories:
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Responsibilities, policies and procedures: schools should have an E-safety co-ordinator (who should be a member of SLT), an Acceptable Use policy for staff and pupils (such as the example one provided by SWGfL), an Internet Safety Policy and a section on cyber-bullying in the Anti-Bullying Policy
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Technological tools: schools should have a firewall, filtering, anti-virus software and a monitoring system. (All of these are provided by SWGfL, though schools can choose to monitor Internet use on their own sites if they wish.)
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Internet safety education: schools should ensure that staff, governors, parents and children are aware of e-safety issues and what to do about it.
There are increasing numbers of websites to give you guidance and to guide parents and children, many of which are linked to from http://www.freeict.com/index.php/E-safety. Particularly valuable is http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/, which includes the marvellous Cyber Cafe for Key Stage 2 children, with resources for Key Stage 1 coming soon.
The question is: how much should children be taught about how to behave safely and, just as important, respectfully, online, and at what age? Will it be taught as part of ICT, PSHE or another subject? Please let me know your thoughts by posting a comment, and have a look at the e-safety elements of the Swindon ICT Medium Term Plans (Online Communication section) in the SwindonWiki, and let me know what you think.
Wikis March 18, 2008
A wiki is a website to which anyone can read and write. The purpose is total collaboration: what I have written is not mine but ours, so you are free to change it. The most famous example of this is, of course, www.wikipedia.org. This is a collaborative encyclopaedia written entirely by its readers, who also monitor it for accuracy and impartiality. It has nearly 3 million articles in English alone.
So what is the potential of wikis for schools? Uses I have thought of include creating your own encyclopaedia, connected to a specific topic or just what the children are interested in, collaborating on ideas (such as collecting ideas for how to investigate a problem in Science) or collaborative writing: I write the first draft, you edit it, I re-edit it, and so on. Children will soon become keen editors, building up their ability to spot and correct mistakes and improve writing style, and there are all the usual advantages of a potentially worldwide audience in giving a motivation to write clearly and well.
A good place to start is http://pbwiki.com/ (Peanut Butter wiki), which allows users to create wikis which can be edited by anyone who has been given the password. Only the person who set up the wiki can change that password, so any security breaches can be swiftly dealt with, though it would be excellent e-safety training for children to get used to policing their own site, deleting any unhelpful changes. PBWiki has video help files at http://pbwiki.com/videos/.
Find my Swindon Wiki at http://swindonwiki.pbwiki.com/. Please contact me for the password and then contribute freely on all things ICT!
Blogging March 18, 2008
This is blogging! A blog (weblog) can be an online diary. It can record thoughts, web links and embedded videos. Most of all, it can allow a user quickly and easily to publish their writing to a potentially infinite audience. To set up your own blog, sign up with www.wordpress.com. There are three main security settings:
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totally private (only registered users can see it: you can have up to 30 users for free)
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public for reading, but only registered users can comment (or you can prevent comments entirely)
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totally public for reading and commenting
Either of the first two would be suitable for children’s use. This is an open blog: only I can write and edit posts, and put up pictures and videos, but anyone can add comments. Please comment on any uses you can see this being put to, or any links to great blog sites you find.
Another similar site is Making the News (http://mtn.e2bn.net) which has been designed for schools: once your school has registered, anyone can write posts or add comments without a password, but the school Making the News administrator (usually the class teacher) vets everything before it goes live. Have a look at the work of children at schools across the South West at http://mtn.e2bn.net/swgfl_central/.
Teachers’ TV has a video on children’s blogging: http://www.teachers.tv/video/167
Here is a document explaining how to use Making the News.
The read-write web March 18, 2008
Traditionally, most people have used the Internet to read, for researching and finding out information. Creating web sites was only for the initiated few, and certainly not children in Primary School. That is now changing, and very quickly. With Web 2.0, children and adults are able to write to the web, read what others have done, give comments and use what they hae learnt to inform their own writing. And so much more than writing! www.mind42.com allows collaborative mind mapping between people in different places and in different times.
If you have registered, you should have been invited to the mind map about what the Internet can do now. If not, follow this link and I will give you login details: http://www.mind42.com/ci?id=0bc80e32-361c-4948-b70d-15af710cb7b1.
