Seesmic: terryfreedman

Seesmic: terryfreedman

Windows Live Writer, Teachmeet and Computers in Classrooms

Windows Live Writer, Teachmeet and Computers in Classrooms

Here are a couple of items of news that may interest you. Windows Live Writer is a free blog post editor. Teachmeet is an unconference designed to allow teachers and others to spread the word about exciting stuff without boring their listeners into submission. Computers in Classrooms is a wonderful e-newsletter/magazine that I always look forward to reading. Mind you, I am slightly biased because I produce it.

Windows Live Writer

For some time now I have been using Windows Live Writer for writing my blog posts. I've tried quite a few of these things, and most of them are over-featured to the point where they are not useful. Well, not to me anyway. On the other hand, ordinary text editors and word processors are either under-featured, by not making it easy to insert blog-type things like pictures from the internet, or create a load of unwanted code in the background.

Unfortunately, it has seemed to be in beta format for, well, forever -- until now. Actually, to be more precise, it went out of beta back in November, but I have only just discovered it!

The new version is much better than the old one, with the facility to insert video and maps, and with the option of a British spell-checker. I have also installed a number of plug-ins, such a word counter, Flickr browser and smiley inserter.

Now, that image to the left was just inserted through the Flickr plug-in, and it was much faster than my usual method of browsing through Flickr directly. The picture insert feature has been improved too. It is now much easier to insert a link to the photo's URL and to set margins.

The word count facility is pretty good, though you have to remember to select the text first.

As for the smileys, not sure how they will turn out, but in the offline draft mode I'm working in now they are looking good.

I tried using the map-insert feature, but couldn't get on with it. For a start, it is too US-centric. I mean, it didn't recognise Downing Street as a London placename for heavens' sake. Also, it seemed to takes ages to think about what to do next whenever I changed a parameter. Shame really.

OK, how about the video-embedding feature? Couldn't have been easier, except for the fact that, unfortunately, it embedded code that was not recognised by the content management system I use. Worked fine in Blogger though.

To obtain Windows Live Writer, which can be configured to interface with several blog types and multiple user accounts, go here. For the 3rd party plug-ins, go here.

Teachmeet

Looks like the unconference started by Ewan McIntosh, at which teachers and others get to give short and even shorter presentations, is being franchised. Anthony Evans, one of the ICT advisory team in the London Borough of Redbridge, is hosting a Teachmeet at the end of an ICT Co-ordinators' conference in May. Both Anthony and Ewan were featured in my Conference Discussions podcast. Find out more about the Teachmeet here.

Computers in Classrooms

Just a quick note to say that the January edition is almost ready (OK, I know it's a bit late, but good things are worth waiting for... -- sorry about all the smileys, by the way!)

Articles featured include ICT in Russia, school leadership, reflections on BETT and the world according to Stephen Potter. Look out for the new edition sooooon.

Technorati tags: Terry Freedman, Teachmeet, Windows Live Writer, Computers in Classrooms

Not a foregone conclusion Q2

Not a foregone conclusion Q2

In recent weeks I've been exploring some questions, mainly to clarify my own thinking in these areas. Regard these posts as my thinking out loud. Feel free to chip in with your own reflections.

My original list of questions was:

1. Is it always better to use a computer than pen and paper, in terms of productivity, creative output or better learning?

2. Do computers always enhance pupils' self-esteem?

3. Does government funding lead to better spending on educational technology in schools? Is it better or worse if caveats are attached to the spending?

4. Is it always better to use templates to guide pupils' work?

5. Do free resources supplied by governments enhance or diminish the quality of teaching (and therefore, subsequently, learning)?

6. Do the standards laid down by various national curricula or schemes of work really level the playing field, or do they merely mask inequalities of provision caused by other factors?

7. Does it matter if schools do not embed educational technology in the curriculum?

Today I'm looking at the second one.

When I posted this list on the Technology & Learning blog a few weeks ago, Carl Anderson said "No: think of cyberbullying". That's a good point, though not the one I had in mind when I wrote the question. What I was thinking about at that time was the tendency of many writers to say that computers enhance pupils' self-esteem. They often have in mind children with behavioural or learning difficulties, who have somehow been branded as a "failure" by the "school system".

I see a number of issues here. Firstly, at the risk of sounding out of step with the times, or just for the sake of argument, why is it up to schools to enhance children's self-esteem anyway? I'm not saying we should do the opposite, of course, ie deliberately set out to make children feel bad about themselves, but is not pandering to some sort of  narcissistic complex to say that we have to look for ways to boost kids' egos?

In "real life", employers don't have "Boost employees' self-esteem" as one of their objectives. Well, not in any of the places I've worked in, anyway. As a rule, self-esteem comes from doing a job to the best of one's ability. When you do, getting a pat on the back is a nice bonus, but that is all it should be: a bonus. So what we really ought to be doing is teaching children to obtain a sense of satisfaction from doing the best they can.

But leaving all that aside, the reasons that children's esteem is said to be enhanced by the use of computers are that it enables them to present their work nicely, and if they get something wrong the computer seems more impersonal, and therefore not as bad, as a real life teacher giving you the same message. In fact, neither of these is true without substantial work "behind the scenes".

For example, helping children produce nice-looking work may entail the use of templates, word banks, and a limited range of formatting options. Making a correction message seem less unpalatable requires careful thought about the wording of the message, and how the child is helped to get to the next stage.

Certainly, merely having a computer in the classroom, with not much thought about the programs on it or how they will be used, is not likely to enhance anybody's self-esteem.

It's alright to be bright

It's alright to be bright

This is the name of a new campaign launched by the National Association of Gifted Children. We all know how kids hate to be thought of as "boffins", so the idea is to raise awareness of how nice it is to be bright by organising or taking part in various activities, which culminate in an awareness day on Friday 9th May.

I love this quote from their website:

Are you ready to see if you are as bright as a 10 year old?

You can send off for a pack of materials, which I have done, but this has also made me think of the plight of bright children who are being bored into submission in their ICT lessons, or at least not being stretched. So what kind of things can the educational technology teacher do to raise the stakes on a more long-term basis?

I've addressed this problem to a large extent in my seminal work, "Go On, Bore 'Em: How to make ICT lessons excruciatingly dull", which you can purchase right now from Lulu. But before you rush off and buy half a dozen copies (it makes a great birthday present, and is better for you than Easter eggs at this time of year), here are some more ideas that I have tried to good effect.

If you want to show secondary (high) school teachers or trainee teachers what can be achieved with ICT, take them to a primary (elementary) school, or at least make them aware of what kids at even Reception level are capable of doing. Here is a conversation I had in a secondary school after the Head of Geography had shown me around.

Head of Geography: So what do you think of the database work we're doing with our 14 year olds?

Me: I think it's brilliant. In fact, I thought it was brilliant when I saw similar work being done by 9 year olds last week!

OK, that's my style, which may not be yours, but the point is: tell it how it is, and show it how it is!

Find out what the pupils in your classes do in their spare time. Here's another conversation I had in a school (funnily enough, with another geography teacher).

Geography teacher, having come into a lesson where I was supporting a teacher with her class of 13 year olds: Hey, Terry, could you show me how to create a website for the geography department?

Me: Certainly. But why not ask Valerie over there (Valerie was a pupil)? She has been running her own website for two years now.

What would be the point, in an ICT lesson, of Valerie having to sit through a lesson on creating websites? She ought to be helping the teacher take the lesson!

Think of what you think might be a difficult problem, and then make it more difficult. You might just get it right.

Ask the pupils themselves to think of their own solutions to a real-life problem. In my experience they will either come up with some ingenious solutions, or realise that they don't know how to put their solution into practice -- and get down to the business of solving that particular problem.

Think out of the box. I hate that expression, but in this context it's useful. Why is it that so many ICT lessons involve solving "problems" like adding up the scores of basketball games, or working out the number of seats you have to fill in a theatre to break even? There has to be something a bit more interesting than that kind of stuff.

Get classes of pupils to help you deliver ICT training to other teachers. I have done this, and it worked brilliantly. The teachers loved it because they had one-to-one tuition, and the kids loved it because it made them feel important and valued.

In your own mind, redefine what you understand by the term "bright". One girl I taught, who was always being chucked out of lessons for misbehaving (but not my lessons, I hasten to add), and who was in a lower stream, was absolutely brilliant at teaching ICT to younger kids. And not just trivial stuff either, but spreadsheets.

For me, the bottom line is this: children always rise or fall to the level of your expectations, and if you set the right conditions in your classroom, they will exceed your highest expectations.

Not a foregone conclusion Q1

Not a foregone conclusion Q1

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article in which I posed a few questions that I've been thinking about of late, and over the next week or so I'd like to explore them one at a time. Today I'm considering question 1, which was:

Is it always better to use a computer than pen and paper, in terms of productivity, creative output or better learning?

The important issue for me is what might be called "appropriate use". So, to take an extreme example, if you were quickly exchanging phone numbers with someone you just met, it probably would not be appropriate to ask them to wait while you fired up your laptop so you could enter their details in a database. It may be appropriate to enter their details into a phone or a handheld computer. It may be better in the immediate term, though not necessarily in the long term, to use a pen and notebook.

It seems to me that whether the use of a computer is "appropriate" from an efficiency point of view depends on a range of factors:

Does the data need to be stored electronically?

If so, is it quicker to enter the data electronically now, or quicker to write the details now and enter them later?

Should you even keep the data electronically?

Clearly, the answers to these questions will differ according to circumstances.

Efficiency is not the only consideration. When it comes to creative writing, many people find it better to use pen and paper. So, although it is apparently inefficient to write something by hand and then type it up, in terms of quality it may be the better option. I have to say that recently, much to my surprise, I discovered that I could write sections of a book chapter better by hand than with a computer. It was a pain having to type it all up later, but somehow the use of a notepad seemed to free up my creative juices.

"So what?", you may ask. Well, I certainly think it has implications for the way schools organise their computer rooms (if they still have them), and how they organise the pupils in lessons. For example, I have always advocated that pupils should have space to work away from the computers, both on their own and collaboratively. Those computer rooms which have been designed to house as many computer workstations as possible, with no room for anything else, are not only hopeless from a collaboration point of view, but may also leave something to be desired from a personal creativity point of view.

In fact, my ideal computer lab has easy chairs and coffee tables too, and my ideal rest and relaxation area has computer workstations dotted about. Whichever way you look at it, the technology should serve the learner, not the other way round.

The future, our lives, our technology and our learning, a talk by Ewan McIntosh

The future, our lives, our technology and our learning, a talk by Ewan McIntosh

In his presentation at the Naace Strategic conference 2008, Ewan makes a few interesting points....

For example, Ewan does not believe that there is such a thing as a key influencer. He also thinks that institutions, such as the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, are not as important as what I suppose might be called "People Power". I think there is something in that, definitely. I have thought for a long time that it's a pity that schools and teachers in the UK are so frightened by league tables that they are, on the whole, very reluctant to take any risks.

I thought the presentation itself was lively and provocative. I have to say I enjoyed it, even though I disagreed with some of it, such as the idea that there is no such thing as a tipping point or a key influencer.

Anyway, have a listen, and judge for yourself.

The podcast.

Conference discussions

Conference discussions

At the recent Naace Strategic Conference I spent some of my spare time (what little there was of it) to find out from delegates what they were enjoying, what they were learning, and just their general impressions and thoughts.

My original intention was to get around as many people as possible collecting soundbites. But in the event, people gave much more in-depth responses, and we had some good discussions. I think it is interesting to listen to the general issues discussed rather than to get bogged down in the particulars of local issues. I have a feeling that they are pretty similar everywhere.

One of the people I spoke to was Ewan McIntosh. He makes a lot of sense, but I also happen to disagree with a great deal of what he says. Or, at least, I don't just accept it without question.

For example, he says that we should get it right first time, and that the expression "a step in the right direction" serves only to make us feel better about our failure to do so. But that is to deny the possibilities and restrictions which exist at any point in time. It is, indeed, almost to deny the role of historical development.

But also, what is "right"? A little later in the discussion I expressed misgivings about the lack of research into the long-term benefits of using Web 2.0 etc, and Ewan changed the goal posts by talking about the abundance of research into assessment for learning. I have absolutely no problem with assessment for learning, which is why I was using AfL techniques before the term had even been thought of, but it is by no means axiomatic, despite being seemingly obvious, that using Web 2.0 approaches is synonymous with AfL.

Perhaps this is just quibbling. I think a more important issue is the danger of being "right". As I was reminded in a discussion over breakfast with consultant Colin Watkins, the history of education in England is littered with the corpses of approaches which were unequivocally "right" at the time:

English across the curriculum;

Mathematics across the curriculum;

Economic awareness across the curriculum;

ICT across the curriculum;

The Initial Teaching Alphabet;

Project work (of the worst, unstructured, kind);

Inclusion -- not because it is "bad" in itself, but because of its unfortunate interpretation as "integration", which itself became a dogma that was often blind to individual circumstances (Martin Littler touched on this, and I will be posting the podcast of his talk in the near future);

and, more recently, the first incarnations of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategies.

Each of these, in its time, was deemed to be "right", and in some cases I really believe that some children's education was damaged in the process. So to assert, as Ewan seems to, that Web 2.0 approaches are absolutely right is a complete denial of educational history. There is, of course, the possibility that Ewan is, and will be seen to be, correct: I certainly hope so, as I share his enthusiasm. But I think we need to exercise a degree of wariness, and although Dave Warlick is right when he states that we won't really know if the approach has been successful until today's schoolchildren are adults, there is something about that which makes all the educational experimenting we do (not just us, but Governments too) a bit of a moral issue.

One more thing (I hope Ewan doesn't think I'm picking on him!). Ewan thinks that change can happen instantly, and that it doesn't, or needn't, take time. My own view is that change is effected in layers, or stages. You can bring instant change, then further changes within a few days, then a few weeks, and then a few months. Sometimes it actually takes years to change a culture.

I'd have said all this at the time, but I had to rush off to a presentation.

Now, I don't want to give the impression that I violently disagreed with everything Ewan said (just most of it!). I, along with others on this pocast, very much enjoyed his presentation, the audio of which I will publish later. A couple of people mentioned his concept of the "digital holidaymaker" (someone who dips their toe in the digital water every so often)

Anyway, listen to all the discussions in this podcast, I think you will find them very interesting.

The people who appear on the podcast, in order of appearance, are:

Terry Freedman, Independent, England

David Warlick, Independent, USA

Ewan McIntosh, Learning & Teaching Scotland, Scotland

Jonathan Sly, Essex, England

Brian Podmore, Suffolk, England

Stever Bolton, Essex, England

Gareth Davies, Cambridgeshire, England

Sandra Crapper, Independent, London, England

Lynne Heavens, Lewisham, England

Ian Usher, Buckinghamshire, England

Gemma Holmes, 2Simple, England

Dave Smith, Havering, England

Anthony Evans, Redbridge, England

Gary Jelks, Redbridge, England

Annette Carlon, Redbridge, England

The music featured is by George Wood, and is podsafe. The intor and the outro is from "High Five". The bit after my intro is from "Nice'n'Sleazy". You can download these and other tracks from here.

Back from the Naace conference -- feeling energised, brimming with ideas, and decidedly older

Back from the Naace conference -- feeling energised, brimming with ideas, and decidedly older

 

I've returned from the Naace conference, which ran from Tuesday to Thursday night last week. Like last year, it was held at Torquay, a seaside town in Devon, England. It was a rather jam-packed affair, with a great deal of choice as to which sessions to go to. That is always a chance thing, and there is little more annoying than selecting a session to go to and then discovering, too late, that it is not what you hoped for. Fortunately, that happened to me only once.

I've recorded the sessions I attended, and also recorded some great conversations between delegates, including Dave Warlick, Ewan McIntosh and others. I will be posting them here over the next few days. Although I noted my reflections at the time, I refrained from live blogging, ie blogging whilst the session is going on. This was for both personal and practical reasons. On a personal level, I prefer to reflect at leisure before reporting on something. On a practical level, I did not have a laptop handy.

The conference was opened, as ever, by the Chair of Naace (currently Gareth Davies), followed by an address by the Education Minister for England & Wales. That is almost always done via video conferencing. However, this time Jim Knight, the Minister, appeared via Second Life.

Now, there was the occasional glitch, such as Jim Knight suddenly finding himself out of the environment, or Gareth Davies, Chair of Naace, not being able to hear his cue to respond to a question. The audience laughed, but my impression was that it was a friendly "yes I have been there too!" kind of laugh, a laughing with rather than a laughing at kind of laugh. I for one, and others I spoke to subsequently, thought it was very brave of him to try using Second Life, especially in front of such an audience.

I like to think that this was for better reasons than mere gimmickry. Although the English love to moan, and one of the things we moan about is Government policies, I don't think there can be any doubt that over the last 11 years there has been an unprecedented commitment to educational ICT. That has shown itself in funding, experiments, research and a proliferation of websites, as well as laudable attempts to see ICT embedded in all kinds of official frameworks.

The opening keynote, by John Naughton, gave much food for thought. He drew heavily on the ideas of Neil Postman, regarding the medium as ecology. In this paradigm, new technologies do not replace older ones, but change the ecology. Thus, for example, digitisation has not led to the death of the paperback novel, but it has changed the delivery mode of Encyclopaedia Britannica. I will be posting my recording of this later this week.

I have to say, though, that I find it deeply worrying that Naughton is apparently unaware of the evidence that educational ICT makes a difference. It's one thing to doubt the value of research, but to state that it does not exist when there are huge amounts of it is another matter. In fact, although Naughton's address was superficially entertaining and thought-provoking, I am not sure it moved us on at all. Like many people, he stated that the speed of change is a problem. So what else is new? And so what? But let's leave that for now: I will return to it in the near future.

Ewan McIntosh's talk was interesting, not least because I disagreed with most of it. I liked his concept of the "digital holidaymaker", but thought that his stance that there is no such thing as key influencers was complete tosh. And if he really does believe that, what was he doing there? The only reason that any conference invites anyone to speak is because they are hoping the audience will be influenced in some way. And isn't that the reason for accepting such an invitation?

Niel Mclean, as always, was thought-provoking and challenging, despite the fact that,  being Executive Director, Institutional Workforce and Development at Becta, he represents the establishment. The two things that stood out for me from his talk were his statement that he no longer thought that the way ahead lies in trying to get ICT embedded into inspection frameworks and other policies, and that progress in extending the use of ICT had to be demand-, ie customer-, led. He also challenged the assertion of "no evidence".

A talk by Mary Le Breully, a school improvement advisor in ICT for Solihull Local Authority was very interesting. I didn't learn anything new, but had some of my own ideas confirmed, which is always welcome! I felt that there was not enough focus on the importance of the teacher's role, however. I was also struck by the complete absence of irony with which she mentioned, more than once, the use of boring PowerPoint presentations, even though her own was certainly not the most imaginative I have seen.

Other sessions I gained a lot from were those by David Anstead, on Ofsted's findings about ICT in schools from 2004-7, Professor John Stein's lecture on the brain, Jim Gamble's hard-hitting talk on e-safety --

Don't call it child pornography, call it child abuse, because that's what it is.

and Stephen Heppell's final address, in which he talked about the trap of incrementalism. Parts of Martin Littler's talk, on ICT and Inclusion, were very enlightening (and shocking), but I could have done without the parts which seemed to be historical observations just for their own sake.

Most disappointing of all were two talks (back to back) on handheld learning. There seemed to me to be very little that was strategic about them, and were, in effect, extended advertisements for the products in question. Perhaps I would have surmised that this would be the case had I had time to read the descriptions properly. Even so, this was meant to be a strategic conference, and to address the issue of security by saying something to the effect that "Nobody in the schools I have been dealing with has been mugged for their handheld computer, so it should be alright" is, frankly, an insult to our intelligence. I will not dwell on it any further.

The discussion groups seemed to work well. When I saw how many there were (20) running at the same time, I was dubious. However, they afforded an opportunity for some in-depth discussions and exchanges of views. An improvement for future years would be the use of technology rather than a flipchart and felt-tip pens to manage the meetings.

The part of the title of this post about feeling old relates to the tendency of some presenters to talk about the old days, when disks were 8 inches wide and schools had two computers if they were lucky. Well, I was there too, and I did my fair share of pioneering, but who cares? As TS Eliot said,

"Not farewell, but fare forward, voyagers."

Of course, the main point of any conference is networking, exchanging ideas, and commiserating with others facing the same issues. From that point of view, the conference was a great success. The administration was faultless, and the dinner/dance excellent. What's more, I met some interesting "new" people, such as Colin Watson, and Rob Ellis (who has himself reflected on the conference), as well as "old" ones.

As I said earlier, I will be posting the audios from each of the sessions I attended with the exception of the two "advertising" sessions and, possibly, the Ofsted one. The volume was very low, and I am not sure I can amplify it without making it unbearable. We shall see.

Another audio I shall be publishing here is a series of interviews/discussions I had with conference delegates. They were very good, and well worth listening to.

College and school design issues

College and school design issues

Last year I put out a request for information about things going wrong when it comes to new school design. We often hear about the successes, but we can also learn much from people's mistakes.

Thanks to everyone who responded. As you’d expect, not many people were able to officially report on any failures, but the common causes of problems seem to be the following:

· An emphasis on the technology rather than the learning. So you have some fantastic “stuff” that doesn’t allow the school to work the way it wants to.

· Failure of architects to engage with the educationalists at an early enough stage, so that technical considerations, like the need for some cabling perhaps, get considered too late.

· Lack of vision, where the Headteacher and the senior management team just cannot think out of the box. And actually, why should they be able to? Unless it’s a job requirement for all school leaders to be innovative and visionary, which it isn’t.

· Too much vision. Left to themselves, architects and others get carried away with their own delusions of grandeur. Having open and elevated areas, for example, is pretty dangerous: even if a child doesn’t plummet to their death, someone is bound to injure someone by throwing something over the ledge. And what about the school I heard about where the floors (including the stairs) are made of glass? Did anyone bother to ask the female students what they thought about that?

· Lack of funding for sustainability. Technology goes wrong. That is a fact. So what you need is a good technical support service that will prevent most mishaps and sort the ones that do occur quickly and seamlessly. But if there is no money for technical support, it’s just a matter of time before the vision turns into a bad dream.

I don’t think there is anything that is rocket science about any of this, but it’s nice to have one’s suspicions confirmed from real-life examples. Actually, I take that back: it would have been even nicer to have found out that my slightly sceptical attitude was completely wrong.

A slightly different version of this article first appeared in Computers in Classrooms.

Making it funky –- RE, iPods and MP3s

Making it funky – RE, iPods and MP3s

By Paul Hopkins

Walking along the street singing to yourself is not a sign of madness these days but more likely to signify that the singer is the owner of an MP3 player, the most trendy of which is the iPod. Sitting on the train on the train recently I was able to spot half a dozen fellow travellers sporting the identifiable white earplugs which signified that they were the owner of an iPod – the “must have”, cool MP3 technology.

So, are you a podder? Do you have that fashionable rectangular cuboid of hard plastic nestled in your pocket or purse? The chances are that your students have an iPod, or a similar MP3/4 player, in theirs. What is your schools attitude

to these “must have” items? Is it to welcome these into the schoolyard and the classroom or do the cries of “bannem” ring out? There are some good reasons why the Religious Education (RE) department should be welcoming these devices.

Firstly, RE is a multimodal subject and sounds form, for most religions, a major part of the religious experience. The opportunity for students to be able to access a digital bank of religious sounds and spoken text should be seen as a definite yes. You can find suitable stuff on-line in a variety of places, both as downloads and as podcasts. If you are not sure what a podcast is, or how you can get access to them see http://www.ipodder.com or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting.

The range of material that is available is quite extensive, as a search will quickly find out. If the students have access to a video iPod, or equivalent then you might be able to source video materials for example from YouTube or Google Video that can be shared with the students. Be aware when sharing audio and video materials with the students of the copyright limitations. See the Becta website for more information on copyright and IPR.

Having given students access to materials produced by someone else what about producing your own? Podlearning allows students to be using audio files that you have created, or if they have access to a video iPod or equivalent to narrated video or narrated PowerPoint turned into movies. Ideal for reinforcement and revision as well as making missed lessons available to students.

Think also of the ethereal nature of much of the discursive work in RE. For your iPod an attachment called iTalk will allow you to capture, digitally, the students’ oral work. You might extend this to capturing presentations and assessed work and making these available as podcasts. Remember that you will need students and parents permission if you are going to record in class and you should consult with the school leadership team.

Lastly, can you encourage students to produce their own audio podcasts? Many students, If not most, are more orate than they are literate. Could you set homework that involves students recording their own voice rather than committing words on the page? Many computers now come with a built in microphone and recording package but a nice piece of free open source software is Audacity (available for Windows, Apple and Linux platforms) or Photo Story 3 (just Windows) which allows recording, editing and duplicating of sound files [Audacity] and video files [Photostory].

So what are you waiting for? Sound is the new writing! Get your player, check your OS software, download Audacity and get recording. I would love to hear of any projects that are happening contact me via paul@paulhopkins.org.uk.

Paul Hopkins has been working in education in the UK since 1992. He has been a teacher, head of department, senior teacher in schools and also a lecturer and researcher in Higher Education. He has experience in Initial Teacher Education and has both lectured and mentored ITT students. A pioneer in the use of ICT in the RE classroom, he has widely lectured both nationally and internationally on the use of ICT. He has published CD-ROMs, books and many websites on the use of ICT. He has, and continues to, run many courses up and down the country on both education and IT matters and has been a consultant to the DfES (DCSF), QCA, TDA (TTA) and BECTa on educational matters. He holds degrees in Physics, Theology and Philosophy and Education. Visit his website at http://www.mmiweb.org.uk/mmisite/index2.html.

This article is (c) 2007 Paul Hopkins, and was first published in Computers in Classrooms.

Share best practice? Not likely!

One of the ways in which teachers, and schools, can improve the way they teach and use educational technology is by seeing what other teachers and schools are doing. Obviously, nobody wishes to emulate the good, mediocre or poor -- they are interested only in the best. For this reason, the idea of sharing best practice is held to be a "good thing".

But the very idea is fraught with difficulties, once you start to examine it.

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What do you need in order to be a successful manager of Educational Technology (ICT)? Part 3

In this series we are looking at the types of skills you need in order to be a successful manager of ICT. In the last article we looked at the 5 different areas of expertise, and, in particular, hardware. This time we focus on the second of these, software.

This article is available only to subscribers to the Practical ICT eJournal. Click the link to find out more about this high-value, low-cost, subscription.

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Using a spreadsheet in Word

Word has a table feature which can be used for calculations --

but it's not exactly intuitive. So why not use a spreadsheet
instead? This brief article explains how.

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What do you need in order to be a successful manager of Educational Technology (ICT)? Part 2

In this series we are looking at the types of skills you need in order to be a successful manager of ICT. In this article we look at the 5 different areas of expertise, and focus on the first of these, hardware.

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What do you need in order to be a successful manager of Educational Technology (ICT)? Part 1

This series looks at the types of skills you need in order to be a successful manager of ICT. There is no magic combination of teaching and computing skills, but some of the content of these articles may surprise you.

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Is motivation enough?

Ask anyone why they use computers in their lessons -- especially where pupils with special educational needs are involved -- and they are almost bound to say something about self-esteem and motivation.

But shouldn't we adopt a rather more critical approach?

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The 14 Principles of Projects

To manage projects successfully you do not necessarily have to adopt a formal project management approach, which may be "overkill" in your particular circumstances.

There are, however, 14 key principles which should underpin your projects. They are listed here. With some adaptation or possible change of emphasis they will be relevant in a school context or in a wider context.

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Some thoughts about last year's NECC Conference

Peggy George gives us a personal view of last year’s NECC conference.
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Seven key principles for an educational ICT provision

Whether you are providing an educational ICT service in a school or in a wider context, such as a Local Authority or School District, there are seven key principles which must underpin what you and your team do.

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Seven Tips for planning the use of ICT with one or two computers

What if you can only have access to one or two computers for the whole class for much of the time. Does that mean you cannot do anything of any value? Not at all. Here are seven suggestions for how to make the best of the situation.

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An educational computing conference with a difference

I report on a conference in the USA he attended and at which I presented.

“Help! I don’t even know how to begin!”

The plaintive cry of someone confronted with the latest interactive video game? The heart-felt whimpering of someone who has just been given a critical assignment by their boss (just as he’s leaving for the golf course)? Not exactly. What you’ve just read is a description of how yours truly felt when looking at the programme for last year’s National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in the USA.

Business thought leaders and their relevance to educational technology leadership 03: Frederick Herzberg

Frederick Herzberg was a psychologist in the USA who
developed the hygiene theory of people's
productivity at work. What is the theory, and how
can it help the ICT (educational technology) leader?

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Should K-12 Schools Teach Computer Programming?

With all the pressures that young people must deal with today, how can we justify the notion that programming studies be required in our schools? This article, by Carl Gundel will explore this subject in brief.
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Book review: The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson

"The Long Tail" has been lauded and quoted at length. But what does the book actually say, and how does it stand up to scrutiny. In this lengthy review I give it a cautious "thumbs up".
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Ten tips about planning the use of educational technology

Using educational technology effectively usually requires some planning. Here are ten suggestions.

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Health warning: a cautionary tale

Can using a computer be injurious to one's health?

If you're trying to book a particular rail journey via a particular website in the UK, the answer is a resounding "Yes".
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A question of ... questions

The most important tool in a teacher's kit bag is the ability to question. Yet much of the time this is very poorly done -- when it's done at all. How can a teacher do her job, if she does not understand the do's and don't's of questioning?
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Fourteen things to make sure of before a lesson in a computer room

You’ve planned how the computers will be used as an integral part of your curriculum, you’re fully trained, and the pupils know what they’re doing. What could possibly go wrong?

Unfortunately, the answer is “anything”. Here is a checklist of things to do in the short-term (eg from about a week beforehand) in advance of using the computer room.

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Getting the most out of parents evenings

No, not as a parent, but as the leader or manager of educational ICT within your school. Parents evenings provide a rich opportunity to make yourself and your team look good, and possibly even gain further funding.

This article gives 5 tips.

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What technology changes have best reflected the changing pedagogical landscape in recent years?

This was the question debated at the recent BETT show. Three well-established colleagues in the field of educational technology in the UK each talked for up to 10 minutes on the theme, and I acted as Chair.

Some spice was added to the proceedings by the use of a "voting" system provided by Quizdom to determine whether members of the audience changed their own minds as a result of the debate.

Read on to find out more, and to obtain the link for the podcast.

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Learning from inspections

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills
(Ofsted) in England recently published a summary of its findings from
inspections of the ICT (information and communications technology)
provision in schools.

In these documents I have taken these findings and summarised them
in the form of a table, and used them as a starting point for
self-evaluation. My view is that by taking what Ofsted has found to be
good practice and poor practice, one can improve a particular school's ICT
provision. Although the inspections took place in England, I am sure that
there are generic issues here which will be relevant for colleagues from
other countries too.

There are two documents (in one zip file), one for primary/elementary and one for
secondary/high. I hope you find them useful.

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The Ten Pillars of Successful Technology Integration in K-12 Schools

In a post entitled "The Ten Pillars of Successful Technology Integration in K-12 Schools", internet veteran Bernie Poole suggests some good ideas, although the list could be improved.

Use his list as a starting point by all means, but don't stop there, and don't accept it all without question.

Columns and Light by Grant Mitchell

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Taking on a leadership role

Once you have decided that you are ready to take on a leadership role in educational ICT, how do you go about it? In this article we consider 7 essential things you must do.

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Next Generation Learning

This is the name of a new website launched by Becta on 15 January 2008. I interviewed UK TV presenter and speaker Johnny Ball about the initiative, and this podcast is the result.

Using Ed Tech Effectively: 13 reasons to use educational technology in lessons

Sometimes you need to convince colleagues to think about using educational technology in their lessons, or to identify where in their scheme of work they could incorporate it.

This list is a starting point: you may find one or two points that would "resonate" with your co-worker, and grab his or her attention.
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Catching Up

Is it my imagination, or does everything take longer when you're in a hurry? Here's a quick list of what will be covered over the next few days on this website, including a report on BETT, the launch of a new website by Becta called "Next Generation Learning" and upcoming book reviews.
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Personalised Learning

Personalised learning? We've been doing it for years. Or have we?

The January 2008 edition of Practical ICT is now available.

The Practical ICT eJournal is written for leaders and managers of educational ICT, and covers the practical aspects of implementing educational ICT visions. Here's what the latest issue contains:

All about BETT and you: over 30 great tips for getting the most out of BETT
Yes, it's that time of year again, the annual visit to the UK's largest educational technology event. You may have seen articles about how to get the best out of BETT, but this one goes further. It covers what you should do before, after and during the show. It even suggests arguments to put forward to improve your chances of being allowed time out of your workplace in order to attend the show.

The impact of leadership on children's achievement
You have probably had more than an inkling that the leadership style of headteachers and prionciples has an impact on how well children achieve, and a new publication reports on research that is going on in this area.

Impact assessment of the Education And Skills Bill
An inside look at how this new legislation (which is not yet offical at the time of writing) was justified, along with suggestions at how the educational ICT leader in a school might adapt it for their own use.

Getting started with a Learning Platform
Educational ICT advisor Paul Heinrich gives essential practical advice designed to help you avoid the law of unintended consequences when you implement a Learning Platform in school. Note that the advice Paul gives could just as easily apply to implementing any Virtual Learning Environment.

Interesting initiatives from around the world
We look at educational ICT initiatives from France and the USA. Even if you do not live in those countries, you can gain from knowing about these developments. Read the article to find out how.

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Eight ways to prepare for BETT

This week sees the annual, and ever-expanding, BETT Show in London. It has been going for more than 20 years, and shows no signs of being irrelevant in the near future.

So, how does BETT differ from other conferences or events, and how can you get the most out of it?.

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Five tips for recording pupils’ progress in ICT

As well as assessing students' understanding at any given time, you will also need to record their progress over time. Here are five suggested ways of doing this.
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Five tips for assessing what students know

It is not enough to teach students how to understand information and communications technology. At some point you are going to have to assess their knowledge and understanding.

Here are 5 broad suggestions of how to do so effectively.

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New Year Revolution

With the first (and arguably the longest and hardest) part of the school year is out of the way, now is the time to stand back and have a fresh look at what you are doing -- and how you could do it differently. Here is a suggestion you might like to think about.

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