Anthony is on time for once!
This half term we considered Internet Literacy in the light of Alan November's talk @ June's conference. If you missed Alan's talk you can download and listen to parts 1 and 2 here:
Alan November Part 1
Alan November Part 2We were privileged to be joined by Fraser from Kartouche, he gave us a hands-on session on creating a Kartouche animation. He also provided all those in attendance with a free copy of single user software.
Trial Feedback
Val Barker gave a feedback on her recent use of the TTS tuffcam.
The Tuffcam uses USB to download, and will just download onto computer . You can copy/paste where you would like a file to be kept, file format uses windows media player.
Advantages:- easier to use at home, store, save and share.
XP finds the driver and installs.
Tuffcam had the advantage over the digital blue software as on occasion’s software does not run properly.
Children's views
Munnaan – likes the tuffcam because it has a screen,
Yasmin – recording button was easier to hold in but she felt the tuffcam did not like her because she could not turn the camera on and off.
Ameerah – says she would stay with using digital blue – because when she managed to turn the tuffcam on she could not turn it off..
Sana – finds digital blue easier to turn on and off and it stays on until you want it to turn off.
Hiccups – When recording tuffcam screen goes black and freezes giving the impression that the battery life has finished, but hen removing batteries and testing they were still full of life.
Overall –
We clearly had a problem with the on and off switch and recording. These problems then over spilled into our literacy lesson and therefore taking away the children focus on the lesson in hand.
If these problems could be rectified then I am sure they would be a big hit, as the children clearly did like the additional features and being able to manager the recording switch with much ease.
Compiled by Val Barker @ Gearies Infants
Val Barker gave a feedback on her recent use of the TTS tuffcam.
The Tuffcam uses USB to download, and will just download onto computer . You can copy/paste where you would like a file to be kept, file format uses windows media player.
Advantages:- easier to use at home, store, save and share.
XP finds the driver and installs.
Tuffcam had the advantage over the digital blue software as on occasion’s software does not run properly.
Children's views
Munnaan – likes the tuffcam because it has a screen,
Yasmin – recording button was easier to hold in but she felt the tuffcam did not like her because she could not turn the camera on and off.
Ameerah – says she would stay with using digital blue – because when she managed to turn the tuffcam on she could not turn it off..
Sana – finds digital blue easier to turn on and off and it stays on until you want it to turn off.
Hiccups – When recording tuffcam screen goes black and freezes giving the impression that the battery life has finished, but hen removing batteries and testing they were still full of life.
Overall –
We clearly had a problem with the on and off switch and recording. These problems then over spilled into our literacy lesson and therefore taking away the children focus on the lesson in hand.
If these problems could be rectified then I am sure they would be a big hit, as the children clearly did like the additional features and being able to manager the recording switch with much ease.
Compiled by Val Barker @ Gearies Infants
Other News:
- We have established a blogging and Podcasting Network, this involves Manford, Fairlop and Redbridge. These schools will be feeding back their findings in next years Redbridge ICT Conference. Similarly a further 3 schools are collaborating on a video conferencing project with 3 matched schools in Havering. These have yet to confirm, but more on this when we get it!
- Promthean have loaned us two class sets of voting systems. If you would like to borrow one of these for a term then please email Anthony, who will arrange this with Chris Barlow form Promethean. If you are a Promethean user,then don't forget to register with Promethean Planet, as this website offers and amazing array of resources!
- There are a number of courses available online- see RedbridgePDC for a reliable list of what is happening when. One such successful course was the recent Animation day, which will be repeated next year. To see what happens when Mossford and Nightingale get together and animate click on the video below:
del.icio.us- link sharing- This new web 2.0 tool allows us as a community to share what we find and find out what others in the community deem worth looking at or using in the classroom. In order to use this effectively users need to sign up for a del.ico.us account and tag websites of interest as they come across them in their surfing. We decided on using the tag redbridgeit, that way we can all subscribe to anything on del.ico.us that has that tag and we will know that it has come from a Primary ICT Coordinator in Redbridge. You can see the latest tagged sites in the side bar RSS feed. If you need help in signing up and using the service, then there is a simple instruction booklet in the sidebar too!
Powerpoint/ Slideshow
Here is the Powerpoint for today:
Freeware Applications
- Scratch -A versatile hybrid of Control and animation, from MIT. This application is free and could be an ideal tool to explore in computer clubs or/ and with gifted ICT users in Key Stage 2. You can download it free from the MIT site today. But beware it is just a bit addictive!
Google Sketchup- This tool from Google is also free and allows user to create 3D graphic models which can then be imported into Google earth. See it in action below:
What we do well and what could be better.
It was valuable to use the last 20 minutes of this session to consider the achievements and success of the Redbridge Primary ICT community, while also considering what we could do to improve upon what we offer.
Many of the comments centred around how good it has been to work together in Subject Leaders and other Networks. People wanted more of this and more in-school support. More on this in our first meeting of the new academic year.
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