ICT in Schools contacts
Steve Moss, Head of ICT& MIS – 234 7068
Alison Glover, Primary ICT Consultant – 610 3351
Donna Varney, Primary ICT Consultant – 610 4401
Ken Slee, KS3 ICT Consultant – 610 3373
Mike Smith, KS4 ICT Accreditation – 610 3316
MEWAN Web Designers – 610 4407
MEWAN Technical Help Desk – 234 7260
Mick Franklin, Schools ICT Admin – 610 4405
Manchester Education Partnership
ICT in Schools Newsletter
Issue 15 - September 2004
Welcome back!
Welcome back to a new term which promises to be an exciting one as the Interactive
Whiteboard Project gets underway and the new MEWAN staff take up their posts and are
poised to take MEWAN to new heights. The ICT in Schools team is also augmented by the
secondment from Parrs Wood Technology College of Mike Smith to work on the Manchester
ICT Awards scheme and the development of new online learning resources for vocational
courses in Key Stage 4 with the aim of helping us to achieve our “High Standards for All”
target of every 16 year old gaining some accreditation for their ICT experience.
Annual ICT Equipment Audit for LEA OFSTED return - URGENT
As an LEA, we have to undertake to furnish the DfES and OFSTED with appropriate
statistical returns so that they can monitor, for example the progress of computer:pupil ratios.
The next of these is the OFSTED Form 4 which the LEA must return by the end of
September.
Therefore, I would be most grateful if you could complete the attached audit proforma and
th
return it to me as soon as possible, but preferably no later than Friday 17 September.
New MEWAN support arrangements.
As planned, the new MEWAN staff are now in post and ready to provide a high standard of
support to all subscribing schools. On the technical side, the new Infrastructure Manager is
Andrew Hughes (a.hughes3@notes.manchester.gov.uk) and the technical officer is Graham
Donaldson (g.donaldson@notes.manchester.gov.uk) . Their telephone number is currently
0161 234 7260 although this may change in the next month as they, hopefully, move into new
accommodation at Excellence in Cities’ premises.
On the content front, Jonathan Haves (j.haves@notes.manchester.gov.uk) takes up his post
as Content Manager. Until 1 November Jon will be with us for two days each week and then
full-time. The two new MEWAN web designers are Michael Gavin and Andrew Gibson. They
can be contacted on 0161 610 4407
If you have any queries relating to the working of your Freedom2Cache box or problems
accessing MEWAN, please contact Graham Donaldson.
MEWAN One-Stop Software Shop
As an additional service from MEWAN for Manchester schools, to try and help reduce
administrative workload, we are working with Granada Learning to develop an Amazon-style
online software ordering site which will provide software at discount prices from over 50
educational suppliers. The MEWAN One-Stop Software Shop will give each school a secure
ordering account and will allow you to order using e-learning Credits or other funding. You will
be able to order from a range of suppliers from a single screen and have a single invoice.
There will be discounts off the normal catalogue price of 10% or more on all titles with some
discounts of up to 25% on selected titles. We will also run special promotions on LEA
recommended software and have additional discounts for all orders placed in October or
February each year. The site will go live at the beginning of October, so hold on to your eLCs
until then. You will receive a letter giving your unique username and password direct from
Granada later this month.
Schools’ Email Service – an apology
Over the summer break we have moved all of our servers into a new rack at Daisy Mill so that
they are at the centre of the network infrastructure rather than in peripheral locations as had
previously been the case. This should improve overall network performance and also enable
us to maintain the system more easily. As part of this move, we had to disconnect the
Schools’ Email Service server. The intention was to have it back up and working within 48
hours. We felt that it was best to do this during the summer break as it would cause less
inconvenience. We reckoned without a series of minor hardware and software glitches which
meant the server was inactive (or inaccessible via normal methods) for nearly two weeks. It
finally came up as normal on Friday afternoon last week. I am grateful to Andrew Hughes,
Graham Donaldson, Tim Fletcher and colleagues in Corporate Technology for sticking with
the job and being determined to have the system back up and running for the start of the
school term.
Future Schools, Future Learning Conference
On 12 October 2004, we are holding a one-day conference for senior staff in high schools and
LEA policymakers at the Armitage Centre, Fallowfield. We have assembled four of the leading
figures in high school reform in the USA – Bob Pearlman, Kathi Mullin, Mark Standley and
Mary Cullinane for what promises to be a fascinating day of presentations and discussion on
curriculum reform and school architecture.
High school heads and chairs of governors have been invited already. If you would like to
attend, please contact Mick Franklin on m.franklin@notes.manchester.gov.uk who will send
you a programme and booking form by email.
The cost of the day is £200 per delegate.
Interactive Whiteboard Project - Launch Conference
The project gets off to its official start with a conference at the Armitage Centre on 17
September. All the participating schools will have received a letter from the project
coordinator, Donna Varney.
MYMovies 2005
As trailed in the last newsletter, the Manchester Youth Movies competition - MYMovies 2005 -
gets underway this term. The October newsletter will include full details and a poster for you
to print out and put up around the school / youth centre. The competition will run until March
2005 and has prizes in four age-groups – 7 and under; 8 – 11; 11 – 14 and 15 and over. We
are fortunate to have support from Granada and the BBC as well as several other companies
who have provided sponsorship and prizes. If you want to make a start, the rules are quite
simple. Your movie should be no longer than two minutes and must be the work of a group of
up to 4 pupils/ students (there is a separate teachers’ category). The themes are: Traditional
Stories; Teach Me Something; and Make Me Laugh. Entries must be in compatible with either
Windows Media Player or QuickTime 6.
New Foundation Degree Course for School Network Managers
I have written several times about the importance of providing good training for technical
support staff in schools. The Manchester New Technology Institute (NTI), which is a
partnership between MMU and MANCAT, is now offering a Computer Network Management
Foundation Degree which is ideal for those managing schools’ networks. It gives Cisco CCNA
and Microsoft MCSA accreditation as well as a degree on a day release / distance learning
basis. If you have technical staff who might be interested and who would benefit from this
course, please contact MANCAT’s course enquiry team on 0800 068 8585. An introductory
presentation afternoon will be held at MANCAT’s Openshaw campus at 4.00 p.m on 13
September. For places at the presentation contact ITb@se on 0161 231 8008.
Video clips for creating your own teaching and learning materials
The increasing availability of data projectors and interactive whiteboards in classrooms is
creating a demand from teachers for access to libraries of video clips and other resources to
help them create their own teaching materials.
MEWAN itself (http://mewan) contains a vast library of media clips licensed from Granada.
These can be found in the Teachers section under Granada Content. When you access this
material a Java applet is uploaded on to your PC. This takes a few seconds and after this you
are presented with a content index. (If it doesn’t work, you need to have the Java Virtual
machine for Internet Explorer installed. You can find this under Install Add-ins on the main
menu of your Freedom2Cache box. Make sure you click on the green link to install it quickly.)
Double-click on Manchester to see the range of materials available. Each section contains
text “chunks”, pictures, audio and video clips; all of which can be downloaded and re-used to
create your own materials. The other huge collection of video clips for free is the British
Pathé Library. This should only be accessed through the Teachers section of MEWAN. Make
sure you select the Presentation quality clips rather than the Free Previews. You do not have
to pay for the Presentation quality clips when you access them from a school computer
connected to MEWAN.
There are several other sources of video clips on the web which you might like to explore. For
starters you could try:
www.croftdouglas.co.uk Croft Douglas Education specialises in Video Clips for the curriculum
and has a growing library of clips available. There are some free to download on their
website, and they have a range of clips available on CD-Rom, including the Sherston Clips.
http://www.arkiveeducation.org Arkive is a web-site containing pictures and some moving
images relating to life on Earth. It is searchable and the movies can be viewed or
downloaded.The downloadable movies are too small to be viewed full screen.
http://learningcurve.pro.gov.uk/onfilm/archive.htm The Learning Curve is a website of the
Public Record Office, which contains some archive film clips in conjunction with South East
Grid For Learning (SEGFL). The films can be viewed and downloaded. Some of them are
better quality than others.
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/ Screenonline is an online source of film and television
materials run by the British Film Institute. It brings to life Britain's big and small screen
histories from the 1890s to the present. Popular classics, little-known gems and many hard-
to-find films and television programmes are represented by thousands of video extracts,
thousands of still images, publicity materials and specially-written analyses by expert writers,
supported by comprehensive filmographic information. Access to video and audio material is
limited to users in registered UK schools, colleges and libraries. Registration details are
available from the site.
http://www.open-video.org The Open Video Project is a US based site founded on the
premise that there should be a repository of video resources for education and research.
There is a keyword search or you can browse over 1,100 entries by genre, duration,
etc. There are also links to other collections.
http://www.archive.org/ The US based Internet archive provides a portal to digital collections
including web pages, the moving image and sound. The Internet archive offers access to a
wide range of digital asset collections for personal and educational use. Downloads are
provided at several resolutions and in different formats. Some of these can be very large files.
A unique feature is that every film is broken down into a single frame still for each minute of
the film. Download is allowed for education and research purposes but you should check if
there are any restrictions regarding repurposing.
http://www.archive.org/movies/prelinger.php The Prelinger archive, founded in 1983 by Rick
Prelinger, is a collection of over 48,000 ephemeral films (advertising, educational, industrial,
and amateur), mostly US based.
http://www.archive.org/movies/siggraph.php ³Siggraph is a showcase of computer animation
by different contributors. Files are available for download in AVI format.
http://www.archive.org/movies/opensource_movies.php This is an extensive library of film
submitted by the DV community. It includes a wide range of topics styles and genres including
- narrative, spoofs, documentary, live music footage, fantasy and animations.
http://www.footage.net/demoreels/ Footage is an extensive portal of stock footage providers
and includes demo reels from Corbis, Archive Footage, Historic Films, National Geographic
and some specialist providers such as Air Power and StormStock. These are commercially
available items and all normal copyright terms apply. Schools would need to contact providers
individually.
http://secret.oucs.ox.ac.uk/dv/film.html The Learning Technologies Group of Oxford University
Computing Services supports the university community interested in developing the use of
multimedia and digital video. These pages showcase some of the work.
http://www.firstlightmovies.com/screeningroom.php Sponsored by the Lottery Fund and UK
Film Council, First Light and its partners enable thousands of young people to become
involved in filmmaking. These are some of the results.
http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/gateway/index.html The Moving Image Gateway (MIG) collects
together websites that relate to moving images and sound and their use in higher and further
education. The sites are classified by academic discipline, some forty subjects from
Agriculture to Women's Studies, collected within the four main categories of Arts &
Humanities, Bio-Medical, Social Sciences and Science & Technology. Each site has been
evaluated and is regularly checked and updated Sites are highlighted which have video or
audio streaming. The site is searchable by keyword or subject.
ICT Assessment Spreadsheets for Primary Schools
Emily Smith, ICT Coordinator at St Edwards, used to work in Kent and has flagged up some
new content on the assessment area of their website www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/assessment/
which uses Excel spreadsheets in a very clever way to provide a simple and effective means
of recording and tracking pupils’ attainment in ICT in Key Stages 1 and 2.
New Key Stage 4 ICT Qualifications
It is well worth a look at Edexcel's new Diploma in Digital Applications (DiDA) qualification.
Although designed as a replacement for GNVQ ICT it will be available in 1, 2 or 4 GCSE
equivalents. It is being piloted from this Sept in about 45 schools nationally and will go live to
all schools from Sept 2005. The Diploma in Digital Applications for IT Users is made up of
four units equivalent to four GCSEs. The Certificate in Digital Applications for IT Users is
made up of two units equivalent to two GCSEs. The Award in Digital Applications for IT
Users is made up of one unit equivalent to one GCSE. Each unit is designed to be delivered
in 90 guided learning hours.
http://www.edexcel.org.uk/content.aspx?id=185062
ECDL is now defined within National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and may be considered
as an alternative to ICT GCSE. The British Computer Society has recently put the European
Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) qualification through QCA. The seven ECDL units with an
additional Unit E, now comprise the BCS IT User Level 2 qualification. More details see
www.bcsituser.org
For schools: BCS Certificate for IT Users Level 1 (ECDL Modules 1, 2 and 7) attracts 25
points, and contributes 20% to the level 1 threshold. BCS Certificate for IT Users Level 2
(ECDL Modules 3, 4, 5 and 6 plus BCS Unit E) attracts 46 points and contributes 20% to the
level 2 threshold.
You may like to consider the ICT qualifications from ICAA. Here are the FAQs for the level 1
from the www.icaa.com website
1. Who is the Level One award aimed at?
It is suitable for all students from the top of Key Stage 2 through to adulthood with a little ICT
knowledge. It is particularly appropriate for Key Stage 3 students or Key Stage 4 students not
expected to achieve GCSE.
2. How does the Level One award compare to the National Curriculum levels?
The Certificate of Competence in ICT (Level One) has three grades; pass, merit and
distinction: Pass grade reflects Levels 4 and 5: Merit grade reflects Level 6: Distinction grade
is working towards Level 7
3. How does the course specifically link to the GCSE in Applied ICT?
It has similar contexts but at a lower level.
4. How do the Units map to the Key Stage 3 strategy units?
A document showing mapping is being prepared and will be forwarded to all registered
centres. It will also be available on our website or on request from the ICAA office.
5. How can I obtain Exemplar materials for this scheme?
Copies of a marked unit task and an EPT (External Practical Task) will be sent to all
registered centres. They will also be available on our website and on request from the ICAA
office.
Skoool.co.uk
skoool.co.uk is an excellent new website which has recently won the United Nations World
Summit Award for Best Western European E-learning site. It is available totally free of charge
and designed specifically to help secondary school students with GCSE science and maths.
One unusual feature of the site is myskoool which enables students to download the learning
resources they need onto a PC, laptop or PDA for use offline at a time to suit themselves.
We are creating a link to skoool.co.uk from the MEWAN homepage and hope that as many
high schools as possible will draw teachers’ and pupils’ to the resources. To have a look
yourself go to www.skoool.co.uk or follow the link from the Pupils page of MEWAN.
Some good FREE simulations for ICT in Key Stage 2 and above
If you are looking to deliver the Simulations Unit 3D in the QCA SoW feel take a look at the
materials on LGFL. There are not only lesson plans but support files and PowerPoint
presentations available to do the whole thing. They draw out a distinction between the
different types of simulation covering 4 categories: Graphical Simulations, (pictorial
representations of manipulating hidden rules) Text based simulations, (commonly used in
offices for scenario training), Adventures, (a whole genre of entertaining simulations which at
it's best, is interactive fiction) and Physical simulations. (Wind tunnels etc...) The integrating
activity features an excellent free 3D model of the solar system and looks at how simulations
can aid the understanding of concepts.
Go to www.ictteam.greenwich.lgfl.net follow the links to resources/primary/lessonplans
There are a number of other free simulation out there which are suitable for use in school.
Many thanks to all the NAACE colleagues who contributed these ideas on the NAACETalk list
over the past few days.
The Duck game, can be downloaded free from
http://www.cgpbooks.co.uk/duck/duck.htm pupils have to change variables to get the
duck to fly.
The rocket simulation on
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/ict/dis-sow.php?category_id=33 [this
has to be played onine]
The lemonade stand on http://www.coolmath4kids.com [this has to be played online]
Try Colin's coffee conundrum simulation from Northumberland's grid for learning.
Year 3 children love it.
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/ict/qca/ks2/unit3D/colins%20coffee/colins%20coffee.html
You could also try the Lego website, in particular try World Builder
http://www.lego.com/eng/create/activities/worldbuilder/default.asp There are lots of
good activities on this site although some you would probably not use in schools.
Balloon Car Builder on http://pbskids.org/zoom/games/ballooncar/index.html is
another great sim for science and works well in KS2 ands above.
For older students – up to A Level – Try Sodaconstructor at
http://www.sodaplay.com/constructor/ for hours of intellectual, scientific challenge.
Manchester City Council - ICT in Schools Audit 2004
Name of School:
Number of desktop computers available to
pupils:
Number of laptop computers available to pupils:
Number of handheld devices available to pupils:
Number of laptops available to teachers:
Number of handheld devices available to
teachers:
Number of interactive whiteboards:
Type of interactive whiteboards used:
(e.g. Smart, TDS, Mimio, etc)
Number of digital projectors:
Does your school have a client-server network?
Does your school operate a wireless local area
network?
Main operating system in use in your school:
(e.g. Windows 98, 2000, etc)
Name:
Main ICT Contact at
your school: Role:
e-mail:
School website address:
Signature of Headteacher:
For office use only -
Date received / processed: