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On January 10th 2007 at BETT, the Minister for Schools Jim Knight announced a Home Access taskforce in order to evaluate ways in which home access to technology and the internet can be delivered. As a result of this taskforce BECTA is looking for schools willing to participate in pilot programmes starting at the beginning of November.

To qualify primary or secondary schools should have an average or above average (> 15%) free school meal eligibility amongst pupils and be willing to work with both Becta and the IT industry to quickly implement a pupil / parent purchase scheme within a sample year group.

For further information or an informal discussion please contact ben.chapman@becta.org.uk (Tel. 07831 160 110)

As promised, CEOP, working with BECTa and Grid Club, have developed e-safety materials for KS2. Pupils can access information about having fun and staying safe while using a whole range of communication technologies. There is also an updated version of the extremely useful Grid Club CyberCafe, where children can make decisions about everyday dilemmas that they may encounter when using everyday technology within an attractive - and fun- online environment. These materials can be accessed from http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk. KS1 materials are promised for 2008

Origin8 launching today - is a nationwide challenge for solo artists and bands aged 14-18 to create a piece of original music inspired by art from London’s National Gallery.

To enter - original music tracks need to be uploaded on to the Origin8 website at www.origin8.org.uk, where online voting will take place. 50 finalists will be invited to an all day Masterclass in February half-term. The event will be hosted by a celebrity guest and will include workshops in songwriting, production and the music industry.

The overall winners will win the opportunity to work on there track in a professional studio with help from a professional songwriter.  For more information, please visit www.origin8.org.uk

Terry Freedman is carrying out a survey of pupil use of Social Networks, if you have some time can you try and get your pupils to complete his survey.

The schome-NAGTY Teen Second Life Pilot provided encouraging signs that Teen Second Life can enhance students’ learning, particularly in relation to ‘knowledge age skills’ (such as leadership, collaboration, etc). You can download a copy of the final report for that Pilot from http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/document.cfm?docid=9851

The Schome Park Project is building on that initial Pilot – increasing the diversity of the student population and extending our understanding of the potentials and pitfalls of Teen Second Life. We are using a closed island in the Teen Grid of Second life – the only people who can access this island are students we have recruited by us and adults who have had appropriate ‘police checks’ within the last two years (eg enhanced CRB disclosures). Members of the project also have access to the Schommunity website (wiki, forum and SLog) which includes private as well as public areas – see http://www.schome.ac.uk/

We are currently looking to recruit 100 more students, aged 13 to 17 inclusive, to join the Schome Park Project.  For this next cohort of students we will be meeting all the costs associated with registering the students on Schome Park and supervising their activities within the project (once they have returned their consent forms).

Interested students need to be 13 to 17 years of age and have access to a suitable computer (eg a fairly powerful PC or Apple) and broadband internet connection – most of our current students are active in the early evenings and at weekends.

Students have to be signed up through a school or other similar organisation that can confirm that they really are in the correct age range.

If you work in (or have contact with) a school that would be interested in some of its students joining the project then please get in touch – the only commitments the school are asked to make are to:
·        Tell students about the project and provide those who are interested with a copy of the Info letter and consent form (a copy of which is attached for your reference) – students/parents then sign the forms and can return them directly to the Schome Park Project team.
·        Confirm the names and dates of birth of students to whom they have given a copy of the info letter and consent form (eg by emailing this information to me)

Of course the opportunity does exist for staff to become involved in the project alongside their students if they wish to do so – we are interested in talking with teachers who would like to use Schome Park as part of their activities in school time – if this appeals to you then please get in touch.

You can find out more about the Schome Park Project via the schome website – http://www.schome.ac.uk/ (once there click on the link to Projects then scroll down to find the Schome Park Project).

The number of places is limited to 100 at this stage – and we will be working on a first come first served basis.

PeterT

Dr Peter Twining
Head of Department
The Department of Education
The Open University
Walton Hall
MILTON KEYNES MK7 6AA

Phone: +44 (0)1908 655078

Email:   P.Twining@open.ac.uk
Second Life:  Schomer Simpson/TheSchome Ranger

URL:  schome.open.ac.uk/wikiworks/index.php/User:PeterT

Thursday 22nd November 2007, The Royal Oak Suite, Emirates Stadium, North LondonFollowing the success of their first event held in September, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF <http://www.dcsf.gov.uk> ) and the children’s internet charity Childnet International <http://www.childnet-int.org/> , are delighted to invite you to attend the second of two national conferences being held to launch the new cyberbullying guidance for schools. This event will very much be a working conference and using the latest interactive technologies we will be interacting and reviewing together the guidance, and hearing from each other as to the most effective ways to ensure that schools can respond to cyberbullying and better protect children.You will see from the agenda for the day that the event will include a unique contribution from young people. We also hope to have Kevin Brennan MP, the schools Minister responsible for this area of work within the DCSF. There will also be presentations from schools and industry representatives on how they are tackling cyberbullying.

Registration will commence at 09.00 with the conference starting at 09.45. The event is scheduled to finish at 16.30 promptly. Please click here for a full agenda of the day.

The event is free of charge and from experience we expect demand for places to be strong, therefore early registration is advised. We would prefer to welcome just one representative from any given school/organisation/establishment in order to try and ensure maximum representation across the board.

Please register your attendance by completing the online booking form at livegroup.co.uk/childnet and submitting your details. Please also indicate if you have any additional requirements so that we can ensure your comfort on the day.

Joining instructions will be sent automatically after you register online.

You can download the full guidance and summary guidance documents from Childnet’s ‘Digital citizenship’ website Digizen - see
digizen.org/cyberbullying/ and at teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/behaviour/tacklingbullying/

Please be aware that this event will be broadly similar to the first, and therefore may not be suitable for those who have already attended. In this situation I would be grateful if you could please pass this invitation on to anyone who you know would value the chance to take part in this learning experience.

If you have any queries in the meantime please visit the Conference website or contact our Conference Office:
Website: livegroup.co.uk/childnet
Telephone: 020 8481 3373
Typetalk: 18001 020 8481 3373
Fax: 020 8481 2020
E-mail: childnet@livegroup.co.uk

I found this posting on the Microsoft education blog - 10 Ways to Work More Securely . Although not all of it will be instantly applicable, we could all take away some valuable lessons - especially in these days of increasing accountability. Worth a look.

Do you have an Promethean ACTIVboard? 

Are you a confident user of ACTIVprimary or ACTIVstudio?

Are you ready to move on to the next level of expertise?

If so, the ACTIVboard Level 2 Accreditation course is for you!

“Level 2 courses continue to develop your skills with the software. The main emphasis, however, is on good classroom practice. By successfully completing this course you will be awarded an Activstudio Curriculum Developer certificate. A teacher awarded this level of accreditation will have created outstanding flipcharts for use in their classroom and will also have shared their flipcharts and ideas with other teachers” - Promethean.

This course is usually delivered online, over six weeks at a cost of £195 per person.  However, we have secured an expert Promethean trainer who will deliver the content face-to-face in one session.  Participants will then need to submit some examples of their work to receive the accreditation (subject to quality control).  The icing on the cake is that normal Shropshire course fees apply - £60 to subscribing schools and £75 to non-subscribing schools.

The session will be held on Friday 16 November 2007, 13.00 - 16.00 at the Shrewsbury Training & Development Centre.  This opportunity is open to both primary and secondary colleagues.

Before attending the course, participants should have completed the Level 1 training, which is free (for a limited period) and should take about 45 minutes.  This training can be accessed at http://prometheanlearning.com/uk

If you are interested in booking a place on this course, please contact Michelle Evans on (01743) 254494 or by email: michelle.evans@shropshire-cc.gov.uk.  As there are only 10 places available on this course, please contact me as soon as possible.

At the ICT network meeting yesterday, Tony Davies from Minsterley Primary showed us all the Writing Fun site by Jenny Eather, which is a fantastic way to explore different writing genres, identifying features of effective writing and allowing pupils to have a go themselves. He also pointed out other Jenny Eather sites, such as Rainforest maths and the interactive maths dictionary, all of which can be accessed from here. Thanks Tony!

Thinking about artists whose work lends itself to ICT, came up with Mondrian (obviously!), Jackson Pollack, Klee, Miro, Kadinsky, Josef Albers, Jasper John. There must be some really obvious ones I’ve missed - but who?