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Would text like that above engage your students, you can type in up to 22 characters and either have a wizard or a ninja draw them.  The website generates html code that you could then drop in to a content editor webpart within Sharepoint, your blog or website. Thanks again to Ollie for sharing this.

In his Shropshire ICT conference keynote speech Russell Prue mentioned the i-GotU GPS device for tagging photos using GPS.  After a colleague purchased one for under £20 from Maplin I thought that I should give it go.  So at Easter I set the matchbox sized device to log my position every 15 minutes and simply left it in my rucksack as I went off on my travels.  The image shows the tracks that the device logged overlayed onto Google Earth and also photos that I then tagged.   Superb value for £20 although there is a more powerful version 2 that is now out but that is still less than £50.  One of the key questions is would it be better to spend a little more and buy a Garmin device?

Two Shropshire schools – St Mary’s Albrighton and Hope- have been nominated for Primary Bloggers’ blog of the year.  You can have a look at them by clicking on the links and then vote for your favourite by going to http://primaryblogger.co.uk/vote/. Well done both schools!

Sharepoint allows schools to create and moderate their own blogs and it’s good to see some schools already doing so on the Shropshire Learning Gateway. To support teachers in setting up blogs in Sharepoint I have written a brief guide.

How to create a sharepoint blog.pdf

Finding images got so much easier when digital images were put onto the Internet.  Photographers could share their pictures and sell them online, families could share their photos easily and quickly freely.  But using copyrighted images in public work is not only unethical (photographers need to be paid too, y’know), it’s illegal.  How is the distinction drawn between free-to-use and copyrighted images?  Many people find it difficult to identify whether they can use an image or not.

The Internet for Image Searching resource from TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images – part of JISC) is an online tutorial that informs the reader on how to search for copyright-cleared images.  Although aimed at HE/FE, it would be an excellent resouce to use for many teachers and KS4 students needing guidance on the legal use of images in their work.

Another freebie, this time for bloggers or website developers.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Webshare is a special program for web publishers, including bloggers, webmasters, and anyone who writes for the Internet. You get complimentary access to the Encyclopaedia Britannica online and, if you like, an easy way to give your readers background of the topics you write about with links to complete Britannica articles.

You may have noticed that we have a feed from Shropshire education blogs within the sidebar.  The blogs included are the ones that we know about, if you don’t see your posts appearing let me know and I will include them.  If you would like this feed on your blog paste the following into a text widget in your sidebar.

<script src=”http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/headlines.aspx?uid=155654&mid=10″></script>

Letting parents stay up to date with current work and events

The blog is important to me. It is important because my mum has a job and she can’t just drive up to school and have a look at it everyday, but the blog lets her see my work from her work or from home.  I also like the blog because you can put your own voice on it. I think it feels like being a TV or radio presenter.  If anyone in your family lives in a different country, they could also be able to see you work. But your family don’t just have to comment on your own piece of work they also comment on other people’s work like my mum does.  It is a nice feeling when someone comments on your work.

Daena

Share our work with our relatives

I think the blog is really good because I have grandparents who live in York and although they see us quite often, they cannot see us all the time and the blog enables them to see my work any time of any day or year.  The same applies with my Dad because he is a pilot and away a lot so he hardly ever sees me. But because of the blog, he is able to see my work all the time, except when he is flying.  There was once when my grandparents phoned to ask what our blog address was so they could see my work and leave a comment.

Andrew

Getting comments on your story

I really like the blog because it’s nice to see your work on the Internet and get comments from relatives and from people you don’t know. Having your work there makes you feel proud that you did it and everyone in the world can admire it. It’s nice to see loads of comments on your work saying that it’s really good.  It can also encourage children to write more, because they like people all over the world seeing their work and writing nice comments.  With my story ‘The Mystery of Pokemon’ I’m really happy it’s on there because all my relatives can see it and I get comments.  Also, no one can see it if it’s in my literacy book so I prefer it is everyone else can see it, because people make really nice comments on the story.

Polly

Safe way of interacting with other pupils

We use the blog in lots of different ways. Interacting with pupils from other schools is one of them. I like interacting through the blog because it is safe and you are less likely as risk from muggers.  The blog is also good for answering questions if people have any. People can find things about the school, like the trip to Amsterdam without having to go to the school and asking the teachers.  I like to see my poem on ‘Dementors’ being commented on because it makes me glow inside. I think it is good we can put art on the blog using Flickr, but art looks better on the wall.  I also like the way we all put comments on one thing, like the design of a rocket or a buggy. I made a film called ‘The Violent Quadgilogy’ and I’ve four comments that make me feel really good because of the blog. I think the blog is a good way of interacting with other people.

Edward

The main reason I like the blog is because my work is always there.

So if people put a post on the blog, and then loads of other people put posts on, then the work will not be on the main page, but it will still be there.  If people want to see it, all they have to do is scroll down to the bottom of the page, click previous page, and there it is.  Also, if work is always there, I feel extra proud of myself because people can load it up whenever they want. I have done some Dutch lessons with my friend and it feels good inside, knowing it will always be there.

Elkie

What I think about the blog

I think the blog is a very good site because it is used in a lot of ways.  I like the blog because you can interact with other pupils from other schools and foreign schools in America and Australia.  I like communicating with other schools. The Year 5s and 6s are going to Amsterdam and they’ve got a blog to ask questions about their school, where we will be sleeping and other questions about schools.  We also share work in Britain, like when we has a look a Clunbury’s blog and did some work with them about discussions and we did some work on 10 Green Bottles with metaphors and description and a school in Scotland then did it with Jack and Jill. So it’s like www – World Wide Work!

Joe

During the conference many delegates attended short taster sessions demonstrating a range of collaborative technologies.  To follow these sessions we are putting on the following courses:

May 4th (am) – Introduction to blogging
May 25th (am) – Introduction to Flickr & Del.icio.us
June 27th (am) – Finding and producing podcasts
July 4th (am) – Using a wiki or Google Docs in the classroom

Agendas can be downloaded from here.

All courses will be at Shrewsbury Training & Development Centre, running from 9.15 until 12:15.

Cost is £75, £60 for subscribing schools, non-Shropshire delegates £90.

All these sessions will be hands on and you will need access to your email account during the morning.

It is now the day after the conference and I have some time to sit down and reflect on yesterdays conference. For those of you who were unable to make it to Shrewsbury for the day I feel you missed out on some excellent presentations.

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