Simon Brennand, deputy head at the Phillip Morant school, Essex, calls it an "exercise in the art of the possible." He is describing the growth of his school's learning platform, which they have built themselves from the ground up for staff, students and parents. They have gone from an initial idea to a resource that gets 24,000 hits a week in less than 18 months. Their experience as a large comprehensive with 1,600 students provides many pointers for those wishing to build and own their own electronic learning and information resources.
"We wanted to avoid the scattergun approach," says Brennand. They quickly realised that their project required a convergence of many different talents and that they would need a solid technical platform. The decision was build the resource around Sharepoint software from Microsoft, and to customise as required. Pupils were closely involved.
A stakeholder development group was formed and they used this as an opportunity to engage all staff and to "seek out the synergy that runs when you involve both critics and early adopters," says Brennand. A range of ways were explored to help teachers get resources into the system and to encourage feelings of ownership. A buddy system was used to pair all users and provide online support.
One of the most popular features of their resource is the Revcasts - where each subject area has produced a number of podcasts specifically aimed at assisting revision. They found that the "importance of it looking good cannot be overstated" and, to this end the front page of the Revcast section looks as good as a BBC web resource.
Elsewhere, the system contains a Discussion Zone - online competitions and surveys are a key feature and students are consulted about many school issues from the lunchtime menu to the new drama studio. On-screen learning resources show students how to make better use of the internet, and there's even a technical team member on secondment in Tanzania running a blog for the geography department.
Parents are now signing up for RSS newsfeeds on the site and their section of the resource also contains a school calendar, schemes of work and a correspondence archive.
Presentations go on the system after events for parents who cannot attend. The staff handbook used to be 54,000 pages a year of print and photocopying. Now it's online only, and the weekly planner for staff has gone the same way. A final key feature is the use of statistics on levels of use to inform publicity pushes and decide on areas for future investment.
Where did all this marketing nous come from, I ask Brennand. "I did other jobs before teaching," he replies enigmatically. Whatever they were, it's clearly worked in his favour.
Perhaps the most important announcement recently hasn't been about a device at all but access to the web via Wi-Fi. So it's not the RM Asus MiniBook (£169) or the Apple iPhone (£269 + contract) (important though both might prove) but free Wi-Fi access to the web at McDonald's that maybe deserves the most attention. Yes, over the next year you'll be able to mosey into any of McDonald's 1,200 restaurants in the UK, take out your phone, laptop or any other Wi-Fi capable device of your choice and get on to the web, send in homework, add to your blog, make a Skype call and drink a coffee - all for free (apart from the coffee).
Make no mistake this is momentous: McDonald's has bravely (and sagely) been the first to provide ubiquitous local free Wi-Fi, but it will not be the last. The calculations involved in providing ICT access for schools of the future are also changed forever. What price should we be paying to future private finance initiative schemes for network access in our "schools of the future" when the high street is giving it away for free?
Connection first
Tomorrow's world is more about connection than kit however beguiling that kit might be. What price a highly specified and "well-tied down" school network when access is free and unfettered beyond the gates? Time for some connected thinking. It's worth having a look at the Fon website which bills itself "the largest Wi-Fi community in the world". It's essentially a worldwide gathering of like-minded individuals aiming to share their broadband safely so they can make Wi-Fi universal and free. The idea is made possible by the members of the community, "Foneros", who share their home internet connection and get free access to the community's Fon Spots in return.
Collaboration tools
And it's not just the bog- standard internet that we are now dealing with but the next generation, the so-called Web 2.0 with all its blogging, picture-sharing and social network smartness. The use of database mastery and the clever ability to forge connections between various types of data means that 2008 could see the web provide most of the software and communication tools we'll ever need in a seamless online soup.
Write Online from Crick is an example of what's to come, allowing students to write at home as well as at school - with any Windows or Mac computer supported by a built-in and customisable word bank and writing frame. Honeycomb is another set of online tools for pupil creativity and collaboration which aims to combine the Web 2.0 world with the tools required for the primary and secondary classroom.
Many of the new online tools will be open-source and essentially free to use. 2008 is likely to be the year that Google will challenge the dominance of Microsoft in terms of software. Add to this the recent announcement by Ed Balls, secretary of state for children, schools and families, of a £1bn investment into extended learning beyond the formal school day and things start to look very interesting. Software company Truancy Call has developed "e-mentoring", a new service that allows secondary school students to have 24/7 contact with a supportive member of staff or "mentor" about their work. Most promisingly, communication can take place via text message, mobile phone Wap site, web-forum or secure website.
Online environments
The world is starting to shrink and we can access services from around the planet for the Web 2.0 application takes no notice of distance. This point is well illustrated by the success of Studywiz, a learning environment brought to the UK from Tasmania, while the UK-based Intuitive Media, pioneer of safe online environments for UK children with SuperClubs, has recently signed deals with Australian and Canadian governments.
"It will mean that children and teachers in the UK will be able to collaborate on learning projects with their Australian peers. With membership growing in Canada, we can now say the sun never sets on SuperClubs." says Bob Hart, chief executive at Intuitive Media. It seems as if Intuitive and others have grasped the essential wisdom of our times - that it's ongoing human support that facilitates delightful online environments and that online adult mentors are an integral part of their philosophy and products. For years we have thought about the potential of "sundown working" where activities and learning opportunities get passed around the world 24/7 - now it's becoming a reality driven by schoolchildren in safe, mediated environments.
Mini computers
Cometh the moment cometh the device. The RM Asus MiniBook computer (£169, D60) is a momentous development not just for its price (which is ground-breaking), but for the impressive size and clarity of its seven-inch colour screen and stylish white keyboard. Add built-in Wi-Fi connectivity and a robust Linux operating system and you have timely tools for the smallest of satchels.
Handhelds
The arrival of the iPhone has perhaps unfairly overshadowed the delightful iPod touch (£199), a beautifully styled, palm-sized player of glass and steel that rewrites the rules for the computer interface. Built around two-finger touch this iPod is really a small computer that lets you stroke the screen to browse content in sound, picture and contact libraries. With Wi-Fi and web browser built in, it brings the same two-fingered ease to web access. In fact the iPod touch finally solves the issue of web browsing on a handheld computer in ways that other mobile devices have singularly failed to do. Treat yourself to a stroke when you get a chance - it may well change the way we use computers and this is only the start. The grammar that governs these new touch control devices is known as haptics.
Portable tools
ICT supplier Steljes has also recently signed a breakthrough deal with Vodaphone to provide mobile internet access via class sets of compact mobile devices. Tribal CTAD has a long pedigree of supporting adult literacy with new technologies, and its latest authoring environment, MyLearning Author for Pocket PC, aims to make it simple to develop learning content for mobile devices. The software has performed well in recent trials within the FE and adult education sectors.
January 2008 also sees the launch of cre8txt (£49.99), a handheld writing tool developed by educational consultant Russell Prue, based on a typical mobile phone keypad which connects to a computer via USB. The cre8txt handset (see also page 21) has been designed to encourage reluctant writers to express themselves through the text input process they know so well from their lives beyond the classroom.
Tag Learning will be launching its range of wildlife cameras in January. Two main products are the Nest Box and Mini Bird Table camera kits, which feed images from the wild back to the classroom computer (£149 for B&W kit). Searching for more subtle classroom interaction around the interactive whiteboard has led whiteboard manufacturer Promethean to develop the Activexpression - a device rather like a mobile phone which allows students to text complete sentences and numerical responses to questions and quizzes.
Interface design
This year has seen the evolvement of the computer interface. Windows Vista set a new standard for organising files and browsing resources with its spring release. School exemplars of experience in the use of Office 2007, and Windows Vista have now been prepared by Microsoft.
The launch of Apple's latest system upgrade known as Leopard last month has set the bar even higher, with Time Machine possessing the ability to back up and restore files built in and a delightful "quick look" facility that lets you look at a file's contents without even having to open the software it was made with.
Classroom control
2Simple and Lego have worked together to create 2Control NXT, a new approach to control for key stages 1 and 2. Building on a series of simple principles, children start by inputting instructions into simple templates. They can then use the on-screen simulations or control the Lego robot directly. 2Simple will also be launching the new Stories 2 Tell software and detailing the achievements made by Sen students with their delightful 2 Paint a Picture software.
Logotron has also launched an enhanced version Junior Control Insight (£59 plus VAT) which has a range of new features for key stage 2 and 3. By simplifying the language, adding an undo facility, and furnishing it with an assortment of examples, fix-its and tutorials, teachers are likely to find it easier than before to manage control in the classroom.SymWriter (£129) from Widgit moves communication through symbols software for Sen to a new level using "smart symbolising" technology. This detects different parts of speech and contexts and should automatically symbolise to the correct meaning of the word. The software comes with a bank of over 7,000 Literacy Symbols.
Finally for a fresh tack on digital music-making take a look at O Generator World Music with African and Latin samples (£149, 10 users) from Sibelius. It's a graphical music creation tool with a composition metaphor based around a circular motion - it really is simple to compose and gives a feel for beats and bars lost in normal notation. For the primary sector Sibelius's new Groovy Music software (£129, five users) is a delight to use on the interactive whiteboard.
Weblinks
Apple (Bett stand C40): apple.com,
cre8txt (B56): taglearning.com
Crick (F40): cricksoft.com
Fon Wi-Fi community: fon.com
Honeycomb (E60): softease.com
Intuitive Media (F70): intuitivemedia.com
Logotron (F26): logo.com/controlinsight
Promethean (K30): prometheanworld.com/uk/
Sibelius (B49): sibelius.com
Steljes (B50): steljes.co.uk
2Simple (F59): 2simple.com
Tribal CTAD (F102): ctad.co.uk
Truancy Call (A76): e-mentoring.co.uk
Widgit: widgit.com
Windows Vista (D30): microsoft.com
Overheard: robots go live
John Davitt
Tuesday December 4, 2007
The Guardian
Martin Emmanuel gets excited when he starts talking about robots, but then again so do the students lucky enough to be taught by him at Haywood engineering college, a large secondary school in Stoke. "The key question I want to trigger is 'How did you do that, sir?'," he says. "If I'm having to ask them questions then I've failed: I aim to be an inspirer not a teacher."
Using Logicator software along with a Flowol graphical interface, students quickly learn to control various motors and servos that move the robot arms. Soon year 8s are carrying out high-level programming through the process of using a flow chart. This introduces choices, logic gates and "repeat until" statements as they struggle to bring movement to the robots like the Robonova. Just moving an arm in a certain way is a major challenge, but these are the key skills that manufacturing will require of them in the future.
Emmanuel is determined to make the process memorable: "The aim is to make it exciting and to encourage logical thought processes." He pushes his students to replicate the production lines found in industry. "I want a bit of 'Wow - look at that' in my lessons," he insists.
To this end he even uses a video camera on live-feed mode via a projector to turn his animated puppets (students have hidden little motors inside them combining a textile and technology project) into a large screen display. It's like a night at the Baftas, with the winning programme (in this case the best puppets) playing up live and large.
Emmanuel is a showman who wants the brightest tools and tricks for the best of reasons - to engage and enthuse students with the limitless possibilities of making things move and work. The government should make him the Robotics Tsar. Sadly, if you count the number of robots you see when you next visit the Science Museum, you'll find precious few - and yet they promise to be a major component in most industrial processes in the future.
Ideas for more projects tumble out: "We are looking at laser cutters making our own robot skins," says Emmanuel. Ideas on using commercially bought robots are tempered by a "let's learn by building them ourselves" approach. In one recent project, he even got all year 9 to build their own small sensing "computer" (an e-Brain) as part of a cross-curricular project. Each one was personalised in appearance and the devices were then used across the curriculum - most recently for the "Bleep" fitness tests in PE and for code-breaking in maths.
Weblinks
Flowol: flowol.com
Logicator: economatics-education.co.uk
