E2BN Conference: booking open

E2BN's highly successful annual conference returns to The Robinson Centre at Wyboston on 26th and 27th June 2012. It is possible to attend on one or both days. This year the theme is: Technology: Making the Difference. As usual there is a rich programme of speakers and workshops, and the suppliers' exhibition will be bigger than ever.

Once again, there is no charge for the first two delegates from E2BN-connected schools. Overnight accommodation is available.

For the full programme and to book go to: http://conference.e2bn.org/

ICT - Service Level Agreement 2012-13

Our SLA for 2012-13 has now been delivered to schools. Taking effect from April 1st, this is your chance to take advantage of our skilled technicians and advisors. Make sure you sign up before the end of the Spring term!
We do offer the best value services in the county - bar none. With our background and experience, with 25 years of ICT in education and with unrivalled knowledge of curriculum needs you will find no better service for your school and its needs.

Details here.

Gove supports use of technology for learning!

When Education Secretary Michael Gove was asked by Naace - the ICT Association - about the use of technology to support students' learning outside school, this was his response:

'ICT has a huge role to play. I think technology will be playing a larger and larger role in how we make our schools work more effectively in the future. I will be saying more about that soon.

But it's absolutely right, yes, that both our teachers and students can work from home with the imaginative use of technology and I hope in the future we will be able to make it clear how with the best use of technology we can help parents become more involved in their children's education, help children learn faster and make sure assessment is better designed to be in their interests.'

Follow this link to the Naace website for full details - http://bit.ly/s6edNh

Success for E2BN

E2BN has won recognition for its partnership work with local authorities, JANET and industry. E2BN is our regional broadband consortium through which our schools connect to the National Education Network and the internet. The award is the Next Generation Challenge 2011 - Collaborative Advantage Winner - Connecting Schools by E2BN

NextGen is The UK's showcase for Next Generation broadband activity - enabling a wider understanding of digital network investment as the essential foundation for local economic growth and innovation.

The award recognises that: The East of England is an area almost forgotten by the telecoms industry and is one of the most geographically challenging regions in the UK. With over 2,000 schools, many of them small and in extremely remote areas the task of providing high speed, affordable internet connectivity was always going to be very challenging. The broadband infrastructure needed to be robust with 99.99% uptime, secure and capable of supporting data intensive applications such as multimedia and video conferencing.

And E2BN's achievement is: Costs reduced, availability improved, throughput and capacity increased and management improved. Without E2BN’s approach to aggregation many schools would be trying to deliver 21^st Century learning via 20^th Century infrastructure.

There is a little more information about the award and who we beat at: http://www.nextgenevents.co.uk/ngchallenge

Computer games and learning: Futurelab handbook

Aimed at teachers and those interested in using games with an educational intent, this new handbook aims to provide some useful anchoring points for educators to make sense of the area and to develop practical approaches for the use of computer games as a medium for learning.

Some people believe that the models games employ lead to learning, as young people effectively learn how to play without necessarily being explicitly taught, doing vast amounts of reading or interacting with others; others see games as boring, tedious, time-consuming, and repetitive.

Both of these viewpoints can be true: the impact is dependent on the game itself, and also the player, circumstance of use, mediation of the teacher and other players.

In this handbook Mary Ulicsak and Ben Williamson aim to summarise the key theories around why games have potential, how they have been used in the past, how they are used for learning in a family context, which attributes lead to learning, and considerations for using them with young people.

Download the book (73 pages, 1.72 MB)

Top 10 myths of online safety

Thanks to insafe and their online safety blog for this information from the important EU Kids Online Project.

The top 10 myths about children’s online risks are:

1. Digital natives know it all
   Only 36 per cent of 9-16-year-olds say it is very true that they know more about the internet than their parents. This myth obscures children’s needs to develop digital skills.
   
2. Everyone is creating their own content
   The study showed that only one in five children had recently used a file-sharing site or created an avatar, half that number wrote a blog. Most children use the internet for ready-made content.
   
3. Under 13s can’t use social networking sites
   Although many sites (including Facebook) say that users must be aged at least 13, the survey shows that age limits don’t work – 38 per cent of 9-12-year-olds have a social networking profile. Some argue age limits should be scrapped to allow greater honesty and protective action.
   
4. Everyone watches porn online.
   One in seven children saw sexual images online in the past year. Even allowing for under-reporting, this myth has been partly created by media hype.
   
5. Bullies are baddies
   The study shows that 60 per cent who bully (online or offline) have themselves been bullied. Bullies and victims are often the same people.
   
6. People you meet on the internet are strangers
   Most online contacts are people children know face-to-face. Nine per cent met offline people they’d first contacted online – most didn’t go alone and only one per cent had a bad experience.
   
7. Offline risks migrate online
   This is not necessarily true. While children who lead risky offline lives are more likely to expose themselves to danger online, it cannot be assumed that those who are low-risk offline are protected while online.
   
8. Putting the PC in the living room will help
   Children find it so easy to go online at a friend’s house or on a smartphone that this advice is out of date. Parents are better advised to talk to their children about their internet habits or join them in some online activity.
   
9. Teaching digital skills reduces online risk
   Actually the more digital skills a child has, the more risks they are likely to encounter as they broaden their online experience. What more skills can do is reduce the potential harm that risks can bring.
   
10. Children can get around safety software
    In fact, fewer than one in three 11-16 year-olds say they can change filter preferences. And most say their parents’ actions to limit their internet activity is helpful.

For a copy of the full report, and further information about EU Kids Online, visit http://www.eukidsonline.net.

E2BN Autumn Journal

The Autumn Journal from E2BN, our regional broadband consortium, is now available. It is packed with great ideas and information. There are features about using Video Conferencing with your class, this year's E-Safety conference, lesson plans for Myths and Legends, and lots more.

Download your copy