Cambridgeshire Education ICT Service

Gove supports use of technology for learning!

2011-11-30T10:55:00.005Z

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

2011-11-17T14:31:00.005Z

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

2011-11-01T14:13:00.005Z

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

2011-10-05T11:44:00.003+01:00

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:

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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

2011-09-28T15:37:00.007+01:00

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

International educational technology policy

2011-09-01T13:45:00.004+01:00

The US government Office of Educational Technology has published its final report on ICT education policy in 21 countries including England. A summary and the final report can be downloaded from the Current Activities section on http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/index.html

To quote from the summary:

Key Findings: The countries included in this study already had robust ICT infrastructure in place, given that a high score on the Network Readiness Index was a criterion for selection. Even so, nearly all participating countries are still prioritizing improvements to existing ICT infrastructure. Countries are investing in ICT infrastructure to improve equity of access to high-speed Internet connections and making it possible for all schools to leverage the capabilities of high-bandwidth instructional tools in the classroom involving both video and audio and unlimited users. Countries are investing in computer hardware, increasingly portable and mobile, to improve access to the Internet and instructional software for teachers and students. Country jurisdictions’ and schools’ adoption of technology-supported learning management systems is changing the way coursework is organized, accessed, and delivered and the way student performance is communicated to parents. Learning management systems are facilitating national and local monitoring of student performance and the targeting of policies and programs to areas of greatest need. While the combination of increasing access to high-bandwidth Internet and learning management systems can also expand the capacity for instruction to be accessed from home and elsewhere outside school, unbounded by time and location, few countries are currently leveraging this capability. Emerging efforts to drive down the costs of local ICT adoption and maintenance include investments in cloud computing and the development of interoperability standards.

Countries are investing in one of their most important resources―teachers. Almost half of the countries reported providing online professional development for improving teacher skills and interactive collaborative tools to foster the development and sharing of instructional materials and strategies among teachers. Almost all of these countries reported providing digital instructional resources for teachers through websites, online portals, and learning management systems, often partnering with commercial publishers for their development.

Computing in Schools

2011-09-01T12:02:00.003+01:00

Naace, the ICT association, is inviting contributions to a simple survey on Twitter to seek views on the teaching of 'computing' in schools following the press coverage over the weekend.

If you would like to complete the survey the link is here - http://tolu.na/qVHpXr - please send to as many people as you can - in all of your networks. Naace will produce the results to share with everyone in due course.

Third class in the classroom: what degrees do teachers get?

2011-08-22T10:39:00.003+01:00

There have been a number of news reports claiming that a significant proportion of school teachers do not have good university degrees. But what do the figures show?

Full Fact (http://fullfact.org/) is an independent fact-checking organisation. They aim to make it easier to see the facts and context behind the claims made by the key players in British political debate and press those who make misleading claims to correct the record. Check out their analysis of the teachers' degree story here.

You can follow them on Twitter too: @FullFact

Does your school website use its cambs.sch.uk address?

2011-08-16T17:06:00.002+01:00

Your school website is an important tool.
Actively used and frequently updated it can publicise the school’s successes, generate a pride in the school, inform the school community and be a source of news, information and learning for all.
Almost every school in Cambridgeshire has a school website, some very elaborate and reflecting every aspect of school life. Over the years these sites have acquired new urls – the addresses websites use. But with old websites still “out there” it can be confusing for parents trying to find the school’s current site.
This summer the ICT Service has worked hard to bring Cambridgeshire school websites up to date.
We have created more than 40 new websites and created new hosting spaces for nearly 20 more. With only a handful still in the pipeline we are now about to close down all the old Digital Brain websites with their long http://c99.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99 etc urls.
For all these sites we have pointed the cambs.sch.uk url at the new space so the schools don’t have to change their web addresses.

It is not widely known that every school can have a free url in the form of [schoolname].cambs.sch.uk and that the Cambridgeshire Education ICT Service will point that name at your current school website on request, and without charge. And yes, you can continue to use the other url at the same time, if you wish, so people could use either myschool.cambs.sch.uk or myschool.co.uk to find your site.
All you need to do is to read your school email address
eg office@myschool.cambs.sch.uk
and in a web browser type http://www plus the part of the school email address after the @ - eg http://www.myschool.cambs.sch.uk
If this brings you to your school’s current website – fine, all is well and you can use it if you wish.
If it takes you to something else – an old website or an alert page, you can contact the ICT Helpline at ICT.Helpline@cambridgeshire.gov.uk and tell us where you prefer the url to be forwarded. We’d really like to have our list as up to date as possible.
It’s all part of the Service!

DSG 10.8.11

Politicians waking up to ICT?

2011-07-28T12:05:00.001+01:00

Here's an interesting article by Merlin John and Bob Harrison about possible government policy shifts.

http://www.agent4change.net/policy/ict-provision/1050-mluds-and-luddites-politicians-wake-up-to-ict.html

Animation Adventure Holiday Club

2011-07-27T13:38:00.006+01:00

At the Education ICT Service in Godmanchester we are opening our doors to children this summer with a brand new Animation Adventure Holiday Club.

An exciting week of activities is planned to teach children aged between eight and 11 how to make animations, create a soundtrack, design scenery, storyboard and make models. Places are limited and cost £100 for the week (8-12 August, 9.30am-4.30pm).

For more information or to book a place contact:
Telephone: 01480 376655
Email: ict.courses@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Website Switch Off

2011-06-29T15:36:00.001+01:00

As announced from September 2010 onwards, schools whose websites are hosted on Digital Brain will be switched off at the end of July.
You can make private arrangements for a new site or use the service provided by the Education ICT Service (details here). Please note that this service is subject to availability and it is now unlikely that new requests can be dealt with before the switch-off date.
All Cambridgeshire schools are entitled to a name in the style www.myschool.cambs.sch.uk . If you have another type of name such as www.myschool.org the ICT Service Helpline can, on request, forward one to the other.

Schools may also find it helpful to check this Cambridgeshire page and check that all their school details, including their website address, are accurate. Any errors can be reported to the ICT Helpline.

Sing Sing for Mamelodi

2011-05-17T15:42:00.003+01:00

We have heard via Naace about a significant project that has just come to fruition. A school in Nottingham (Nottingham University Samworth Academy) which runs a Music Business course has produced a brilliant charity single in aid of the Mamelodi Trust. It's called "Sing Sing for Mamelodi" and was released this morning. It is now available to download on iTunes and all the profits will be donated to the Trust. Additionally, Nottingham University, who are co-sponsors of the school, will match fund all the proceeds until 31st July 2011.

The single should be a success, not only because of the funds it will raise for the Trust but also because the students at the school have been so committed to Mamelodi and this project.

Why not download the single yourself and also make this endeavour known to as many of your friends and contacts as possible and encourage them to spend 79p to download the single. The Mamelodi Trust website home page

www.mameloditrust.org.uk

has details of how to download the track from iTunes.

The Mamelodi Trust is the charity supported by Naace, the professional association for ICT in Education. It raises money in the UK and makes grants to schools in South Africa to enable them to improve their facilities and to purchase books and other learning materials. They have also funded visits by experienced UK teachers and advisory teachers to help the schools in Mamelodi.

ARM supports our young film makers

2011-04-26T13:51:00.004+01:00

Cambridge-based global technology giant ARM has agreed to sponsor this year's Cambridgeshire Young People's Film Festival in July. The company – which designs silicon chips – will provide significant funding for the festival, now in its fourth year.

The film-making competition is open to young people in schools and clubs across Cambridgeshire, culminating in July in a glittering version of the Oscars ceremony at Cambridge Corn Exchange. Masterclasses for pupils and teachers have been taking place for several months, led by movie professionals such as animators from Aardman – the company which made the Wallace and Gromit films.

Recently the festival won a special impact award from Naace, the national associaition for ICT in education.

Details and winning films from previous years can be viewed at www.filmstarz.org.uk/

News from EU Kids Online

2011-04-18T13:54:00.008+01:00

1 long and 3 short new reports have recently been published by this important pan-European research project:

Risks and safety on the internet
The perspective of European children
Full findings and policy implications from the EU Kids Online survey of 9-16 year olds and their parents in 25 countries
(170 pages. A 6 page summary is also available.)

Risky communication online
While most children enjoy communicating online, for those with peer problems offline, internet use may increase risky communication (3 pages)

Digital Literacy and Safety Skills
As digital skills develop with use, inequalities persist – in terms of socio-economic status, age and, to a lesser degree, gender. (4 pages)

Social Networking, Age and Privacy
38 per cent of 9-12-year-olds use social networking sites in Europe; one in five of the age group having a profile on Facebook. Then examines whether 9-16 year users set their privacy settings, disclose personal information or obey their parents on social networking sites. (13 pages)

All these useful documents are available on from the Reports section of the EU Kids Online website

RSA survey on CPD provision in ICT/Computing

2011-04-15T10:59:00.015+01:00

The survey is part of the Royal Society’s Computing in Schools project. It is aimed at teachers working in ICT and Computing throughout the UK, and covers issues of Continuing Professional Development and Enhancement & Enrichment activities. The survey should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete, and every contribution will help inform the project and so will be very gratefully received. We aim to collect responses by 26 April 2011.

Please follow this link to the survey.

Further information about the Royal Society project can be found here.
Contact: Nicola.berkley@royalsociety.org

National recognition for Cambridgeshire Education ICT Service

2011-03-21T10:34:00.004Z

Naace (the professional ICT association) has no doubt about the impact that ICT can have on learning and teaching when used well by skilled and creative professionals and has just announced the Impact Awards to provide formal recognition of outstanding work in this area. Cambridgeshire Education ICT Service are proud to announce that they were Highly Commended by the Naace Board in the awards at their annual conference on Wednesday 16th March and received their award from former schools minister Jim Knight, now Lord Knight of Weymouth. The award was in recognition of their work on the Cambridgeshire Young People's Film Festival (www.filmstarz.org.uk).

E2BN Conference - 28-29 June

2011-03-21T10:31:00.002Z

Booking has now opened for E2BN's annual conference which takes place at Wyboston, near St Neots. It is possible to attend for one or both days, and there are big reductions for staff from Cambridgeshire schools. The conference is always highly regarded by those who attend. This year's theme, 'Sustain IT', will look at sustaining ICT developments in schools following the end of the Harnessing Technology Grant, as well as how technology can help schools develop 'green education'. For full details visit http://conference.e2bn.org/

National Curriculum call for evidence

2011-03-21T10:27:00.000Z

The Department for Education invites views from parents, teachers and schools about the content of a slimmed-down National Curriculum, including whether ICT should be a statutory subject and what, if anything, should be covered by a statutory programme of study. These questions will be discussed at our forthcoming strategic leaders' ICT meetings . We also encourage you as schools or individuals to contribute your views directly to DfE via the consultation website. Submissions must be made by 14th April.

ICT Helpline Closure

2011-02-25T15:17:00.002Z

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Helpline will be closed on Friday the 25th of February after 15:30. Please leave a voicemail message or Email ict.helpline@cambridgeshire.gov.uk and we will return your call as soon as possible.

Naace response to Royal Society enquiry into ICT and Computing

2010-11-09T15:56:00.002Z

The Royal Society is concerned about declining numbers studying ICT and computing at GCSE and A-level and beyond, despite young people’s obvious enthusiasm for the creative use of technology. They have launched an enquiry and appealed for evidence. The response from Naace, the subject association for ICT, provides food for thought: www.naace.co.uk/1322
Does this reflect the situation in your school?

Another school gains the ICT Mark

2010-11-05T14:15:00.005Z

Congratulations to Spring Meadow Infant and Nursery School from Ely in Cambridgeshire. They are included in the latest list of schools whose success in integrating technology into every relevant aspect of their work has been recognised with the award of the national ICT Mark.

Digital Brain Websites

2010-10-26T13:38:00.000+01:00

Schools whose websites, hosted by Digital Brain, will be affected by the move of the Education Portal to a new technology in 2011 should now all have received an email (dated 30^th September) setting out future options.

If your site is hosted by Digital Brain it will be switched off at the end of the school year. So please start planning now!

We are currently making arrangements with those schools who have replied.

This includes a one hour consultation and the option of a new website provided by the Education ICT Service.

If you believe you are affected and have not received any communication, or you have received our mail and have not yet replied, please contact Duncan Grey, Portal Manager, by email as soon as possible.

duncan.grey@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Life in a post-Becta world

2010-10-07T13:08:00.002+01:00

Interesting article from Merlin John with the latest on transfer of Becta roles: http://bit.ly/duhFck
He considers the threat to RBCs too.

Is your private phone number on Facebook?

2010-10-06T15:41:00.003+01:00

Is your private phone number on Facebook? Probably. And so are your friends' Check out the Guardian's Technology blog: http://bit.ly/diTEsE

ALERT regarding Image Search

2010-09-27T12:54:00.003+01:00

We have just been alerted by E2BN that Google have made extensive changes to the way they handle image searches. The effect of these changes is to break the image filtering from blocked sites. Access to the underlying sites is still blocked but thumbnail images are being displayed in Google search results. The "vss" (very safe search) tag which is appended by Protex is still being respected by the search engine although we do have reservations about how effective this is for younger pupils.

E2BN have investigated the changes and already contacted Google to make them aware of the issue and the problems for schools who want to use Google's image search engine. The code changes made by Google are very extensive and it is not yet clear that a comprehensive solution can be implemented by E2BN Protex in the short term.

In general we recommend that all Primary schools use a search site designed for younger children such as www.askkids.com where the image results are much more appropriate than the results from Google. The E2BN Gallery - gallery.e2bn.org - is also a safe resource to use for high quality images.

For Starz users we have re-instated the links to safer search sites within the new version of the learning platform

For older students and staff you may wish to consider using www.bing.co.uk for searches. The Protex image blocking continues to work on that site.

Naace Think Tank live stream

2010-07-26T10:49:00.001+01:00

Follow Naace's Think Tank at Bristol on the future of ICT in education. The live stream link is http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bristol-naace

Becta’s Self-review framework has been revised

2010-06-14T15:09:00.001+01:00

Over the last year, Becta and partners have worked together on revising the Self-review framework. These changes include:
*a reduction in the number of elements, strands and aspects
*a more streamlined look and feel based on feedback from colleagues in schools
*a revision; taking account of developed use of ICT and new educational initiatives
* all ICT Mark thresholds at level 2
As this work has already taken place it has been decided to go ahead with switching over so schools can access the revised framework from 18 June 2010.
Please note that this is a framework revision only and the appearance of the Self-review Framework remains the same. You will still access the framework at http://selfreview.becta.org.uk.
What will this mean for schools?
The online tool will be unavailable on the 17 June so that data can be transferred. All data submitted prior to this date will automatically be transferred to the revised framework.
If you have any questions, please contact Becta customer services on 0800 877 8777.
Schools intending to be assessed for the ICT Mark
If after the revised framework is live, a school intends to be assessed or re-assessed for the ICT Mark by the 31 October 2010 but would like to continue to use the current framework, the school will need to contact Naace at ICTMark@naace.co.uk for further information. All schools who are assessed after 31 October 2010 will be required to use the revised framework.

NO CHANGE TO KS3 LEVEL DESCRIPTORS

2010-06-09T11:45:00.002+01:00

It was announced yesterday that Ministers have decided not to proceed with the revised level descriptions which were due to come into force for Key Stage 3 from this September. Secondary schools should therefore continue to use existing level descriptions.
Information on the Department's website will be updated as announcements are made and more detail is available.