ICT Curriculum

How wikis and blogs can be put to use in the classroom

The use of blogs and online collaboration in education is explored as teachers discover how and why they should make good use of them. Head of geography at Bury Church Secondary, Sally Sumner, uses blogs as a resource in the classroom and as a revision tool, having overcome her initial doubts about her ICT skills. MFL teacher Janet McCann finds blogging invaluable for motivating the boys in her class, and discusses why the pupils find this technology so engaging. At Priestsic Primary School, Nottinghamshire, ICT co-ordinator Tom Barrett uses online collaboration tools for peer assessment, developing the pupil's literacy skills. Collaborative online educational games are also shown, providing a safe environment on the web for pupils to improve their numeracy skills.

Blogs/Wikis

A festive approach to cross curriculum ICT and literacy

Discover how a small primary school with just 22 children has developed pupils' ICT and literacy skills across the curriculum by creating a Christmas community newspaper. When Teacher Debra Gill, came up with the idea to celebrate Christmas, she wanted to involve the community to aid the Chapel Haddlesey pupils' learning. She found that by allowing pupils to engage with local people in the village, it expanded their knowledge of the workplace and developed their critical thinking skills. Returning to the classroom, the pupils turned their notes into articles and wrote catchy headlines. They also put their ICT skills into practice by creating a layout for their community newspaper The Chilly Times. Staff believe it has taught pupils about cooperation and helped them to grow more confident. Moreover, it is a fun way to prepare the children for more festivities that lie ahead.

Creating a Festive Newspaper

Schools collaborate to produce an online advent calendar

Electric December gives primary and secondary schools the opportunity to work on challenging ICT and animation art projects alongside media professionals. This programme follows the experiences of a rural primary in Cornwall and an urban secondary school in Bristol as they use video, animation techniques and Flash to create a digital, online advent calendar. The initiative, created by Bristol's Watershed Media Group, was launched in 2004 with a live web conference between the two schools. During the programme, the teachers talk about the initiative's benefits and discuss the enjoyment of obtaining new skills from such collaborations.

Electric December

Tips on how to implement e-safety in the primary classroom are shown

Startforth CE Primary School in Barnard Castle demonstrates five key tips to help primary teachers deliver e-safety education in the classroom. Year 3 and 4 teacher Vicky Bain makes use of online resources to deliver online safety messages to pupils. Differentiated activities enable her to reinforce important messages across a wide range of abilities. In Year 1 and 2, teacher Jilly Kearton works with pupils to create their own set of age appropriate e-safety rules. Meanwhile, in Year 6, teacher Martin Cluderay gets pupils talking about key issues by using role-play activities. Finally, Headteacher Linda Sams speaks about the value of embedding e-safety across the whole school.

Five Classroom Tips

A look at a wholeschool approach to e-safety across a primary school

Staff at Parkwood Primary School in Bradford demonstrate five key messages which underpin its whole school approach to e-safety. Pupils deliver an e-safety assembly to parents, and local authority ICT consultant Paul Scott is brought in to raise awareness through a presentation to parents. Paul also runs a staff training session developing teacher's knowledge of new technologies and their e-safety risks. In the classroom, Year 5 pupils are encouraged to use technology positively as they plan and create their own videos on cyberbullying. And in Year 6, teacher Kelly McGreavy tests the pupils internet safety knowledge, as the school strives to embed e-safety across the whole curriculum.

Five Whole-School Tips

A school uses free software to challenge and engage pupils

Headteacher John Row uses free software for use across a range of subjects to challenge and develop the ICT skills of pupils at St Mary's CE Primary School, Shropshire. John believes that unless pupils are stretched at school there is a good chance that computer literate children will 'power down'. He uses the free software to keep children engaged and stimulated. One programme enables pupils to create their own stop frame animation projects, and by downloading the software at home, the children can continue to work out of school hours. They can then post their finished products on the school's blogsite for their peers to see. Other programmes John uses include a digital audio programme that allows the children to record performances of the school choir and create mp3 files which their parents can download from the school's website.

ICT Fun for Free

History and technology come together in this lesson on Henry VIII

Deputy head Simon Botten has a unique and ambitious way of teaching his class about the wives of Henry VIII. He sets his students the task of researching, scripting and recording a short video clip in about an hour. He creatively adapts the QCA Scheme of Work to meet with the interests and abilities of his Year 5 pupils. He divides his class into six groups and allocates each group one wife to study. Working to the tight deadline of one lesson, each group is asked to research, script and film their own Tudor-style newsreel, which will then be presented to the rest of the class. This lesson incorporates the use of ICT at three levels: firstly by using an interactive whiteboard to allow Simon to set out the lesson objectives; secondly by using the internet for research, and thirdly through the use of small, user-friendly digital cameras to record the newsreels. Key points: Pupils use the internet and video cameras during the history lesson Simon Botten gives us the background to his ambitious lesson plan Are the students more engaged in the technology than in the history?

KS2 History - The Tudors using ICT 1

A review of the effectiveness of the previous history lesson

A review of KS2 History, The Tudors using ICT Historians Dr Penelope Harnett and Dr Michael Riley, assess and critique deputy head Simon Botten's methods of teaching his Year 5 class about the wives of Henry VIII. The lesson was not only ambitious in concept, but also had to be achieved within a strict deadline of one hour. Whilst the experts support much of the idea behind the lesson, they question whether the timeframe and use of ICT distracted the children from the historical facts. The programme shows good examples of how IT can stimulate and support work in the classroom, for instance: how the whiteboard may be used to structure and resource children's learning, when best to use video cameras, and how to use laptops for research. The programme raises interesting questions concerning curriculum balance and support. Key points: History versus technology: are they a successful combination? Two experts review the effectiveness of the lesson at each stage Pupils get to grips with cheap handheld video cameras

KS2 History - The Tudors using ICT 2

Great advice on making the most of ICT in the classroom

ICT SOS is a new series that answers some of the most common concerns about using ICT in the classroom. In this programme, we cover the theme of story-telling in English and feature a masterclass on using animation software to aid the teaching of poetry. We also feature an item on using digital cameras and photo-software in PSHE and, as always, there's a batch of top-tips from teachers.

Literacy

A primary school uses handheld computers to improve learning

Wilsden Primary School, near Bradford, shows how handheld computers have helped improve literacy and enabled instant assessment. Following funding from parents, daily use of handheld PDAs, called Educational Digital Assistants (EDAs) has boosted pupil confidence and engaged them with their learning. Teaching Assistant Jane Booth works with pupils in small groups to record pupils reading and encourage collaborative learning. Year 4 teacher Jo Scott and ICT co-ordinator Jackie Renton use the EDAs as tools for instant assessment and personalised learning in the classroom. Staff benefit from the mobility and fun factor of the technology, as the children complete an educational treasure trail. In a training session, the year 5 teachers discuss ways of using the EDAs in preparation for adopting the technology in their own classrooms.

Professional Development for Quality Teaching

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