SELB ICT Blog

Northgate Named As Preferred Supplier For Education Network NI Contract

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:33:00 +0000

Newtownabbey based Northgate Managed Services (Northgate) has further cemented its reputation as one of the UK’s leading providers of ICT services by being named as Classroom 2000’s (C2k) preferred supplier for the new ‘Education Network Northern Ireland’ (ENNI) contract. The news was announced today at BETT 2012, Europe’s largest education ICT event in London

Read full story here

Wallace High School

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:35:00 +0000

On the 15th December 2011 Wallace High School, Lisburn held an information seminar to update ASCL members on the progress made with their one-to-one iPad learning solution. All KS3 students have leased an iPad2 and the school staff has been trained to support the integration of the iPad into teaching and learning. Monitoring the outcomes and evaluation of the project is being carried out by the University of Ulster. So far the school report the following interim outcomes:

• improved engagement in lessons

• improved social cohesion and collaboration between KS3 students

• Increase in programming activity using apps

• Faster sharing of information

• Board of Governors using iPad technology

• Less paper being used

• Narrowing of the gap between parent understanding and pupils use of the technology

A group of students demonstrated their work in a variety of subjects including, Music, Science, Maths & Geography. Core productivity apps that are widely used across all departments include Keynote, Pages and Numbers. Garageband, iMovie and some freeware apps have also been used by a number of departments. Check out the ShowMe app for free. This turns your iPad into a whiteboard and makes it easy to record and share text, images and movies.

ShowMe app for iPad

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:12:00 +0000

Check out the ICTmagic wiki site for a comprehensive list of free software to help put a little bit of magic into your lessons. Use the links in the left menu to navigate different categories of resources. Teachers can follow this site using Twitter, Facebook or email.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/
http://www.scoop.it/t/ictmagic/

Sesame Tree E-Learning Resource

noreply@blogger.com (Eilish Boyle) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:32:00 +0000

LNI have added a new Seame Tree Course into their Library. This E-learning resource has been designed for for Foundation Stage teachers who wish to use the Sesame Tree Series Two episodes and related educational outreach materials in their classrooms.

It includes,

An introduction to the Sesame Tree television series and the Series 2 educational materials

An introduction to the characters of Sesame Tree

To find the Sesame Tree resources, go to the LNI homepage and select the Go To Library link. Select the Staff section and from the Topic area dropdown menu choose Resources for Courses.

PDFtoWord

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:08:00 +0000

Convert your PDF files back to editable Microsoft Word documents using Nitro's industry-leading technology. Convert files one at a time online for free, or if you have sensitive files and don't wish to use the web version download the Nitro Pro version and convert all your files free for 14 days. After this free evaluation period the current cost of this software is $84.99. Check it out now using the link below:
http://www.pdftoword.com/

(Thanks to Brenda Murray, St. Paul's Bessbrook for sharing this information)

Ask Nature

noreply@blogger.com (AM) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:05:00 +0000

You've probably heard of the website "Ask Jeeves" that searches information available on the interenet to answer your questions. However a new site - "Ask Nature" looks at nature to solve questions and problems that are pressing global challenges.

The concept behind Ask Nature is Biomimicry, (from bio, meaning life and mimesis, meaning to imitate) a design discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature's time tested patterns and strategies.

This is a great source of information for anyone studying science, technology and geography or anyone just interested in the world around them.

ESafety Qualification for KS3 and KS4 pupils

noreply@blogger.com (AM) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:30:00 +0000

BCS, The Chartered Institute for ICT are offering a qualification in eSafety for students at KS3 and KS4. The course addresses the potential risks of being online, protecting yourself online, as well as behaving responsibily online.
Supporting the need for a coordinated approach to esafety, the esafety qualification provides teaching materials, mapped to the curriculum with the added advantage of e-Learning for self study. At the end of the course, learners can take a test and on achievement are presented with a qualification. The course consists of four main areas:

Unit A - The benefits and risks of using the internet

Unit B - How to report and respond to esafety issues

Unit C - How to protect yourself and your computer online

Unit D - The legal issues of downloading from the internet

ESafety Level 1 is fully accredited on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) with 20 guided learning hours. The full cost of the course is £15.00 in the first year rising to £20.00 from March 2012. This includes registration, learning materials, diagnostic test and final test. To access the test only the cost is £10.00 rising to £15.00 in March 2012.
Click on the link to find out more about the qualification. The Chartered Institute for ICT

iPads for notepads at Lisburn school

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:15:00 +0000

Pupils at a grammar school in Lisburn are being encouraged to swap notepads for iPads. Wallace High has negotiated a leasing deal for the computer tablets made by Apple which will cost parents £170 a year. A total of 530 pupils in years eight to eleven at the school will be able to use the new iPads in class and take them home. The super slim computers can be used for internet research, playing music, photographs and reading books. The school will use its own technology staff and budget to provide applications for the pupils to use. It is understood there will be special insurance for the iPads as well as tracking software in case they are lost or stolen.

Birchfield Austerity Sale

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:46:00 +0000

Latest content offer from Birchfield.

All of their curriculum content, games and tools for your VLE is priced at £2500 per school.
This includes 15,000+ curriculum content VLE resources for 15 subjects, 14 VLE games, 34,000 curriculum questions and a content editing tool which can SCORM your own content. Bespoke prices are available for Area Partnership Communities by calling Jo Western using the contact details below. To find out what comes with the whole school solution offer please click
here. (NB: offer prices will not be listed on the site, this is a fax/e-mail only offer).
Nb. The offer price is not on the website. Don’t miss it. *PLUS First 100 schools to order will get an extra 10% discount!
Jo Western
Birchfield Interactive Ltd
ITV Studios
Culverhouse Cross
Cardiff
CF5 6XJ
Tel: 029 2059 7000
Fax: 029 2059 9456

Zondle - games to support learning

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:37:00 +0000

Zondle is a free and easy to use website that allows children to play games in supporting learning. The user range can be from Foundation stage up to GCSE, with a wide range of games available in various topics and subjects. It’s really easy to create an account which allows you full access to the site. Watch this short video on the main page for a brief synopsis

Tim Rylands, Learning Consultant

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:07:00 +0000

Tim Rylands is a Learning Consultant who delivered two sessions at the recent ICT for Education conference in Belfast's Hilton Hotel on Friday 11th March. Tim is a gifted and inspirational teacher who presents results from his work in an imaginative and charismatic way. Tim uses a wide range of creative and mostly free web 2.0 tools to encourage and empower children to express their creativity and make significant gains in attainment. To find out more about Tim and his recommendations for top tools check out the links below.

Employment in IT Industry in N. Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:51:00 +0000

The research, ‘Technology Insights 2011’, shows that despite the recent recession and ongoing high levels of unemployment, demand for IT professionals in Northern Ireland has increased over the last year, with 16,000 people currently employed in the IT & Telecoms professional workforce – representing just over 2% of total employment. 60% of these IT & Telecoms professionals are employed in the IT & Telecoms industry itself, while the remainder are spread across every other sector of the economy.

Flip camera - converting movies to work with movie maker.

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Daly) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:15:00 +0000

Flip cameras have been growing in popularity somewhat over the last year or so. Their versatility, ease of use and HD quality certainly tick a lot of boxes for those involved in education. There does seem to be one major issue though that schools struggle with, and that's taking the movie from the Flip Camera into Windows Movie Maker. Fear not for a solution is nigh! Simply open the Flipshare software that is built into the camera. You will need to install this first if you haven't already done so. Select the movie or movies you would like to convert, then click on 'Share' and select the 'Publish to Web' icon as circled in the screenshot opposite. You will then be asked to share your videos to 'myspace' youtube' or 'other web sites'. Choose the last one 'other web sites'. This will save the video as a WMV into a specified folder. You will now be able to use this Windows Movie Video to import into movie maker.

CEOP's "Back to School" Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (AM) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:00:00 +0000

As part of the "Back to School" campaign, to encourage parents and carers to become more involved in protecting their children online, CEOP has designed a letter that can be sent out to parents to promote positive steps to help safeguard their child.

You can distribute the letter through your school website and email or print off paper copies. It's a great way of engaging parents at the start of the school year and introducing internet safety as a key aspect of their child's life.

You can download the letter by clicking on the link below.

Back to school letter

Remember you can access all sorts of information and useful resources on internet safety from Think u know - created by CEOP

Follow-up Evaluation of The Use and Impact of Learning Environments in Schools and in the Wider Education Service

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:45:00 +0000

In 2008, the Education and Training Inspectorate carried out a comprehensive evaluation of the use and impact of learning environments across the schools and wider education service. The evaluation included Learning Northern Ireland, which is the regional virtual online learning environment of the Classroom 2000 (C2k) managed service solution. The purpose of this follow-up evaluation is to determine the extent to which the key recommendations outlined in the original evaluation have been addressed by the various stakeholders.

Online Learning Graduation for Northern Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:26:00 +0000

Pictured above back row: Aidan McCanny (SELB), Daithi Murray, (St. Paul's Bessbrook), Ciaran McCrumlish (SELB). Front row: Elaine Dunne (St. Paul's Bessbrook), Anne McKinless (SELB), Vivien Kelly (SELB).

On the 3rd June 2010, the Regional Training Unit (RTU) for N Ireland, celebrated another graduation event in Malone House Belfast. Over 60 practising post-primary teachers and officers from the education support services (ELBs, ETI, CCEA) successfully completed RTU’s Online Learning and Teaching for Educators Programme (OLTE). The keynote speaker at this year’s ceremony was Mr John Anderson, Managing Inspector ETI. Presentations were also given by Mr Sean Sloan, Headteacher, St Patrick’s Grammar School, Downpatrick and Michelle Clancy, OLTE Graduate. The certificates were presented by Mr Stanton Sloan, Chief Executive of the South Eastern Education & Library Board.

The Regional Training Unit (RTU) developed the OLTE programme in 2003 to meet the Department of Education’s (DE) requirement for a continuous professional development (CPD) programme that would help address the overarching goal of the Education Technology Strategy “That all young people should be learning, with, through and about the use of digital and online technologies”.

The OLTE programme, which focuses on the development of online tutors skills, is accredited at Level 4 by the National Open College Network. The participants complete 3 progressively challenging units: Unit 1- Introduction to Online Tutor Skills, Unit 2 - Design, implement and tutor an online lesson and Unit 3 - Design, implement and tutor an online programme. To date over 250 graduates have provided more than 2000 participants with first-hand experience of learning in an online environment.

In 2007/08 the Department of Education funded the first post-primary teachers’ places on the OLTE programme. Teachers were able to avail of a CPD programme which requires them to reflect on their practice, develop resources, plan for delivery, teach and assess their pupils in an online environment. This valuable CPD opportunity allows teachers to revisit many of the GTC Professional Competences and can be used towards Performance Review and Staff Development (PRSD) requirements.

Last year’s teachers developed and delivered a variety of online courses to pupils from across a range of post-primary schools including, for example, aspects of AS Product Design, AS Biology, and Business Language Competence. Following this success, OLTE Graduates are developing projects such as GCSE Engineering, Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (CoPE) and English Essential Skills for subsequent blended-course delivery.

This academic year (2009/2010) three cohorts of teachers have enrolled on OLTE and have successfully completed Units 1 & 2. They have started Unit 3, with a target for online course delivery in September 2010.

The Department of Education is inviting a limited number of post-primary schools to apply for OLTE for the 2010/11 academic year. Priority will be given to applications from schools within Learning Communities which have had no access to OLTE training in previous cohorts, which clearly identify partner schools and have begun to consider which courses have online potential for their school/learning community and could form the basis for Unit 3 of OLTE.

Backing up your website/vle

noreply@blogger.com (Aidan McCanny) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:07:00 +0000

This post is for those people whose web hosting company uses the 'cpanel' to manage their sites. Most of the popular ISPs use cpanel including Bluehost, Hostgator and Justhost.

When you log into your web host, you are automatically taken to their cpanel. In the Files section of the cpanel, there is an option (icon) called Backup Wizard. When you click on the icon, you are presented with two options, namely Backup or Restore.

If you select the Backup option, you can decide whether to do a full backup or simply backup your databases or your Home directory. Whichever option you select, when the backup if finished, an email will be sent to the email address you provide during the process.

A Full Backup will allow you to create an archive of all the files and configurations on your website. However you can only use this to move your account to another server, or to keep a local copy of your files. You cannot restore Full Backups through your cPanel interface.

The Home Directory backup contains all the data uploaded to the server including, in the case of your web site, all the Joomla or Wordpress folders and files; or in the case of your Moodle VLE, all the folders and files that Moodle uses as well as all the resources/files that have been uploaded by the teachers within each course.

The database backup will contain all the data that is generated through the runing of the system. It does not contain files/folders but instead, it contains data such as the user details, the login details, the details of the structure of courses within the VLE, and so on.

If you want to restore your site, all you need to do is to select the Restore option. You can use this option to revert to a previous version of your account or you can use it to move to another ISP who also offers the cpanel facility.

I would strongly recommend that you carry out a backup of your Home directory and the Mysql Databases on a weekly basis saving the compressed files to a local hard drive.

Using Yacapaca for Controlled Assessment

noreply@blogger.com (Aidan McCanny) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:56:00 +0000

Yacapaca can be used to help in the Controlled Assessment aspect of subjects. A subject teacher simply creates a portfolio within Yacapaca which provides the students with an area to upload their files (max 15M per file).

When the lesson is nearly over, the students will upload their work to the portfolio. The teacher then opens up the specific portfolio and selects all the students:

The teacher locks their portfolio by selecting the 'Actions with selected items', then 'lock/unlock' as shown above.

By checking the 'Status', the teacher will see that all students' work in this specific portfolio are locked:

When the students logs into their account, they will see the list of their assignments/portfolios as normal:

If they click on an unlocked assignment, along with the details of the assignment, they will have access to a 'green' Go! button allowing them to continue work with their portfolio:

However, if the portfolio is locked, the Go! button doesn't appear and so the student is denied access to their work until the teacher unlocks it again:

Digital Research Tools (DiRT)

noreply@blogger.com (Aidan McCanny) — Sun, 09 May 2010 20:15:00 +0000

Although this site is primarily focused on tools related to research, it contains a vast collection of links to tools which are extremely useful for the classroom.

Here is a list of the categories included. Each category contains many useful links.

Authoring
Blogging
Brainstorming
...

For example, to manipulate an image, Splashup is a suberb alternative for the likes of Photoshop; or for a 'A Beginner's Guide to Mind Mapping Meetings', click here.

Here are the rest of the categories:

Citation Management
Collaborative Authoring
Collection Building
Communication Tools
Comparison Tools
Data Collection
Data Mining
Data Visualization
Find Research Materials
Image Editing
Linguistic Tools
Mapping
Mashups
Mobile Devices
Networking
Notetaking
Organize Research Materials
Qualitative Data Analysis
Screencasts
Social Bookmarking
Statistical analysis
Staying Current with Research
Text Analysis
Transcription
Utilities
Visual Search Tools
Writing Tools

CutePDF Writer

noreply@blogger.com (cmccrumlish) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:40:00 +0000

This little program allows a user to create a PDF document from virtually any windows application. CutePDF Writer installs itself as a 'Printer Subsystem' and therefore if you can print from an application you can create a PDF. This software is completely free, no popups, web adds, or watermarks. You can use this software to save a copy of a summary from a Google form. Just select Ctrl+P and then choose the CutePDF Writer option from the printer list to save the file to your PC.

The National School Quiz

noreply@blogger.com (AM) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:37:00 +0000

The biggest ever online schools quiz is set to take place on 12 March. Hosted by specially created Avatars, the quiz is aimed at 8 and 9 year old primary school children and will cover curriculum areas from history, science, citizenship, numeracy and literacy, using games and animation to provide interactivity.

Click here to find out more.

The journey to become an ICT Centre of Excellence

noreply@blogger.com (AM) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:11:00 +0000

Follow Elm Park Primary School on the journey to become an ICT Centre of Excellence by visiting the Becta Next Generation Website - The journey
The school is posting a series of videos showing how they are developing their use of ICT - the next episode looks at internet safety and engaging parents.

ICT for Education Conference

noreply@blogger.com (AM) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:34:00 +0000

The ICT for Education Conference 2010 in Belfast will field an impressive line up of speakers addressing the issues facing those responsible for using ICT to achieve the highest educational standards and most effective environment in UK schools.

With technology such a key force behind the transformation of our educational landscape, ICT is all pervasive in the building of schools, the preparation and delivery of lessons and the management of schools. ICT has changed our behaviour, raised our expectations and contributed to the greater inclusion of parents, governors, administrators and children in the education system.

The ICT for Education Conference programme will look at how successful schools use ICT within an educational framework and with clear objectives, managing technology rather than being managed by technology. Topics for discussion will include: literacy, learning and well-being through gaming, social networking and mobile technology - behaviour management - parental engagement - safeguarding pupils - the next generation of VLEs - collaborative, project based learning - inspired learning space design

There will also be an exhibition for ICT suppliers and vendors as well as related organisations and charities, which will run from 8am until 4pm. Delegates can visit between the conference sessions (which start at 10am) and during refreshment breaks and lunch.

For full details on the conference including the speaker line-up, and to book your place, go to www.ictforeducation.co.uk.
What's more, book your place before the end of February and receive a discounted delegate rate of 119 +VAT (full price: 169 +VAT).

Either download the booking form from www.ictforeducation.co.uk
or book your place online, using the discount code BFT2010.

For further information on any aspect of the event please call event manager Shelley Cook on 07972 866281

Becta - ICT Excellence Awards

noreply@blogger.com (AM) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:46:00 +0000

Now entering their fifth year, Becta’s ICT Excellence Awards provide a great opportunity to not only celebrate the amazing work of schools, local authorities and other supporting organisations but to share the experiences of those at the forefront of the use of technology in learning.

The winners of the 2009 awards were announced at the Bristol ceremony on 19 November and there are examples of truly inspirational work amongst the winners and runners-up. To mark the beginning of sharing the winners’ great practice, many schools are opening their doors during the first week of February, to showcase what impressed the judges and to give their visitors the chance to see their work for themselves. In Northern Ireland St Pius X College, Magherafelt will be opening their doors from the 1st to 5th February. Their key areas of best practice include:

distributed strategic and operational leadership and management of ICT
pupil independence with ICT
embedding of ICT throughout whole school
use of technology to aid transition between phases.

And if this work inspires you and you want to share your story or that of a school that you know, the ICT Excellence Awards 2010 are now open for entries. For more information on the categories and criteria, and to access the online entry forms, go to www.becta.org.uk/excellenceawards. The deadline for entries is 24 March 2010.

Safer Internet Day – 9 February 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Aidan McCanny) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:57:00 +0000

Safer Internet Day is a European-wide initiative and is the one day in the calendar that will give a focus to internet safety issues such as cyberbullying, dealing with upsetting and illegal content online, sexual abuse and grooming. There are a range activities taking place across the week (from Monday 8th – Friday 12th February) and across the continent to help protect young people online. You can get involved too.

As part of the public awareness coordination role on behalf of the UK, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre have launched a micro-site at www.thinkuknow.co.uk/saferinternetdayuk which has been designed to give schools, teachers, parents, youth workers and child protection specialists some ideas and suggestions about how to get involved. CEOP will also be launching new resources to teach online safety to 4-7 year old children.

Registering on the site will also provide access to the various educational resources – like assembly programmes and primary and secondary aged resources – provided free by CEOP and other organisations. There is also an interactive map for organisations to report back on their activities which will be made available to media outlets to report on in the local communities.

CEOP are also launching a competition for young people called ‘Think before you post’. This competition involves asking young people from the UK to create a short film (between 1-3 minutes long) illustrating what this theme means to them and how they would explain this sentiment to their peers. Entrants can be from young people between the ages of 8-16 and can enter as an individual, small group of up to five young people or as a class entry. Once moderated, the films are then to be posted on the Thinkuknow YouTube channel.

If you are taking part in Safer Internet Day this year, you can download free online banners to go onto websites that say ‘We’re supporting Safer Internet Day 2010’ to raise awareness of the initiative and advertise your participation.

Visit www.thinkuknow.co.uk/saferinternetdayuk for further details.