Transformation Teachers Programme

Took a while due to the laptop breaking down a few times but have actually used IDVD to make a leaving video for one of my colleagues. Very easy and enjoyable to get good results quickly, only hassle is the huge file sizes it creates when making the DVD.

Well, things are progressing well as my MEd is sorted and the transformation stuff is going well. A big thank you again to the folks at the CLC for the loan of equipment and a fantastic opportunity in this course. I have decided to set up a virtual fieldsite so used the digiboards, cameras, the tripod at last and GPS and will knock it up over the summer. Will post some of the students efforts using the digimemo when i process them.

Also on an unrelated topic (although it is my blog) i think i have run over 15 fieldtrips since i started at NPCS and finally one was ruined by the weather. The trips i went on in the winter had better weather than last Friday!!

I have had the worst luck recently with all types of ICT. Firstly all manor of problems in the classroom including fuses blowing, computer randomly powering down (mayne due to the heat), pupils not having access to save and running out of file space just as they were saving 2 hours work. My desktop has also decided to randomly break with the harddrive corrupting and the computer bluescreening if you switch programs. To fix it i decided that i may as well put on Vista. Then loads more problems happened!!

On the plus side, i am organising two fieldtrips to test out the kit again. Will post more when i have a stable connection.

Final two training sessions at the CLC are over now and when copying over the files tonight onto my main machine i have noticed alot of good stuff and ideas which i will use in school. Firstly i am undecided about how to approach Kartouche. I do think that pupils will benefit from using it within history and Citizenship and already have given basic inset to the head of faculty about its possibilities. Unfortunately as Quicktime doesnt run properly on the network, everyone here couldnt see the excellent animation that was the death of Juliet.

Now that all the data has been collected in the field, i am allowing my pupils to test out various kit during the write up.  An example is posted below and i will give a better description when i know that the internet is not going to stop at any moment!!!

This was one of the many posts that have been deleted due to the inconsistent broadband at both home and work.

Used comic-life today, can see the uses of it within the classroom but this is more a piece of software i may reccommend in passing rather than something i will actively use. Using crazytalk to annimate my form group at the moment, and making them say witty things like a sample GCSE Geography answer. It is a learning tool but think again it is a thing to use to improve the learning environment rather than a way of improving the delievery of content or changing the pedagogy of the exisiting SOWs. Finding some of the Mac software difficult to access like keynotes (not sure if i was given the serial number) but enjoying re-educating myself into teh mac OS.

Just finalised my project title as well, so i am thinking this has been a productive couple of days.

Took kit into field to do Geography Coursework. Thought i would start off smallish as noone else is doing this outside and i didnt want to be the first to break the kit. Used laptop for aerial interpretion of area using cache google Earth images. In an ideal world, wireless connections would be free in the middle of a forest but strangely there was nothing around. And nowhere to stick a cable into either.

 Used digital camera to take photos and videos and then tagged the location using the Digimemo and an OS map. Again in an ideal world, i would be able to tag the GPS data onto the photo but off the top of my head i cant think of an easy way to do this, it is late though.

Used digimemo to allow pupils to construct a landuse map to transfer straight onto the system. It does save time and produces good results, but the stage i would like to try is to be able to use the bluetooth connection to be able to annotate visuals in realtime. Speaking of digimemos, i have trained a few pupils how to use it and will be testing with the school council in a few weeks to allow the pupils to minute easier. Also looking forward to using the equipment in the classroom but as i still havent got any secure area to lock the equipment into, i am loathe to take anything into school unless i can carry it around all day. There maybe possibility for a locker to appear but the chances are slim that this will happen.

Despite last fridays gloomy appearance i did risk taking the kit out to Trent Park to use it to enhance the Year 10 Geography Coursework. The digital camera and digiboard were used to great success but with the latter, i am trying to figure out a fool-proof way for the pupils to transfer work and overlay it on the exact measurements of the resource. Obviously it could be done for them but i want to be able to get them to do this themselves. Taking laptop out this friday, hoping for sun….