 |
|
|
|
| ICT Newsletter #286 |
23rd April 2007 |
GENERAL
Welcome to Nick Speller who joins the ICT Advisory Team on secondment from West Witney Primary School as a Learning Platform Consultant. Nick replaces Steph Lennon who joined the SIAT Team at Christmas.
Courses
The following courses still have places available:
Reminder to ICTC's that the termly ICT meetings will take place on the following dates in different areas. The meetings are free and open to all staff.
Apply to the Inset section at Cricket Road or online at: http://intranet.oxfordshire.gov.uk/links/intranet/oqsaapply
OCN Admin Training
The two OCN admin training sessions we have scheduled for this term are both now fully booked. In response to demand we have identified a date when we can run a third. This will be on Wednesday 6 June from 1.30 to 3.00 in the ICT Training Suite at the Cricket Road Centre.
The Oxfordshire Community Network (OCN) provides electronic communication and collaboration tools for all staff, pupils and governors in Oxfordshire schools. This provides an OCN e-mail address which, as well as providing access to an e-mail system, also provides access to collaborative tools such as the OCN Conferences and school and partnership calendars. In addition, an individual's OCN username and password provides them with access to the Digitalbrain Learning Platform.
It is essential, therefore, that every school has a designated OCN administrator who can maintain the school's OCN directory so that all staff and pupils can access these crucial learning and teaching resources.
The session will cover such topics as:
· adding new users to the school's OCN directory to provide them with
an OCN username and password
· deleting the accounts of members of staff who have left the establishment
or, if appropriate, transferring them to other establishments
· providing new passwords for colleagues who have forgotten them
· creating OCN accounts for Governors and ensuring that all Governors
have access to the school's Governor's conference
· requesting permission for nominated users to be able to create new
entries on the school and/or partnership calendars
· accessing the list of pupil usernames and passwords which is distributed
to schools each September.
This course will be suitable for any colleague who has been nominated as the
school's OCN administrator. It will be appropriate for those who are new to
the role as well as those who require a refresher session on maintaining the
school's OCN directory.
If you would like someone from your establishment to attend please contact Christine Ruane, the ICT Administrator on the phone (01865-428034) or by e-mail on christine.ruane@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Newsday Competition - Wednesday 13 June
The ICT Advisory Team will be running a Newsday Competition on Wednesday 13 June. Pupils who participate will receive a number of e-mail messages during the morning describing an incident similar to reports which might come in to a news desk from reporters in the field. Pupils will need to use the information they receive to produce a written news report describing and explaining the incident as if it was a report in an evening newspaper. Pupils should lay out their report as if it was a newspaper article with a headline and a key introductory paragraph and they can include an image from the internet or one which they create themselves to accompany the article if they wish.
The deadline for submitting the written report will be 4.00 on Wednesday 13 June (in time for the evening edition of the newspaper)! Reports should be e-mailed to competitions@sds.theocn.net
If your school wishes to take part you will need to send us the details of an OCN e-mail account (not the generic office account, please) which can be used to receive the e-mail messages on Wednesday 13 June. The e-mail messages will be delivered to this account between 9.30 and 11.00 am. Pupils will then have the rest of the day to complete their newspaper account.
Winning reports will be published on the ICT web site and the overall winner will receive one of the new Digitalblue Movie Cameras with the flip-out LCD screen for their school. Pupils can work individually or in groups of any number.
If you wish to take part send a valid OCN e-mail address to sds.ict.education@oxfordshire.gov.uk Please make the subject of this e-mail "Newsday Competition." As well as receiving the messages on the morning of the actual competition, this e-mail address will also receive some "confidential" material on the Friday before the competition to help teachers prepare for the Newsday itself.
Good luck!
PRIMARY
Secondment Opportunity with the ICT Team
The ICT Advisory Team is looking to recruit a primary Learning Platform Consultant to replace a colleague who will be leaving at the end of August to take up a deputy headship post. The advertisement will appear in the TES this Friday, 27 April, and is already available on the OCC internet site. The post is temporary for one year due to external funding but would make a suitable secondment opportunity for a colleague currently teaching in an Oxfordshire school with support from the headteacher and governors.
Contact Greg Stragnell (greg.stragnell@oxfordshire.gov.uk or 01865-428034) for an informal discussion about the post. The job advertisement and further details can be found on http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk > Jobs > Professional, Managerial & Executive, Personalised Learning Consultant
Espresso Latest Updates
Channel 4 Learning joins Espresso!
Channel 4 Learning is being merged with Espresso Education to provide video-rich curriculum services to primary and secondary throughout the UK and abroad. Both businesses are award-winning market leaders in video-based, interactive teaching and learning content. This partnership will provide teachers and learners with an amazing range of resources, with much more to look forward to in the new school year.
English Framework Pages - NEW! Visit the English staffroom pages to see how Espresso addresses the different strands within the revised 'Framework for Literacy'. The newly designed pages should help you to quickly locate literacy resources. If you have any questions regarding the content in this week's update please contact Espresso at primary@espresso.co.uk.
SECONDARY
CC4G
Schools not currently participating in the CC4G initiative will receive some information in the mail this week about CC4G: Computer Clubs for Girls.
You may have already heard about the award winning CC4G programme - a fun and innovative way to inspire and motivate 10-14 year old girls to engage with ICT. You may be aware that we have signed up as a CC4G Partner since we fully support the DfES funded initiative. We strongly recommend that you should consider running a CC4G Club at your school. It is easy to run and has demonstrated many benefits to schools. Best of all, it's free.
Please be sure to look out for the information in this week's mail - you will
be receiving a letter and brochure to tell you all about CC4G and how your school
can get involved. If for any reason you do not receive any information in the
mail, you can visit the CC4G website: www.cc4g.net for more information
Best wishes,
The ICT Advisory Team
