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| ICT Newsletter #291 |
4th June 2007 |
GENERAL
Courses
Due to unprecedented demand for our OCN Admin Course we are running an additional course on Wednesday 6th June from 13.30 - 15.00. There are a number of places still available and the course is free!!
The following courses still have places available:
If you would like to attend please apply to the Inset section at Cricket Road or online at: http://intranet.oxfordshire.gov.uk/links/intranet/oqsaapply If someone from your school would like to attend the OCN Administration course please contact Christine Ruane by phone (01865-428034), fax (01865-428030) or by e-mail (christine.ruane@oxfordshire.gov.uk)
Competitions
There are some exciting competitions coming up:
· Newsday Competition runs on Wednesday13th June (see below for
more details)
· Foundation "Design-a-postcard" Competition on the
theme 'Summer Holidays' entries due Friday 22nd June
· Graftas (back by popular demand) entries due Friday 6th July
Newsday Competition
Last chance to enter the Newsday Competition which will be held next 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 email messages on the morning of the actual competition, you will also receive some "confidential" material on the Friday before the competition to help teachers prepare for the Newsday itself.
Tesco Vouchers
Congratulations to Botley Primary School which has won the Tesco Voucher Competition recently held by the ICT Advisory Team. The photograph they submitted of children dancing around the May Pole was judged to be the winner of the competition which was to submit a photograph representing Spring in your school. Botley will receive our entire collection of over 1200 Tesco vouchers.
Congratulations also to North Leigh Primary School and Hanborough Manor Primary School whose photos were Highly Commended.
Also can we remind you that we compiled a list of recommendations for you to consider if you are looking for inspiration when trying to spend your Tesco vouchers - please see newsletter 290 for an attached file.
A new guide from Becta: "Making software accessible: a guide for schools"
This guide is designed to help schools to understand how legislation applies to their learners with special education needs and what 'reasonable adjustment' may mean in the context of ICT. See attachment
Scratch
Have you seen the new software developed by the folks at MIT? (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) The FREE software was reviewed by BBC Technology (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6647011.stm) and is available to look at and download from http://scratch.mit.edu/. You can create programs by dragging together instructions in a similar way to the Lego software. This allows you to easily create simple programs but also to develop quite complicated ones too! We have created a Digitalbrain community for Scratch which includes all of the program files and support pdfs. It also has a discussion where we would be interested in your thoughts and ideas and any programs you make!
PRIMARY
Primary ICT Conference - June 20th 2007
Graham Garner, the newly appointed Co-ordinating Adviser for ICT, will be introducing himself to everyone who can attend the conference. Don't forget to book your place now. We have put together an exciting "goody-bag" for those attending. If you would like to attend please apply to the Inset section at Cricket Road or online at: http://intranet.oxfordshire.gov.uk/links/intranet/oqsaapply
Espresso Latest Updates
Foundation Stage: Word machine - NEW!
Word machine contains a collection of eight presenter-led video clips that were produced for 4 Learning. In the videos the presenter, Aidan Cook, accompanied by the animated character, Word Machine, take the viewer on a phonic journey exploring aspects of rhyme, wordplay and creating engaging contexts for teaching about the written word. The materials explore how CVC words are created by blending single phonemes, encouraging children to identify and blend initial, middle and final sounds. Find it: Foundation > Literacy
Espresso Special Offer
A letter will be coming into primary and special schools in the next few days outlining a special offer from Espresso for a two-year subscription at £6 per pupil (minimum 70 pupils) inclusive of the provision of the caching server, warranty and maintenance as well as annual training. This can be paid for using e-Learning Credits. The offer is only valid until the end of July and will save schools £1000 over the two years. Any schools interested in subscribing to the Espresso service can complete the order form attached to the letter and return it directly to Espresso. Schools should also bear in mind that this is the final year of eLC funding and schools who subscribe to services such as Espresso will need to consider how to pay for such resources in the future.
Podcasting
Readers can now see the very first examples of work from the Oxfordshire podcasting pilot. Please visit http://www.ict.oxon-lea.gov.uk/podcasting/index.html to get the RSS feeds and any help needed to listen to them.
Web Hosting Scam (from Dave Headey)
At least one of our schools has recently received an unsolicited official-looking fax headed "UK Internet Register" giving details of the school's domain name and providing a free fax number and an invitation to submit corrections to the school contact details (and surprise, surprise, there are a few mistakes to be corrected).
This is, of course a SCAM. It is actually an order form for an advert on the web, and buried in an 8pt paragraph at the end is the sum of £639 pa for three years payable in advance for which the school will be invoiced on receipt of the fax.
Please make sure your school admin staff know that this is nothing whatsoever to do with the registration of your school domain name, which is handled centrally by the OCN, and should be consigned to the recycling bin immediately.
More details: http://stopecg.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
SECONDARY
CiDA+
Below is the news from Edexcel that many of you have been waiting for!
"We are very pleased to announce that CiDA+ has now been accredited by QCA and candidates will be able to cash in for this three-unit award (equivalent to three GCSEs) this summer."
http://alerts.edexcel.org.uk/go.axd/13989
OCR Nationals
The secondary ICT consultants were advised at a recent training day that there
are several units which both complement and support each other. Teachers should
bear this in mind when choosing which units to deliver as it not only makes
sense, but can cut down on workload.
Best wishes,
The ICT Advisory Team
